America’s first musical theater program at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music is one of the nation’s most respected, typically ranked in the top-three training programs in the nation. Its alums often land on Broadway shortly after graduating. Getting a show so quickly is an accomplishment, but those who actually build successful careers are even more noteworthy. Lisa Howard is one of them.
A native of Akron, Ohio, Howard came to CCM in 1993. Her family supported her aspirations; only one high school teacher questioned her career plans. She’s proved that chemistry teacher wrong.
“When I was considering college, I didn’t know whether I wanted to study musical theater or voice,” Howard says. “So I auditioned for both at CCM.” During the voice tryout, she was asked if both programs accepted her, which would she choose? “Even though I was in a voice audition, I said, ‘Musical theater!’ So I kind of made up my mind then,” she says, laughing about her youthful audacity.
That was surely the right decision. She graduated in 1997 and has had a busy, two-decade career. On Thursday evening she’ll return to Cincinnati to receive CCM’s Musical Theatre Young Alumni Award, given to grads of the past two decades for outstanding professional achievement.
Howard has worked at prominent regional theaters including the St. Louis MUNY, Kansas City Starlight, the Olney Center, Goodspeed Opera House, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera and Barrington Stage Company. She toured nationwide in Les Misérables. On Broadway she’s performed in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, 9 to 5 and Lincoln Center’s revival of South Pacific. In particular, she originated the role of grown-up spelling champion Rona Lisa Peretti in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. A year ago she was in the Tony-nominated production of It Shoulda Been You and was featured during the national Tony broadcast. She’s also done TV (Ugly Betty) and film (she was the Irish witch Siobhan in the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II).
“I had amazing training at CCM,” Howard says. “I never experienced anything like it before going there. It was amazingly focused. You are totally immersed in the art and study of musical theater. It’s a concentrated program, very difficult and challenging. But I loved it. In this world of theater and musicals and arts entertainment, it’s very competitive and you have to give it your all. CCM prepared me for that.”
By her sophomore year, Howard was landing roles. During her four years at CCM she played everything from stodgy Aunt Eller in Oklahoma! and loopy Sara Jane Moore in Assassins to a lesbian physician in Falsettoland and the desperate, unloved Fosca in Passion. Near the end of her senior year, she headed to New York City for CCM’s musical theater showcase, an annual event that puts the musical theater seniors in front of producers, directors and casting agents. Howard landed her first agent right away.
“I wouldn’t have been able to come to New York and be successful without my CCM training,” she says. “It was a place for me to learn my craft, but also to grow up a little bit and to learn what it takes to actually do this, how to be prepared.”
But it takes a lot of work to truly succeed, and it seldom happens quickly. Like many young performers she had to wait tables, work as a hostess, hawk cosmetics and hand out show flyers. She even played Mrs. Claus at a shopping mall one holiday season.
“You have to be flexible,” she says. Still performing today, she has a life beyond theater, married with two young children and working as a “fit model,” helping fashion designers and clothing manufacturers see how various designs actually work on a real person.
During her visit to Cincinnati, she’s eager to see the changes at CCM, which has been considerably remodeled and improved since her time on campus. She’ll meet this year’s seniors and see the showcase they’re presenting as they prepare to take it to New York City next week. She’ll offer advice: “The more prepared you can be, the better,” she says. “If you get a script the night before an audition, you better work on it all night.” That’s the ethic and practice they’ve learned at CCM. Howard is living proof that it works.
CONTACT RICK PENDER: rpender@citybeat.com
This article appears in Mar 9-16, 2016.
