MA in Musical Theatre

What you'll study You undertake an analytic case study of a musical or production, a placement project and dissertation (producers), and a creative project involving either book and lyrics or music for a short original musical (writers and composers). Producers share some classes with the MA in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy. You elect to follow one of two pathways on the programme – Producers , or Writers and Composers. In each case, the programme involves five separate modules: 1. Genre study – autumn and spring terms, both pathways This module runs for 20 weeks. It begins in autumn with an historical survey of the development of the American musical, from ‘Showboat’ (1927) to ‘Sweeney Todd’ (1979). It continues in the spring term with a look at new forms of musical theatre that have resulted from the fragmentation of the classic tradition of ‘book’ musicals, with the innovation of the ‘concept’ musical, the impact of rock musicals, the ‘invasion’ of Broadway by the British ‘megamusical’ and the subsequent globalisation of the market by Cameron Macintosh and Disney. 2. Case study – autumn and spring terms, both pathways This module involves a 15-week introduction to the different structural components (book, music, lyrics, choreography, scenography) and industrial factors (producers, marketing, technology, economics). determining the production of musicals today. The module is taught by a range of professional and academic experts with a variety of different perspectives on the subject. 3. Shared complementary/contextual module 1 – autumn term Students choose one of these modules: 4. Shared complementary/contextual module 2 - ‘Musical Theatre and Society’ 5. Creative project/dissertation – spring and summer terms, both pathways Assessment Genre study is assessed by two 3,000-word essays; the case study is assessed by means of a 4,000-word essay. The nature and form of creative projects, dissertations and research/placement projects are agreed with the Module Convenor during the programme. Download the programme specification for the 2018-19 intake. If you would like an earlier version of the programme specification, please contact the Quality Office. Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.