Broadway World: Inside look at CCM Musical Theatre

Rising junior Cassie Maurer gives readers an inside look at UC College-Conservatory of Music's BFA Musical Theatre program in a series of blog posts on Broadway World. Maurer shares her experience in the program so far and interviews Musical Theatre Professor Katie Johannigman (BFA, '12) about her journey at CCM.

"The past two years have been nothing shy of crazy, wonderful and tough," writes Maurer, who is originally from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. "From getting acquianted to living in a big city by myself to the reckless storm that has been the COVID-19 crisis, I am excited to share with you my adventures at CCM and the incredible impacts the program has made on my life."

During her time at CCM, Maurer has performed in the college's productions of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 42nd Street and The Secret Garden. Her freshman year classes included acting, vocal coaching, jazz, ballet, suzuki, technical production, music theory, freshman showcase and private lessons in addition to rehearsals and performances. Sophomore year included tap, characterization and repertoire, chorale, dialects and vocal health — but in-person classes were interrupted by the pandemic. 

Maurer says she was given personal notes and feedback on all of the videos and work that she submitted during remote learning. Even though the circumstances were challenging, she feels she "grew significantly in those weeks of taking class via laptop."

The Musical Theatre program at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is the oldest in the country and was the first of its kind. A four-year bachelor of fine arts (BFA) program, it was used by the National Association of Schools of Theatre in formulating the guidelines for the accreditation of Musical Theatre programs nationwide.

The program provides professional conservatory training designed to help singers, dancers and actors become accomplished musical theatre performers. Students participate in a number of productions while in residence and create a freshman and a senior showcase, the latter functioning as their New York debut for agents and casting directors. In addition, students undertake courses in English, history, psychology, dramatic literature, social and ethical issues and the humanities.

CCM Musical Theatre is widely recognized for its "triple-threat" approach to training and many of its graduates are following careers as performers and creative artists in every facet of the entertainment industry. CCM Musical Theatre graduates are working on Broadway and throughout the nation in such productions as Anastasia, Hamilton, Waitress, Moulin Rouge, The Phantom of the Opera, The Book of Mormon, Pippin, Wicked, Jersey Boys, Les Misérables, Kinky Boots, Big Fish, Newsies and The Lion King. Students represent CCM in national and international touring productions, in dinner theatres and theme parks, on cruise ships, on television, in talent agencies, as producers and in many of the related entertainment fields.

The Musical Theatre program is part of a larger academic division known as TAPAA: Theatre Arts, Production and Arts Administration. At the time of its establishment in 1991, the Patricia A. Corbett Distinguished Chair of Musical Theatre at CCM was the only academic chair of its kind in the United States, the American equivalent of the Chair in Musical Theatre endowed by Cameron Macintosh in honor of Stephen Sondheim at Oxford one year later.

Learn more about CCM's BFA Musical Theatre program.

Feature image at top: CCM's fall 2019 production of 42nd Street, directed by Diane Lala. Photo/Mark Lyons.