Sometimes just seeing a Broadway performance isn’t enough, sometimes you truly need to experience the behind the scenes work and practice that goes into it to get the full effect.
Broadway Show Backdrop Dollarphotoclub Public-Domain
The Broadway Classroom program (Broadway.com) is considered to be the ‘leader in providing educational experiences for student groups visiting Broadway’, the experience composed of a series of interactive workshops designed to enhance your overall experience. The workshops follow the National Standards for Arts Education and help students of all ages and backgrounds become more engaged in theater, music, dance, and creative performance in general.
If you want your student group to fully experience Broadway, consider any of these popular workshops within the Broadway Classroom experience repertoire.
Most workshops are 90 minutes long, though be aware that the Open Call course is 2 hours and the Close Up experience is 1 hour. Each workshop is extremely reasonable in price per student, as well.
- Broadway 101 - The most popular workshop offered in this series is hands down Broadway 101, the workshop that teaches students the historical significance and general training process of a Broadway show. During this course students, and teachers, will go through common physical and vocal warm-ups used by the pros, participate in interactive focus and listening exercises, and even perform a small sample of what they learned. This is the perfect introduction to Broadway, theater, and creativity skills in young adults in relation to performance.
- Musical Theatre Song and Movement - In this workshop, your group will learn the staging, music, and choreography from any of a number of current Broadway musicals taking place. This is a great opportunity for your students to get a true feel for the hard work put into each and every scene and song.
- Step by Step - This workshop is designed to allow students to learn the choreography from a current show. You can also choose to simply focus on a particular dance style that would benefit and/or interest your group in particular.
- Making a Scene - Learn the process of creating a scene and character sketch and then receive constructive criticism on the development of the character and his or her acting choices.
- The Power of Me: The Anti-Bullying Workshop - This is a new workshop offered by the Broadway Classroom program that we believe is extremely important and useful to any group visiting, musically focused or not. In this workshop, your group will participate in theater activities within a ‘safe, invigorating, and positive environment’, allowing them to feel an overwhelming sense of acceptance and positivity.
There are several more workshop options as well, such as Acting Audition, Acting Shakespeare, Broadway Close Up, Business of the Business, Improvisation, Making Music, Open Call, Stage Combat, Stage Make-Up, The Art of the Quick Change, and Up Close and Personal.
There are also options for Girl Scouts attending courses to receive a patch in such areas as Team Building and Creativity.
Some current student-friendly Broadway shows to see while in NYC include the following:
- Wicked
- The Lion King
- School of Rock
- Aladdin
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Anastasia
- Dear Evan Hansen
- Come From Away
- Spongebob the Musical
- The Band's Visit
- A Bronx Tale
