Andrew Lippa Brings Broadway to Urdang Academy

Broadway's award winning composer, Andrew Lippa, visited Urdang to lead a 2-day Vocal Master-class with the students. This culminated with an impressive performance of a harmony composed by the students and Andrew himself; Mr. Lippa commended the students;

'The students at Urdang are fiercely dedicated and trained for excellence. Watch out West End theatre, here they come!'

Andrew Lippa is a New York-based composer, lyricist and writer. Some of his most well renowned works are: the Tony-nominated music and lyrics for the Broadway musical 'The Addams Family'; music, lyrics and book of the Drama Desk Award winning musical 'The Wild Party'; the Grammy nominated musical arrangements and additional music on 'You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown', and the music and lyrics for the musical 'Big Fish', currently running on Broadway. Mr. Lippa recently played at the St James Theatre in London where he performed alongside Olivier award winner Jenna Russell, Wicked's Willemijn Verkaik and Les Mise?rables stars Tam Mutu and Carrie Hope Fletcher.

Urdang has come a long way from the conventional Ballet school, founded in 1970 by Leonie Urdang. Now with Solange Urdang at the helm, Urdang has moved firmly towards Musical Theatre, whilst keeping diversity as the founding ideology, so that today it is presenting as a leading Triple Threat performing arts college.

Urdang routinely reaches out to significant and accomplished industry West End professionals, regularly exposing their students to the latest thinking. Building key relationships is paramount to the academy ethos so that their students can continually learn and be inspired. The visit from Andrew Lippa was a fantastic opportunity for Urdang's students to be exposed to international high-end talent. This visit illustrates the headway Urdang academy is making as it builds relationships on an international level that will influence and motivate students to develop and evolve their talents on a wider scale.

Urdang's Managing Director, Solange Urdang comments:

"We have worked extremely hard over recent years to ensure that our students have maximum exposure to top industry professionals, gaining familiarity of the latest thinking and performance techniques. Our students are privileged to be routinely taught by current West End performers, professional choreographers and musical directors. Exposure to such a prominent figure and leading light on Broadway and musical theatre worldwide can only orient them further towards success, even on an international stage."

It is hardly surprising then, that with this ethos, presently 95% of Urdang students are successfully gaining employment in the industry within six months of graduating, many even securing West End leads including Les Miserables, Thriller! Live and Wicked. Urdang is proud to be able to develop a relationship with such an internationally inspiring professional as Andrew Lippa and is excited to continue that into the future.

Photo by Walter McBride

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