This text is excerpted from the CUA Announcements. Please refer to the Announcements for further information on academic policies and programs.

MUSICAL THEATRE

Applicants for this degree program must successfully complete proficiency auditions in voice, acting, and dance. Contact the school for details.

Once accepted into the degree program, musical theatre majors must audition for all university musical productions, including revue shows. All shows will be cast (principals and chorus) from these auditions.

Participation on one crew (set, costume, props, make-up, lighting, sound, house management and publicity, stage management) is required each academic year. A minimum of 50 hours per crew is required for completion.

All students, at the end of the sophomore year jury, will receive a comprehensive review of their progress to determine their acceptability for admission to junior-level musical theatre courses and voice lessons. At semester juries, students may be given written warnings if they are not developing as expected. Those not admitted to junior-level musical theatre courses, including voice lessons, may seek admission to another degree program in the music school or will be allowed to re-audition for the Musical Theater Program after completing additional study in deficient areas that would be specified in writing. Juniors and seniors may be required to repeat skill studies as warranted before graduation.

If it becomes necessary for a musical theatre major to take more than one set of voice lessons in a given semester, all lessons must be taken with the same instructor. Students are not permitted to study for credit with two different voice instructors in any given semester.

The student is normally required to complete eight semester hours of credit in dance, as listed below; however, final determination of dance requirements will depend on the student's background, and substitutions may be recommended by the adviser.

Students with extensive dance training may elect to fulfill their dance requirements at one of the consortium universities or an area professional dance school. Each course taken elsewhere (at least two times per week, minimum 40 hours per semester) will equal one of CUA's dance courses per semester. Only students with advanced level training may request to take dance elsewhere. This will be determined during the first week of the semester. The student must first go to the CUA dance class of choice (i.e., intermediate ballet, intermediate jazz or intermediate tap) with an Off Campus Dance Form (available in the music school Academic Records Office). The Off Campus Dance Form must be signed by the CUA dance instructor and the musical theatre adviser. The student will notify the instructor at the consortium institution or professional dance studio that he or she is taking the class in substitution for a one-credit class at CUA by presentation of the Off-Campus Dance Form. At the completion of the course, the dance instructor must sign the form certifying that the student has taken a minimum of 40 hours of dance instruction and has satisfactorily completed the class. The student must complete a curriculum exception sheet, signed by his or her musical theatre adviser and the dean, indicating a waiver of one dance credit. The student is required to file the Off-Campus Dance Form, with all appropriate signatures, in his or her academic file.

If the student wishes to take advanced level dance courses during the summer, he or she must get pre-approval of the chosen university or professional dance studio and the course from the musical theatre adviser and the dance teacher. The Off-Campus Dance Form must then be signed by the CUA dance teacher, the musical theatre adviser and, at the conclusion of the course, the dance instructor certifying that all the requirements were met.

In addition to tuition, students are required to pay a fee for each dance class taken at The Catholic University of America. Contact the music school for applicable fees.

Musical theatre majors are required to complete a minimum of two credits of class piano or secondary piano, as assigned. The adviser may approve secondary piano based upon the student's prior piano study. Students study at their own pace until target proficiencies are acquired and must pass a 10-minute proficiency examination, which must be taken at the end of the second semester of piano study. Should the student not pass the proficiency examination following the second semester of piano, he or she may take up to two more semesters of secondary piano in order to pass the proficiency examination, and will not be charged the elective (higher) lesson fee. After that, the student will have to pay the elective fee to continue with piano lessons. Students who enter with no piano background may require more than two semesters to attain the target proficiencies. After the proficiency examination is passed, students may elect further study in piano by advisement, paying the elective study private instruction fee.

Coaching is available for undergraduate musical theatre majors by request, for one semester hour of credit only and only in the semester in which the junior and senior recitals are scheduled. For this coaching, students pay the elective study private instruction fee.

The musical theatre student who, before the beginning of his/her Junior year, has (1) maintained at least a 3.000 cumulative GPA, (2) completed Harmony I-IV and ET/SS I-IV, and (3) registered for and completed one of the two required internships may elect to spend a spring semester abroad in the junior year to study theater in London. No music courses are offered in this study abroad program. Incoming Musical Theatre students who are placed in Fundamentals I and II may not be able to participate in the study abroad program unless they complete harmony and ear-training courses in summer sessions.

A minor in Drama is not permitted for students in the Musical Theatre degree program.