Andrew Abrams is a professional composer, vocal and acting through song coach, vocal technique instructor, musical director/conductor, and Equity actor living in Madison, WI.  The spawn of a tap/belly dancing mother and a character actor father, he grew up in Madison, WI and started playing piano at age 8 and singing with the boy choir at age 9.  Clearly he was doomed to live a life of music and theatre.  After he graduated high school, Andrew set off on a path to becoming an opera singer.  Along the highway to opera, he was diverted to the dark side: Musical Theatre.  He has lived and thrived in this land for years (while still coming up occasionally to breathe the sweet air of classical music and opera on occasion).



Andrew holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Masters of Arts in Musical Theater from Goldsmiths College-University of London.  He was also a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Writing Workshop from 2001-2006 where he wrote the music for the musical “But I’m a Cheerleader, the Musical” with collaborator Bill Augustin. “Cheerleader” also headlined the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2005 (winning the Audience Award), and was a finalist for the Jerry Bock Award. A career highlight was doing a reading of the show in London in 2013 with Tony-Award winning director Jerry Mitchell. Andrew is a featured composer in the new BMI Directory of Musical Theatre Writers. 



Andrew has also worked Off-Broadway, regionally and on tour. Off-Bway: Pirates of Penzance (New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players), Between the Lines (York Theatre). Tours: Cinderella (with Eartha Kitt), State Fair (with John Davidson), Cabaret (with Andrea McCardle), Kiss of the Spider Woman, Fiddler on the Roof (with Theodore Bikel); Regional: Between the Lines (Luna Stage), Masterclass (with Rosemary Prinz), Mikado (Theatre Virginia) and numerous others. He has worked as a vocal coach and voice teacher at NYU, AMDA, Mountview College (in London) and privately in NYC.  His students have ranged from high school age to professional Broadway performers (including Tony Award winners). Andrew is the Artistic Director of Capital City Theatre, Madison and South Central Wisconsin’s professional regional musical theatre company.

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Andrew is also very passionate about teaching Acting Through Song workshops to all ages.  Having coached at many accredited universities and colleges, he sees the “magic of castability” that can be achieved through this kind of work.  Identifying objectives, creating tactic changes, making the song an extension of one’s self, etc can quickly transform a young singer into a “working performer” in no time. Andrew now teaches workshops in this all over the world (including Chicago, London and NYC).  In NYC, in conjunction with Pearl Studios, professionals got to do a mock audition for a casting director, an agent and prominent composer/lyricist.  These industry professionals sat with each member of the class and gave them individual feedback.