High School Musicals of the future- Page 2

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 7:16pm

I can't wait till high schools start doing WICKED. some will probably be more talented than any of the professional companies. the flying thing will be easy, the dragon is not needed and all the costumes and sets can be recycled from last years production of the wizard of oz...

[Elizabeth_DeBris]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 7:16pm

Uh... aren't the standards for high school musicals Fiddler on the Roof, Guys and Dolls, South Pacific...etc? Those aren't exactly recent (this is in response to EganFan2, by the way).

Or maybe I'm going by the wrong high schools...
Updated On: 5/8/05 at 07:16 PM

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 7:20pm

I thought the moment I saw Urinetown that it would be a great school show

[DreamFlyer22]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 7:22pm

Exactly my point, EganFan. That's the mentality, I fear. To me, "old" doesn't mean bad.

[alphieboy]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 7:41pm

My high school could pull off Wicked next year easily. Our Elphaba would be a junior who has a recording contract, and who won this years variety show nailing Whitney Houston's, "I Have Nothing". She alo got a perfect score of 40 plus at s/e. Our Glinda would be a Senior who has had such roles as Mrs. Potts in "Beauty and the Beast", and The Narrator in "Joseph". She was asked to sing at this years Cancer Walk, got a 38 at s/e, and got 3rd place at the variety show singing her own song that she wrote on the piano. And of course Fieryo would be me. I have played the Scarecrow before in "The Wizard of Oz", and i also have been in "Cinderella" as The Prince, and I also did the choreography for a childrens theatre camp production of "Honk Jr." as well as Co-directing the show. We are pretty much set!

[Kevo711]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 7:42pm

all i know is that wicked would be a complete disaster at my school!

[BWIDB Charlie]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 8:00pm

I think that high schools, with a few exceptions, have been doing shows such as My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, Fiddler and the occasional Pippin for so long, that they all jump at the opportunity to do the "hit" shows (Even if they are a few years outside of the hit category.)

The problem is that the hits have been running on Broadway/West End/Tours for so long, that the rights haven't been available since they opened. Therefore, everyone is now jumping at them. If you're HS director, and the district over from you is doing "Les Mis".. you probably fear a mutiny if you choose Oklahoma. Hence, 15 Beauty and The Beasts.

However, I think it's a good thing that HS' are picking up the new works. It allows students/audiences to see that there have been progressions in musical theatre. Otherwise, folks in Nowherville, KS think musicals are just West Side Story and Oklahoma. There's a large amount of hostility towards the "classics" from the younger generations. Does it mean the works are any less quality? No... people are just tired of working on them.

Back to the original question - I've long said Wicked will be better in the stock and amateur performances than the current production. Hairspray in a HS will be quite popular.

I've seen some amazing HS performances, and some pretty crappy ones. I think it's great to have younger people work on the works that are (in general) ones that audiences crave now. At least it makes it easier for them to get people in to watch and, in turn, pushes them to do more theatre. I just wish more directors would approach lesser known pieces. When I was in high school, I was fortunate to have a director who preferred to do shows that the students/parents weren't overly familar with. It let the students have a greater chance to truly create, and not have to compete with the memories engrained in heads of "the real version." In my opinion.

End semi-rant.

Charlie
[e-mail]

Updated On: 5/8/05 at 08:00 PM

[admanrich]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 8:21pm

We're doing a Wicked medley for our music department. We're singing Popular, Defying Gravity, and For Good. I think the medley will work out fine, its going to be mixed with some solos and some 4 part stuff with the solos done by the seniors. We have some very talented seniors who are almost able to pull off Glinda and Elphaba. However, some-- not so much.

It was actually quite amusing last week when we were learning the end of Defying Gravity and some freshmen girls started belting and after about two notes in, they finally realized they weren't Idina.

As a show, I'm sure there are some people who will do the roles justice, but not as good as the real thing. However, it would be quite hard to pull it off because it just wont be the same. There's a slim chance any high school could pull of the Glinda bubble and though its easy to have an Elphaba fly, its just not the same for either Glinda's bubble or the flying machine.

Updated On: 5/8/05 at 08:21 PM

[Joshua488]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 8:55pm

Yeah, the Glinda bubble worries me. Anyone can pull of Elphaba's flying effect; just get one of those boom lift things that are similar to a cherry-picker and drape some fabric over it and voila! Elphaba flies. The bubble is a bit more difficult to create.

I would love to see a high school do Hairspray. If any high school in my area did it, I would volunteer to choreograph it. Of course, I would use some of Jerry Mitchell's choreography, just because it's fantastic.

[kangaroo]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 8:58pm

I am going to be so devastated when Wicked comes out to high school students... and I think they should be VERY careful before high school directors choose Aida, Miss Saigon, Millie, and a lot more demanding shows. You need the pre-set cast before you make any poor choices... a high school student singing Defying Gravity for four nights *shudder*

~kangaroo

[perfectliar]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 9:17pm

Here are the facts: shows cost money to produce. Many school boards don't give funds to theater programs (ours doesn't). The entire income comes from fundraising and ticket sales. The majority of high school students would much rather see something modern or something that they're familiar with, like Beauty and the Beast. And if the show draws crowds and sells tickets, that's how the theatre program makes money. It's nothing against older shows, it's just business.

Example: my school did South Pacific and sold a moderate amount of tickets. Then we did Li'l Abner and sold very few tickets. Then we did Grease and sold out two of the three nights. High school students know and love the music and story of Grease, so they're more willing to go see it, at lease moreso than Li'l Abner or the classic R&H musicals.

Also, as someone mentioned earlier, the older shows and the classics have been performed at schools for decades. My high school did West Side Story three times in twelve years. Three different high schools and junior high schools did Guys and Dolls three consecutive years. I think it's great that schools are finally producing newer shows.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 9:25pm

BG2 was not going to interject here BUT...

as far as WICKED in schools goes --

~ it doesn't HAVE to be staged the way it was staged on Broadway - bubbles, brooms, and all.
~ Elphaba doesn't HAVE to fly on a 'cherry-picker' as it is lovingly called her and Glinda doesn't have to fly in a bubble identical to that in the Broadway/Tour stagings.
~ You can rent 'Glinda bubbles' from both ZFX Flying and Foy Enterprises

[Joshua488]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 9:28pm

Of course. But how many high schools will actually want to put on a production of Wicked if they can't have the flying effects?

And I said that a possible solution would be to use a mechanism similar to a cherry-picker. And I didn't say that Glinda's bubble had to be identical, either. But I don't think many schools would be happy if they couldn't have the effects.

[bwaymargie]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 9:38pm

Updated On: 7/10/07 at 09:38 PM

[bwaymargie]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 9:43pm

Updated On: 7/10/07 at 09:43 PM

[La Vie Boheme]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 10:02pm

"Hairspray would be popular too, but the guys are all pretty tenor-y (rare for high school guys)"

I don't know about other high schools, but that doesn't apply to mine AT ALL. I think Hairspray would be a great high school show...probably the best mentioned so far in my opinion.

[Sporti2005]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 10:05pm

the director at my school says as soon as WICKED becomes available she wants to do it.

ICKY!!!!!!!!!! how could that EVER happen?? first of all, though there are some high school girls who may be able to belt the high Es/Fs necessary to play elphaba, that's not healthy AT ALL for high school voices. and i can see so many girls torturing their voices trying to get near "bring me down" at the end of defying gravity....ouchies.

all i can say is thank god i'm graduating.

[mollyllom]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 10:28pm

wicked at a high school? eww
wicked at all? anywhere? ewww

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 11:04pm

I agree with Hairspray for high schools. I think it could potentially be the next Grease or Bye Bye Birdie.

As for colleges, I suspect that Urinetown and both The Wild Partys will become popular. This is because they're already starting to be done by colleges around me, including my own.

~Steven

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 11:34pm

About "Miss Saigon" as a high school production: That has DISASTER written all over it. Not only is it such a technically demanding show (hello helicopter) but finding enough singers to pull it off would be practically impossible, except in a performing-arts HS. I think no matter how good everyone's intentions are, it wouldn't be able to live up to people's expectations. I mean, "Miss Saigon"'s signature is the helicopter, and I really don't think anyone short of professional techs could pull that off.
And as if that's not bad enough, I don't see how it would be approved by the admins. How often do you see a high school show featuring prostitution? Not to mention the use of guns. Not only have people become very touchy about gun use in HS shows, but there's also the chance that a stage gun can misfire and actually hurt or kill someone. I can't see parents being too jazzed about that prospect.

[Aigoo]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 12:03am

Yay! Glinda bubbles!

::pops them::

[DreamFlyer22]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 12:09am

On censorship... there were actually going to be THREE productions of "Les Mis" going up at the same time, but one of the districts had an angry parent group put a halt to their plans over this "immoral show" "glorifying prostitution".. *sighs* The kicker was, the kids had even been rehearsing it for a couple months already. So, yeah... I doubt "Miss Saigon" would go over any better.

And I feel like I should quickly clarify what I said before- I don't really have a problem with updating the high school musicals selection, (heck, back when I was in high school, I would have killed for more recent faire to choose from) I have a problem with people A) picking shows that are unrealistic for their theater group and B) completely throwing out the "oldies."

As for making more money with a bigger name, I quickly offer this story for what it's worth. The year before "Beauty" this high school did "Damn Yankees." Believe it or not, when all was said and done, "Yankees" pulled in MUCH more money and actually garnered the high school it's first area award for Best Production. As for "Beauty"?? With so many other schools doing it... and esp. with another HS doing it on the same weekend... the end profit was a lot less and they didn't stand out as unique. Just "another Beauty and the Beast production." And, don't forget, profit is also relative to the royalties you have to pay to do the show at all.

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 12:26am

Who said Millie MUST be tap? i know the speed test is the major tap number but couldn't you creativly come up with another way of doing it?

[Leverandon]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 2:56am

Wicked will most certainly be done by lots of high schools. I knew plenty of girls in high school who could have done a solid job as Elphaba or Glinda...and besides its high school...questionable singing jobs are to be expected. :) Besides, every emo high school theatre girl will want to play Elphaba...it will definitly be overdone immediatly after being released.

[Whiteguy2088]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 3:43am

Well I am in a Show Choir for my High School...we performed a Wicked Medeley....No One Mourns the Wicked - What is This Feeling? - Popular - One Short Day - Defying Gravity - For Good.....and our solos were amazing. But then again...we had a finalist in Star Search (Lisa Tucker) play Elphaba...and Laryn Andrews...who is an amazing soprano play Galinda. It was the funnest performance I have ever been apart of. Perhaps ill try producing a .wav so you can hear it...