Goodbye to a great course

Last Friday night I attended (as I do each year) the showcase graduation of the NIDA Diploma of Music Theatre course. It’s a hectic time of the year for me with graduations and showcases up the wazoo (I have never understood why all the acting academies send their students into the industry at the same time, it does them no favours!).

Last Friday night I attended (as I do each year) the showcase graduation of the NIDA Diploma of Music Theatre course. It’s a hectic time of the year for me with graduations and showcases up the wazoo (I have never understood why all the acting academies send their students into the industry at the same time, it does them no favours!).

I have a particular fondness for this course however, so going there is always a pleasure. Also I know the sort of terrific show person who runs the course, namely Avigail Herman, so it won’t go over an hour and if I have any questions about any of the students she will be totally direct in her praise (or not) of their abilities and commitment.

I mention this particularly, because , for reasons unknown, this is the last year of this terrific course that has been running for 12 years. Why in the world, a successful course that works and produces some of the hardest working and busiest young performers into the industry should be jettisoned by NIDA is not for me to comment too much about here.

There has been so much criticism of the decisions made by NIDA in the press and elsewhere lately and I don’t want to get too political. Suffice to say, they are replacing it by streaming their three year course into two after the first year and some of the students in that course will then be trained in music theatre. At least that’s the way I understand it. It all sounds a bit vague at the moment. The tragic and ridiculous thing is that NIDA seems to be letting Ms Herman, the brains and brawn behind the music theatre course, walk out. Avigail is a force of nature. She comes on like a firecracker and she is passionate about talent and training. She is also a performer in her own right and that makes a big positive difference in the way she handles the students.

Now, for again reasons unknown, this diploma course at NIDA has never attracted the industry attention that it should. It is viewed in some circles as a poor cousin compared to the three year degree offered by WAAPA. Avigail has tried long and hard to turn the course into a three year degree, but regardless of the problems associated with that, what she has turned out are some of the best young actors and performers in the business, and they all work!

I am currently representing 14 of her graduates from past years, they are some of my busiest clients. They are always working and their discipline which has been drilled long and hard into them by Avigail, constantly shines and gets them through tough auditions and performances. Many are now working in London, in the East and in America.

I don’t want to compare these students with students from WAAPA. I also have enormous fondness for the WAAPA grads and represent many of them and have written glowingly about that three year course in this site only some weeks ago.  What does annoy me, however, is that despite the NIDA name, this music theatre course still does not get the initial recogniton that is immediately afforded WAAPA grads. Yes, again, it is only a one year course, but the proof is in the pudding and it seems what Avigail packs into one year seems to be doing a lot of actors just fine in the industry.

Here are just a few names of people working in the industry from the NIDA course and doing very nicely thankyou: Shaun Rennie, Hayden Tee, Daniel Scott, Stevie Nicholson, Belinda Wollaston, Simon Brook McLahlan, Elise McCann, Emma Hawthorn, Lincoln Hall, Angela Scundi, Sophia Katos.  Every one of those names will be familiar to many in the industry, not just for musicals, but for plays, film and TV, the whole nine yards.  Of course, there are many more, but that is just a short pick of people who have made a mark in the industry to date. No names, no pack drill here, but one of the above is about to be announced as a major lead in a new musical, at least four of those have five or six leading credits to their name and one is currently working in America and has just been offered a leading role with one of the most prestigious companies in that country.

So it was a bittersweet night last Friday night, a very strong year I  might add, and presented with the usual panache by Avigail. I have already asked to see a good number of them for meetings, some of these kids will rise in the next few years.

The end of this course is nothing short of a crime and all I can say, is that NIDA better replace it with something out of this world, because I don’t think they know what they have lost. The industry needs short, sharp practical courses such as these and the industry needs Avigail Herman, let’s see her name atop a new course in this area very very soon.