A Little Help Here Please People...

[Beergoggles]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 11:14am

So... my old university drama society has had a crap year to put it bluntly. Show's cancelled, variety shows gone wrong and their current project is going well but it's a straight play and they need to finish the year with a big musical. I've been asked to go back and sort a show out. I need suggestions really because it has to follow BARE. I directed it last year and it was a huge success. I've got two very strong females and a strong male and i can always cast myself again if there aren't enough blokes... can someone help me out with suggestions for a musical that's gonna make a splash. It's a university production that's going on at the start of May and we don't have the biggest budget in the world. I thought about Gypsy but (as much as i love it) it seems a bit dated. Cabaret isn't avaliable for performance in this country (ameteur performance) and we've done Godspell, Little Shop and West Side in recent years. Any help anyone could give me would be much appreciated. Cheers =)

[WOSQ]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 11:56am

Look at Carnival by Michael Stewart and Bob Merrill. You will need one dynamite soprano. The rest of the roles need singers, but not the exceptional one that the lead role of Lili requires.

I saw a production a few seasons back at Paper Mill that was done on a basically bare stage with only the props called for in the script. Costumes could either be pulled from stock or done by suggestion with a few specific costumes built. You probably have all the lighting instruments you need.

You will need a person to build puppets and your leading man will need to learn to operate them and be able to give each a voice and personality.

One character will need to learn some simple magic tricks.

There is one song traditionally sung as one character is put into a box as swords are then put through the box by her boyfriend. Yes, it is a love song, but a very funny show-stopper.

The CD may be out of print but the score is quite sweet so it would behoove you to find it for your collection. The script can be read on loan from Tams-Witmark. It is based on the film "Lili".

[redheaded]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 6:30pm

What about Aida? Its relatively new, the music is by Elton John so everyone will love it, you need a really talented Aida (of course), Amneris, and Radames. Those are the three leads then there is merb and Nahebka (I'm not sure about the spelling) who also sing. Its a fun show the only person who really needs a lot of nice egyptian costumes is Amneris, and one for the Pharaoh. The rights are out because I just did it this past summer. You could go big with the sets but you don't have to, our director did a concept show where we just moved around platforms.