singer-music-theatre-opera

Music Theatre and Opera program

Preparing outstanding music theatre and opera artists

The Music Theatre and Opera program in the School of Music, Dance & Theatre at Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts is committed to preparing outstanding music theatre and opera artists for professional careers in the 21st century.

Through expert individual and classroom instruction, the production of operas and musicals, student-led workshops, new work development, research opportunities, dynamic community engagement, and multiple professional collaborations, we foster a creative, student-centered environment that enables students to discover who they are as individuals and artists, at their own pace, in their own unique way, at the highest level.

Program highlights

Music Theatre and Opera degrees

music performance dma

Music Performance, DMA


students dancing on stage

Music Theatre, Minor


music-theatre-singers

Performance (Music Theatre), BMUS


performance voice singer

Performance (Voice), BMUS


singer singing

Performance (Voice, Music Theatre, Opera), MM


Gallery

New work development

Each year since 2017 we have worked with students, alumni and outside partners to develop new works at ASU. Most of these have gone on to additional professional workshops and world premieres.

“Babe: an Olympian Musical”
Music by Andrea Jill Higgins (ASU alum)
Book and lyrics by Caroline Gage
Additional performances at the National Women’s Music Festival

“Prism”
Music by Ellen Reid
Libretto by Roxie Perkins
Co-produced with Beth Morrison Projects (ASU alum)
World premiere at Los Angeles Opera and Prototype Festival
Pulitzer-Prize winner

“The Halloween Tree”
Music by Theo Popov
Libretto by Tony Asaro
Co-produced with American Lyric Theatre
Lawrence Edelson, Producing Artistic Director

“Til Death: A Musical”
Music by Alexander Tom (ASU alum)
Book and lyrics by Amanda Prahl (ASU alum)
Co-produced with School of Film, Dance and Theatre
Additional performances at the Phoenix Theatre Festival of New American Theatre

“Behold The Man”
Music by Paul Fowler
Libretto by Andrew Flack
Additional performances at Fort Worth Opera’s Frontiers Festival

“Marie Begins”
Music by Ellen Fishman Johnson
Libretto by Julia Curcio
Co-production with Tri-Cities Opera
Susan Ashbaker, Artistic Director
Additional performances at Tri-Cities Opera

“The Anxiety Project”
Music by Rachel Dean
Book by David Brush
Co-production with Phoenix Theatre Company
Additional performances at Phoenix Theatre Company

"Hometown to the World"
Composed by Laura Kaminsky
Libretto by Kimberly Reed
Additional performances with Santa Fe Opera and Hawaii Opera Theatre

Awards

2020 Street Scene by Kurt Weill and Langston Hughes     1st place in its category
2019 Bernstein's MASS     1st place in its category
2018 H.M.S. Pinafore by Gilbert and Sullivan     3rd place in its category
1998 Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck     1st place in its category
1997 L’enfant et les Sortilèges by Maurice Ravel     1st place in its category
1995 Albert Herring by Benjamin Britten     selected for final round
1994 The Medium by Gian Carlo Menotti     2nd place
1992 Beauty and the Beast by Stephen Oliver     2nd place
1990 Four Saints in Three Acts by Virgil Thomson     1st place
1989 Sadko by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov     2nd place
1987     Tartuffe by Kirke Mecham     3rd place
1986     Wilbur by Randall Shinn     2nd place
1985     The Cunning Little Vixen by Leos Janácek     1st place

 

2018 Best Overall Musical Production (A New Brain), Best Director of a Musical (A New Brain), Best Choreographer (A New Brain) Best Musical Direction (A New Brain), Actress in a Supporting Role (A New Brain)
2017 Best Overall Musical Production (The Magic Flute), Best Musical Direction (The Magic Flute), Best Director of a Musical (The Magic Flute), Actor in a Major Role in a Musical (The Magic Flute), Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical (The Magic Flute), Artistic Specialization in Media Design (The Magic Flute), Best Sound Design (The Magic Flute)
2016 Best Original Score, Best Original Script (Guadalupe: The Opera), Best Supporting Actress (The Drowsy Chaperone), Musical Direction (Company and The Drowsy Chaperone), Best Director (The Drowsy Chaperone)
2014 Actress in a Supporting Role (Cosi fan tutte)
2013 Best Overall Production (Die Fledermaus), Actress in a Supporting Role (Little Women), Musical Direction (Die Fledermaus)
2011 Actress in a Supporting Role (Secret Garden), Actor in a Supporting Role (Secret Garden), Guest Actor (Into the Woods)
2009 Don Pasquale won nine AriZoni Awards including Best Production of a Musical.
2003 A Chorus Line won eight AriZoni awards including Best Production of a Musical
2002 LOT productions were nominated for 16 awards and won five
2001 LOT productions were nominated for 37 awards and won nine including Best Production of a Musical for Flora, the Red Menace
2000 LOT productions were nominated for seven awards and won five.
1998 LOT productions were nominated for nine awards and won five including Best Production of a Musical for Tintypes.
1996 LOT productions won six awards including Best Production of a Musical for The Turn of the Screw by Benjamin Britten (the only opera production to be so recognized by the AriZoni awards).
1995 LOT productions won six awards including Best Production of a Musical for Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim.
2019 American Prize in Music Theatre Performance for Legally Blonde
2018 American Prize in Music Theatre Performance for Shrek the Musical
2016 American Prize in Musical Theatre Performance for Sondheim's Company

Alumni

Preparing outstanding music theatre and opera artists for professional careers in the 21st century.


Krystina Alabado
Broadway: American Idiot; National Tour: Evita, Spring Awakening, American Idiot

Angela Brower
Leading roles with Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera Chicago, Bayerische Staatsoper, Vienna State Opera, San Francisco Opera, Salzburg Festival

Caelan Creaser
National Tour: Ensemble and Elsa Understudy, Frozen

Carmel Dean
Music Director; Broadway: If/Then, Hands on a Harbody, American Idiot, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Bridget Everett
Comedian, cabaret artist, producer and star of HBO's "Somebody, Somewhere"

Daveda Karanas
Leading roles with Lyric Opera Chicago, San Francisco Opera

Beth Morrison
Producer, director, founder of Beth Morrison Projects, hailed by the Wall Street Journal as "a 21st-Century Diaghilev, known for her ability to assemble memorable collaborations among artists."

Tregoney Shepherd
Broadway: Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera; National Tours: Mary Poppins, Les Miserable, Wicked

 

Our alumni have appeared on Broadway and in National Tours of:

  • Aladdin
  • American Idiot
  • The Book of Mormon
  • Chicago
  • Company
  • Evita
  • Fiddler on the Roof
  • Frozen
  • In the Heights
  • Jekyll and Hyde
  • Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
  • Mary Poppins
  • Million Dollar Quartet
  • Motown
  • Phantom of the Opera
  • Scandalous
  • Spamalot
  • Spring Awakening
  • The Music Man
  • West Side Story
  • Wicked
  • 1776

Faculty

Staff