Musical Theatre

This course covers the essential technical aspects of musical theatre: singing, acting, dancing, directing and choreographing. You’ll explore the singing demands of different musical styles, including jazz, classical, pop and rock. You’ll also develop a strong understanding of the cultural and historical context of musical theatre, study the role of musical numbers within the overall structure of musical theatre, learn the tricks of directing, analyse how performers master different musical styles, and undertake a substantial research project on musical theatre subjects of interest.

You’ll also showcase your performance skills to the public as part of the course, in professional productions such as our recent run of performances of Sister Act in Windsor, and in our end of year show in Weston’s Playhouse Theatre.

Honours Top-ups are Level 6 qualifications that enable the conversion of a Foundation degree or equivalent into a full Honours degree.

Assessment is via a combination of practical exams and coursework, with an assessment breakdown of 50% practical exams and 50% coursework. There are no written exams on this course.

You'll be taught through a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops, performances, rehearsals and technical classes.

You’ll showcase your performance skills to the public as part of the course.

Our students have recently performed in our production of Sister Act at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, with the show seen by more than 1,000 members of the public over its week-long run. We also hold a spectacular end of year show each summer to give our students the chance to showcase their talents to theatre-lovers closer to home.

Graduates of this course have gained employment in areas including cruise ship entertainment and education, and have cast productions including Rent, USHERS and Yesterday – A Tribute to the Beatles.

Students who pass this course are eligible to apply for postgraduate study, such as Bath Spa's Master’s degrees in Classical Acting, Directing or Scriptwriting at Bath Spa University.

Graduates can also seek roles with touring theatre companies or other performance roles and, after further study, work in musical theatre education.

This course is taught in the recently-refurbished UCW Academy of Performing Arts in Weston-super-Mare, which has two 150m dance and movement studios with fully-sprung floors, a 120m rehearsal studio, a fully-equipped studio theatre with 60 seats, lecture and seminar rooms, IT suites and a student green room. Just across the road, our multimillion pound redevelopment of the Winter Gardens offers state-of-the-art learning facilities, extended opening hours and a new library.