Musical Theatre

Why study BA (Hons) Musical Theatre at BNU?
Taught by the industry
This BA (Hons) Musical Theatre is led by a dedicated and experienced course team. Benefit from their industry knowledge and the industry links they bring to the course. Many of our guest lecturers are industry-experts and alongside your lecturers, they’ll nurture your learning and professional development.

As well as this we seek to bring your work into the wider world and to bring the world into the university. During your time at BNU you’ll have the opportunity to perform at external venues and take part in workshops with leading companies, both on and off campus. We also have access to the Wycombe Swan Theatre and Wycombe Town Hall as part of our Wycombe Swan Residency.

Inspiring facilities
We’ve invested in a range of state-of-the-art facilities to help you bring your ideas to life on the musical theatre degree. You’ll benefit from our dance studios and our drama and performance studios, all are kitted-out with everything you’ll need, including;

tiered seating
sprung floors
lighting and sound systems
black-out drapes
Props and performance blocks

You’ll also have access to high quality camera equipment, a greenscreen room and lighting rigs and sound recording facilities, all suitable for film and TV screening. As well as this you’ll also have access to our props store where you can find everything you’ll need to bring your performances to life.

What will I study?
This course is also offered as a four-year programme, including an initial Foundation Year. The Foundation Year will allow you to develop your academic study skills and build confidence in your abilities, identifying your own strengths and development needs for progression onto an undergraduate programme.

The notion of the ‘thinking practitioner’ is central to our approach on this course, the ability to understand yourself as a performer and have the confidence to engage creatively and thoughtfully with the industry, and its innovations, is at the heart of our working ethos.

Throughout this musical theatre degree, you will be exploring both the practical and theory of musical theatre. The production module strand will require you to engage with increasingly demanding productions within genres such as: Pre-1950 Classical, Contemporary Broadway, Variety and Cabaret and Political Musical Theatre.

You will take part in fully realised productions as a key part of your BNU Musical Theatre education, often performing in large-scale productions. These are created in an intensive ‘timetable takeover style’ which mimics the experience of producing a show in a professional setting.

The course is a high-quality practical training designed to hone your performance skills and stimulate your creative thinking. You’ll focus on acting, singing, and dancing throughout the course. You’ll become a member of our repertory musical theatre company, producing both studio and theatre performances.

As well as this you will engage with industry professionals via a programme of workshops, seminars, lectures and performances. You will work collaboratively with a professional creative team to design, create and produce high quality productions. Experienced professional lecturers will tutor students in a range of acting, singing and dance styles, closely aligned to the industry’s constantly evolving sense of genre.

The course progression will develop those skills necessary for entry to the performing arts industry. These will include the knowledge and skills you need to manage a professional freelance creative career and develop promotional materials such as showreels, an online portfolio and self-taped auditions. You will also take part in our Graduate Showcase.

Upon graduating from this course you’ll be able to show you are a versatile performer, with valuable industry connections, experience and knowledge towards making your passion a career.

Year one
Core Modules
Foundations in Dance Technique
Development in Dance Techniques
Singing and Applied Voice
Actor Training Theory
Variety and Cabaret

Year two
Core Modules
Dance Progressions
Ensemble Singing
The Broadway Musical
The Political Musical

Year three
Core Modules
Advanced Dance Performance
Performance Showcase
Independent Project
The Classical Musical

Assessment is varied, catering for different learning styles and enabling students to develop a wide range of academic and performance skills. During your musical theatre classes you will attend tutor-led skills workshops which will enhance your skills in acting, text, ballet, jazz technique, singing and voice.

Learning is largely practical and involving a balance of technical and interpretative skills. Some modules involve group work and others will be focussed on the solo performance.

We're passionate about giving our students as many opportunities as possible so you’ll be able to work on several exciting projects. You’ll learn to develop your own response to open briefs, giving you independence and creative control over your work.

Throughout the course you’ll connect practical and theory work, showing an understanding of the key links between the two.

You’ll also have the opportunity to take part in workshops to develop practical and production skills, seminars and lectures, performances (some of which are formally assessed) where you will perform to an audience or be mediated (i.e. for camera) and study trips, research-driven essays, live presentations and a dissertation.