Worst Middle School Musical Ever!

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/21/11 at 8:37pm

I just walked out of a show called "The Best of Broadway" put on by a local Lutheran Middle School. It started at 6:30 PM and the first act ended at 8:10. There was no way I was staying for the second act. One grandmother told me that last night's performance ended at 11 PM.

What made this thing so very atrocious as that the entire cast as singing along with cast albums and soundtracks and most of the time the recorded music was drowning out what the kids were singing. I'd been led to believe that one girl had a pretty good voice but hen she sang "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" there was a sound glitch and all I could hear was Julie Andrews.

In a pre-curtain speech, the director (who happens to be a former student of mine) explained that she didn't want to turn down any child who tried out and that singing along to cast albums kept them on pitch. I guess there's something to be said for getting all these kids on stage and having a performing experience--one or two actually showed a spark of talent--but it was a rough experience to endure. Looking around at the parents, there wasn't any one of them who had a look of enjoyment on their faces.

Wouldn't a karaoke night have served the same purpose?

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 5/21/11 at 9:12pm

I know it's a bit harsh to judge/critize middle school age children. However, the sad fact is that many of them now are going to be told over and over again "You are amazing! Keep goin!" and they will waste their time pursuing their hopeless dreams.

Also, that is really pathetic of them to try to put on a show with them singing along with pre recorded music. It's just lazy. Plain and simple.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/21/11 at 10:17pm

I forgot to mention that alumni took part in the show. Mind you, this was a Middle School show but a college freshman was playing a featured role!

Heaven forfend!

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 8:03am

On Facebook this morning, the director claims her show was "amazing" and the audience was "astounded" by the talent on stage. "Astounded"? Naw, "dumbfounded"

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 8:47am

This is the problem with these types of shows and 'giving everyone a chance'.
It just doesn't work... and now it solidifies my recent decisions I have been trying to make for my next casting project. I'm all for the 'we are the world' tactics in education.. but the best lesson you can learn is that if you are not good enough... you are just NOT GOOD ENOUGH. And you shouldn't be wasting your time, the director's time or the audience's (in this case).

Thanks Dollypop. You saved my weekend casting crisis.
It's tough when heart takes over business...... but back to business.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 10:34am

I'm glad I prevented another mishap like the one I experienced last night. Please don't get me wrong, there probably was some good talent on that stage: it just got lost under a pre-recorded score and a lack of direction. These kids may have had their self-esteem boosted and got some experience about what it's like to be on stage, but they didn't learn anything about the auditioning process or about projecting their voices--or even how to stand on stage. I would feel that those are some of the basics you'd learn at a middle school level and build upon them when you get to high school.

That said, the gal who directed this is a truly good and loving woman. She views these shows as a love-in for herself and her cast. She's just not a "theater person" and it shows.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 12:39pm

I just realized that royalty laws were probably overlooked in this production as well.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 1:24pm

I put everyone that wants to participate into my musicals. I want to encourage the love of theater and performing, not make it elitist. You never know when someone will begin to bloom or what else they may take from this. Some kids NEED to be a part of something.

That being said, not everyone gets cast in our other shows and getting any role above being a chorus member is quite competitive.

It IS still education for all. If you are going to use everyone, the director's job is about makin them all look good. I'd rather have a group of kids loving what they are doing rather than work with a bunch of drama queens with a sense of entitlement.

That being said, Dolly I'm sorry you had to endure "painful".

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 1:43pm

^My High school director is feels the very same as you. She NEVER turns a kid away, no matter how bad the audition is (and we all get to sit in during auditions and there are alot of bad ones hahha) but obviously if their bad she puts them in the show, and then tells them to mouth the words during the songs and puts them a in a few ensemble scenes towards the back. And it works, they have a glorious time and find it to be a whole new level of fun, but they dont bring the show down cuz she hides the fact they are horrible at the arts by creative blocking/choreography hahaha

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 2:50pm

I've produced and directed more than my share of high school plays and musicals. That said, I have to remember that it takes plenty of blood, sweat and tears to get a show on the boards. All of this applies to good quality shows and disasters. I just wished this one was better quality and more "honest".

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 3:48pm

Fer craps sake.

It's a middle school.

Do you just have nothing else to complain about?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 4:25pm

I went to my cousin's 3rd grade production of CHESS and boo'd them at curtain call. Just because they're young doesn't mean they shouldn't learn proper technique. "Fer craps sake" as Diva put it, just look at the talent on The Disney Channel.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 5:00pm

LOL, Jordan.....

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 5:02pm

Diva, its not the fact that its middle school...its the fact that they pretty much were just plain lazy and uncreative. I've seen plenty of middle school productions, and even the ones that were "bad" i still enjoyed because the kids were up there doing their best and faced challenges like singing themselves without the help of someone basically singing the song for them.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 6:41pm

I don't think this had anything to do with "laziness" because it takes just as much energy to put on a bad show as it does to put on a good one. I think monetary factors may have played a part. (It would cost money to hire a rehearsal pianist). Then there's the lack of theatrical experience or basic "know-how". A director who was just a wee bit more savvy would have found ways to speed up the simple scene changes. Oddly enough, no one seemed to mind that this was a 4 hour show.

Updated On: 5/22/11 at 06:41 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 8:08pm

^ I love the freudian slip - director ho.

I understand in 'cumbaya' and giving everyone a shot and blah blah.

But isn't it better to just give them the truth instead of feeding their brain with lies about being 'talented'?

it sets up for more disappointment later on.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 9:30pm

But how was the show curtian?!

Did you get a picture?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 9:31pm

MOST of the kids involved with the show will not
a. continue performing
b. desire to perform professional
c. be fooled long term about whatever talents they may or may not have.

They will learn, however:
To be a part of something greater than themselves
Dedication
self confidence
joy
working towards a goal
love of the arts
pride


It's not all about developing talent.

[singtopher]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 9:59pm

^Thank you.

Did anyone get to see that documentary about the three high schools and their musicals? That was basically what it was all about.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 10:01pm

Sorry, no show curtain. No stage either--just a platform set up in the school's gym.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 10:36pm

"It's not all about developing talent"

Thank you.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 11:02pm

Ok. Agreed. Understand that side of it.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 5/23/11 at 1:16am

I student-taught drama and chorus at a middle school this semester and agree 100% with dramamama. I couldn't have said it better myself.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/23/11 at 1:02pm

ok..fine for middle school.
what's your opinion on high school?
considering that colleges make it very tough for students to 'get in' and audition for?
Do you feel that at high school, it is important to start to shape them up for a college career if that's what they want to do and lie to them even if you know they will never make it? Where does the teacher stop/start teaching them?
Curious if the same restrictions or open philosophy applies to high school?
Is that world competitive?
The reason why I ask is because I am interested in the psychology of it all.

When does a teacher say...'Stop, you're not good enough."
Or does the teacher just encourage all and turn a blind eye?

How will that student look upon that teacher years down the road?

I'm curious.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/23/11 at 1:43pm

I always cast my high school productions in a traditional manner. Auditions, call-backs, etc. I didn't always have good musical directors, though and there were a few times roles were cast with kids who had trouble singing the music. (One musical director was dumbfounded at the first sing-thru when she learned that the role of Elsa in THE SOUND OF MUSIC sang two songs. "She didn't in the movie," was her comment--and she'd cast a non-singer in the role. Obviously she didn't listen to the recording of the complete score that I'd given her months earlier!)

Now that I've retired, I find so many of the students who have found me on Facebook are effusive in their recollections of the plays and musicals they were in. One woman--who lives in town--wasn't very good at singing but had auditioned for many, many shows. Finally I cast her as The Mute in THE FANTASTICKS and shesays it was the highlight of her high school years.

The one boy that I thought would go on to a career in either theater or radio because he had a deep, rich voice, stunned us all by undergoing a sex-change operation a few years ago.