Musical Theatre UCalgary sings its way onto the campus arts scene

By Hannah Caparino, September 30 2025—

Musical Theatre UCalgary (MTU) at the University of Calgary provides students with opportunities to perform classic shows throughout the fall and winter semesters. The club has hosted several shows, cabarets and workshops to foster a positive community that is centred on musical theatre. Everyone can get involved by participating in the creative process and performance with students. The President of MTU, Dorothy Keys, spoke with the Gauntlet about previous events and the future of MTU.

“So, MTU or Musical Theatre UCalgary, we are a musical theatre club here on campus. We are known for doing productions. We have done Grease, Legally Blonde, and then two years ago, we did a tribute to Jonathan Larson called “Rent is Due”, and then a self-written musical called What the Hell’s a musical,” said Keys.

Each of the productions included U of C students who’d direct, stage manage and act in the various productions. All the productions take place in a variety of venues, from the U of C stages to stages or festivals throughout the city.

Upcoming production information and workshops will be shared on the MTU Instagram, where student performances are highlighted. Most recently, the club hosted several cabarets where members could sing, dance and perform. Many performances consisted of songs sung from well-known musicals that ranged from all genres. The cabarets are themed around events that take place during the semester, including Halloween or “World Theatre Day” themed cabarets. 

Although the MTU club is primarily focused on productions, the team also hosts watch parties of classic musicals that welcomes all students to watch and learn more about the arts and theatre scene at the university. Keys emphasized that theatre is for everybody, ensuring that anyone can make connections in MTU, as well as maintaining accessibility through making the membership and events free of charge.

“We will take everybody and anybody. We are not specific to drama majors, like some other clubs here are. We really are just trying to create a welcoming environment for students at the university,” said Keys. “So most clubs on campus here want you to pay a registration fee and keep paying that registration fee. We are not one of those clubs. We want you to have an outlet to perform musical theatre, because a lot of us enjoyed it in high school, whether you’re a political science major, a biology major, english major or drama major, everybody enjoyed it at some point in their lives. So we still want to give people that space to enjoy that.”

MTU will be partnering with Nickel and Dime Theatre to present a revitalized version of “What the Hell’s a Musical” that will be shown this coming January.

“Come check us out! Come hang out,” said Keys.

For any future opportunities, the executive team can be reached through email, and announcements can be seen on their Instagram page.