Summer Course Profile: Curtain’s Up: Musical Theatre, with David Warrack

How has musical theatre evolved as an art form, and what does that mean for the performer?  Come explore musical theatre in “Curtain’s Up” with David Warrack at the 2011 Theatre Ontario Summer Theatre Intensive.

This course will examine the astonishing development of the Musical as an art form, using musical examples from over a century of Broadway and beyond.  The sessions will be participatory, and feature opportunities to sing material from the various eras, tracing the growth from Operetta to the multi-faceted scores of the 21st Century. With each day concentrating on a specific stylistic period.  Various composers will be highlighted, and participants will not only perform music from Broadway and beyond, but consider the different vocal approaches required to sell such a huge variety of musical material.

This course is directed at performers, writers, composers, directors, musical directors and producers who wish to expand their understanding where the musical has been, where it currently stands, and where it is going.  The intention would be that this level of discourse and participation would assist in the ongoing development of skills at the highest level which could then be taken back into the rehearsal hall and the theatre.

David Warrack has been musical director for over 250 productions on stage, radio, and television including Shenandoah on Broadway, Closer Than Ever (Dora Mavor Moore Award), the cross-Canada tour of Jacques Brel, Unforgettable: The Story of Nat King Cole in Vancouver and nine Christmas Pantomimes produced by Ross Petty at Toronto’s elegant Elgin Theatre. He was Musical Director/Arranger for a tribute to Oscar Hammerstein II at the Hummingbird Centre with the Mendelssohn Singers and from 2006 to 2009 he was the MD for the brand new Showcase Festival on Vancouver Island. More recently he MD’d Brubeck’s Oratorio Light In The Wilderness, performed by the celebrated Elora Festival Singers.  He toured and recorded with Maureen Forrester for the last fifteen years of her storied career.

The Theatre Ontario Summer Theatre Intensive runs from August 7 to 13 at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo.  Read about all of our Summer Courses on the Theatre Ontario website.