Getting involved in musical theatre by Mark Shenton (theatre critic, Sunday Express, and contributing editor, www.whatsonstage.com)
Don't underestimate the challenge: becoming a professional musical theatre performer is one of the hardest performance disciplines there is.
You don't believe it? Take it from a veteran. In the words of Elaine Paige, 'Having taken a stab at most things in this profession, whether it be drama, recording albums, singing in concerts, or performing in musicals, I think that musical theatre is probably the most difficult of all the different genres to pull off, because you've got to be able to do all of it. You've still got to tell the story, but the music is demanding you to stay in time and sing in tune.' And often, you have to do all of that and dance at the same time.
Not for nothing are performers who are equally adept at acting, singing and dancing known in the theatre business as 'triple threats' – able to succeed in each discipline and, most importantly, combine them into a seamless whole.
Ideally, you need to be terrific at everything – it's not enough to be a good dancer who can sing a bit, or a great singer who can move a little; you need to be able to do it all equally well. Some of these talents you may be born with; others are perhaps skills you will need to acquire by training. Remember that it's the combination of those skills – acting, singing and dancing – that makes a musical performer stand out.
And if theatre is about collaboration between different facets of your own abilities, it's also about collaboration with scores of other people, too, from fellow performers to those behind the scenes, such as directors, choreographers and designers.
Remind yourself that musical theatre is about teamwork, whether you're the star or in the chorus. Yes, you need to have an ego to want to get on stage in the first place, but to succeed there you should leave your ego at the stage door.
