What are some musicals you could do in a black box/minimalist setting that haven't already been done in a minimalist style (i.e. Chicago)?
Definitely Night Music, (see: Menier revival), maybe Ragtime.
At my school we only have a black box. Past musicals were, Little Women, Violet, Follies, Urinetown, Falsettoes, Songs for A New World, Steel Pier, and this year we are doing Company and Bells Are Ringing.
Chorus Member Joined: 5/10/09
Depending on what you might be looking for. I would think Brooklyn would work well. I've seen Urinetown done in a black box theatre as well as Joseph. I was involved in black box productions of She Loves Me and Return to the Forbidden Plannet. Sometimes it comes down to what your budget is and what your really wanting the final resut to be with the show.
ANYTHING with a leader with vision.
My school did Man of La Mancha in our blackbox, and it was brilliant.
"My school did Man of La Mancha in our blackbox, and it was brilliant."
Not that you're biased or anything...
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/28/05
As I said in another recent thread, I'd love to see Les Miz done with a small cast and minimal sets.
Aida
Carousel
Into the Woods
Pippin works well that way, as does Sweeney Todd.
Bwaylvsong, Signature Theatre did Les Mis in a black box with minimalist sets... it was wonderful. They also did a great Sweeney Todd.
I secretly have always wanted to see a black box production of Phantom of the Opera. Maybe with a troupe of like, traveling gypsies or something acting out the story and each one playing multiple roles and using very sparse sets, ahahaha.
"Not that you're biased or anything".
Well, maybe a little. But I wasn't in it. This was like a year before I started going there. Still, it was brilliant, because our theatre program is, uh, awesome
CapnHook is 100% on Target. ANYTHING could work if it is done correctly. Anything. It just takes creativity and vision.
^^^Aggreed. I just finished doing THE PRODUCERS in a black box and it worked exremely well. As long as the director's up for a challange, anything can be done in blackbox.
I also think these could work:
RENT
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
HAIR
CABARET
Tick Tick Boom. [title of show].
My acting class only had a black box theatre,so I'll list some of the shows done there in the past few years:
Urinetown, Fame, Little Shop of Horrors, Lion King, The Wiz, Once on this Island, Godspell, Pippin, Footloose, Batboy
there's definitely more, but I only went there for 2 or 3 years so I mostly know what shows I did and what shows they talked about.
At my school, our only performance space was a black box. Here are some examples of shows we did...
Into The Woods
Company
Chicago
The Wild Party (Lippa)
The Full Monty
Jesus Christ Superstar
Tommy
Tick, Tick, Boom
Children of Eden
Godspell
A New Brain
Bare
Hair
The Fantasticks
Wicked1492, how big was your Producers cast?
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
For all you "anything can be done" people, I would like to see you do A Chorus Line in a blackbox. It can't be done in blackbox.
Cabaret
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Sweeney Todd
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
Gothampc-
Depends on how big the black box is (I've seen a few that could easily do it) and if they are using the Bennett choreography or not.
In fact, didn't the Crucible in Sheffield's production do it in a black box?
I hope that was a sarcastic comment about A Chorus Line. A Chorus Line would look great in a black box. It doesn't require any scenery but a line and some mirrors.
darquegk, We had 24 in the cast, including leads and ensemble.
I saw an excellent production of Passion that was done in a black box theatre.
Next to Normal seems like s greta black box dhow.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
Maybe our definition of a blackbox is different. My definition is a small, versatile, intimate theater. From what I understand a blackbox to be, A Chorus Line wouldn't be able to fit the chorus line into a blackbox. Proscenium is really the only way to go with A Chorus Line.
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