Welcome to the Los Angeles Musical Theater Studio (LAMTS).  Please feel free to explore the information below which discusses the guiding principles of the studio, as well as any information you may need before joining a course.

The studio’s aim is to instruct and promote successful musical theater performance.  In a class setting, we offer tools to develop the professional performer’s skill set.  We understand that each student has individual needs and there is no “rubber stamp” approach.  What instruction and feedback we offer, we tailor to each student’s individual strengths and needs. Students not only have the benefit of one-on-one instruction, but the range of commentary watching others’ work.

Our guiding principles of MT performance:

  1. Every musical theater song comes from a character with needs and a point of view. Understanding the who, what, why, when and where of any given song and its placement in the show from which it comes is foundational for an effective and affecting performance.
  1. A character sings a song for a reason. The performer must know what he/she hopes to accomplish in communicating the song’s message; to whom he/she is singing. This is touched on in point one, but here we go to practical manifestation; appropriate interpretive tactics are addressed.
  1. Personal Connection. A song must mean something to the actor singing it; it must come from a real place.  If acting is telling the truth, what the character is communicating must connect to the performer’s personal truth.
  1. The audience is a vital part of the performance equation; the reason we’re there in the first place. Connecting with them completes the circuit.

Courses are geared towards the professional actor and as such, we request that all students of The Lab be at least 18 years of age.  Students enrolling in “Basic” must be 15 years of age.  An instructor may suggest  a different track of classes for any given student, based upon an evaluation of their level of skill.  Although students are under no obligation to take a particular class track, our intent is to guide the student to the class most beneficial to him/her.

We do not teach voice, per se.  Our focus is on acting and presentation, regardless of vocal skills.  We can refer students to reliable professional voice teachers.

Our studio offers instruction in the art of musical theater performance.  Our classes provide one-on-one work with instruction tailored to the individuals’ needs.  The class setting gives students the benefit of observation as well as participation by working with an instructor and accompanist in a class setting.