With back to school season in full swing, hundreds of Broadway stars-to-be are gearing up for a year of studying the performing arts in the classroom. But outside of conventional university programs, there are other plentiful training opportunities and ways to find work.
Although a theatre degree can be useful, there are a multitude of successful stars who did not study the arts in a traditional university setting. Whether they were discovered at a young age, barriers like high tuition cost got in the way, or theatre school simply wasn't the right path, these artists are proof that passion, perseverance, and raw talent can shine just as brightly as formal education.
As part of Playbill's Back to School Week coverage, below, eight Broadway mainstays on how they made it without a theatre degree.
Carolee Carmello
Theatre favorite Carolee Carmello has had an action-packed few years. After playing back-to-back principal roles in 1776 and Bad Cinderella during the 2022–2023 Broadway season, she traveled to Washington, D.C. to play Liliane La Fleur in The Kennedy Center's Nine revival. At the end of this month, she'll embark on a "Great Adventure" across the country in the title role for the Kimberly Akimbo tour.
As for her training, Carmello says she learned on the job. With a college degree in Business Administration, she performed locally in upstate New York, then moved to NYC after college and pursued theatre in the city.
READ: Carolee Carmello Thought She Was Going to Retire. The Theatre Had Other Plans
"I soaked up everything I could from directors, musical directors, casting directors, other actors, choreographers, etc. and kept what worked for me from each experience," Carmello says. "I truly believe that there are many paths to a career in theatre and that good instincts are the most important thing to have. I would advise aspiring actors to study what they enjoy in school and their life experiences will make them more interesting on stage. If a degree is not possible for them, just start auditioning for any theatre that is accessible. Sometimes auditions can be great teachers, too!"
Vincent Jamal Hooper
Broadway's current Simba, Vincent Jamal Hooper, made his debut in The Lion King in September 2023, and has remained with the production ever since. The Texas native arrived on Broadway after starring in multiple companies of Hamilton around the world, plus performing in Michael R. Jackson's White Girl in Danger Off-Broadway. For Hooper, high school mentors and learning in the field helped him make it to the Main Stem.
"I attended college for one year, but the vast majority of my training and study was done independent of any formal educational institution," Hooper told Playbill in 2023. "It’s an ongoing process. Largely it consists of just remaining curious, asking questions, studying people, putting myself in a position to be challenged, etc...I’d love to take this opportunity to give credit to Kristie Copeland; she was my theatre teacher in high school—where this journey started for me—and, in addition to teaching me so much, was such a great example of how excellence is not a destination but a pursuit, that there is no upper limit to your 'best.'"
Cole Escola
Oh, Mary! creator and star Cole Escola grew up in Oregon, acting in local productions and creating YouTube videos. For the past 19 years after moving New York, they have performed in various theatre, sketch, variety, comedy, and cabaret, shows at venues like Dixon Place, Here Arts Center, Joe's Pub, and "any gay bar with a microphone."
READ: Camp and the Art of Being Cole Escola
"Even now while I'm acting on Broadway, I find myself saying things like, 'Well I'm not REALLY an actor, I'm more of a writer. I'm stupid. I'm an idiot.' Why do I do that? Because I'm insecure and I still feel like a fraud for not having any formal training," Escola says. "Not because I didn't want to but because I couldn't afford it...I'm finally, like as of right now, realizing that all of this counts as training. How could it not? If you really care about what you're doing and you're eager to improve, of course you're going to learn and grow. School gives a nice linear structure with a singular, clear goal (graduation!) and a syllabus. Without those, it's hard to see that the things you're doing are leading somewhere, but they are, as long as you care about them."
Eva Noblezada
Tony nominee Eva Noblezada, and current star of The Great Gatsby, went from high school to the West End stage in a matter of months. Noblezada was discovered in 2013, when her high school performance as Ariel in Footloose carried her to the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, a.k.a. The Jimmy Awards.
Her finalist solo, a heart-wrenching rendition of "With You" from Ghost, caught the attention of casting director Tara Rubin. Rubin arranged for Noblezada to audition for the West End revival of Miss Saigon, and at just 17, Noblezada was cast as Kim. She would later bring the role to Broadway, and earn her first Tony nomination for her performance. In 2019, Noblezada originated the role of Eurydice in Hadestown on Broadway, which earned her another Tony nomination. And she hasn't slowed down since.
“[The Jimmy Awards were] kind of the best blur,” Noblezada told Playbill last year. “Experiencing the city, and getting to walk to where we were rehearsing every day through the city and just imagining, ‘This is what your life could be like, Eva, if we move to the city one day.’ It was really a week of the dreams that we all had being manifested.”
READ: Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada Are Putting Their Own Spin on The Great Gatsby
Jordan Tyson
Jordan Tyson, who currently stars as Younger Allie in The Notebook on Broadway, was once enrolled in Marymount Manhattan College's musical theatre program. When tuition got too expensive and Off-Broadway opportunities (like leading the cast of Gail Kriegel's Sweetee) came along, Tyson decided to find her training elsewhere.
"I just thought to myself, ‘Well, if this is what I'm trying to train to do, I might as well just try to hit the ground. And, you know, I can't afford to be here anymore anyway,'" Tyson told Playbill in a recent interview. "So I dropped out. And I vowed to myself that I would audition for multiple things every week. And that's what I did, I would go to all these calls. My classroom turned into readings, really, and I don't even know how I wound up in these rooms. But I just put myself out there, like on the Playbill website, looking at what calls are happening and just absorbing the more experienced actors—seeing what they were doing, and what worked when they did things, and also what I didn't think worked, and why. And I would try to do that myself.” In other words, where would this new Broadway star be without Playbill Job listings?
Once Tyson was cast in The Notebook, she says that became a learning experience of its own. "The fact that I got into the room with this piece and was able to watch actors like Maryann Plunkett, and watch Michael [Greif] and Schele [Williams] work...to me it was just like, constant classroom access that I otherwise don't know where I would have found it.”
Krystina Alabado
Mean Girls alum Krystina Alabado has built up an impressive list of credits, most recently starring in The Cape Playhouse's production of tick, tick... BOOM!, along with regional productions of Mystic Pizza and Sunday in the Park with George. She made her Broadway debut in American Idiot, and also originated the role of Vanden in American Psycho in 2016. For Alabado, the pursuit of a theatre degree was cut short by a national tour opportunity.
"I always say I went to the University of Spring Awakening," Alabado told Playbill in June. "I was going to ASU [Arizona State University] studying acting, and I went to an open call for the OG Spring Awakening tour in 2008. I ended up booking the first national tour, so I went on the tour as the swing for two years and then moved to NYC, and the rest is history. It was the best training I could have ever received—learning on the job was such a unique way to learn and get immersed in the industry. And being a swing made it even better!"
Maleah Joi Moon
2024 Best Actress Tony winner Maleah Joi Moon began her studies in Pace University's musical theatre program mid-pandemic. After semesters of online, hybrid, and/or socially distanced courses, Moon told the New York Times she left the university to focus on her health.
Moon was soon discovered by Buchwald Talent Agency. Then, after participating in the 2022 Disney Television Discovers: Talent Showcase, she had a management team, as well. After some workshops and auditions (including one for Six on Broadway), Moon's agent suggested she audition for Alicia Keys' biomusical Hell's Kitchen at Off-Broadway's Public Theater. Moon landed the starring role of Ali, making her Broadway debut with the production when it transferred, and subsequently earning her first Tony Award for her performance.
"There are many avenues to accomplishing your dreams ranging from traditional to nonconventional—your journey doesn’t have to look like anybody else’s," Moon says. "Be kind to yourself and stay focused, you’ll always end up where you’re supposed to be."
John Gallagher, Jr.
John Gallagher, Jr., whose Broadway roles include originating the role of Moritz in Spring Awakening, began his path to the performing arts by acting in community theatre productions in Wilmington, Delaware. A manager from Philadelphia who noticed Gallagher.'s talent started sending the actor to NYC for auditions, until he was eventually cast in Manhattan Theatre Club's Current Events.
Tony winner David Lindsay-Abaire saw Gallagher's performance in Current Events, and cast him in his 2001 play Kimberly Akimbo (two decades before the story became the Best Musical winner it is today). Gallagher Jr. moved to New York to take the role in the play's Off-Broadway run, where he met his agent and began working more regularly (including his Tony-winning performance in Spring Awakening). Gallagher will soon return to the stage as Mate in the upcoming Avett Brothers musical Swept Away.
“The industry has changed drastically since I started working," he says. "I haven’t much of a clue how the system operates for beginner actors these days. It seems the internet and the streaming boom of the last decade has generated more opportunities for young talent and has made it easier for naturally gifted and untrained performers to get noticed by casting directors. There is still so much to be said for pursuing proper training as a performer but it seems to be less and less of a necessity nowadays. For better or worse. There is no true right or wrong though. Deciding how to proceed in the chasing of one’s dreams will always be a very personal and singular decision.”
