The College welcomes a new group of students starting their MA Musical Theatre programme this week. It’s only day four and they’ve already had their first classes in jazz, tap, improvisation and voice.
Among the new students are Luke McCall, who has been awarded the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Scholarship, and Alice Jarvis who is the recipient of the Mackintosh Foundation award.
Luke, who studied music at Trinity College, Camarthen, is the first male student to be awarded the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation scholarship at RWCMD. “Getting this award is a real confidence boost. It was an amazing opportunity to sing in front of two of the biggest casting agents in the West End [David Grindrod for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Trevor Jackson for Cameron Mackintosh] – probably the hardest audition I’ll ever have to do – and I’ve already done it!”
Alice previously studied History of Art, Italian and English at Leicester University: “I didn’t tell anyone I was auditioning for the course as I didn’t expect to get on it. Being awarded the Mackintosh Foundation scholarship has really helped with my confidence. Everyone here is so good and everyone’s got an area that they really excel in, so the award has helped make me feel like a valid member of the class.”
“I went to see last year’s students’ final show, Rent, just before Christmas and I was a little intimidated by how fantastic they all were. I couldn’t see how I would ever get to that stage in just a year. But after this first week I can see how it happens – we’ve done so much already.”
And what was it like meeting the other students for the first time?
“We’ve already had a ‘showcase’ in front of the class to help break down barriers and get those initial nerves out of the way,” says Luke. “One of the students set up a Facebook group so we could link up before we came, so it didn’t feel like we were meeting total strangers on the first day. We’re going to be working together so closely for the next year and doing so much ensemble work, it’s really important for us to get to know and trust each other quickly so that we’re not worried about making mistakes within the group.”
The first chance to see the new students in a public performance will be in a cabaret production in July.
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