Musical theatre holiday workshops

[TimeToGoNuclear]

Hi,

I’m looking into holiday (Easter or summer) musical theatre workshops for my DD (11).

So far I’ve looked at NYMT & Sylvia Young.

Can anyone recommend good MT workshops taught by professional creatives that are preferably associated with the school?

thanks

BYMT is also worth looking at they normally have April residential courses too. Taught by industry professionals

Tring Park offer a summer musical theatre course in August with the option to board or be a day pupil

Ah yes, Tring park isn’t too far for us.

I've also just been sent some info by West End Stage. Has anyone got any experience of these guys? It’s quite a bit more expensive than the others, and says the children are put in 4 bed apartments with their own age group. You can choose catered or not catered - I’m assuming someone stays with the younger ones and cooks for them?? Sounds a bit different to the canteen setup I’d imagined at Tring Park, Sylvia Young or NYMT!

My older daughter loved the BYMT one - did a summer course for a week. Learned loads, danced like crazy (not a dancer but they were very encouraging) and made some great new friends.

@TimeToGoNuclear I'm in a similar position to you. DD has auditioned this year for the first time for BYMT and loved the audition, now waiting to hear back. West End is her back up plan if they still have residential spaces by the time we hear from BYMT.

For us WE looks like the best option, we don't live close enough to do anything non residential and some of the residential options were uncharitable unsupervised which is fine for older kids but she's isn't yet one of those!

*unsupervised. Uncharitable was an entirely random insertion from my phone 🤷‍♀️

My child has loved PQA which is in lots of towns

Hi
Has she any interest in perusing Musical Theatre as a career?
if so, I recommend attending a summer camp rehearsal run by the 3rd level MT colleges:

Bird, Laine, Performers, Italia Conti, etc
My DD attended Tring summer intensive for 2 years and loved it!!

But Tring only caters to post GCSEs and not post A levels.

My DD did Easter course at Bird and loved it.

Vote for NYMT. Excellent pastoral care, great food, fun creatives etc.

My DDs with no aspirations to do MT for anything but fun did 1 week workshops in the summer with Stagecoach for a number of years that they always enjoyed. Non residential.

thanks everyone, I’ve also seen the Brit school do a summer school in Croydon which looks great, two streams - one creative and one performance led , but once again not residential so getting there every day will be an issue 😏

We do sound in similar positions, my DD will audition next year but probably just for fun as she is very tall and so unlikely to get a child role, but too young for the adult/lead roles. Have you looked into what supervision is offered by WE to the younger children in the evenings and overnight? There isn’t much info on the website. I’m not even sure how they eat 😬 I mean she can do soup and beans on toast and a mean super noodle, but at 11 I’m not sure about her ability to make 3 solid meals a day for a week 🤣

thanks to those suggestions for PQA and stagecoach, she does already attend weekly musical theatre classes for about 7 hours a week, plus singing and ballet lessons - she’s interested in looking into something run by profession west end creatives or theatre school creatives to compliment this and broaden her experience

She’d love to do it professionally! She’s unfortunately in a bit of a no man’s land at the moment with her age and height so she’s trying to get as much industry experience as she can (she’s resigned herself to spending a few years in the ensemble and getting minor roles as her theatre group tends to give the leads to 15/16 yr olds)

residential courses look like the way forward unless im willing to get us a hotel near to the course and then my other daughter will have to come too 😬

thanks for these other suggestions, I’ll take a look.

At Tring upper school, students study their A-levels alongside the vocational training.

@TimeToGoNuclear there is no rush at 11 my DD was Simba in year 6 musical and small parts in her musical theatre group.
At 15 she did BYMT production as ensemble and lead role in MY group.
At 17 she did BYMT again this time taking a lead role.
Now she is at Italia Conti on their MT degree course. She did do an MT vocational sixth form, but many of her friends did A levels.

That’s the timescale I’m looking at, personally I think it’s too much pressure at 11 /12 and she should enjoy the next few years, work on her technique and get ready for something bigger at 15/16, when hopefully her height won’t be such a problem.

For anyone who wants to do fun musical theatre (though some of the older children are pursuing it more seriously) Beauville Arts, in South West France, does excellent camps for a week in summer, with a public performance at the end. Taught in English. My DD did them every year from 8-18 (with the gap when Covid hit). Surprisingly high standard. Camping in summer (6 in a tent) with supervision.
beauvillearts.com/

Hi @TimeToGoNuclear I was doing the research to understand what parents think about us (ArtsEd) and other performance art schools and found your thread.

And it seems that our school has exactly what you are looking for. So if the location (West London, Chiswick) is fine for you, you are most welcome to try our holiday courses in Musical Theatre from West End performers: Musical Theatre West End (11-15 yrs) - ArtsEd

Of course, I'm biased as I work here but our school is consistently rated as one of the best places to learn Musical Theatre and we have loads of happy parents and kids learning Musical Theatre and Drama through Holiday courses(non-residential), Day School & Sixth Form.

Best of luck to you and your talented kid!