High School Musicals of the future — Page 2

I can't wait till high schools start doing WICKED. some will probably be more talented than any of the professional companies. the flying thing will be easy, the dragon is not needed and all the costumes and sets can be recycled from last years production of the wizard of oz...

I thought the moment I saw Urinetown that it would be a great school show

My high school could pull off Wicked next year easily. Our Elphaba would be a junior who has a recording contract, and who won this years variety show nailing Whitney Houston's, "I Have Nothing". She alo got a perfect score of 40 plus at s/e. Our Glinda would be a Senior who has had such roles as Mrs. Potts in "Beauty and the Beast", and The Narrator in "Joseph". She was asked to sing at this years Cancer Walk, got a 38 at s/e, and got 3rd place at the variety show singing her own song that she wrote on the piano. And of course Fieryo would be me. I have played the Scarecrow before in "The Wizard of Oz", and i also have been in "Cinderella" as The Prince, and I also did the choreography for a childrens theatre camp production of "Honk Jr." as well as Co-directing the show. We are pretty much set!

---

I think that high schools, with a few exceptions, have been doing shows such as My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, Fiddler and the occasional Pippin for so long, that they all jump at the opportunity to do the "hit" shows (Even if they are a few years outside of the hit category.)

The problem is that the hits have been running on Broadway/West End/Tours for so long, that the rights haven't been available since they opened. Therefore, everyone is now jumping at them. If you're HS director, and the district over from you is doing "Les Mis".. you probably fear a mutiny if you choose Oklahoma. Hence, 15 Beauty and The Beasts.

However, I think it's a good thing that HS' are picking up the new works. It allows students/audiences to see that there have been progressions in musical theatre. Otherwise, folks in Nowherville, KS think musicals are just West Side Story and Oklahoma. There's a large amount of hostility towards the "classics" from the younger generations. Does it mean the works are any less quality? No... people are just tired of working on them.

Back to the original question - I've long said Wicked will be better in the stock and amateur performances than the current production. Hairspray in a HS will be quite popular.

I've seen some amazing HS performances, and some pretty crappy ones. I think it's great to have younger people work on the works that are (in general) ones that audiences crave now. At least it makes it easier for them to get people in to watch and, in turn, pushes them to do more theatre. I just wish more directors would approach lesser known pieces. When I was in high school, I was fortunate to have a director who preferred to do shows that the students/parents weren't overly familar with. It let the students have a greater chance to truly create, and not have to compete with the memories engrained in heads of "the real version." In my opinion.

End semi-rant.

Charlie
magicpiane@kc.rr.com

Updated On: 5/8/05 at 08:00 PM

Yeah, the Glinda bubble worries me. Anyone can pull of Elphaba's flying effect; just get one of those boom lift things that are similar to a cherry-picker and drape some fabric over it and voila! Elphaba flies. The bubble is a bit more difficult to create.

I would love to see a high school do Hairspray. If any high school in my area did it, I would volunteer to choreograph it. Of course, I would use some of Jerry Mitchell's choreography, just because it's fantastic.

Here are the facts: shows cost money to produce. Many school boards don't give funds to theater programs (ours doesn't). The entire income comes from fundraising and ticket sales. The majority of high school students would much rather see something modern or something that they're familiar with, like Beauty and the Beast. And if the show draws crowds and sells tickets, that's how the theatre program makes money. It's nothing against older shows, it's just business.

Example: my school did South Pacific and sold a moderate amount of tickets. Then we did Li'l Abner and sold very few tickets. Then we did Grease and sold out two of the three nights. High school students know and love the music and story of Grease, so they're more willing to go see it, at lease moreso than Li'l Abner or the classic R&H musicals.

Also, as someone mentioned earlier, the older shows and the classics have been performed at schools for decades. My high school did West Side Story three times in twelve years. Three different high schools and junior high schools did Guys and Dolls three consecutive years. I think it's great that schools are finally producing newer shows.

Of course. But how many high schools will actually want to put on a production of Wicked if they can't have the flying effects?

And I said that a possible solution would be to use a mechanism similar to a cherry-picker. And I didn't say that Glinda's bubble had to be identical, either. But I don't think many schools would be happy if they couldn't have the effects.

Updated On: 7/10/07 at 09:43 PM

the director at my school says as soon as WICKED becomes available she wants to do it.

ICKY!!!!!!!!!! how could that EVER happen?? first of all, though there are some high school girls who may be able to belt the high Es/Fs necessary to play elphaba, that's not healthy AT ALL for high school voices. and i can see so many girls torturing their voices trying to get near "bring me down" at the end of defying gravity....ouchies.

all i can say is thank god i'm graduating.

---

I agree with Hairspray for high schools. I think it could potentially be the next Grease or Bye Bye Birdie.

As for colleges, I suspect that Urinetown and both The Wild Partys will become popular. This is because they're already starting to be done by colleges around me, including my own.

~Steven

Yay! Glinda bubbles!

::pops them::

---

Who said Millie MUST be tap? i know the speed test is the major tap number but couldn't you creativly come up with another way of doing it?

Well I am in a Show Choir for my High School...we performed a Wicked Medeley....No One Mourns the Wicked - What is This Feeling? - Popular - One Short Day - Defying Gravity - For Good.....and our solos were amazing. But then again...we had a finalist in Star Search (Lisa Tucker) play Elphaba...and Laryn Andrews...who is an amazing soprano play Galinda. It was the funnest performance I have ever been apart of. Perhaps ill try producing a .wav so you can hear it...