WICKED to Launch Three-Week Intensive for Aspiring Music Directors With MUSE and MAESTRA

Two not-for-profit organizations promoting diversity in the music theatre industry will launch The MUSE/MAESTRA Music Director Experience with the Broadway blockbuster Wicked. MUSE (Musicians United for Social Equity), which is dedicated to cultivating racial equity in theatrical music departments by providing support to historically marginalized people of color, and MAESTRA, which provides support, visibility, and community for women and nonbinary people who make the music in the musical theater industry, will host a three-week intensive that will provide the recipient one-on-one access to Wicked’s music team, including shadowing them through rehearsals, auditions, and performance.

“MUSE and MAESTRA are dedicated to bringing racial equity to the music theater industry, as well as to supporting visibility to women and nonbinary musicians and music directors,” said Alex Lacamoire, MUSE Founding Member and Judy Yin-Chi Lee, Maestra’s Chief Program Officer, in a joint statement. “We are very excited to launch this initiative with Wicked, which will give one aspiring music director a hands-on, front row seat to the work that goes into keeping one of Broadway’s biggest hits in top musical form. Through this exposure, and upcoming experiences at other Broadway musicals, MUSE and MAESTRA aim to foster a more equitable industry and a pipeline for people of color, women, and nonbinary musicians to forge careers on Broadway.”

The Music Director Experience is open exclusively to NYC (Tri-State) area MUSE and MAESTRA Directory members who are emerging MDs looking to make a big leap in their MD journeys. This experience will be a 3-week intensive shadowing engagement in-person in New York City with a modest paid weekly stipend. Day- to-day duties will include observing cast rehearsals, observing performances from both the orchestra pit and the sound board, studying one of the keyboard books from the show, and gaining practical playing and conducting experience by working with the Music Director one on one. Some MD experience is necessary to be considered. The application deadline will be Monday, July 10th, 2023 11:59pm EDT. Selected musician(s) will be notified by Thursday, July 20th, 2023. To learn more and to submit your application, please click here. 

Future installments will provide similar opportunities with Hamilton, The Book of Mormon, The Lion King, Aladdin, and Moulin Rouge.

ABOUT MUSE

MUSE’s mission is to cultivate more racial equity in theatrical music departments by providing access, internships, mentorships, and support to historically marginalized people of color. MUSE aims to challenge systemic acts of exclusion and support musicians as we transition to a more diverse and inclusive environment for all. Through skill building workshops, networking events, and mentorship initiatives, MUSE is expanding opportunities for musicians of color throughout the United States. For more information on MUSE please visit https://museonline.org/

ABOUT MAESTRA

MAESTRA provides support, visibility, and community to the women and nonbinary people who make the music in the musical theater industry. Membership is made up of composers, music directors, orchestrators, arrangers, copyists, rehearsal pianists and other musicians who are an underrepresented minority in musical theater. The organization’s initiatives include monthly educational seminars, mentorship programs, technical skills workshops, networking events, and online resources and partnerships that aim to promote equality of opportunity and to address the many historical disadvantages and practices that have limited women and nonbinary composers and musicians in the musical theater. For more information on MAESTRA please visit https://maestramusic.org/

ABOUT Wicked

Currently the 4th longest-running production in Broadway history, Wicked looks at what happened in the Land of Oz…but from a different angle.  Long before Dorothy arrives, there is another young woman, born with emerald-green skin, who is smart, fiery, misunderstood, and possessing an extraordinary talent. When she meets a bubbly blonde who is exceptionally popular, their initial rivalry turns into the unlikeliest of friendships…until the world decides to call one “good,” and the other one “wicked.” 

Winner of over 100 international awards including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards, Wicked has been performed in over 100 cities in 16 countries around the world (U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan, Germany, Holland, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, The Philippines, Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland and China) and has thus far been translated into six languages: Japanese, German, Dutch, Spanish, Korean and Portuguese.WICKED has been seen by nearly 65 million people worldwide and has amassed over $5 billion in global sales.  

 With a thrilling score that includes the hits “Defying Gravity,” “Popular” and “For Good,” Wicked has been hailed by The New York Times as “the defining musical of the decade,” and by Time Magazine as “a magical Broadway musical with brains, heart, and courage.”  NBC Nightly News calls the hit musical “the most successful Broadway show ever.” 

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and a book by Winnie Holzman.  The production is directed by Tony Award winner Joe Mantello with musical staging by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento.  Wicked is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Stage Productions, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone.