AMDA News

It’s a singer’s worst nightmare. In an AMDA New York classroom, a singer performs before their peers, the musical theatre instructor in the corner dissecting every note coming from their mouth. The music crescendos, the student belts the showstopping note — and cracks, their strained throat unable to cope with the stress placed upon it. Wincing, most onlookers choose to politely stare at their own music as the instructor corrects the mortified student. [more]

Training a machine gun platoon in the heart of Australia, AMDA stage combat instructor Charles Currier found himself face-to-face with executive producer Tom Hanks, who wished to speak to the military tech team about his vision for HBO’s Emmy-winning miniseries “The Pacific.” “If this doesn’t look like documentary footage shot in HD from 1945,” Hanks said, “I’m sending you all home. Your job is to make it look... [more]

After 13 years of Broadway musicals, national tours and world premieres, Caissie Levy has landed more dream roles than most actors score in a lifetime: She’s played Maureen (Rent), Penny Pingleton (Hairspray), Elphaba (Wicked), Sheila (Hair), Molly (Ghost the Musical), and Fantine in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables. When not performing some of the greatest female roles known to Broadway, Levy’s out teaching students at AMDA New York, doing voiceovers for countless commercials or performing songs in concert from her debut solo album With You. [more]

Sitting in AMDA’s studio with iced coffee in hand, Madeline Brewer recounts her nerve-wracking audition for Netflix mega-series “Orange is the New Black”: “I auditioned with shaking hands, staring directly into the camera—it was crazy. I left and called my mom and sobbed for 20 minutes: ‘I’m never doing that again. That was the worst audition of my life. I’m not cut out for this TV thing... I’m not doing it.’” [more]

Alexander Hamilton: 18th century politician, founding father, freestyle rapper. Wiping the dust off American history books, Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) created his new musical Hamilton, which transitioned from its sold-out Off-Broadway run to appear before Broadway audiences for the first time in August. The production stars AMDA alumni Christopher Jackson (George Washington) and Anthony Ramos (John Laurens/Philip Hamilton), both of whom originated their roles in the world premiere at New York City’s Public Theater. [more]

The Winter 2016 edition of AMDA Magazine is now available online! This issue features AMDA alumni who currently star in Broadway’s hit musical Hamilton. Merging hip-hop with history, Hamilton paints America’s founding figures in a modern light, offering audiences a new perspective on the men and women who... [more]

AMDA’s illustrious alumna Chandra Lee Schwartz has landed a starring role in a world premiere...again. [more]