Literature on Triple/Quadruple threats

The wicked stage: is it enough to be a 'triple threat' performer? by Sarah Green, 2011.

Sarah Green is a musical theatre graduate and writer for 'A Young Theatre' which is an organisation committed to supporting and nurturing emerging creative talent in theatre and the arts, founded in 2009.

My last blog which discussed the article 'Musical Theatre Students Are Becoming Quadruple Threats'
By Maggie Gilroy. Discussed briefly the potential need for a fourth element but focused more on the other elements that are now taught in Colleges as well as the expected, singing, dancing and acting classes. This article prompted me to do some further research into whether a fourth element was required in the current industry, as if a fourth element is now required, this is something 'professional auditionee's' that have already graduated, need to know. 

This article begins by discussing how the term 'triple threat performer' is a well known key term in the industry. 

'maybe there is even the need to be a ‘quadruple threat performer’. The Lion King requires you to learn puppetry and even stilts for some animal characters, Starlight Express required performers to be on roller skates, and many shows now require you to be both an actor and a musician.' (Green 2011, pg 1)

This is a very important point as this quote highlights productions that are currently running on the West End or in Germany that require a fourth skill. From speaking with my sig, the three skills mentioned here (puppetry, stilts, skating) are not taught at any of the colleges they attended. 
These shows are not the only productions that require a fourth element. 'Avenue Q' also requires puppetry skills, 'Into the Heights' requires you to be able to rap, and the latest trend in Musical Theatre is to have an ensemble band, where the performers on stage also play instruments, rather than having a pit. For example they have just cast actor musicians for 'footloose' which is an all singing all dancing musical. 

'It wasn’t until I left uni that I realised that I could make a career out of doing my two loves – playing instruments and musical theatre. I saw it as a way into the industry.' (Katie Pritchards, 2011)

In this article Katie Pritchards, who has performed in numerous west end shows, gives her fourth element, playing an instrument, the credit as to how she got into the industry. I asked my sig whether they felt being a quadruple threat was important in the industry currently and I got unanimous feedback, with the following subjects definitely being required at colleges now;

'basic gymnastics needs to be seen in all colleges now - I know a few colleges have it - but there are so many times you are expected to have a 'trick' in auditions' - sig

'definitely an extra skills class, even if it just taught us to do something like a walk over' - sig 

'acro is definitely the way forward and needs to be taught everywhere' - sig 

'playing an instrument can also be a huge help now, and can be another way of getting your foot in the door- sig

'as a boy, I see guys at auditions get kept for the next round all the time based on whether they can trick or not - their dance technique is practically irrelevant - spinning on your head is 'in'' - sig

'I think all colleges should do one off courses in puppetry, just so you can put on your cv that you have experience in certain fields' - sig

This article as well as my sig feedback indicates to me that there are a multitude of subjects that could be added to drama school's curriculum to fit the current industry. This articule highlights the importance of playing an instrument, as well as touching on productions that require stilts, skating and puppetry. My sig have also pointed out the need for acro lessons and the importance of having a 'trick'.


Sarah green(2011) The wicked stage: is it enough to be a 'triple threat' performer?. Available: http://www.ayoungertheatre.com/the-wicked-stage-is-it-enough-to-be-a-triple-threat-performer/

Literature on being a multiple threat and changing the curriculum to meet the current market

Musical Theatre Students Are Becoming Quadruple Threats

Musical theatre artists are no longer just actors, writers, or singers, and schools are finding new ways to train them. By Maggie Gilroy.

Maggie Gilroy is a senior theatre arts and journalism major at Fredonia State University of New York with a passion for arts journalism. Hailing from Binghamton, New York, she is currently Editor in Chief of The Leader, Fredonia’s only student-run campus news publication as well as working as a freelance journalist. This publication was published on January 4th 2017 and therefore gives me an up to date commentary on the current pressure on schools to prepare their students for the industry. 

The article begins by depicting a far easier time in Musical Theatre, when you could just hop on a bus to New York, tap shoes in your case, and expect to be discovered. Maggie Gilroy then goes on to use quotes from an interview with the chairman of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music's Musical Theatre department. 

'Instead of encouraging students to follow this old script, programs are now aiming to prepare students for the current market, in which actors increasingly write their own shows, classically trained singers must master hip-hop dance breaks, and dancers are expected to act' Aubrey Burg - chairman of CCM's Musical Theatre Programme.

This is vitally important to my inquiry as this quote clearly shows that this school, which is one of the oldest Musical Theatre programs in America, adapts its curriculum to fit the current market. It also highlights the importance of mastering more than one skill. prior to reading this article, my SIG had also discussed how being an amazing singer or an amazing tapper isn't enough anymore and that in the current industry you need to be able to 'do it all'. 

'We know we have to prepare our students to be nimble and adapt to whatever the current market is,” says David Herendeen, the director of the opera and music theatre program at OCU and a former professor of O’Hara’s.'

I found this quote particularly interesting, as coming from a Musical Theatre course myself, I do not feel that I was prepared for the market to change, or in fact what 'the market' actually was. I discussed this with my SIG (all members having trained at different drama schools, have been fully briefed on my line of inquiry and are happy for quotes to be used) who gave me no end of feedback on the subject, all of which backed my original feelings on the matter. 

'College tries to prepare you but teachers haven't worked in the industry for ages so they are going off what the industry was like for them at the time they were in it' -sig

'College gives you the skills and makes you believe being talented is enough, it isn't.' -sig 

'The more guest teachers your college invite to teach the better, the guest teachers are the ones still in the industry, they are the ones that know what the current market is like'- sig 

There is clearly a conflict here, and although Burg is only referring to her particular College and not colleges in general, I would expect all leading drama colleges to prepare its students for a developing market, and my sigs response as well as my own feelings towards the mater suggest otherwise.

 A few weeks ago I bumped into my ballet teacher who taught me when I was training and has since moved to another leading performing arts college. We got chatting about my line of inquiry as she has taken similar steps to further her education whilst teaching and her opinion was that the majority or colleges definitely do keep an eye on the current market and introduce new classes to keep up, her most recent example being how prominent commercial dance now is in most schools. Even though this is clearly a development to meet demand for new shows such as 'Thriller' which are heavily commercial based, i'm not convinced that introducing a new class for a few hours a week is enough of a statement to make students realise the importance. 

'In addition to more extensive acting courses, Berg added training in the practicalities of the business, including audition techniques and, as Berg phrases it, the “business side of show business.” In short, the days of the wide-eyed graduate arriving in New York with just tap shoes and a suitcase are no longer.'

Audition technique is definitely something we were drilled on at College. When I asked my sig, the recent graduate members had all participated in audition technique classes whilst training on a weekly basis in their third year, and these classes included lessons on how to walk into the room, how to greet the panel, how to speak to the pianist, where to look when singing or dancing, what to wear depending on what you were auditioning for etc. 
The nature of the article though suggests that Audition technique class is a relatively new addition and the members of my sig who graduated more than ten years ago said this was not on the curriculum when they trained. 
'While each musical theatre program has a different approach, all agree on one thing: The fact that musical theatre is changing is not really a change at all.'

While at college we did extensive research into Musical Theatre history which I have touched on in a previous blog, and the developments and re-occurrences are clear. You only have to take a brief look at the history to know that Musical Theatre is constantly changing depending on whatever style is popular with audiences at the time. 

Maggie Gilroy (2017) Musical Theatre students are becoming quadruple threats. Available: http://www.americantheatre.org/2017/01/04/musical-theatre-students-are-becoming-quadruple-threats/

Oh no she didn't.

In my last blog I mentioned that one of the factors to a successful audition (which is not easily achievable, and was definitely not taught at college) is the power of the famous face. Its becoming exceedingly common for 'celebs' to appear in a lead role on Broadway or the West End to supposedly boost ticket sales.
My point to this, was that not only does casting a 'celebrity' face illegitimise the audition process, but also that it undermines training all together. The majority, although not all of the celebrities you see doing an eight week run in a leading role of the West End, have had no professional training in Musical Theatre.
After I touched on this in my last blog, I felt that maybe I had been somewhat harsh, to tarnish all celebrities as not belonging in the theatre is unfair, and then I went on Facebook, and the first thing that popped up was the following...

http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/21/mel-b-breaks-character-and-goes-all-scary-spice-during-performance-of-chicago-6464265/

Not only did Mel B (former spice girl) break character and start rapping some of her old girl group lyrics, she also instagramed a photo of herself in the production celebrating the fact she had completed an eight week run without cancelling a show.

What about the people that bought a ticket to watch the Musical 'Chicago' and couldn't care less that Mel B was playing the lead? What about the thousands of professionally trained actresses that would give their right arm for the part and have to watch their hard work and talent being overshadowed by celebrity stunts. Or maybe I should lighten up...

As always, I would love to hear some other opinions on this!

La La Land: a fair representation of the triple threat?

As part of my inquiry I am interested to discover whether the components of a successful musical theatre audition have changed and if so what they are. In my previous blog I discussed a brief history of musical theatre and the impact development has on the standard required from performers. This lead me to think of La La Land.

To me La La Land highlights a combination of factors very relevant to my Inquiry. I put the question 'what factors make a successful audition?' to my SIG who came back with the following points;

'Obviously it depends what job it is, but being a fabulous dancer, or a fabulous singer isn't really enough anymore, you need to be able to act, sing, dance, back flip and be incredibly good looking.'

'Being the best isn't enough, you have to be the right height, have the right colour hair'

'Being the best is sometimes irrelevant, i've been to auditions where they are clearly looking for someone who can fit in the costume of who ever they are taking over.'

'sometimes they aren't even looking for the best, sometimes they audition the best and then chose a famous face to play the role instead purely for bums on seats.'

'I think it still comes down to talent. Maybe not for everything, but if you are persistent and consistently perform well in auditions you will continue to get seen for productions and eventually will land a job.'

Are Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone triple threats? Yes they sing, dance and act in the film, but I know many people who can do all three to (in my opinion) A higher standard than the stars of this film. If you analyse this film, the choreography was basic, presumably because thats the level the leads were capable of, and the singing was weak. So why did they get the parts? For all the negative factors of a successful audition that my SIG discussed? All of which are out of our control? Why would they not cast unknowns that were true triple threats?
The same question relates to the theatre. It is becoming more and more common to cast the latest runner up of the X factor as the lead in a musical than to showcase an 'unknown'. But what many people who naively pay to see a celebrity face in a musical fail to realise, is that the majority of these celebrity faces, not all, have little to no training in theatre.

That being said, I actually loved this film. It's definitely a step in the right direction and Gosling and Stone are incredible actors which made me overlook the mediocre singing and dancing. Would I have felt the same if two unknowns were cast in the leading roles?

As always, would love your thoughts!

Musical Theatre History

How do qualified Musical Theatre Performers contend with ever changing auditioning procedures?

At college, one of the first lessons we were taught was to 'do your homework'. Know your genres, the directors, composers, choreographers, their unique styles, anyone who is similar to them. Never go into an audition without knowing everything there is to know about the production and the team involved.

 While researching the pressure on Auditionee's to meet current demands vocally and physically, I am intrigued to revisit the notes I made in my first year at college in regards to the history of musical theatre, to see if any patterns in genre emerge. Depicting the popular genre can in turn help to give you a clue as to what may be expected of you in an audition. For example, in the 50's a classical style of singing was popular, there would have been little or no need to be able to belt. Dance styles such as commercial weren't evident in Musical Theatre until the millennium, so again prior to the 00's, learning commercial at college would have been superfluous. 

1950's - 'Broadway' Music

• The King and I (1951) Rodgers and Hammerstein, Jerome Robbins
• My Fair Lady (1956) Lerner and Loewe
• Gypsy (1959) Stein and Sondheim 

1960's - started off with more of the same

• Hello Dolly (1964)
• Fiddler on the Roof (1964)

A shift then began to 'Rock' musicals

• Hair (1968)

1970's - Sondheim introduces musical concepts

• Company (1970)
• Follies (1971)
• A Little Night Music (1973)

rock musicals quickly fade and concept musicals peak with;

• A Chorus Line (1974)

1980's -  'Brit Hits' or the 'Mega Musical'

• Cats(1983)
• Les Miserables (1985) 
• Phantom Of The Opera (1986)
• Miss Saigon (1989)

1990's - The surge in the mega musicals are not cost efficient - musicals now require a lot of backing to succeed.

• Disney's 'The Lion King' (1994)
• Ragtime (1997)

2000's - initially relied heavily on rehashed works

• Footloose (1998 - west end 2006)
• Fosse (2001)
• Saturday Night Fever (2000)

Also saw a resurge in the 'American Musical'

• The Producers (2001)
• Hairspray (2002)

By looking at a brief history of musical theatre it is apparent to me that even though musicals are constantly evolving, the 'old classics' are still a prominent feature in the current industry. This in turn would mean that colleges are not out of date by continuing to teach the age old practices of classical singing, ballet, tap and jazz as these are at the root of the style of golden era musicals. With new movie musicals such as 'La La Land' making waves currently, this style is more prominent than ever. 'Throroughly Modern Millie' and '42nd Street' are also being revived, 'The Pajama Game' had a successful run in the West End last year, as did 'Funny girl'. 

Skype session with Paula

On Friday I attended the midday skype session with Megan Louch, Laura jayne and Victoria Vickers also present. We began by giving each other a brief description on our inquiry and explaining what we wish to research/discover.
We looked at the following diagram which can be seen in the module 3 handbook and discussed where we all were in the process;

I am currently in between stages 2 and 3, as I am constantly looking at literature and am in discussion with my participants to decide on times and dates for interviews. It was a comfort, having listened to the other girls in the session, to know that we were all currently working around the same stage.

We were shown some images that might depict how we feel as we begin to venture into module 3. This image represents my current feelings towards module three and also the previous modules. For me, the course so far has been a bit of a maze of all of my thoughts and ideas, and although the finish line isn't straight, I now feel that my direction is clearer and that I will make it through!

I discussed how my SIG had brought up some ideas that I hadn't thought of and that I needed to factor into my Inquiry, this being that, by searching for factors of the perfect audition, there are many factors that are out of our control. 

A key point that was made by Paula in this skype session was that we are looking for an UNDERSTANDING of the line of inquiry NOT an answer. 

Module 3 Inquiry Progress

While waiting for ethical approval and reading through the handbook and reader 7, I began to panic. How is it possible to write a detailed Inquiry outline, plan what you need to do for module 3 and still feel overwhelmed when it comes to actually putting your plans in to practice?

...and breathe...I have always found writing things down very therapeutic. There is something about putting my thoughts down on paper that seems to relieve me of the stresses of carrying thoughts/ideas /questions around with me and remembering them all! So I began to make some basic notes to remind myself of the purpose of my inquiry, as one thing I have found exceedingly difficult throughout this whole process is to stay on topic and not veer off down different paths.

Living as a professional Auditionee: How do qualified Musical Theatre Performers contend with ever changing auditioning procedures? 

What do I want to find out? 

I am interested to find out whether the components of a successful audition, taught whilst in training, have evolved and if so what they are.

I intend to compare the successful factors of an audition taught whilst in training to the factors professional auditionee's now consider to be vital, having ventured beyond training and into the industry. In essence, is training relevant to the current industry?

Initial Thoughts

• patterns in history - genres of musical theatre have developed through out time so it may be helpful for me as well as looking at literature to look at the history of musical theatre. The genre depicts the style of singing, style of dance and therefore can suggest what will be expected of you in an audition.
• speaking with my sig to gage a more detailed understanding of what other performers felt professional training did and didn't prepare them for. I can work off my own knowledge and also my interviewee's but I feel the broader the scope on this, the better.
• factors out of our control/factors college cannot prepare you for - look, agent etc
• do schools that offer professional training change their syllabus based on the current market? do they ever refresh the curriculum to suit the direction the industry is currently taking? If so how often?
• If college doesn't prepare you sufficiently, is taking dance class, singing lessons, after graduating, enough? Are there any audition masterclasses available? 
• developments in technology, showreels, voicereels, networking. Do any colleges have the resources to create showreels and voicereels before you leave college?

Although these initial thoughts feel like a bit of a jumble, they give me some direction in regards to future blogs are research that I can do along side my interviews and literature review.

As many of my fellow bapp students are performers I welcome feedback on my initial ramblings!