Book Review 

by Lusie Cuskey

In Studying Musical Theatre: Theory and Practice, Millie Taylor and Dominic Symonds offer a musical theatre textbook that, rather than repeating the fairly chronological history found in many musical theatre texts, uses theoretical frameworks as an underlying structure. Throughout, the authors suggest throughout that musical theatre and op...

Book Review

by Christianne Roll 

In the second edition of Musical Theatre: A History, author John Kendrick takes readers from theatrical productions of ancient Greece to 2015’s Hamilton. Setting information about specific shows and specific performers in a historical context, this text is a comprehensive history of the birth and life of musical theatre. 

Kenrick organiz...

The 2017 MTEA conference in New York City explored the ongoing conversation regarding the place and importance of “New Works” in academia. The panel discussion, “Ars Nova and the Future of the Musical Theater” featuring Dave Malloy (composer and lyricist of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812) and Emily Shooltz (associate artistic director of Ars Nova), highlighted...

Book Review

by Matthew Teague Miller

Acting in Musical Theatre; A Comprehensive Course is exceptional in its conception, execution and its 2016 revision for the second edition. With this textbook, Joe Deer and Rocco Dal Vera have created an essential guide to musical theatre acting, breaking down basic Stanislavski principals and applying them directly to performance, an...

^{Photo of The Drowsy Chaperone by Lawrence Peart, University of Texas at Austin, December 2017, Directed by Nick Mayo.}

By Annette Thornton

Burn the Floor opened for a limited engagement on July 25, 2009 at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway. This Broadway debut was late in coming, since Burn the Floor had been touring internationally since its creation in 1997. (The show...

^{Photo of Titanic by Michael McMath, The Hartt School of Music, Dance, and Theatre, March 2016, Directed by Kyle Brand.}

By Nicole Stinton

When preparing a piece of musical theater for performance, most actors and directors place more emphasis on the lyrics and spoken text (dialogue) than on the music when it comes to characterization, relationship and other acting and sta...