Enquire to study in the UK 
It is no surprise that London, a charismatic, cosmopolitan melting pot of culture, is ranked the best place in the world to be a student. This is especially true for musical theatre students. A walk or a tube ride away is the West End, filled with major shows and crowded with agents and industry professionals waiting to launch the next big star.
Perhaps what’s most fitting for this fantastic location is that it has its very own centre of excellence for musical theatre: Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.
The UK’s only conservatoire of music and contemporary dance, it boasts established undergraduate training and a newly launched postgraduate degree in Musical Theatre. . “Our programmes are designed with an industry-led focus, constructed to support the development of you as a unique and individual artist equipped with a career-ready portfolio of skills and work-based creative outputs to ensure you graduate with the expertise and networks to build a successful career,” says Victoria Stretton, Head of Musical Theatre.
The BA (Hons) Musical Theatre Performance gives you the perfect foundation, support and guidance to develop a successful career as a creative entrepreneur and artist (singer-actor-dancer) in the musical theatre industry. It won’t be about creating art for art’s sake; you will develop the ability to make and perform works that reflect, interrogate and enrich society.
The BA guides students on how to have confidence in their abilities and supports them in carrying out their artistic choices with conviction. As you train to become a practitioner in musical theatre, you will thrive as an independent learner, with the tools to recognise and realise your intellectual, creative and practical potential.
By the end of this three-year degree, you will have nurtured collaborative and leadership skills as well as understood the range of creative roles within musical theatre and your potential in each. Many graduates are now performers, creatives, educators and leaders within the industry. Nazarene Waite was the featured schoolgirl in Disney’s live-action “Aladdin,” among many other roles. Following a run in Heathers the Musical in the West End, May Tether took on the role of resident director on the production. Most recently she’s played Jessie in “Halls the Musical” which premiered at the Turbine Theatre in Battersea at the end of July.
You can see her in action competing for Trinity Laban’s Gold Medal 2021 here:
Performing isn’t their only strength. Thanks to Trinity Laban, they’re just as skilled in producing and directing new work. “Trinity Laban musical theatre students can be identified not only as highly skilled in the areas of traditional musical theatre pathways but also by the distinctive fostering of creative and entrepreneurial application that has facilitated such a wealth of differing career successes,” says Stretton.
Phoebe Noble is one such multi-faceted Trinity Laban graduate. She set up the 13 Months Theatre Company, creating, producing and presenting “Grumble Cat” with a group of peers. This theatre show for children was the highlight at Kidzfield at Glastonbury Festival 2023.
Grumble Cat came to fruition because Noble won the 2022 Innovation Award, part of the conservatoire’s strategy to help emerging artists develop their voices and innovate in the cultural industries. “The Innovation Award was such an important launching point for us and our show,” she says. “We were able to perform our show and continue to develop it and push for further opportunities.”
Trinity Laban graduates have landed key roles in Hamilton and Les Miserables. Source: Alex Brenner, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
Growing and thriving in a global, progressive community of like-minded students and staff has helped graduates land awe-inspiring roles. Matthew Elliot-Campbell and Hannah Qureshi have been cast in West End’s “Hamilton,” and Jessica Johns-Parsons plays the wig-maker in “Les Miserables.” Jochebel Ohene MacCarthy has taken to the stage numerous times, starring in “Hairspray” in the West End, “The Lion King” UK Tour, the international tours of “Ghost” and, most recently, “Tina The Musical.” Some students returned to the school as teachers, passing on valuable knowledge and experience. For instance, graduate Tom Self now teaches on the course and has a successful career as an actor, composer and musical director.
To continue shaping the future of musical theatre, Trinity Laban has launched the new MA Musical Theatre. This programme offers bespoke specialist training designed to push boundaries and redefine the genre. It is all about finding new perspectives. Learning from an experienced team of practitioners, artists and industry leaders, students are encouraged to have an interdisciplinary approach to experiment and reinvent the art form.
Applications for the new MA Musical Theatre are open. Source: Alex Brenner, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
For the MA Musical Theatre, there are three pathways: Musical Direction, Performance or Community Practice (the last one only opens in September 2025). Outside of developing vital artistic connections in the Trinity Laban community, what makes this programme unique is the focus on discovering how arts-based practice can instigate positive social change within communities and through developing new audiences. Applications for the 2024 intake are now open.
To kickstart your musical theatre journey at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, click here to apply now.
Follow Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
