Ages: 18+
Instructor: James Mablin
When: Thursdays May 2 – May 23. 2024 | 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Where: RCSA Campus at St. Mary’s 210 McHenry Ave, Crystal Lake

Tuition: $300 | RaueNOW Family Member: $225
Enrollment closes on April 23, 2024.

Scholarships & Financial Aid Available!

Join James Mablin, resident music director of Williams Street Rep and the Raue Center for the Arts for an eight-hour crash course in Musical Theatre! James has been on the faculty at the Yale School of Drama and Auburn University as well as being the head of the music department at Stagedoor Manor, the Performing Arts Training Center in Upstate New York. He has also professionally musically directed over a hundred musicals throughout the US and the UK. Whether you are new to musical theatre or have been treading the boards for years, this class is for you.

It will be a whirlwind tour of the important fundamentals of the craft that will help prepare you either for that next big audition or just to impress your family and friends. All experience levels are welcome, a love for all things musical theatre is required. Here’s a little taste of what to expect…

• How to audition confidently for musical theatre, whether auditioning for a big professional production or a local community show.
• How to navigate the art of successfully going from scene to song and back to scene again.
• Delve into the musical theatre canon. Music and vocal styles and general musical theatre history.
• Basic music theory…and more!

James Mablin hails from London, England. He has musically directed and/or played Keyboards in over a hundred shows. Favorites include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat (UK Tour), Whistle Down the Wind (UK Tour), High School Musical (World Premiere – Stagedoor Manor, NY), Caroline or Change (Cyrano’s Theatre Company, AK), Little Shop of Horrors (Thin Air Theatre Company, CO), The Toxic Avenger (Thin Air Theatre Company, CO) and Into the Woods (Slow Burn Theatre Company, FL).

As an educator, James ran the musical theatre program at a large college in London, was a professor & musical theatre specialist at The Yale School of Drama, and most recently on the Musical Theatre faculty at Auburn University as their resident Music Director. James was also the associate artistic director and head of the music department at Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center, named one of the top summer theatre programs in the world.

James has written the vocal arrangements and musically directed opening and closing numbers for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade including the Emmy award-winning song “Join Our Parade”. In January of 2024, James is thrilled to be stepping into the role of Resident Music Director for the Raue Center for the Arts.