Make a giant-cast show tiny

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 11:32am

I discussed this briefly on a post nearby, but thought it could handle having a post of its own.

I saw a production of Sweeney Todd once which performed the entire show as written, in a fairly traditional staging, but had only eight cast members and lots of doubling. As far as I remember, the only line changed in the entire show was that "Will Beadle Bamford be the judge" was changed to "Will Mrs. Lovett be the judge?" It worked really well.

Sweeney
Lovett/Greek Chorus
Pirelli/Beadle/Fogg/Greek Chorus
Beggar Woman/Greek Chorus
Toby/Greek Chorus
Judge/First Shaved Man in Contest/Greek Chorus
Anthony/Second Shaved Man in Contest/Greek Chorus
Johanna/Young Lucy/Greek Chorus

Which other giant shows can be pared down this way? I've heard of Seussical doing it, with the Cat stepping in as Schmidt, Vlad Vladikoff, The Grinch, Judge Yertle and others, but that's still a fairly epic-sized show, so I don't know how it got down to the alleged eight cast members.

I'm sure Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast and MANY others can get small. Yes, I know that Beauty and the Beast in a "small" size would be missing the point, but nonetheless. This is just for fun here.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 12:26pm

I don't know how it could be cut down to 8, but the TYA script for Seussical is written as 12 (13 if you choose to have a separate Judge Yertel). And of course, having taken that out on the road, I have managed to do the show with only 10 due to illnesses and injuries. It would be extremely difficult to do it with less than that (10 gave us the Cat, Jojo, Horton, Gertrude, Mayzie, Sour K, 2 Wicks, and 2 Bird Girls).

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 12:31pm

Who appeared as Mr. and Mrs?

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 12:50pm

Wick 1 and Bird Girl 3 double as Mr. and Mrs. Mayor in the TYA version.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 1:58pm

It would be very interesting to see Beauty and the Beast done with a small cast. If it was done right it could work, but a major part of that show are the big chorus numbers. As for Les Miserables, I think it would work just fine with a small cast.

[singtopher]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 2:06pm

I did TYA Seussical with 9. I got the distinguished pleasure of playing the Cat AND a Wickersham. 15 costume changes...1 hour...never again.

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 2:15pm

Okay. Mini Beauty and the Beast... hmm... four men, four women. Covering EVERY part. Perfect!

Belle
Maurice/Narrator/Baker/Fighting Beast Double
Beast/Young Prince/Gaston
Lumiere/Lefou
Cogsworth/D'arque/Bookseller
Babette/Enchantress/Voice of Chip/Silly Girl 1
Potts/Chip Puppet Operator/Silly Girl 2
Wardrobe/Silly Girl 3

Updated On: 7/12/10 at 02:15 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 2:39pm

Singtopher, was that a one time shot due to people being out, or was it actually planned that way?

[slmlbl]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 4:49pm

The question is not what can be pared down but rather, what makes an effective statement if you pare it down and what are you trying to convey to your audience?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 5:01pm

^ Very true.

[secondarycharacter2]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 5:02pm

Urinetown can be done with a really small cast. Im in it right now with 15 people, but it could be done with less.

[singtopher]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 5:39pm

AEA- Thats how it was planed out.

Also, Pippin would work beautifully with an 8 person cast.

Posted: 7/12/10 at 5:51pm

I think the message you are sending is that you can't afford a big cast.

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 6:04pm

Sometimes that is the case, or rather, a tiny production space and very few technical elements.

[jagfkb]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 8:06pm

^Recently a youth theatre near me has given me the oppertunity to direct a show with some if it's more experienced older members (basically the ones who don't want to do 13 this fall). Though some of my ideas have obviously small casts (Title of Show, Avenue Q, if the rights are released), I had a few other ideas (And I love whomever posted the Sweeny and Beauty lists... would love doing either of those and might be possible):

Ragtime (14 People)
Edgar
Mother
Father
Younger Brother
Tateh
Little Girl
Coalhouse
Sarah
Booker T. Washington/ Matthew Henson
Emma Goldman/ Cathleen
Evelyn Nesbit
J.P. Morgan/ Grandfather
Harry Houdini/ Police Chief/ Admiral Parry
Henry Ford/ Willie Conklin

The celebrities all play a variety of ensemble roles, as well as the principles in large production numbers like Henry Ford and Gettin Ready Rag (Since only three members of the company are of African American descent, my idea was to have the entire company as the Citizens of Harlem in this number, but behind a scrim where only their silohuetes are seen. Not only does this aleviate the need for an ensemble in that number, but actually works to alienate Coalhouse as he plays)

Urinetown (11 People)
Lockstock
Little Sally
Cladwell
Hope
Pennywise
Bobby
Senator Fipp/ Old Man Strong/ Hot Blades Harry
Mr. McQueen/ Tiny Tom
Little Becky Two Shoes (Also takes over Soupy Sue's Lines)/ Cladwell's Secretary
Officer Barrel/ Robby the Stockfish (Also takes Billy Boy Bill's lines)
Josephine Strong/ Ms. Millenium

Into the Woods (12 People)
Narrator/ Mysterious Man/ Cinderella's Father (Give his lines to the Steward in Act Two)
Cinderella/ Little Pig
Jack
Baker
Baker's Wife
Stepmother/ Grandmother
Red Riding Hood/ Little Pig
Jack's Mother/ Little Pig
Witch
Rapunzel/ Cinderella's Mother/ Giantess
Cinderella's Prince/ Wolf/ Lucinda/ Milky White
Rapunzel's Prince/ Wolf/ Florinda/ Steward

If you alter a few lines in the slipper scene, as well as in each Midnight/ Finale, the doubling of the Princes with the stepsisters could work.

Also of note, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels really only has 6 principle parts, and Company could easily be narrowed down to Bobby, three women to play his girlfriends/ the married women of his life (One would be Joanne, one would be Amy, and the last April (For the bedroom scene to work), and one guy alternating as all the husbands.

Furthermore, A Little Night Music really could be narrowed down to simply the principles, with the chorus consisting of the principles in scenes in which they are not.

[philly03]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 8:37pm

Most shows that have the majority of score as ballads could be down tiny... you just have to cut / re-arrange the ensemble and chorus numbers.

Jekyll & HYDE (there's a 3 person version - Resurrection)
The Scarlet Pimpernel
A Tale of Two Cities
DRACULA, the musical
The Addams Family
Woman in White (The tour that never happened in the UK was planning to do a chamber/only principles version!)
SUNSET BLVD.


I suppose a smaller cast has the chance to make something feel more intimate, if they are genuinely not doing it for lack of funds!
Updated On: 7/12/10 at 08:37 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 9:52pm

If it's for a lack of funds, so be it! Better to see a tiny version of a great show than a tiny version of a really bad show. And sometimes just having it be that small is a work of "stage magic" in itself.

[onedaymore]

Posted: 7/12/10 at 11:39pm

You know what would be a very challenging, but interesting one to cast down? Ragtime. Because they need something semi-big because of the Harlem, Immigrant, and New Rochelle clans. Hm. :)

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 7/13/10 at 12:21am

Rent:
Mark/The Man/ Gordon
Roger/Steve/ Priest
Maureen/ Mark's Mom
Joanne/ Mrs. Jefferson/ Bag Lady/ Mimi's Mom/ SOL 1
Angel/Waiter/Alexi Darling/ Roger's Mom
Collins/Mr. Jefferson/ SOL 2
Benny/ Paul/ Cop (and Mr. Gray's Lines in La Vie Boheme)

[CockeyedOptimist2]

Posted: 7/13/10 at 12:22am

Do Little Shop of Horrors! We did it with 9 last summer:

-Seymour
-Audrey
-Mr. Mushnik
-Orin Scrivello (Dentist) who also played various customers and interviewers of Seymour (to great comic effect)
-3 Urchin girls (Crystal, Ronette and Chiffon)
-Audrey Two Puppet (also played a bum in the opening number, just for flavor)
-Audrey Two Voice (also played a bum in the first two scenes, before Twoey starts talking).

Such a great show and meant to be done with a small cast. I know someone who had to direct it to include more people for a school production and he ended up tripling the size of the Urchin girl chorus. One of my favorite shows and definitely the best show I've worked on!

[dramarama3]

Posted: 7/13/10 at 12:35am

Isn't that the traditional cast arrangement for little shop?

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/13/10 at 12:41am

Little Shop can, in extreme circumstances, be scaled down to two men, as Orin's various characters share remarkably little stage time with Mushnik and none at all with the voice of The Plant.

And, jonartdesigns, your Rent scaling is very good, but has a few inaccuracies, with certain characters appearing in a scene in which they would share dialogue with "themselves." I'll tweak it a little bit to fix this as best I can. Besides... you forgot Mimi

Rent:
Mark/The Man
Roger/ Priest
Maureen/ Mark's Mom
Joanne/Bag Lady/ Mimi's Mom/ SOL 1
Angel/Waiter/Alexi Darling
Collins/Mr. Jefferson/Steve/ SOL 2
Benny/ Paul/ Cop/Mr. Grey/Gordon
Mimi/Mrs. Jefferson/Roger's Mom

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/13/10 at 10:30am

The RENT scaling is probably one of the better ones, since it doesn't disrupt the style of the piece at all, and kind of fits in with the general aesthetic.

[byebyebaby12]

Posted: 7/13/10 at 12:39pm

Grease can be done without an ensemble at all. The production at my college had 6 ensemble members but they honestly did not need them.

[westycenterstagejack]

Posted: 7/15/10 at 9:09am

I don't know how much this counts, but cutting the ensemble from some shows can work to cut casts. Once on This Island may be able to be done without one (although it would suck), that would be like eight actors or something...