<p>I don’t think any studio aims to prepare the students for chorus roles, and actually from what I’ve heard from friends who’ve been to both, the training at CAP is considerably more rigorous than that at Strasberg. But, again, that’s just the opinion of some people I know - not necessarily a fact.</p>
<p>As for 2nd and 3rd choice studios, they all have elements of voice and movement training alongside acting, but they don’t tend to have voice and dance classes as you would think of them in MT terms. That’s CAP (and Playwrights has an upper level track for MT but you couldn’t apply to that yet). I believe Playwrights do African dance and Stella Adler do Ballet (someone correct me if that’s wrong). I also know an MT voice teacher teaches singing at Strasberg and Meisner. Atlantic does Suzuki. ETW does a lot of movement but more improvisational and exploratory than a structured dance class. Same with the movement class at Meisner. Basically you will get a workout in all areas in any studio but not necessarily in MT style.
As Soozie said, there are great MT actors in all studios working on their acting training whilst doing MT things outside of class.
I’m a Meisner grad and wholeheartedly recommend it for excellence of training, challenging work, and supportive attentive class environment. But it is a very particular and challenging experience, so you’d really have to want to be there in order to put yourself through it. It’s maybe not a second choice type of studio. Other studios teaching “method”-s, Stanislavski derived acting, are Strasberg and Adler. I’ve heard mixed things about them quality wise, but they are definitely common 2nd and 3rd choices for CAP applicants. The more modern studios are Atlantic, which is discussed in detail on a thread near here but it’s a good solid practical approach which I have heard is excellent training. ETW is experimental techniques, as the name suggests, very physically based training. It seems to be a love it or hate it studio as it’s a very particular experience. Playwrights is a modern approach mixing bits of various “methods” and techniques, I hear, and also includes directing and playwrighting and design classes. You also have an amazing class with Ruben Polendo which is very physically based. It seems to be great training if that’s what you’re looking for but not for everyone.
Hope that helps! To get a feel for the studios, read the books they suggest on the website. That’s how I made my decision. Because you know yourself better than we ever could. When you engage with them, you’ll get the vibe of what feels right for you!</p>