When Tony Mata, the UF musical theater director, first arrived on campus 30 years ago, the program supported just five students. Over the course of his tenure at the school, it’s grown to accept 24.
The Mexican-American performer first fell in love with musical theater when his local civic center in Laredo, Texas, performed “Oklahoma!”, and his admiration endured. He went on to study under Stephen Sondheim, meeting the prolific composer during his time at San Diego State University.
Mata took the first of many big risks to boost his career and asked the lyricist to answer a few questions for his thesis. From there, a mentor-mentee relationship emerged, which Mata still remembers fondly. Mata said Sondheim believed deeply in mentorship, and he could see Sondheim’s eyes water at the mention of him being a teacher.
“I remember asking him, ‘Why are you meeting with me? I'm nobody,’” Mata said. “And Sondheim said, ‘Because you are one of the people that will be the future of musical theater.’”
The 62-year-old director and UF musical theater professor began this future after Melissa Hart, the previous director and Broadway performer, resigned after half a decade of building the program. Mata said Hart believed the program needed his influence.
Over the next three decades, Mata cultivated the program to become what it is today — an intimate and personalized program that intertwines with the acting and dance programs at the university. Mata admitted the funding was limited at first, but he wanted to see what he could do.
For Mata’s first several years as director, he was the only member of the staff retained for the musical theater program. He said talented graduate students ran vocal lessons as the staff was built up, and as grateful as he is for those years, he’s glad to have Matt Morgan and Andrew Cao by his side now. The two additions, vocal coach Morgan and Broadway dance teacher Cao, have been instrumental to the program’s success.
Ianna Velazquez, a 20-year-old musical theater sophomore, said Morgan and Cao were a huge part of why she chose UF. She met Cao at a recruitment event when she was 14 through Roxy Performing Arts Studio, and her reasons for coming to UF grew from there. She sees the comparatively small size of the program as a benefit and said she feels she could’ve gotten lost at bigger schools like New York University or The Juilliard School.
“It's just easier to communicate exactly what I want out of the program, and it's just very flexible,” Velazquez said.
Velazquez said most schools have large cohorts that can be as many as 40 people, and she was uninterested in the possibility of falling through the cracks. At UF, she feels like she’s receiving the education best suited to her future.
Delaney Hagist, a 19-year-old UF musical theater freshman and Velazquez’s mentee, also finds the individualized nature of the program supports her needs. Hagist already performed in her first college performance in the fall as an ensemble member in a week-long run of “The Music Man.” Hagist said the small program size allows each student more opportunity, and even freshmen can score lead roles.
“You get a lot more eyes on you because it's a smaller program, so there's less people to look at,” Hagist said.
Although she does sometimes wonder if the program is competitive enough compared to other musical theater programs, Hagist said she is nevertheless grateful for the benefits that accompany its size, such as voice lessons with Matt Morgan. Included in the tuition price, these lessons are a selling point on their own.
Morgan chooses songs catered specifically to each student and presents them as suggestions for songs to learn for their “book,” a collection of pieces prepared for auditions. Hagist said Morgan has always chosen well for her voice and performance type, even finding a song well-suited to her and a duet partner.
Through the musical theater program, Hagist also has the opportunity to strengthen her dancing with dance professor Andrew Cao. Although she hasn’t enrolled in his courses yet, she said she’s excited the class teaches real Broadway choreography, and she knows the positive impact it will have on her education.
Cooper Lamontagne, a 19-year-old UF musical theater sophomore, said the program’s faculty was the reason he chose the school. If they weren’t here, he wouldn’t be here, he said.
The sophomore didn’t plan to pursue acting in college until late high school, and when he began receiving acceptances from universities, he realized it was a real possibility. Students’ acceptances to the program are personal, Lamontagne said. The program wants that specific student, and will strictly send out six offers. Lamontagne said he loved this personal aspect, and the relationship he cultivated with the professors encouraged him to study at UF.
“Another thing that I think makes this program so great is the energy all the teachers create,” Lamontagne said. “They’re the biggest factor of why I chose this school specifically.”
Contact Rachel Mish at rmisch@alligator.org. Follow her on X @mish_rache62827.
Rachel Mish is a junior English and business major and the Fall 2024 Food Reporter for The Avenue. In her free time, she enjoys playing pick-up basketball or sewing a gameday outfit.
