My D is a junior BFA MT student. Her story may be a bit different than others here. She went to a big public HS (over 400 students), and took choir and theater all 4 years. She had a private voice teacher for all 4 years of HS (who did NOT teach her to belt because she did not want her to wreck her voice). She was in school plays and musicals and performing show choir her last three years of HS, and did summer stock musicals locally each summer in high school. She did a lot of show choir dance, but because of her busy schedule, classes, etc. she did not do private dance lessons in HS; most of her dance training was show choir or musicals She did dance from around age 5-11, but then nothing truly formal. . She also had an audition coach for her college auditions, and did a week intensive locally one summer with a professional music theater troupe who were the ones to tell me my daughter had the talent to get into a BFA program.
What would I tell you about your son based on my D’s experience? One, make sure he takes dance, especially ballet, and sticks with it. It’s the one thing my D says she would do if she had it to do all over again. Second, participate where you can in shows, but don’t sweat it if you’re not the star. In all the musicals and plays my D ever did in HS she had the lead just once in a play, not a musical. And yet she was accepted to several BFA programs. Coming from a big HS with a lot of competition, and from a city where there was a lot of summer stock competition, actually helped her adjust to college more quickly than others who were big fish in small ponds.