Musical Theater School Expands, More Than Doubling Its Space

BRADENTON, FL — Ovation School of Musical Theatre has expanded in Braden River Plaza, more than doubling its space.

The school moved into a 2,100-square-foot space in the plaza last June. In recent months, the 3,500-square-foot space next door became available, so Ovation moved in, owner Michelle McCord said.

Now that it’s operating out of 5,800 square feet, Ovation now has three studios — including a large, nearly 1,800-square-foot studio — a vocal room, a larger lobby, new dressing rooms and a black box theater that’s available for the community to rent.

“It’s lovely and we are absolutely thrilled,” McCord said.

Ovation will show off its new digs at an open house Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with classes, games, a raffle and a performance. Special events include a vocal master class with Broadway veteran Annie Morrison, a dance with “Frozen” princess Elsa and a Parent & Me class. A full schedule can be found here.

“(The open house) is open to the public. We want to welcome people and have them come and see what we do,” McCord said. “We want them to see our students dancing, see how much fun they’re having. These kids are passionate, but they have so much fun, and they really love what we do.”

Originally from Buffalo, N.Y. McCord was a professional ballet dancer in Germany. She spent 22 years overseas.

For 11 years, she was a principal dancer in a ballet company that performed all over Europe. She also spent a number of years performing with the more than 120-year-old Theatre of the West in Berlin.

“It was like the Broadway of Germany,” she said. “I did 30 shows in 11 years. Every five months, we did a new show. It was an incredible experience.”

Eventually, she moved back to the United States, settling on Florida because she has family in Clearwater.

McCord was drawn to Sarasota and Bradenton because of its arts community.

“There’s so much culture here. It’s an incredible area. I love it,” she said.

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When she moved to the area in 2006, she worked with various local theaters and organizations, including Sarasota Ballet and the Players Centre for Performing Arts, choreographing and directing shows.

By the summer of 2013, she opened Ovation in the University Town Center area.

“And now I’m passing my knowledge on to these little guys,” McCord said.

The school offers a range of classes in acting, singing and dancing.

“Our kids get the triple-threat program, where you have to be strong in all three areas,” she said. “Our opinion is to be successful in musical theater you have to be.”

At the start of the pandemic, she quickly moved all their workshops and classes online.

“On March 13, when everything was closed down and we were on spring break, I immediately got everything up and running and got us online a week later,” McCord said. “We didn’t miss a beat. We kept teaching online for 10 weeks until we opened up again.”

She added, “We got moving immediately. We were in survival mode, basically.”

Then, in June and facing “super high” rent, she decided to move from the UTC area to Braden River Plaza.

“And now it’s really wonderful. Now, we have the space that we’ve always wanted to have since we’ve opened our doors,” she said.