Hardest show for high school to pull off? — Page 2

This summer, I participated in a high school cast of "Chicago" and it was a phenominal production! We sold out every night!

Actually, My summer camp has done a lot of these shows.
We did A Little Night Music, and though altogether it wasn't incredible, our Desiree and Madame Armfeldt were impeccable. Desiree(I think I am spelling wrong) was probably as good as in any college production, if not professional. Armfeldt was also incredible, and did an interpretation which I have good feeling has not been seen in the theatre before.
We also did Sweeny Todd, and that was altogether absolutely wonderful. We had an actor capable of acting and singing every role. But at my camp we have a higher concentration of talented children than at school. At my school we did Ragtime, with a local high school, and it turned out pretty good. Not a high school show.

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When I was in High School we did 2 easy shows and 2 more difficult shows and the more difficult shows turned out better. My freshman year we did High Society which didn't have many big chorus numbers and was pretty easy music, most of us were just bored with it...Sophomore year we did George M! which was equally as bad. My junior year we did The Scarlet Pimpernel which was AMAZING...we got a letter from NSMT telling us it was the best thing they'd seen at a high school which gave us the confidence to do Sweeney Todd my senior year...it was even more amazing than the SP...so I'd say it depends on the school but Sweeney is one of the most difficult shows I can think of...

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My highschool has a tendancy to do shows that are difficult from some aspect or another. Les Miz, The Civil War, Tommy (from a technical aspect), Chorus Line, and this year its Big River (I dont know if that one will be difficult to pull off, but it should be fun) So far, it seems the Civil War and Les Miz were the hardest to do vocally. Tommy was difficult, mainly because of the lights and spinning pinball machines and pyrotechnics.
There was once rumors of Phantom, but I don't think it's even released to the public yet, and its one of those that has to have mature voices.

My school is doing "Merrily We Roll Along" for the musical this year and people ae saying it is quite ambitious of the director.

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My school did A CHORUS LINE a few years back and it was phenomenal. It was sold out and it was really really worth it.

Another tough one to pull off would be WEST SIDE STORY...but WICKED will take the cake once its right's are released...how can you do Defying Gravity, anyway? It would be so hard and vocally (and dramatically) strenuous for everyone in the cast especially Elphie and Galinda (of course.)

Wicked, I believe, would be impossible for any high school to do even if the rights were available - primarily because the budget concerns would prohibit the different things that the play would require (I also believe that the same would apply to Miss Saigon).

The problem with high school shows is that by and large, they are not that great. Acting is often predicated on having life experience; so while breaking up with your HS sweetheart may be difficult at the age of 16, in the grand scheme of life, the breakup and subsequent emotional drama is really rather insignificant. I can't imagine a high school doing Les Miz successfully - they deal with the issues of class struggle and revolution, death and redemption, sin and righteneous, love and loss...things (and furthermore, questions) that people at the age of 50 struggle in answering. I know the rights are not available, but I would imagine doing RENT and Avenue Q for a high school would not be acceptable (nor really plausible) due to content matter appropriateness. Something like Phatnom of the Opera (though the rights are not obtainable) would also be very impossible to pull off at a high school level due to the vocal requirements of the part.

I also believe that by and large, the hardest show that a high school could pull off would be a Shakespearean comedy - the language is difficult and something that many scholars have debated about, and the questions are complex yet universal enough in nature...

I have this broke down into a couple different slots.
1. too damn hard
2. to adult for high school
3. not all together impossible but a very hard show to do right.

First off some to most of Sondheim his music is very hard to play and very hard to sing while the whole orchestra is playing along.

*****1*****
Phantom of the Opera
Les Miz
Miss Saigon
Wicked
Evita
Aida
Lion King
Beauty and the Beast
Cats

*****2*****
RENT.....DUH!
Sweet Charity
Chicago
Cabaret
Gipsy...although now that i'm thinking about it...not so much but **shrugs**eh
sunset Boulevard
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Pageant....although it is never told that the girls are dressed as guys in the show...but it's very f*****g obvious

*****3*****
My Fair Lady...it's all the scenes that get me the scenery and costuming is a big issue
Annie Get Your Gun...not that it's hard it's just freaking long
Jekyll and Hyde-tech all around
Pirates of Penzance...opera...nuf said
Porgy and Bess...see above
Titanic...tech and also really no book to speak of so it's kinda boring really...good music though i love the music.

there that's what i think