Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program Profiled

In UCLA’s new Ray Bolger Program in Musical Theater, students are seeing that their expression as performers can be multi-faceted and all encompassing, calling on different but complementary talents. In rigorous training taught by seasoned professionals, they are learning the triple threat: acting, singing and dancing. “We are creating a whole new program,” said Mel Shapiro, who headed the Carnegie Mellon theater department for 10 years before taking the helm of the UCLA acting program. “We have a wonderful faculty for acting, voice, speech and movement-people who know musical theater and understand lyric as narrative.” The program – launched in 1999 with a generous $2.5 million grant from the trusts of theater actors and dancers Gwen and Ray Bolger – has attracted well-known performers Nancy Dussault, Nick Gunn and Karen Morrow to teach singing and dance.

“All of us teaching are approaching it in the same way; that is part of the harmony,” said Gunn. “This is a skill-based program. Students will know how to do a double pirouette if asked; but it has to be informed emotionally as actors and actresses.” Many of the students have little dance experience, but their commitment and enthusiasm have already impressed their instructors. After a year in a freshman dance course, they have the vocabulary to execute a complete ballet class, Gunn said. “The study of classical dance is a long investment, there is so much craft and technique. But they don’t get discouraged, they come back fresh and grow. The prospect of working with the same group of students for four years is thrilling.”

Dussault is pleased to find students who share her passion for musical theater and performance. Reflecting on her own career, she has identified qualities and skills she would like the Bolger students to develop. “I want them to be extremely knowledgeable musically, confident in their ability to perform, to know what their gifts are,” she said. “But it is not enough to have a gift of a voice; you are really learning your craft and art, to use your body to communicate and learn what your own style is. The audience hears you but they see you more than hear you.” Dussalt foresees graduates of the program who will be prepared to welcome any challenge.

The Bolger program is unique on the West Coast. Though students enjoy many of the benefits of a conservatory education, at UCLA they also complete a full academic curriculum. Shapiro believes that without an academic education, a school runs the risk of training show business gypsies who are great in musicals but have never read a book. “The B.A. program produces students who not only meet the high demands of the profession but also have a well-rounded university education,” said Bill Ward, chair of the UCLA theater department. Dussault, who attended Northwestern University, concurs. “You need to think something while you are singing a song, to have another life
going on underneath it.”

The diversity of instruction in the School of Theater, Film and Television also enhances musical theater education. UCLA instructors teach Asian, Balinese, African American, Native American and Chicano theater. “In all of those areas we are dealing with cultures that are highly musical and dance oriented,” noted Michael Hackett, who teaches critical studies, directing and the history of musical theater. In addition, students can call on the university’s extensive Television and Film Archive. “What we have to offer is very rich. What is intriguing about UCLA is our faculty and the full archive,” Hackett observed. “We can see Judy Garland singing, look at archival sheet music, see original arrangements and listen to original discs, rhythms and tempos. That is very exciting,” he added.

Ed Sullivan hosted many musical theater performances, including a half-hour of “Camelot.” Newsreels show George Gershwin rehearsing, and home movies capture the Nicholas brothers’ auditions. “They will be wonderfully educated performers who can contribute in the real world,” Dussault said. “They will be ready.”

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Keywords

"mel shapiro" "bill ward" "michael hackett" 

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