For aspiring musical theater actors, college is often the first step. If you’re hoping to be cast in a Broadway show someday, it’s important that you pick an undergraduate program tailored to your career goals. Here’s our list of some of the best musical theater programs in the U.S.
To start, decide whether you’re interested in earning a BFA or B.A. Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) programs are largely focused on the performing arts—about 75% of your coursework will relate to musical theater, leaving just 25% for studying other subjects.
“The BFA path is really only appropriate for someone who is 110% sure they want to major in that performing arts discipline,” says Susan Taub, an independent college counselor who specializes in advising applicants interested in performing arts programs.
With a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) track, on the other hand, only about a third of your courses will be tied to your musical theater major, making it possible to double major in a subject outside of the performing arts, if that’s something you’re interested in. According to Taub, the most important thing to remember is that “both paths can lead to success in life and in a career in the arts.”
Once you’ve decided which type of degree you want to apply for, here are a few things to consider when researching potential programs:
- Audition requirements
- Which acting techniques are taught
- Performance opportunities
- Availability of master classes and guest speakers
- Whether or not there’s a showcase before graduation
- How many graduates are working in the industry
- Alumni networking opportunities
Baldwin Wallace University (Berea, Ohio)
Skill building: The conservatory program at Baldwin Wallace (which announced a new artistic leadership team in 2025) provides disciplined training across acting, voice, and dance that’s grounded in systems and techniques like Stanislavsky, Meisner, and Alexander. For acting, it also focuses on acting for the camera, contemporary scene study, diction and dialect, and audition prep. In the dance realm, students learn ballet, jazz, tap, modern, and hip-hop. As far as vocal techniques, they study contemporary, commercial, golden-age musical theater, and pop/rock styles.
Performance opportunities: Baldwin Wallace produces four musicals per year, two of them in partnership with Cleveland-area professional theaters including Playhouse Square, the nation’s largest performing arts center outside of New York City, and Near West Theatre. Students in any class can audition for these musicals as well as the school’s full season of plays, dance productions, and operas, totaling more than 15 productions.
Postcollege prep: Each audition and rehearsal is run similar to Equity rules to prepare students for industry standards. A master class series allows students of all years to be seen by industry professionals (e.g., agents, managers, casting directors) who visit campus annually to offer critiques and advice. Summer stock companies regularly recruit students for seasonal contracts. Seniors perform in two days of showcases at New York’s New World Stages.
Degree offered: Bachelor of Music in Music Theatre
Summer programs: Baldwin Wallace Community Arts School offers a music theater camp for students in grades 5–8 and a conservatory-style intensive for grades 9–12.
Boston Conservatory at Berklee (Boston)
Skill building: Composed of Broadway veterans and working professionals, Boston Conservatory’s faculty trains students in a variety of styles in acting, dance, voice and speech, and singing, while welcoming guest artists to campus for master classes and workshops.
During students’ first and second years, they progress through a core curriculum designed to build essential skills, including rigorous training in acting, musical theater performance, dance, script analysis, piano, and music theory—in addition to receiving weekly private voice lessons. In their junior and senior years, students deepen and refine their craft with advanced study in areas like acting for the camera, pop/rock singing, or classical acting. The program emphasizes preparing students for the industry with audition techniques, classes on the business side of theater, and elective explorations in contemporary performance topics.
Performance opportunities: Every year, the conservatory puts on four mainstage productions and six faculty-directed studio shows. Additionally, the school mounts studio shows directed by seniors, a first-year revue, readings of new works, and dozens of musical theater and voice studio recitals. Students who take advantage of the school’s professional partnership with Boston’s renowned SpeakEasy Stage Company have the opportunity to perform in productions and work behind the scenes, helping them build their professional network before they graduate.
Postcollege prep: A strong emphasis is placed on networking from day one. Graduating seniors perform in an in-person and digital showcase, maximizing their exposure to casting agents and other industry professionals.
Degree offered: BFA in Theater: Musical Theater
Summer programs: The conservatory hosts intensives in dance, music, and theater—including dedicated musical theater programs for young performers (ages 12–14), acting students (ages 15–18), and dancers (ages 15–25).
Boston Conservatory at Berklee presents “Alice By Heart.” Credit: Eric Antoniou
Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh)
Skill building: Carnegie Mellon’s Acting/Music Theater conservatory program trains students in acting, voice and speech, and movement, as well as advanced singing, dance, and musical theater styles and skills. The school offers a study abroad program for juniors and seniors in partnership with conservatories in the U.K., Australia, Spain, and Italy, including the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Sydney’s National Institute of Dramatic Art.
Performance opportunities: Students perform in mainstage productions during their junior and senior years. Freshmen and sophomores can participate in performances for the annual Playground Festival, which features student-created work. Through its newly launched Center for New Work, the School of Drama partners with established organizations such as the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, where students often perform during the summer, and the City Theatre Company, which specializes in productions of new plays. Students have also worked with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, performing in concert stagings of musicals.
Postcollege prep: In the senior showcase, graduating students perform monologues and songs for casting directors, agents, and managers. Showcases are held in NYC, L.A., and Pittsburgh. The school prepares individual showcase profiles and filmed materials for students, which are sent to industry contacts.
Degree offered: BFA in Drama: Musical Theater
Summer programs: The School of Drama provides high school students an introduction to conservatory training while preparing them for the undergraduate audition process in its pre-college drama program; participants choose to focus on acting, music theater, or design/production.
Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama | “Titanic the Musical.” Credit: Louis Stein
Elon University (Elon, N.C.)
Skill building: Students at Elon are able to take courses in a wide array of disciplines, including contemporary vocal techniques, music theory, musical theater literature, scene study, acting for the camera, and dance (ballet, jazz, modern, and tap). In junior and senior years, the curriculum provides space for elective and special-topic courses, allowing students to refine their skills in ways that align with their artistic identity and professional goals. The school offers master classes with visiting artists, individualized voice lessons across all four years of the program, and options to study abroad.
Performance opportunities: Each season includes two mainstage productions, a black box show, and a faculty-mentored, student-generated musical revue. Students can also audition for workshops, additional musical revues, dance performances, and student-run shows. On-campus auditions with professional theater companies help students secure summer work.
Postcollege prep: Seniors take a two-semester seminar that’s structured as a bridge between undergraduate training and the professional industry. The first semester focuses on topics like refining audition packages, polishing materials like headshots and reels, and insight into how the industry functions. The second semester serves as Elon’s Senior Casting Series, in which students are seen on campus by top agents and casting directors.
Degree offered: BFA in Music Theater
“Rent” | Elon University Credit: Tony Spielberg
Emerson College (Boston)
Skill building: According to the school’s website, participants in Emerson’s undergraduate musical theater program “hone their acting, singing, and dancing to become onstage storytellers and rising stars.” This includes training in movement for actors and advanced song interpretation, and a required first-year crew assignment on a production.
Performance opportunities: Emerson Stage, the production arm of the Department of Performing Arts, puts on nine performances per season across five professional-grade theater spaces, offering “more than 120 opportunities for actors, 100 positions for design staff, 70 for production staff, and another 70 for theater management staff, and 30 artistic staff—all reserved exclusively for performing arts students.” There are also more than 30 student performance organizations including the Musical Theatre Society, Emerson Comedy Workshop, and Flawless Brown. Students can audition for summer positions in New York, New England, and beyond.
Postcollege prep: The program holds two showcases annually—one in Boston during the spring and another in New York City in the fall—in which graduating seniors get the chance to perform in front of industry reps, directors, and alumni.
Degree offered: BFA in Musical Theater
Credit: Arthur Mansavage/Shutterstock
Ithaca College (Ithaca, N.Y.)
Skill building: Ithaca prides itself on its performance-oriented training program, designed to help students develop the skills, instincts, and passion needed for a musical theater career. Students dive right into training in dance, acting, and music—tackling scene study; voice and movement for the stage; jazz, ballet, and modern dance; and piano and musical theory education. During regular faculty evaluations, professors point out students’ strengths as well as areas of growth. Guest artists are brought to campus for workshops and master classes, and juniors have the opportunity to spend a semester abroad at the school’s London Center.
Performance opportunities: Students begin auditioning in their first year for Ithaca’s slate of shows, which typically includes two musicals, two to three plays, an opera, and a dance concert. There are opportunities to take part in new readings and workshops in conjunction with local professional theaters and writing teams. A student-run theater company allows performers to stretch their artistry by experimenting with playwriting, composing, directing, and producing.
Postcollege prep: During their junior year, students meet with casting directors, artistic directors, and agents on campus to workshop material. Seniors begin the transition into their careers with advanced preparation classes. Additionally, they travel to New York City for Field Studies, a weeklong trip in which students take part in panels and workshops with Ithaca alumni that include topics like auditioning and the business side of theater. Students perform for industry professionals in a senior showcase held both on campus and in New York during Field Studies week.
Degree offered: BFA in Musical Theater
Summer programs: High school students (ages 14+) can audition for the Ithaca College Summer Theatre Conservatory.
Credit: TW Farlow Media/Shutterstock
Marymount Manhattan College (New York City)
Skill building: The musical theater program combines conservatory-style training in acting, singing, and dancing with a liberal arts foundation. Students get practical tutoring right away: Freshman year comprises more than 12 hours of weekly studio instruction. Over the course of the program, performers learn acting essentials, including script analysis, rehearsal techniques, and scene study, as well as take dance classes five days a week and private voice lessons that teach vocal technique, vocal anatomy, and how to approach song study.
MMC, which is in the process of merging with Northeastern University, also offers master classes and unique electives like musical directing, cabaret performance, pop/rock performance, acting for the camera, performing Shakespeare, songwriting in the studio, and a course called “Actor, Role, Celebrity: The Haunted Body on the Musical Stage.”
Performance opportunities: Multiple musicals are produced on campus every season, as well as Studio Workshop productions at off-site venues in New York like the National Dance Institute and the York Theatre Company.
Postcollege prep: In advanced classes, pupils build audition portfolios that reflect their individual strengths and artistic identity. Regular meetings with agents and casting directors support seniors’ transition to the industry during their final semester. Two showcases are held for graduating students each spring, one in New York and a digital showcase sent out nationally.
Degree offered: BFA in Musical Theater
Summer programs: MMC’s Summer Academy invites high school sophomores and juniors (ages 16–18) to apply to its musical theater intensive.
New York University (New York City)
Skill building: The New Studio on Broadway at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts draws upon “the repertoire of the American musical, contemporary American plays, and the traditional classical canon to hone the actor’s instrument in all aspects of all three disciplines essential to be an actor in the musical theater: acting, singing, and dancing.”
Foundational courses include scene study, acting exercises, ballet and contemporary dance basics, and music theory. More advanced classes focus on the teachings of Anton Chekhov, the Greeks, and Molière, as well as analysis of the musicals of Oscar Hammerstein II and Stephen Sondheim.
Performance opportunities: In addition to scene-based classwork, students participate in a full-length performance project in their third and fourth years. These are typically composed of more challenging material, and may include world-premiere productions of works by students in the Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program.
The degree culminates in the “Vocal Book Preparation” course, which focuses on selecting and refining materials that highlight a student’s standout skills and musical taste, as well as music that they “genuinely love to sing.”
Postcollege prep: The program offers a class on acting in the digital age that covers establishing your online presence and navigating modern technology. The final year also includes a class taught by former talent agent and personal manager Brian O’Neil, the author of “Acting as a Business.”
Degree offered: BFA
Summer programs: Tisch offers a summer high school program for rising juniors and seniors. High school graduates can apply for summer drama studio intensives.
“Sweeney Todd- Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” presented by Tisch Drama Stage in the Iris Cantor Theatre. Credit: Justin Chauncey, JCP Images
Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.)
Skill building: This is the lone B.A. degree on this list; Northwestern allows second-year students in the School of Communication who are majoring in theater, dance, performance studies, or voice to audition for the music theater certificate program. Accepted students take intermediate and advanced voice classes, along with courses in music theater technique and musicianship, dance, and acting, building on their respective majors in order to “create a second area of specialization that is important to their development as musical theater artists.” The faculty includes Tony-winning actor KO, who leads workshops on topics such as critical analysis of the musical theater canon.
Performance opportunities: Each year, students have the chance to audition for the school’s seven mainstage productions, including plays, musicals, dance performances, and more. They can also perform in pieces directed by MFA students and faculty members, other student-led productions, and the Waa-Mu Show, an annual musical created and written by students.
Postcollege prep: Select acting and music theater students perform in a New York City showcase for an invited audience of talent agents and casting directors. The NU Faces Senior Showcase allows graduating seniors to perform on campus for industry professionals and other invited guests.
Degree offered: B.A. with a Musical Theater certificate
Summer programs: The School of Communication’s National High School Institute offers studies in theater arts—specifically performance, stage management and design/tech, or musical theater—for students entering their junior and senior years.
Credit: Tada Images/Shutterstock
Pace University (New York City)
Skill building: Housed within the university’s Sands College of Performing Arts, the musical theater program employs faculty members currently working in the industry, as well as artists-in-residence like Tony-winning composer Jeanine Tesori. Courses include acting for musical theater, acting for TV and film, scene study, musical theater history and repertoire, and audition technique. Students take one-on-one voice lessons and learn the fundamentals of ballet, jazz, tap, and theatrical dance.
Performance opportunities: The school produces three mainstage musicals per year, and musical theater students can audition for plays presented by the BFA Acting program. First-year students perform in a cabaret show called Hatched. Pace’s NYC locale is also a vital part of the student experience, and the school tries to accommodate students in solid academic standing who land gigs both onstage and onscreen.
Postcollege prep: Pace’s website states the program aims for students to graduate with a “holistic understanding of creative integrity and personal artistry, empowered to fulfill [their] creative aspirations.” That includes taking part in a showcase where seniors perform for industry professionals. Students also take a class on the business elements of the entertainment industry, which is currently taught by top NYC casting director Pat Goodwin of the Telsey Office.
Degree offered: BFA in Musical Theater
Credit: Andriy Blokhin/Shutterstock
Penn State University (State College, Pa.)
Skill building: Students at Penn are trained in acting, voice, and dance—including ballet, tap, jazz, and styles dating back to the 1890s. The program invites guest artists, including many Broadway professionals, to teach on campus through its master class series, and students take trips to New York City to connect further with the industry. The school’s Musical Theatre Wellness Center supports “the physical, mental, nutritional, and vocal well-being” of musical theater students through an on-site physical therapy clinic, access to counseling, and vocal cord imaging.
Performance opportunities: The department produces four musicals per year. There are also audition opportunities for plays, cabarets, and student-driven works. Each year, the school hosts a New Musicals Initiative in which professional writers meet the junior class and pen a musical inspired by these conversations. The following fall, the writers return with a first draft and, throughout the year, develop the show with the now-senior students. These students then get to perform at New York’s 54 Below showcasing what they’ve been working on.
Postcollege prep: The program helps students address practical concerns like creating a website, getting headshots, and writing a résumé. It also offers a “Business of the Business” course for first-semester seniors, and students participate in a three-camera video shoot to help build out their websites and social media pages. A senior showcase takes place every spring in NYC, plus a digital showcase to give students even more exposure, and an industry consultant helps students navigate post-showcase conversations with agents.
Degree offered: BFA in Musical Theater
Summer programs: High school sophomores and juniors can apply for Penn’s immersive STATE! Musical Theatre Summer Program.
Credit: JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock
Syracuse University (Syracuse, N.Y.)
Skill building: Syracuse’s conservatory program features a curriculum in performance—acting, singing, and dancing—as well as theater history and liberal arts. Juniors have the chance to study in London, and seniors can participate in the Tepper Semester program in New York City (named for its founder, Tony-winning producer Arielle Tepper Madover, an alum of the program).
Performance opportunities: Beginning in their second year, students can audition to perform in faculty-directed plays and musicals, student-directed films from students in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, and for roles in co-productions with Syracuse Stage. (Advanced musical theater students have the opportunity to audition for Syracuse Stage’s own productions, where they may also understudy the professional actors.) SU mounts a five-production mainstage season, including two musicals, and a few smaller studio projects.
Postcollege prep: In addition to a senior showcase, students take a full semester of audition technique in their third or fourth year (which includes an assortment of mock auditions). They can also take master classes with visiting artists and professionals to gain insights on transitioning into the industry.
Degree offered: BFA in Musical Theater
Summer programs: SU’s Office of Pre-College Programs offers a two-week on-campus summer program in musical theater for high school students and recent graduates.
Company members of The Syracuse University Department of Drama production of Bernarda Alba, Oct. 10 - 19, 2025. Credit: Mike Davis
University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati)
Skill building: The musical theater program in the university’s College-Conservatory of Music is the oldest in the United States. “At CCM we are in the business of turning out triple threats: talented young people who can sing, dance, and act with equal accomplishment,” the program’s website says. Vocal work incorporates private technique classes and musical theater coaching. Graduating students are well-versed in a variety of acting methods, from Uta Hagen, Michael Chekhov, Sanford Meisner, and more. Dance courses include ballet, jazz, tap, somatic practices (a focus on internal sensations during movement), and choreography.
Performance opportunities: The school stages multiple musicals, plus three workshop productions in the school’s black box theater. Each season features works from the golden age of musical theater, as well as contemporary productions and rock operas; students from any year are invited to audition.
Postcollege prep: The freshman showcase is a chance for incoming first-years to debut their talents; the senior showcase allows graduating students to perform for agents and casting directors in New York and Cincinnati. There are regular master classes taught by Broadway professionals, and cast members of national touring companies visit campus to speak about their experience in the business.
Degree offered: BFA in Musical Theater
Summer programs: The university’s Summer at CCM programs include musical theater camps for young performers (ages 6–12) and intensives for teens (grades 9–12).
Credit: Chad Robertson Media/Shutterstock
University of Florida (Gainesville, Fla.)
Skill building: UF’s musical theater department keeps its program small, only admitting six new students each year, allowing for what it calls “unparalleled individualized training.” That includes instruction from faculty actively working in the field, with required coursework in voice, acting, and dance, including classes specializing in Broadway and other musical theater choreography spanning from the mid-20th century to the present. Guest artists provide on-the-ground insight on working in the industry.
Performance opportunities: The university’s School of Theatre and Dance stages multiple shows a year, including mainstage musicals, black box plays, and dance performances. Students can take part in these opportunities starting in their first year.
Postcollege prep: The school also strives to help students build the “essential offstage skills that define a modern professional,” including audition technique, personal branding, financial literacy, and an understanding of the industry’s decision-makers. Graduating seniors perform a showcase in New York for agents, managers, and casting offices; a digital version is shared for even wider exposure.
Degree offered: BFA in Theater Performance (Musical Theater)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
Skill building: With conservatory-style rigor and the breadth of a major public research university, this program trains students to achieve at a high level in two of the three musical theater disciplines. Students also receive extensive instruction in music theory and the history of the craft, as well as one-on-one voice lessons.
Performance opportunities: The university mounts three mainstage productions each year, including one in collaboration with the nearby Encore Musical Theatre Company (students are also often cast in the company’s other productions throughout the season). A fourth slot alternates between a play and a New Works Festival production, where professional writing teams put on a five-week workshop presentation of a new musical they’re developing. Students can also audition for dozens of productions through student organizations such as MUSKET, Basement Arts, Rude Mechanicals, Blank Space Workshop, and Golden Theatre Company.
Postcollege prep: Casting directors, agents, directors, and professional alumni offer guidance to students as they prepare for the annual senior showcase in Ann Arbor and New York City.
Degree offered: BFA in Musical Theater
Summer programs: U-M’s MPulse Summer Performing Arts Institutes invite rising seniors (or rising juniors of exceptional ability and experience) to apply for its musical theater workshop.
University of Michigan presents “Cabaret” Robert Coelius
University of Oklahoma (Norman, Okla.)
Skill building: Distinguishing itself as “the only school of musical theater in the nation,” OU’s Weitzenhoffer School of Musical Theatre, part of the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts, offers a program that combines “conservatory-style training with a flagship state university experience.” Students benefit from classes in voice, ballet, tap, jazz, music theory, character study, and accents and dialects. There are also courses specifically for audition prep, covering everything from casting notices to résumés to assembling a portfolio of song selections, and principles for physical conditioning, designed to improve performers’ mind-body connection.
Performance opportunities: First-year students introduce themselves each year with a freshman showcase. The school offers numerous other performance opportunities including two mainstage musicals and a third off-campus “Downtown Series” musical.
Postcollege prep: The program offers master classes and opportunities for students to learn from guest artists across the industry. Seniors perform a showcase on campus before bringing their talents to New York City for Industry Week, where they spend time working with agents, casting offices, and other industry professionals.
Degree offered: BFA in Musical Theater Performance
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