worst high school production EVER..

[cathyhyatt]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 11:55am

okay so I've seen some just okay high school productions..but none have been perticularly bad. But no...this past Friday I saw "Into the Woods" at a neighboring high school and let me tell you it was nothing short of TERRIBLE.

I mean first off any sondhiem show is going to be hard for a school to pull off so I give them credit for the attempt. But it was soo bad.

The talent was terrible (except for the girl who played Cinderella but even she was just alright).
There wasn't one guy in the cast who could sing. I mean of course in every school the guys aren't always great because there isn't many that audition but I mean they were so bad...they basically just talked through all the songs because they couldn't sing.
And Jack omg he was the worst...it was this scary looking short kid he akwardly pranced around the stage and his speaking voice was beyond annoying.
The girls weren't good either. The baker's wife could sort of sing but she was playing the baker's wife so WRONG. she was like yelling and whining towards the baker. And they had like no relationship established. It felt like they were totally strangers...not a married couple.
Then...the princes. Ugh one with this kid who was kind of funny but he couldnt sing and the other was a football player in their school. yes a FOOTBALL player...I mean yeah he was attractive but the kid could not sing or act he was sooo bad. it was his first musical EVER and his bio said he just wanted to 'try somehting new at the end of his senior year' omg ahh

oh shoot the bell rang for class...to be contined...

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 12:10pm

i was there too cathy, and i feel your pain. because i was in pain. it hurt to listen to them ruin one of my all time favorite shows. it was ridiculous. and though there wasn't that much talent...at all,idont really blame the kids. i blame the director. i don't think she really knew what she was doing. i sorta felt like she had never even heard of stephen sondheim before she attempted to direct this play. for example, during the witch's "rap" in the opening, three girls dressed in "ghetto" attire (the sweatpants, backwards hats, cheap jewlry..etc) came out and started imitating some sort of hip hop video that one would normally see on mtv...not in a production of INTO THE FREAKIN WOODS. yes. i was upset. i actually turned my eyes away once or twice because i just could not take it any longer.
needless to say, i refused to subject myself to any more of that trauma, so i left at intermission, which i always feel bad about doing. i know that many of the people who were involved must have worked hard on the show. but maybe i was doing them a favor by leaving...because honestly, if i had stayed i probably would have thrown something at the stage...or i would have gotten up there myself and played all the parts.
Updated On: 5/9/05 at 12:10 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 12:12pm

I adore bad high school theater. Where can I get a video!

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 12:21pm

The worst HS show I saw was a production of "West Side Story." We went to see it because the guy playing Tony was an amazing singer and we wanted to see him. Turned out he was the only good thing about it.
The orchestra was so loud that they drowned out the singing and most of the dialogue. The set was too sparse for the big stage. Two teachers were cast as Officer Krupke and the man running the soda shop, and they couldn't act their way out of a trash bag. But the worst part was their handling of "Someday." Instead of Tony and Maria singing it, they had a dream ballet and some random girl offstage sang it. I s**t you not.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 12:22pm

Rose -- Honey -- that is the way "Somewhere" is in the original script.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 12:51pm

Oh. Heh, oops. I still didn't care for it. I saw another version that had Tony and Maria singing it and I thought it made more sense.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 12:58pm

Maria and Tony only sing it in the film. The ballet and the off stage singer work beautifully when done properly. But I can only imagine the dream ballet in the production you saw!

[DancerGirl16]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 1:26pm

Got 2

1) middle school that did Grand Hotel

2) This year my school did Once Upon a Mattress and it was literally the most horribly cast thing ever. At the auditions I looked at someone and was like "oh well she isn't going to be the queen" and she got it and that was basically exactly what happened with almost all the parts.

Also I saw a show at our school last year where in the middle of the production, one of the leads actually called for a line.

[dano]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 1:31pm

A couple years after HS graduation, my friend and I went back to our HS to see their production of Oliver. During "Who Will Buy", a character is holding up what is obviously a rubber chicken, and sings "Who Will Buy.....", and my friend and I at the exact same time, look at each other and sing "...my rubber chicken". We laughed our asses off (not literally) and fell out of our seats (literally!)

I cannot remember any single other thing about that production.

[Johnnytoc]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 1:55pm

Where abouts was this charming version of ITW?

It sounds truly horrific.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 3:13pm

Michael Bennett: It actually wasn't too horribly done, it just confused the hell out of me. Although I could have done without all the choking fog spilling into the audience...

[Angel Dumott Schunard]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 3:47pm

MY FAIR LADY at my school... soon to be the worst show put on in history.

[chinkie azn jai]

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

My school's production of Aida was horrible. The sets were the stereotype high school theatre sets, and for costumes, they used table runners to make them look egyptian. It also didn't help that the guy playing Radames could not sing to safe his life. I just kept thinking of Adam Pascal while he was singing.

[hannahshule]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 5:47pm

my middle school was the Queen of bad musicals. They did Bye Bye Birdie, an easy, classic choice for this age group. IT. WAS> TERRIBLE. I felt sooooooo embarrassed for the kids up on stage.

Two years ago, the other High School in my town did Les Mis. Well, after seeing that, I ran home and tried to scratch my eyes and ears out. Oh the horror, the horror!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 5:49pm

I wish you all would elaborate more. I love to hear the details of horrible high school musicals. Like the production of THE SOUND OF MUSIC I saw where somebody threw a bolt of fabric through the window into Maria's bedroom when she was talking about making clothes out of the drapes.

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 5/9/05 at 5:54pm

My school is one of those schools that ge the $2000 mic sets and amazing sets. It's really a shame that there's no talent in the middle school. They did Bye bye birdie this year. Rosie couldnt' dance, could hardly act and could sorta sing. Kim was just bad-couldn't act, sing or dance. Conrad was amazing and Albert couldnt' act btu had a great voice. Mrs. Peterson was quite good, because she's a character actress. Mr. McAfee is quite a funny actor, but can't sing for his life. Hugo used to be good, but he went through puberty. And this was one of the better shows.

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 5/10/05 at 11:10am

i think that sometimes middle school talent is excusable mainly because the kids are still young. but the horrific "into the woods" that i had to sit through was a high school production done at a private school. so, i know they had money. also, almost all the leads were seniors...seniors who have had leads before.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 5/10/05 at 11:22am

My frieds told me about a production of ITW they saw at a church, with all the sexual references cut out. If you're gonna do something like this, don't half-ass it.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/10/05 at 11:27am

Shouldn't this be on the off-topic board?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/10/05 at 11:30am

I mentioned in another thread that a friend of mine did a production of FOLLIES and the rental scripts had apparently just come from a church production. She said all the edits they made to the text were absolutely hysterical.

[cathyhyatt]

Posted: 5/10/05 at 11:39am

johnny..."Where abouts was this charming version of ITW?"

in connecticut..urkk

okay so anyways I never finished the rest of what I was saying ahh lol...okay so...

you know when cinderella calls the birds "fly birds..." ya know..well this kid in all black AND a black ski mask came out and dangled the birds from a branch OVER her. okay...so that made the quality go down right away to a middle school show.

oh yeah and so this senior football player who it was his FIRST musical (he wanted to "try something new")he got the loudest applause cuz the freaking cheerleaders were all their like graveling over him. omg he was BAD.

and then rapunzels part was lowered to an alto. I know the girl who was playing her and shes pretty talented but everytime she would go to sing her "ah ah ah..." she freaking cracked on the first note...and it was alto! omg I don't think they should be allowed to change that role..that lowered it like a whole step. The only good thing was like her wig and the tower was really good..but..

and then when the witch transformed(I knew this girl too..and she was alright..) she came back out in this black, plain dress...nothing extravagant...I mean it should be this beautiful elaborate dress but instead it looked like she was dressed to go to a funeral..

the step sisters...omg were they annoying! when they freaking screamed I couldn't hear for about 15 minutes after...it was so annoying and piercing. and their costumes were not the time period AT ALL. I mean I could wear their dresses tomorrow and it would be alright.

hmm what else...oh yeah "agony" is one of my favorite songs in the show...and let me tell you it was nothing short of agonizing. first you have the football player who pranced around the stage looking particularly dumb and who could not sing a NOTE and then you have this fat kid...who tried to be funny but he only was because it is such a well written show not because he himself was a comedian. omg that was one of the WORST numbers...it was sooo bad. I can't even begin to explain.

and then little red. well she wasn't little. she was tall and skinny (I personally think she should be some-what chubby or at least have a "fat personality"--don't know if you get what I mean hahah)soo anyways...first off her costume sucked it was like just a red cape and no bonnet...and her hair in braids(it should be in curls under her cute little bonnet!)and her voice sounded nothing like a cute little girl...in fact it was so low(they lowered this too) if you closed ur eyes at some parts you could have mistakened her for a man. and she didn't even sing most of it...it was all talked in a low voice. and they way the direct had her skipping around the stage was so annoying. during teh company scenes in the corner of your eye all you could see was her moving.

jacks mom and the baker were bad but they didn't evben bother me as half as much as everyone else did.

cinderella was good..ill give her that. the only problem I really had with her was that she moved all over the stage during her song and it was really distracting.

that's another thing the movement in the show was so literal. it was annoying and ammature.

and yeah so I went with cathywellerstein..and we left during intermission because we just couldnt take it...luckily we were in the back because we couldn';t help but make faces at eachother and start to laugh.

and I don't even feel bad about leaving during intermission I mean shouldn't they be thankful we were courteous enough to wait instead of just walk out during the show? yes, they should.
because we wasted $15 I mean if you just add $4.50 to that I could have seen "all shook up" in the balcony and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Or I could have even bought a movie ticket and had enough money left for a popcorn and soda.

yes, so tell me of your experiences...I mean can you top that. Because I really couldn't see how..if someone threw up on stage or even pissed themselves it would have been more enjoyable then this...

[cathyhyatt]

Posted: 5/10/05 at 11:41am

theaterdiva..."Shouldn't this be on the off-topic board?"

umm sorry I'm afraid it's alittle too late for that.
you could just not read it and then I'm sure you wouldn't be bothered :)

[Joelbeans]

Posted: 5/10/05 at 4:28pm

I have got you all beat. Last summer i saw a community theatre production of West Side Story, and it was all high school kids. First, I heard the director was a freak and wnted to have Maria and Anita in bed together in a pseudo-lesbian scene. Then at the end of the show after they carry Tony off and Maria follows them we see Anita crossing on the "bridge" behind everyone, and before the lights go out she jumps! ANITA COMMITED SUICIDE?!?!?!?!?!

[phantom_tenor]

Posted: 5/12/05 at 4:46am

"First, I heard the director was a freak and wnted to have Maria and Anita in bed together in a pseudo-lesbian scene. Then at the end of the show after they carry Tony off and Maria follows them we see Anita crossing on the "bridge" behind everyone, and before the lights go out she jumps! ANITA COMMITED SUICIDE?!?!?!?!?!"

Ha ha aha ha ha ha
Funniest thing i've ever heard.

My school's 2003 production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella probably comes pretty close. No one could sing, no one could dance, no one could act, the sets were horrible, the "orchesta" sounded like a slaughterhouse, the tech crew were incompetant and some of the mics were off when they were meant to be on. And on top of this, the particular show sucks.

Ah, memories....

[QHDramaQueen]

Posted: 5/12/05 at 5:20am

oh my word... joel.. tell me you jest... thats something i could have come up with after one too many whisky sours... but i would die if i ever saw that on staged.. someone would have to be hurt.severely