Gypsy in High School?

[BroadwayBaby3]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 5:04pm

A friend of mine who goes to a different high school than I do said that her school is doing Gypsy for their spring musical this year. And I was like "What the...?" I'd *love* to do Gypsy in my senior year but I've never heard of high schools doing it before due to the subject matter.

How common is it? And how can I convince my director to do Gypsy?

Rachel

[itstheM]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 5:58pm

In New Jersey a few schools do it a year. Maybe 3 or 4 schools. I hope your director is very cool and likes you a lot, b/c that's probably the only way that show is done.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 6:15pm

I'm amazed they do it in high school. That score is really demanding to sing for the woman playing Mama Rose.

[tapbaby2356]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 6:17pm

there's a school around here that's planning on doing it next year...but that's the first i'd ever heard. kinda amazed that more high schools are doing it...interesting...

[WhatDoINeedWithLove?]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 7:05pm

My high school did it the year before I got there...uhh, so March 1999

[KarenWalker]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 7:21pm

a school by me did Chicago last year...i'm guesing illegally?

[StateOfJade]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 7:26pm

It'd be interesting to see 'You Gotta Have A Gimmick' done by high school students lol.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 7:29pm

I wanted to to GYPSY when I taught in a Catholic high school. I had a student who'd just played Annie Oakley to great success and I thought she'd be the perfect Mama Rose. However, the musical director was a nun (who looked and acted like Miss Hathaway on the "Beverly Hillbillies") and she balked at the idea of showing strippers on stage. We did NO, NO NANETTE that year, instead.

[BillyLawlor]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 10:37pm

It can be done without nudity. If a high school girl strips down to a bathing suit, let's say (One that's all done up with glitter and decoration), the show should be fine. She'll strike a final sexual pose, or go to take something off as the lights go down. It can be done that way.

[broadway geek]

Posted: 11/5/03 at 11:35pm

A high school in my DC area is doing "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolfe?" Isn't that a bit raunchy or is there a different version?

[Bway_Mill_Fan]

Posted: 11/6/03 at 11:24am

My HS in NJ did it too. it was also in 99

Posted: 11/6/03 at 4:56pm

thats weird i dont know any theatre company with those scripts. i hope they put it on Mti soon

[Bway_Mill_Fan]

Posted: 11/6/03 at 5:08pm

now that i remember, the girl did her "strip" at the side of the curtain and sorta played around with the audience, though she had those "nude top things" and so they only showed a bit of her back with the cloth thing

Posted: 11/7/03 at 9:09am

Nudity? Did I miss something? I just saw Gypsy on November 1st and I didn't see any nudity. Sure, the strippers were scantily clad, but no worse than anything you'd see on a beach now-a-days.

Oh wait...Hold the phone. Gypsy did take off her top and was covered by a feather boa which she dropped, but that was done in complete shadow and I don't think it'd be very hard to stage if you put someone in a flesh body suit. Hmmmmm...interesting.

[rlbgbc]

Posted: 11/7/03 at 9:16am

Aw, heck, I did GYPSY when the Daly revival was running and a big hit. Even stole some stuff from it :) (I directed).

The odd thing to me is NOT that high schools are doing GYPSY because of the current revival -- but I can think of nothing more bizarre than seeing a teenage girl play "Rose". I know, educational theatre and all that, but I think I'd spend a lot of time out in the lobby looking at the sports trophies in the glass cases.

Posted: 11/7/03 at 9:31am

A teen ager as Mama Rose would be no worse than a teen ager playing any other "adult" in any other show, I wouldn't think and it's done all the time. In truth, how many musical theatre shows are about people aged 15-17?

[rlbgbc]

Posted: 11/7/03 at 9:36am

Uh, beg to differ. To me, "Rose" is like the Lady Macbeth of musical theatre -- to make an impact, you've got to have the life experience to back it up and/or be able to fake it. I haven't seen too many performers in the teen range that can do that.

And this is certainly not a slam against HS shows, or a suggestion for high schools to stick only to productions of RUNAWAYS. But c'mon...does "Reno" in ANYTHING GOES really require the emotional depth that "Rose" does?

Posted: 11/7/03 at 9:54am

Point taken....

But it's high school and you go to a high school production expecting a high school production regardless of which show they're doing.