Ty Lowrey performs the group number “Become” from the musical “Edges” at the dress rehearsal for CU Boulder’s BM/MT Freshman Theatre Lab Presentation on Thursday, Sep. 26, 2024. (Grace Ptak/CU Independent)
Freshman musical theater majors at the University of Colorado Boulder recently performed in their first collegiate showcase, the BM/MT (Bachelor of Music in Musical Theatre) Freshman Theatre Lab Presentation, on Sep. 27 and 29. Each of the 17 students in the production presented a self-composed monologue and a song from musical theater with piano accompaniment, and concluded each showing with a full-ensemble performance of “Become” from the musical “Edges,” complete with choreography.
The showcase, held in the College of Music’s Ensemble Hall, was free for the public to attend. It represented the new students’ growth in the program after just a few weeks’ time training with voice instructors, directors and studio professors at the collegiate level.
“We have all levels of experience and training that come in,” said Justin Johnson, the director of the showcase. “Other than this, some of them will have just done auditions by themselves, and not necessarily done a full song in front of a big audience. And it’s within the first month.”
Director Justin Johnson leads a group warmup at the dress rehearsal for CU Boulder’s BM/MT Freshman Theatre Lab Presentation on Thursday, Sep. 26, 2024. (Grace Ptak/CU Independent)
Kaya Leyendecker performs “The Music that Makes Me Dance” from the musical Funny Girl at the dress rehearsal for CU Boulder’s BM/MT Freshman Theatre Lab Presentation on Thursday, Sep. 26, 2024. (Grace Ptak/CU Independent)
Madi Duffey performs “Sing Happy” from the musical “Flora the Red Menace” at the dress rehearsal for CU Boulder’s BM/MT Freshman Theatre Lab Presentation on Thursday, Sep. 26, 2024. (Grace Ptak/CU Independent)
Besides being a showcase of skill development, this performance also presents the opportunity to peek behind the curtains of what life is like for a freshman in CU Boulder’s fledgling musical theater bachelor’s degree program, which has only existed since 2019. After five weeks of attending classes, these students have been thoroughly steeped in the department’s culture, customs and community. With so little public attention being devoted to the people behind the characters they portray onstage, it’s worth wondering whether these students feel supported in their transition from high school to college, and how they’re feeling about their prospects of remaining in the program and completing their degrees.
“It’s just such a different environment than my high school was,” said Cammy Garcia, who performed “Look at Me” from the musical “Violet” for the showcase. “All the classes are so different. Going through all of the changes and adapting to life at CU is really challenging.”
Cammy Garcia performs “Look at Me” from the musical “Violet” at the dress rehearsal for CU Boulder’s BM/MT Freshman Theatre Lab Presentation on Thursday, Sep. 26, 2024. (Grace Ptak/CU Independent)
Garcia wore a special necklace – a graduation gift from her high school voice teacher – to the showcase; a sentimental reminder of where she’d come from. In their monologues, several other performers alluded to retaining strong connections like this to the theater programs and directors they engaged with before leaving for college.
Riley Gardiner performs “What Baking Can Do” from the musical “Waitress” at the dress rehearsal for CU Boulder’s BM/MT Freshman Theatre Lab Presentation on Thursday, Sep. 26, 2024. (Grace Ptak/CU Independent)
Sean Murray performs “Stars” from the musical “Les Miserables” at the dress rehearsal for CU Boulder’s BM/MT Freshman Theatre Lab Presentation on Thursday, Sep. 26, 2024. Before performing the piece, Murray delivered a monologue about a past altercation between himself and a large man on a small bicycle that put a humorous twist on the otherwise serious selection. (Grace Ptak/CU Independent)
Ties like this can make finding stable footing in a new program difficult, as the connections formed during the first few weeks of college simply won’t be as deep as the years-long friendships these performers fostered with their peers in high school. The natural lack of a strong support system when starting out in a new environment can leave these students vulnerable to self-doubt.
“The biggest setback has just been being confident in who I am and trusting that I belong here,” said Catherine Davis, who performed “On the Steps of the Palace” from “Into the Woods” for the showcase. “It’s like impostor syndrome.”
Catherine Davis performs “On the Steps of the Palace” from the musical “Into the Woods” at the dress rehearsal for CU Boulder’s BM/MT Freshman Theatre Lab Presentation on Thursday, Sep. 26, 2024. Davis ended her performance barefoot as an allusion to Cinderella’s story in the musical, having given one shoe to the performer that preceded her in the showcase, and taking the other off mid-song to use as a prop. (Grace Ptak/CU Independent)
Leah Taylor performs “Me and the Sky” from the musical “Come from Away” at the dress rehearsal for CU Boulder’s BM/MT Freshman Theatre Lab Presentation on Thursday, Sep. 26, 2024. “At times it can be a little bit overwhelming,” Taylor said of being a musical theatre major, “but at the same time also really rewarding.” (Grace Ptak/CU Independent)
Johnson notes that the theater department is aware of the importance of that support system in these students’ lives, especially during the first few weeks of the college experience. Because of this, he said, exercises devoted to helping new students bond with each other are a regular practice in class.
“One of the goals of this semester is to create ensemble,” said Johnson. “I do an exercise where we literally just sit [in partners] and I ask them deep questions. They’re things like, what brings you the most joy? What is your biggest fear? What is your biggest regret? What is your biggest hope? Like, these questions that really make them have more than small talk with each other. It really helps bond them; they love doing that exercise.”
(From left to right) Riley Gardiner, Abby Shust, Director Justin Johnson, Catherine Davis, Kaya Leyendecker, Syvrina Renault and Troy Baker warm up during a movement exercise at the dress rehearsal for CU Boulder’s BM/MT Freshman Theatre Lab Presentation on Thursday, Sep. 26, 2024. (Grace Ptak/CU Independent)
These exercises do have a visible positive impact on the students’ relationships with each other – before the dress rehearsal began, the group of 17 freshmen gathered together in a cluster in front of the stage, where the future audience would soon be sitting, talking and laughing with each other. Each transition between performers onstage always included a fun exchange between the incoming and outgoing performer, from small dances and handshakes all the way to the exchange of a performer’s shoe. What’s more, nearly every student gave glowing reviews not only of their experiences in the theater program so far, but of their peers’ progress.
“These past few weeks, watching people do these songs for this showcase, I’ve been watching people grow and grow,” said Olivia Daly-Short, who performed “Pretty Funny” from “Dog Fight” for the showcase. “I know that they’re working on these songs in their voice lessons, and in studio we’re learning all these new techniques, and we’re getting direction from Justin. Everybody has improved and grown in the past few weeks, and I just think that’s really promising. It makes me very excited.”
Olivia Daly-Short performs the group number “Become” from the musical “Edges” at the dress rehearsal for CU Boulder’s BM/MT Freshman Theatre Lab Presentation on Thursday, Sep. 26, 2024. “I’ve never doubted it,” Daly-Short said of choosing to pursue musical theatre in college. “I’ve always just been like, ‘I’m doing this, and I love it,’ but I’ve never questioned why.” (Grace Ptak/CU Independent)
Syvrina Renault performs “I’m Not Afraid of Anything” from the musical “Songs for a New World” at the dress rehearsal for CU Boulder’s BM/MT Freshman Theatre Lab Presentation on Thursday, Sep. 26, 2024. (Grace Ptak/CU Independent)
Sam Kjelstrom performs “Stranger” from the musical “Big Fish” at the dress rehearsal for CU Boulder’s BM/MT Freshman Theatre Lab Presentation on Thursday, Sep. 26, 2024. (Grace Ptak/CU Independent)
From the window into these students’ lives that this showcase provides, it’s clear that the theater department places emphasis on creating a strong support system for its students, and encouraging their passion for the art form despite the inherently heavy workload of the program and the challenging transition into college.
“It’s ballsy, just [being in this program] in the first place, and I think they know that coming in,” said Johnson. “You get the people who are so passionate about it, but then they backpedal and change their minds, but typically, they’re pretty passionate already, and they know this is what they wanna do. And they know it’s not easy.”
Contact CU Independent Arts and Entertainment Editor Grace Ptak at Grace.Ptak@colorado.edu.
