Battle of the High School Musicals: Guys 'n Divas

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 8/27/09 at 9:53pm

Anyone else just watch this fascinating documentary on Showtime? It profiles three competing high schools in suburban Southern Indiana, each producing a musical with varying degrees of lavishness. One is a $60,000 original Hawaiian epic written by the director, one is a lively production of "Starmites" performed by more impoverished students, and one is a "Zombie Prom" vying for a spot at the International Thespian Festival. Various students are profiled. I found it to be refreshing, and real.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 8/27/09 at 9:57pm

BLAST! Why don't I have Showtime???

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/27/09 at 10:20pm

I found it to be totally fascinating and compelling.

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 8/28/09 at 12:45am

I haven't seen it (as I don't have Showtime) but it sounds like something that I'd appreciate.

Also the fact that you have an Arrested Development quote in your signature, PiraguaGuy2, makes me smile. :)

[musicalbluemirror]

Posted: 8/28/09 at 9:11am

I really wanted to catch this last night
And I was home and do have showtime but couldn't find it on!!
What channel was it?

LOL I even did a search on the menu for it last night and nothing came up ugh

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/28/09 at 9:18am

FYI - I have Comcast, and my listings have the title as 'Battle Of The High School Musicals'. It does NOT have any 'Guys 'n Divas' reference. So, be careful how you search.

[musicalbluemirror]

Posted: 8/28/09 at 9:23am

ugh thanks brian... That's prob where I went wrong

[dramadude]

Posted: 8/28/09 at 9:54am

I enjoyed watching this documentary, but I'm really surprised by the less than stellar productions, considering the elaborate budgets for two of those schools. The sets and costumes were great all around, but some of those performances, even for high school, were pretty awful. If my high school had those budgets, ours shows would have been immensely better.

Some of those kids were very talented, especially those doing that awful "Princess Kaiulani" musical. They were way too talented and obviously not interested in the material, which ultimately reflected in the show and the director's loss of $14,000. I enjoyed seeing how the high school theatre politics played out, even the girl and her headshot labeled "b*tch". I did however feel bad for the slightly larger girl in "Princess Kaiulani" who kept telling herself that she did not have the body type or talent to continue with theatre after high school. Granted that she, like everyone has room for improvement, but I can't believe with theatre programs like the ones that we were shown that she was discouraged to pursue a career, or even community theatre.

[adam3]

Posted: 8/28/09 at 1:46pm

hello


if i told u i was THE adam that was in the documentary how would u respond to that



u guys saw 10-15 mins of kailauni how would u say its awful

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 8/28/09 at 2:01pm

My favorite was the swishy black 'preacher' kid who 'wasn't gay'. Too funny for words, really.

[kristin_bernadette]

Posted: 8/28/09 at 2:13pm

I don't have Showtime, so I didn't get to see it.
Did Zombie Prom end up going to ITC? I wasn't able to go this year, but some of my friends told me there was a performance of Zombie Prom there (my high school is doing it this year, too).

[musicalbluemirror]

Posted: 8/28/09 at 2:14pm

In case u missed it last night (like me) it's being repeated tonight at 7pm on channel 202 (I think all those cable channels are the same but could be wrong)

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/28/09 at 2:19pm

I found the documentary fascinating as well. We only intended to watch a few minutes before bed last night but were just really pulled in. The whole "Princess Kaiulani" musical fascinated me because if I remember correctly they spent a total of $60,000 on that show correct? How in the world did he only end up losing $14K? It seems very strange that a high school would try to premiere a new musical with a 3hr + running time and expect to sell out the house. I looked over and said "And next season he'll be doing GREASE" and laughed hysterically when at the end of the film, they announced next season they're doing GREASE.

And FlyingMonkey, I wanted to tell the Preacher that if he didn't want to be perceived as gay he should stop snapping his fingers and pursing his lips after every sentence.

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 8/28/09 at 3:01pm

Well, I'm sure he WAS gay.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/28/09 at 3:10pm

I'm sure he was. He left his church, maybe to join a more "progressive" one?

[alfgiotir]

Posted: 8/28/09 at 3:23pm

I didn't watch the doc but I watched the trailer. The girl who sings that song "Diva?" is amazing. To have a voice like that with that kind of control is awesome at that age.

[violet72]

Posted: 8/29/09 at 12:29am

I just watched this documentary and I too did not like the whole Princess show...I thought the director was a little full of himslef and he had talented kids...I wish I got to see more of the Jeffersonville kids they are truely what theater on that level is about

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 8/29/09 at 12:35am

The girl singing "Diva" did have a great voice, but I wish she had grown into the part more. They showed her in rehearsal, and then in the show, and it was basically the same thing, but whatever, it's high school. She was great though.

I found the whole thing to be really interesting. I kind of wish they had profiled more of the students. I wanted them to interview the one kid's mom who wasn't very supportive. Like, did she go see the show? Did his sisters? I found his story line to be very interesting.

I also really liked the one kid who played the lead in the Hawaiian one. He was kind of funny and wish they had profiled him. And they never showed the "bitch" girl's performance in that show either!

[Dollypop]

Posted: 8/29/09 at 8:22am

This summer I took a job with the BOCES summer school in my area. It was rewarding to deal with special ed students who bravely coped with their disabilities. However, some of the staff were truly "pieces of work".

The music therapy teacher also directed their annual musical. Last year they did GUYS AND DOLLS and she bragged to me that every performance of the show was sold out and that many people claimed "it was better than the Broadway revival". Then she showed me a video of the production: the choreography was step-together-step, many of the actors were inaudible (at least in the video), most of the costumes didn't fit, the palm trees in the Cuba scene were those inflatable things you find in party stores. There was no real sense of blocking because many of the actors clumped together and had their backs to the audience.

Now, I'll give the cast credit for getting up there and performing--a few of them were in wheelchairs, and I think it's important for students with special needs to be given the opportunity to perform in a musical like this. However, for the teacher to say people thought it was better to a professional production wss a bit hard to take, especially since this woman actually BELIEVED it!

This same teacher has asked me to help her on her next prodcution: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. When I told her it would be ideal for Grandma Tzeitel and Fruma Sarah to be played by wheelchair-bound girls, she looked at me with a bewildered expression. Obviously she had no idea what I was talking about because she had chosen a play without reading the script or seeing any productions of it.

Sad. Terribly sad. These kids deserve better.

[thejcm]

Posted: 8/29/09 at 9:12am

Haven't seen it yet because I don't have cable. Although I will say that I live 15-20 minutes from all 3 schools and it's weird to see people I know in the trailer.

[adam3]

Posted: 8/29/09 at 10:10am

know ppl in the trailer do you so if i told you ny name was adam and i went to NAHS....

[Shay0987]

Posted: 9/28/09 at 3:13pm

In response to dramadude, I was in Kaiulani and I fully agree with your comment about the actors appearing to be disinterested in the content of the musical itself. NAHS has such a wonderful theater department, or at least did a few years ago when the documentary was filmed and I fully believe that our talent was not properly displayed in Kaiulani. It was definitely the wrong musical to be featured in the doc.

[adam3]

Posted: 9/28/09 at 4:39pm

in kailauni were you? this is adam who is this?

[rbrewerhouse]

Posted: 6/26/10 at 2:31pm

Hi Pat,
I would tell you that all of you students did the best you could with limited material. I would also say that it appeared (maybe falsely) that your drama teacher was more interested in browbeating you into selling tix and producing his own show than he was teaching you all the finer points of staging a musical. He was more a producer than a teacher. I would say that too much money in a high school program is often worse than having not enough money because you don't have to creatively problem solve. You can hide mistakes in front of beautiful sets/backdrops and behind wonderful costumes. I would say that costumes and sets in a high school musical, when not really made by students and/or parents(and please don't tell me you're all Broadway caliber scenic designers, painters and costumers, because the truth is that none of you were when in high school), cheats a wonderful learning experience. I would say that standing on opposite sides of a long proscenium stage and facing the audience is not usually how musicals are staged for best dramatic impact. I would say that the other schools seemed to have more fun because of those educational moments that seemed to be lacking in yours. And finally I would say that as someone who is in the process of starting a charter school for the performing arts in California, the documentary was a very good reminder of all the good, and not so good, things that take place in high school drama. And high school Drama. Good luck to you.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 7/18/14 at 4:26pm

bringing up an old thread because I have showtime preview and this documentary has been playing over and over again...

so i enjoyed it... but then after repeat viewings I felt like the documentary wasn't as fully realized or developed as I had wanted... it was somewhat unfocused and kinda just jumped all over the place when it comes to the students... and i wasn't quite sure if the documentary really knew what it wanted to be... the onscreen tv guide made it seem like it was going to be a documentary about schools competing against each other for some festival... i felt like i was kinda watching a high school musical being put on but it was really about the kids who are doing it... it was just all over the place

but despite it all.. it is compelling to watch

i wonder what these kids are up to now