This may kind of be a question for the student board, but not a whole lot happens over there.
What shows do you think that every high school should perform.
Oklahoma!
Hello, Dolly! or My Fair Lady if they have the capability
Featured Actor Joined: 5/5/14
The Music Man, Guys and Dolls...
No high school should ever perform Guys and Dolls. I have seen several where the actors are good, but the show is ridiculous when performed by high schoolers.
^^^^^^
Not to attack your list, but I would say the same for DOLLY. I just can't get into it when Horace and Dolly are the same age as Irene and Cornelius.
SHE LOVES ME should be a staple for all schools, especially ones with smaller theater groups (as mine had).
The NJ high school that performed COMPANY and FOLLIES was quite disturbing.
I think the thing about Dolly is that Dolly and Horace aren't really sexualized like the men and women in Guys and Dolls so the characters can be played older without creating the awkwardness of the overt sexuality in Guys and Dolls.
Featured Actor Joined: 5/5/14
I've seen it with High School students, and I have to say it was not as bad one might think. The whole production looked very professional and I give them a lot of props (pun completely intended) for it
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/1/14
Rent
Guys and Dolls has been a staple in high school theater for decades. It's a crowd pleaser and easy, stock characters. Personally, I never need to produce it again, but it is nearly always well rec'd.
Pippin. And they should do it for every graduating class.
Because our school is an arts school, we like to do shows that aren't typically performed by most high schools.
I know that our director was considering Follies, but we're worried that our audience wouldn't know how to respond to it. Plus there Is the age problem.
May I ask what high school you go to? Unless it's like Interlochen I would stay away from Follies because it is just too difficult to do correctly.
Like the students have any say in those choices.
A lot of high schools lately (including my own) have done Little Shop. Its a really fun show and it CAN be done with a large ensemble (as the production I was in had), but I DON'T recommend that unless you just have excess performers.
Sorry if I offended Dramamama611, I was just speaking theoretically as if I were the director, not that icecreambenjamin needed to stop his director from choosing Follies.
No offense, and I don't even disagree. Just pointing out that in most circumstances, students have little to no say in the choice, my students certainly do not.
Are there really high schools that perform Follies? That just seems so ridiculous. It would be like a retirement home putting on a production of Annie.
I did it when I was in high school, but it was community theater. About 1/2 the cast was high school kids. It was awful.
There are shows that high schools should never do.
Understudy Joined: 11/5/14
When I was in high school we did 8 musicals. We did The Wiz, Ragtime: School Edition, High School Musical, High School Musical 2, Little Shop of Horrors, The Little Mermaid, The Sound of Music and Beauty and the Beast. They all went pretty well! I know this year they are doing Once On This Island and Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat.
And also kind of silly, as most high schools will only do one a year, that not every student can do "all" of them. It's not like any one student can do any complete list.
Why shouldn't schools do Follies?
High school productions are for the benefit of the students who put them on, the performers, set decorators etc. - not necessarily the unfortunate audieence who must witness them out of duty.
Follies provides great roles, and an interesting set - so why not? Age-blind casting can't be that hard to imagine, either.
Hair Spray
Beauty & The Beast
Shrek
Lots of good parts for a lot of students. Good stories that aren't too deep. Enjoyable for the audience and cast.
For deeper story that can still grab an audience:
South Pacific
Ragtime
My Fair Lady
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