Gianluca Mifsud, a local actor and musical theatre performer, recently graduated from Performance Preparation Academy (PPA) in Guildford, UK, with a first class Bachelor’s degree in Performance in Musical Theatre.
His studies consisted of a variety of classes that explored skills in dance through ballet, jazz and tap, along with singing and acting. The acting portion of his studies not only delved into plays, but also devised work and innovative approaches to acting within musical theatre. This training was put to practice by exploring and participating in a variety of musical theatre performances over his three years at the academy.
Training was put to practice by exploring and participating in a variety of musical theatre performances over his three years at the academy
Through some in-house projects, Mifsud was given the opportunity to discover new skills. During his second year, he was entrusted with the role of musical director for their swing project, Disney’s Aladdin. This allowed him to gain first-hand experience of how to teach vocals of a musical to a cast and bring it to a performance standard.
Later that year, due to the pandemic, classes shifted online, and so did their end-of-year musical. However, this gave Mifsud another opportunity to further his skills in video editing and sound mixing as he headed the editing team for Bring it On, a musical recorded by the students in their homes. This was later stitched together through editing, and premiered during an online private streaming event.
Mifsud’s final year at the PPA included a number of public performances. He played the roles of Joey in Saturday Night Fever, the jukebox musical based on the hit film, as well Hanschen in Spring Awakening, a coming-of-age rock musical based on the play by Frank Wedekind.
Through his thesis, Mifsud was able to delve in a passion project of his – to write a new, one-act musical and research how young artists can produce their own theatrical work, something which he is very determined about and hopes to produce soon in the local theatre scene.
Mifsud said: “All of this could not have been done without the incredible support I received from the Malta Arts Scholarship Scheme, which supported me financially and made my creative studies abroad possible”.