NYMT/BYMT 2026

[doesanybodyhaveamap]

So with the big reveal of the 50th anniversary programme it feels like a good time to start the 2026 chat!

Here we go again 🥳🥳🥳

I actually watched the show a couple of times about 25 years ago! Once in Edinburgh at the festival and once in Taunton. From what I remember there was a very wide age range. As there are little (ragged!) children and lots of older ones playing the adults too. I remember I was very impressed by the piece at the time as an impressionable teenager…. I’m sure it will be a very special show this time around too.

Can anyone remind me… when we registered our DC for the first NYMT audition, did we have to give any confirmed dates we knew already they wouldn’t be available? I can’t remember… My DD is away on a school trip in April and the dates clash with one of the new musicals workshops (she has a casting call for those) but she’s available for the others. Wasn’t sure if I’d already made them aware of that or if they ask them at the recall or should I email and let them know?

Yes, we were asked for any dates they weren't available, so you probably did already tell them, but might be worth dropping them a line to confirm.

Any advice on parking near Mountview? We are off to first round audition tomorrow.

On Sundays you can park on the single yellow lines on Goldsmith Road.

Break a leg!

We sadly didn’t get NYMT this year, not even a workshop. Frustratingly no feedback, which would be so helpful, as DD seems to be top of her game, always gets the lead role in her school/local musical theatre groups, progressing through the West End Calling competition, trains with one of the top professional dance schools in the country, represented by one of the top agents for acting, so it would be really useful to know where she fell down.

Perhaps all for the best though, as I think the gentler ethos of BYMT is probably a better fit for her - we’re keeping all fingers and toes crossed!

So sorry your DD was disappointed after her NYMT audition. It's so brave to go and do something like that and it's extra tough when they feel it's gone well. However, she should have been offered something. If you're not invited to recalls you get the offer of a skills course. Do check the email again and if there is no mention of the skills course, I would get in touch with them.
I don't know about BYMT being 'gentler'. They have more shows, so it's arguably easier to get a place in one, but still they don't and can't take everyone, and have to send 'no thanks' emails to plenty of young people. I would say both companies strive to be kind, respectful, considerate of auditionees. Inevitably some young people have to be disappointed, even very talented ones. But I'd like to hope the news is worded kindly. It really doesn't mean they don't see talent. Every year NYMT can only recall around a quarter (at my best guess) of those they audition, and very good performers have to miss out - even those who have been in a show previously.

I would also add that on here it may seem as if most people get NYMT recalls, and therefore not getting one may feel extra tough. But this thread isn't representative of the general experience. A lot of parents here have young people who have previously taken part, so are the kind of young people who are likely to do well - not because any preference is given to previous participants, as everything goes on what they do on audition day, but just because getting in once is a good sign that you are of the standard, and after that it's more about suitability for show and roles. And other parents find their way here by googling because their DC has a recall and they want to know more. But there are also some whose DC get offered a skills course, and they take up the offer and have a wonderful time and learn loads, and then come back the following year and the DC's progress means they do get recalled.

It’s really hard when the result seems so different to other successes and the level your DC is working at elsewhere but casting is strange, and can come down to things like there is already someone like your DC with same vocal range and ability. So hope she doesn’t take personally and uses it as another notch to her armour. I think resilience and that metaphorical armour is most important to build at this stage. Good luck for Mountview. My DD has hers coming up soon. It’s a hectic year!

Yes, the wooden spoon of a skills course was offered, but isn’t that just a way for NYMT to raise extra funds for their productions and workshops?

It’s hard to imagine the skills course would be as high quality as the Italia Conti pre-vocational, Trinity Laban or other similar summer courses.

Plus there’s the public humiliation of all the staff and other DC on the skills course knowing DD failed her audition, which I don’t think she could bear.

@Biscuitsneeded that’s a really lovely post, but I think the reason a few DC attending the skills course are cast in productions the following year probably has more to do with the extra 12 months of singing, dance and acting lessons, lead roles in several more school/local shows and an extra year of maturity, rather than just attending a one week holiday course. Also, quite possibly, they were already “good enough”, but just not quite the right casting type for the shows that year.

After paying for a full day audition workshop and DD and I both travelling for 3 hours for her to attend, I would definitely hope to be repaid with a little feedback to help with future auditions. Even knowing which of the three areas she fell down in would be useful, or if it was just her height, body shape or not coming across as ultra confident in the audition room.

Yes, @HanD31, a rejection definitely builds resilience, experience and confidence, so we don’t regret her attending the audition. It would just be nice to get a little feedback so the day doesn’t seem almost entirely wasted.

hmmm, not sure I agree about the skills course. While it may be considered a ‘wooden spoon’ I’ve known several kids who have taken the opportunity and massively benefited from it. Both in terms of general progression and their advancement through NYMT.

For those of us who’ve been around a while, every year we see immense talent cut at each stage (6 time veteran here and twice my kid hasn’t made it through to recalls - they’re now in professional training). It’s a reflection of the huge talent pool that NYMT attracts and also the care they take in casting - you really do have to be right for one of the roles, not just generally ‘good enough’.

Disappointment is inevitable, and totally understandable. But it is part of the journey.

There's quite a lot to address there. You're obviously disappointed on your DD's behalf, which we can all understand and empathise with - you'll find the parents on this thread all know how brutal the performing arts can be, and are very supportive when things don't turn out as hoped.
However, if you choose to view the offer of a skills course as a wooden spoon, that's your prerogative, but as a 'veteran' parent of a performer who has had many successes and just as many rejections, I would caution against allowing your daughter to pick up on that attitude. Something that is highly valued and nurtured at NYMT (and in fact in the industry) is humility and respect for other performers. There may be other parents on this thread whose DC have accepted skills courses; talented DC, who for a multitude of reasons may not have secured a recall this year. The skills courses always get great feedback - hopefully a previous participant will come along and attest to this - they have fantastic creatives leading them and the DC almost always feel they have made lots of progress.

There's no reason to suspect the NYMT courses are less good than anything offered by the vocational schools, which any parent who needs childcare can dump their DC in for a week in the holidays regardless of whether the DC have any interest or aptitude! The DC on the NYMT courses bothered to audition, and had the courage and commitment to learn a song and perform it in public, so I'd be inclined to think they are serious about wanting to perform.

In no way would your DD be viewed as having 'failed' an audition. Everyone there would be in the same position, and sometimes DC get noticed at skills courses, helped with whatever may be holding them back, encouraged to audition again, and then the next year the outcome is a show.

Not getting recalled doesn't mean anybody is saying your DD isn't talented. From everything she's done it sounds like she is. But NYMT is auditioning all over the UK - lots of applicants will be the best singer in their school, or the lead in their local show, but the standard is high and they may be in a room with 20 other DC who are the stars of their local youth group. Possibly she just didn't quite sell herself on the day, or as you say, suffered a loss of confidence. With over 1000 DC auditioning, with the best will in the world, NYMT cannot offer individual feedback. If they did it for one child, they would then have to do it for everyone - can you imagine how long that would take them? They are a very small team. They look carefully at the scores and comments in each skill from the creatives on audition day to decide what the best offer for each individual is. Of course it's possible that occasionally they don't spot someone's potential. I have known very talented young people not get recalls from NYMT and also not get offers from BYMT. That is tough for those DC, but it's also part of life as a performer. If they are really passionate and committed they will find the resilience to come back and show their true talent the following year.

One last misconception to put to bed. NYMT may decide that someone is not right for this year's shows based on one of many reasons - it's not for me to attempt to know what they might be - but I want to say unequivocally that body shape would not be a factor. In my ten years as an NYMT parent I have seen DC of all shapes and sizes cast, and NYMT is refreshingly different from the West End audition processes where children get eliminated for being 2cm too tall, or not waiflike.

I'm glad you don't regret the day. Hopefully your DD enjoyed it even if she is sad about the outcome. Of course you don't have to accept the skills course offer, and if a mistake has been made and your DD's talent has not been seen, I can only encourage you to try again next year. They do notice repeat applicants.

Wishing your DD all the best for her BYMT audition. I hope she has a great time and nails it.

My DD auditioned last weekend, it was our first NYMT experience. She has not been recalled, but has booked a residential skills workshop in the summer. (We have dance commitments over Easter that had she got a production we would have done instead, but the skills workshop options mean she can do both.)

This thread has been really helpful for us as first timers. Thank you.
I thought other first timers might like to read our experience.

My DD (14) is, primarily, a dancer who sings. She is a strong dancer and a total MT nerd. She has always been a good singer but only in the last year has she gained in confidence. Acting experience is much less - school productions and a couple of LAMDA experiences when she was at primary school. We struggle to access acting - the local youth productions always have rehearsal clashes with dance and I am yet to find a drama tutor.

Going into the audition, we both felt her strong dance experiences were not enough for NYMT, and therefore we not expecting a recall but hopeful it might happen. She made a couple of new friends on the day, and both have been recalled; she has reflected on their performances (mainly in the dance workshop and the singing auditions) and felt whilst she was much stronger in dance, both friends were “singer-actors” and gave stronger singing performances (although one she felt wasn’t a stronger vocalist technically, but performed much better and was more confiddent), and she felt both had chosen songs that allowed for more acting whereas she has chosen a song that showcased her good vocal technique but perhaps had less scope for acting range. Both her friends got recalled for the “not dancey” shows. This is all still really valuable for us and my DD absolutely loved the experience of an NYMT audition.

We have booked a place on a residential skills workshop and she is really excited about this. Not sure anyone she met on the day has signed up - another girl isn’t interested in the skills workshop, so is auditioning for BYMT this weekend with no intention of doing anything other than a production. It would be nice to connect with some people ahead of residentials, but not sure if this is a done thing.

For us, this is the beginning of our NYMT journey. I don’t know if it will lead to recalls and productions, or just making lots of friends and doing training courses. As a parent, I would love to get some feedback, but this is her journey and hopefully the skills workshop will give her a chance to level up her weaker/less experienced disciplines. And have fun and find a tribe of like-minded MT nerds whilst she is at it!

What a lovely post. Your DD sounds great, and how nice that she made friends on the day too. You make a very valid point about the acting. NYMT really values acting - not just how you read a script, but the creativity, teamwork, playfulness and energy you bring to the acting workshop. Lots of auditionees find that a surprise if they are not used to it.
I hope your DD has a great time on the skills course and is inspired to audition again next year.

She loved the acting workshop, she far prefers the spontaneity of what NYMT did than preparing an audition monologue - she loved the movement aspect of the dance workshop too. She was really pleased they didn't look at any of the materials sent out before the audition, whilst she had take the time to do some prep she far prefers the 'in the moment creativity'. She was enjoying it so much, she never paid any attention to what the others were doing in that session.

The only negative she mentioned was she felt her little group were disadvantaged when one of the two auditionees she was put with disappeared for the majority of the time they were allocated to devise their scenario. I think my DD and the other person left waiting were both first timers and she said neither really quite knew what to do as time dragged on; so it might have been easier had she been with someone who had been through it before or someone who had the confidence to just make the call to crack on without the MIA auditionee. They didn't do nothing, they spent the time chatting but I think it was hard for them to commit to something whilst waiting for the third person to return. I suspect whilst it might have been taken into consideration, ultimately the two probably didn't demonstrate enough confidence or conviction. And this is probably where my DD's inexperience will have tripped her up. These things happen, and I'm hopeful the Skills Workshop will help build the experience and confidence to handle this random curveballs in the future.

These are all such lovely supportive posts. What a wonderful community!

@redgee I wonder if my DD is one of the friends you’ve mentioned! I’ll see if I can talk her round to thinking about the skills course as an intensive audition preparation course. I’ve just checked the website snd they do say that where participants have come through the audition process they use the notes from the audition to help tailor the work they do with them on the course. This would be very valuable for drama school and professional auditions, as well as for NYMT next year.

@Biscuitsneeded BYMT have a similar number auditioning, yet do manage to give brief feedback to every DC. The two organisations seem to be quite different in a variety of ways though, and this may just be something that NYMT doesn’t see as a priority.

My DD was at Wakefield; she has done summer intensives at Laine and Tring in the past, I would say they can be VERY mixed ability - esp for MT. For MT, Tring arranged by age and Laine was everyone together; she has also done a dance summer residential course at Tring and that was arranged into groups based on ballet exam grades.

We haven't registered for BYMT, although I'm half expecting her to ask me to check if she can register this evening when she gets home from CAT. At least for BYMT she doesn't need to audition to enrol on a skills camp but I think DD would rather book onto a summer intensive at one of the performing arts colleges she is considering for either 16 or 18 plus entry.

We are considering a few other places for additional summer schools - some MT courses are more singer-actor, others more balanced, and some like Laine will be more dance heavy. In light of the NYMT experience, we are leaning towards more courses that will help her bridge the gap in her skills, so something more singer-actor weighted, or equal triple threat rather than dance only.

Congratulations to everyone through for recalls and hugs to those that didn’t receive the news that they wanted - it’s tough but there are a lot of very talented children that audition every year and unfortunately a limited number of spaces.

We have bowed out of NYMT and BYMT auditions for this year as DD has applied for a musician camp which will be six weeks in the summer if she gets in. Very sad to miss out though as having been a performer at NYMT and BYMT and a musician at NYMT she thinks they are both fantastic and made so many great friendships.

Gosh, the "wooden spoon" of a skills course! My massive failure of a daughter 😁 auditioned for NYMT last year and "only" got a skills course, then later got asked if she wanted to do a specific new musical workshop (which she did!), which I can only guess is because someone dropped out and she impressed at the skills course.

This year she obviously has a year more experience, did 26 shoes of a panto season this winter for a professional production, has done a load more dance classes (she was originally much more of singer), started GCSE drama, auditioned again for NYMT and got a call back for the new musical workshops.

She had a great time on the skills course. There was no sense at all from staff or students that the students had "failed" the audition. I don't have any experience of other similar summer courses but it was pretty full on, there was a lot of teaching and some students clearly couldn't hack the pace /intensity (not DD 😁 <smug>), although it was also perfectly inclusive and supportive. The staff seemed extremely professional and experienced and good teachers

DD learnt a huge amount and I don't think because she was totally inadequate to start with. There were young people on the skills course who were better than her at some things and she was better than them at other aspects.

I agree with others that it's just a competitive thing and plenty of talented young people clearly don't get recalled. I am also sure they are looking for DC who are able to work as a group and don't think they are better than everyone else. I'm sure your DC would get a lot out of a skills course - it's a bit arrogant to see it as a wooden spoon TBH. Or maybe they could do a different summer course if you feel that would be better quality.

@wigeon a very similar experience to an extremely talented friend of ours! Impressed and then got invited to something else later in the year. Plus made amazing friends and learned loads…. Ultimately all of these opportunities are what you make of them. If you go in feeling like you’ve ‘failed’ and it’s a second rate opportunity then you probably won’t get the most out of it… over the years DC has done skills courses (before you had to audition to get into them!), full productions, been in the band, and taken part in every Christmas performance or special event they’ve been offered. Has had a very high quality training experience and got something special out every single one.

I’m a bit confused about your post.

I’m sure your daughter is lovely and very talented and it’s great that she enjoyed the skills course last year and it led on to a new musical workshop for her.

That doesn’t mean it’s the right thing for my own DD though, and I definitely see why she feels it’s a consolation prize for those not offered a production or new musical workshop, particularly as everyone who turns up for the auditions gets a place on a skills workshop, even if they’ve never even set foot on a stage before.

You mentioned that my DD seems arrogant, but in fact she’s extremely humble, a loyal teamplayer and universally praised for her work ethic. If I had to guess the reason she didn’t get a callback, it would actually be that she didn’t push herself forward at the audition, but instead let others take centre stage, expecting that her talent would shine through from wherever she was standing in the room, which could be misinterpreted as a lack of confidence.

It would be very helpful to confirm this so we could work on audition technique for next time, which is why a couple of lines of feedback would be so invaluable.

Did your DD explain what the audition was like because “letting others take centre stage” sounds like no audition (NYMT or BYMT) that my DD has ever been to. It’s a solo song, small groups for acting improv. and individual pieces and then group dancing. It is different every year for every one - my DD for NYMT was show/ skills workshop/ new musical and musician in the past three years.

I have no idea how your DD is and whether she is arrogant or not but I actually meant that your own post came over as rather arrogant. The "wooden spoon" comments, and assuming that she would experience "public humiliation" and everyone would be judging her as a "failure".

I'd be interested in views from others as to whether the NYMT courses are less high quality than other similar ones. I don't have any experience of the other ones. But from everything DD said it sounded very well done to me (but I'm not at an an expert).

Yes the skills courses are offered to everyone, but that must mean that the people who go on the skills courses are mix of those who weren't close to being offered a NMW or show, as well as those who were near misses, and also including (from reading this thread and other similar ones), DC who have been cast in a show in previous years!

I do agree that it's frustrating not to have feedback, my DD was obviously in that position last year. And to an extent, this year (why did they decide NMW not show). I'm also not sure whether DC who get cast are already at performing arts schools or have agents and do professional work (neither apply to DD). One other helpful thing about the skills course is that she got a lot more specific feedback...

Just out of interest - how do you survive long term if a no recall leads to such strong feelings and a sense of failure?

My DD was doing classical ballet that I think is more brutal for girls than MT, with constant rejections even for girls from RBS, with no feedback whatsoever, and it would be very hard psychologically if she took it personally.

I thought I would briefly contribute to share the experience of my DC who was incredibly lucky to be chosen for a show last year (ensemble). The leads AND ensemble are incredibly experienced DC’s, many were full time students from the top musical/drama based conservatoires and dance schools. All incredibly talented. Don’t forget the age range is up-to 24 years. So much exceptional talent. To even get to the next stage of casting is an amazing achievement. Also (and already mentioned by many), we can only guess what the creatives are looking for each year. We can only support our DC’s to try their very best and enjoy experience and continue to build the resilience they need for the industry. May I also take the opportunity to say, the parents on here are not only supportive, but offer fabulous advice based on their personal experience. It’s been invaluable to us.

Sorry - on reflection, I’ve missed the key point I intended to share! (May have been the prosecco..) Whether your DC attends a skills workshop, NMW or production, they have access to, gain the training, insight, support and become visible to MT industry renowned and active creatives and professionals. Alike the fabulous contributors on here, this is invaluable and difficult to compare to other seasonal MT training/experience options, until you have witnessed it. My DC wasn’t in professional training at the time of casting and there were other DC’s in his production that also weren’t and to echo the comments already made here previously, you can absolutely see why they were chosen. Watching the productions last year was probably the biggest eye opener for us - these young people are incredible; performers, musicians, tech teams etc etc. Their talent and what they produce with the support, coaching and guidance from the creatives, is off the charts! Anyway - I hope my comments make sense? I’ll get off my soap box now and grab a large, much needed cuppa! Sending lots of love to all the fabulous parents here that do so much to support their talented DC’s.