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Musical Improv Level 4: Cinema Studies with Frank Spitznagel and Nikita Burdein

Apply Class Days: Wednesdays 6pm - 8pm (applications due 11/29 noon, notifications 12/4)
Begins: Dec 11, 2024
Ends: Feb 12, 2025
Price: $399

Check below to see the full schedule for each session, see if your class skips a week for a holiday, and check out the date and time of your class show(s).

Class Description

This course is for people who like movies but also love Musical Improv! Students will build on their previous training where they learned to improvise musicals and build a narrative. This advanced training will focus on performing more cinematic, genre-driven musicals. Inspired by the Movie form, students will work within Hollywood genres to create characters, plot points, special effects and stage pictures. And then for the best part -- this class will culminate in a 4-week run of class shows.

Application deadline: noon on Fri (11/29)
Notification Date: 12/4

Instructor: Frank Spitznagel

Frank Spitznagel is the Musical Director at Magnet Theater and a piano accompanist who frequently plays for such improv groups as I Eat Pandas, Veal, The Made-Up Musical, Gusto, and many others. He is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music, where he studied piano performance. His work can be heard on several studio recordings. Frank has composed for Comedy Central and the Aspen Comedy Festival. He accompanied Itzhak Perlman in an original jazz composition by Benny Golson at Lincoln Center. He also played the American premiere of The Hired Man Off-Broadway. He has been musical director for productions such as Nunsense (all incarnations), A Chorus Line, Chicago City Limits, and several original musicals.

Instructor: Nikita Burdein

Born in the USSR, Raised in Chicago, and now in NYC, Nikita is an improviser, filmmaker, and writer of film, tv, and theater.

He has trained at the Magnet Theater and Upright Citizens Brigade since 2011 and performs weekly with Magnet house teams Wonderland (musical improv), Bodywork (non-musical improv) and Premiere (musical improv). He also performs with UCBT Lloyd Team seventeen, indy darlings Fancy Man, and Karaoke based musical improv with Happy Karaoke Fun Time.

Full Session Schedule

Session Schedule*

Dec 11, 2024, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
at TBA
(at a studio space TBA in the vicinity of Chelsea, Manhattan)
Dec 18, 2024, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
at TBA
(at a studio space TBA in the vicinity of Chelsea, Manhattan)
Jan 8, 2025, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
at TBA
(at a studio space TBA in the vicinity of Chelsea, Manhattan)
Jan 15, 2025, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
at TBA
(at a studio space TBA in the vicinity of Chelsea, Manhattan)
Jan 22, 2025, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
at TBA
(at a studio space TBA in the vicinity of Chelsea, Manhattan)
Jan 29, 2025, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
at TBA
(at a studio space TBA in the vicinity of Chelsea, Manhattan)
Feb 5, 2025, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
at TBA
(at a studio space TBA in the vicinity of Chelsea, Manhattan)
Feb 12, 2025, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
at TBA
(at a studio space TBA in the vicinity of Chelsea, Manhattan)

Show Schedule*

Feb 8, 2025, 4:30 PM
at Magnet Theater
(254 W. 29th Street)
Feb 15, 2025, 6:00 PM
at Magnet Theater
(254 W. 29th Street)
Feb 22, 2025, 6:00 PM
at Magnet Theater
(254 W. 29th Street)
Mar 1, 2025, 6:00 PM
at Magnet Theater
(254 W. 29th Street)

_{*scheduling subject to change}