How do I learn more about musical theatre without much money?

Question

I don't have that much money to spend, but I love musical theatre and plan to become a theatre major when I go to college next year. I want to hear all the music I can and see all the shows I can, but I don't have the cash to spend. How do I keep up?

Answer 1

There are a few ways in which you can do this

1. Do a general search on the internet for some of the top names in the industry, past and present. I would suggest Rogers and Hammerstein, Anderw Lloyd Weber, and Bob Fosse for starters. This is definitely no where near scratching the surface of all the greats in musical theater, but its a bit of a variety, and most often, it will give you links to other kinds of musicals.

2. Watch some TCM if you get it. I know its a channel for classic movies, but a lot of the old movie musicals were either based on, or were the forerunners to musicals which would later become famous(like 42nd Street). You can check out the website on tcm.com for times when musicals will playing. Another nice feature about doing this is that you will have a film historian (Robert Osborne) giving you some extra tidbits about the stage productions which each movie inspired, and how the different entertainers impacted, or didn't impact the world of stage.

3. Don't forget your local library. There are plenty of books out there on this kind of thing.

4. Also, don't forget to do a general search on these key terms: "musical" "broadway" "west end" "theater". If you get too much at one time, try accompanying each with the word "history." Histories usually give you a nice summary of the progression of theater, and will usually give you links or ideas for new searches.

5. Once you've read up on things, and done all this searching, you can be a bit more specific about what you want to see, and a lot of times you can find clips on the internet, on tv programs (if they have been recorded and they are popular), or in you local library, which should carry a good deal of audio and other media material for stage performances.

Good Luck in you search.

Answer 2

Ushering is a good way to volunteer at theatres--you get to see the shows for free without the time commitment of backstage work.

Order musical soundtracks through interlibrary loan (ie, your library doesn't own it, but they can get it for free from another library and deliver it to you).

Go to the bookstore and look in the drama section. They usually have coffee table-type books on the current broadway shows--Wicked or Hairspray or whatever. Those are fun to look at.

Talk to the theatre teacher at your school. We tend to have a large collection of programs, CDs, books, etc. to loan out to the eager students who ask. Secretly we are hoping to create yet another human being who sings along with show tunes in the car so that we feel less alone in the world.

For a birthday or holiday present, ask for a train ticket or gas fare to the nearest big city. Go to the theatres the day of the show and buy a last-minute or student ticket for cheap. Dress up and have a ball.

Rent or borrow the many excellent PBS specials about Broadway history. There's one called Broadway and several others about rare performances from old Tony awards shows, where they always show one musical number from the current Best Musical nominee shows. (And be sure to watch the current Tonys, too--they're an excellent cheat sheet on who's who in the business).

Subscribe to (or borrow) American Theatre magazine, published by Theatre Communications Group. They focus on nonprofit theatre so will not give you anything on Broadway, Disney, or the other for-profit stuff, but they cover absolutely everything in this side of showbiz and they are really educational and interesting. Variety newspaper will do the same for the for-profit theatre world.

Have fun! How great that you are thinking ahead and looking to learn all you can even before you get to college.

Answer 3

Volunteer at the Community College or Professional Theatre Company, in the city where you live.

Call the theatres and ask if they are accepting volunteers.

Answer 4

If you have a theatre near you that does a lot of musicals - GET IN THEM if you can. If not - sign up to be an usher. That way you see the show for free.

Answer 5

Get involved with a local community theater company, or, if there's a professional company in your area, see if you can volunteer to help out. Make yourself useful around the theatre and people will be happy to share what they know with you.

Answer 6

Work in the theater for extra cash and you also get to see the shows that you worked. I'm sure there are volunteer programs also for acting companies.

Most colleges have free performances. Take advantage.

Answer 7

Audition and/or volunteer to work backstage (or as an usher) on school and community theatre productions.