About the Musical Theater Specialization

The Ray Bolger Musical Theater program at UCLA does not have any one particular philosophical focus — rather, a series of technique and ideas are taught. The program's emphasis is in acting, with the goal of graduating actors who can also sing and dance.

Musical theater students are integrated into the acting specialization classes. The primary objective is for the actor to be able to find what works best for him/her or what works best for a particular role. Musical theater students may find themselves performing in Ibsen and Chekhov as well as Sondheim and Kotis.

The UCLA Theater program is not a training conservatory and is not for the student who is eager to begin working professionally right away. For those persons we recommend one of the acclaimed BFA conservatory training programs found across the country. The UCLA Theater program is for the student who sees him/herself as a scholar/artist — one who is eager to learn and wants a great university education from one of the world's major research institutions. Roughly half of the student's classes are in subjects other than theater. This education will prepare the graduate to be an informed citizen of an increasingly complex world, an original and critical thinker, as well as providing one of the best theater educations offered in the country.

The undergraduate musical theater specialization is a nine-quarter sequence of classes that begins in the fall quarter of the sophomore year. Junior transfer students enter in the fall quarter of their junior year and complete a total of 6 quarters. Each quarter consists of acting class, singing class, voice/speech class, and dance class.

Students admitted to the major in the musical theater specialization are not guaranteed a place in musical theater classes each quarter. All specialization classes require instructor consent to enroll. The faculty may elect to not continue a student in the specialization at any time. This could be due to poor performance or poor citizenship (excessive absences, not working up to the standards of the class, poor grades in the class, etc.). In this situation the student would still graduate with a degree in Theater (providing that s/he completes the degree requirements), but without a specialization.

Like all other theater undergraduate specializations, musical theater is not a "major." All undergraduates in the theater program are Theater majors and graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater.

Please note that students in the UCLA Theater department cannot transfer to UCLA's Film/Television/Digital Media department at any time during their four years here, nor can they change from their specialization into the acting or musical theater specializations.

All Theater undergraduate students (from any specialization) may audition for most departmental undergraduate productions.