School edition of SWEENEY TODD coming soon..- Page 2

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/15/07 at 12:21pm

Is the Judge's "Johanna" REALLY necessary? I think that even without it, you can figure out his psyche and intentions.

[sondhead]

Posted: 12/15/07 at 12:31pm

It's not neccessary to the success of the plot, but it definitely defines whether your judge is a real character or your stock victorian evil villian.

Read the lyrics--it humanizes him like none of the rest of the show attempts to do. There's a reason Sondheim is so fond of it.

[bwayfascination]

Posted: 12/15/07 at 1:44pm

taboophan, thanks for that post. I had never really thought about it in those terms - that the production is more a learning event for the students. Good point.

Personally, I have always had a problem with "Oliver" as a production for kids. I mean, Nancy is a teenage prostitute, Fagin is most likely a child molester exploiting homeless children, and everyone's cheerfully belting out "Consider Yourself at Home". I've always thought that was a little weird.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/15/07 at 1:56pm

My voice teacher hates Chicago being done by high schools.

I personally think it's funny when they do Parade. Imagine being a poor unassuming parent going "Oh, it's called Parade! I bet it will be fun and happy!"

[TabooPhan1]

Posted: 12/15/07 at 3:09pm

Haha, I agree sometimes it's hard to tell where you draw the line, however I think some of these shows can be tailored at least a little to be high school appropriate. Although a part of me feels guilty for not allowing the kids to see the ingenuity of the full piece. However, there is no question in my mind that more provocative and influential shows should be a part of the curriculum of high school theatre students.

[gypsy4]

Posted: 12/15/07 at 5:40pm

I think it a waste of time for them
to write school versions of musicals
let schools get the experience of
doing the real thing.

[Zeitoujo]

Posted: 12/15/07 at 9:11pm

my high school is doing sweeny for the spring musical!!!

im anthony! =D

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 12/15/07 at 9:19pm

If a school can't manage to pull off the full non-school versions of the show, they shouldn't be doing that show in the first place in my opinion.

[artscallion]

Posted: 12/15/07 at 9:32pm

Why?

[artsamore]

Posted: 12/15/07 at 9:38pm

So let me be blunt with this.....High School productions of certain shows turn my stomach!! I know they are kids and it's educational theater but I AM NOT BLAMING THE KIDS. They can only do the shows selected but I am so tired of the teachers and drama heads who want 16, 17 & 18 years old to do Sweeney Todd, Cabaret, Chicago, Showboat, Sweet Charity and the like. There is really nothing worse! There are many shows out there that schools can do that would be educational and challenge the students without being idiotic and laughable production.

[TabooPhan1]

Posted: 12/15/07 at 10:55pm

You're right, there really is nothing worse than a bad high school musical. Genocide, disease, famine, and poverty don't rank very high, but a high school production of Sweeney Todd is enough to bring down the human race...

[artsamore]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 12:08am

Right.....since this is not "Talk of the Nation" or NPR I think you can leave out the snide comments about genocide, disease, and famine. Here we talk about THEATER ISSUES and in regards to theater{not comparing it to world hunger, but keeping it in a THEATER!!! context} These high schools shows ARE a castastrophe.

Look I know you were probably the belle of the ball at your high school theater program but let's keep a level head here, okay pumpkin!

[nitsua]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 1:40am

Most high school students wouldn't be introduced to the material without doing the show. How many high school kids can get to NYC for a field trip? Ours couldn't. How many live close enough to a tour stop? How many can afford those ticket prices? You might've had the luxury of living close to NYC or being able to see the tour, but I didn't, and neither did my classmates.

The only way we were able to familiarize ourselves with classic Broadway is by doing it ourselves. I think that means a lot. If you don't think kids should play adults, then give me a list of musicals and plays that are about high school students. Out of the list, how many are good? You're telling me that high school kids shouldn't play adults?

Movie musicals help, but how many movie musicals are there? Thank God the better ones are being made into movies.

[artsamore]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 11:18am

So you are saying the only way to expose teens to these shows is by doing them? Why can't you just study the plays, study the cast recordings and get books on the shows. This would expose you just the same as doing it. I didn't grow up close to New York, I grew up in Georgia and went to a school that didn't have a theater program and this is what exposed us to shows.

I understand the idea of teaching teens the classics but 16 year olds do not have to perform "Kiss of the Spider Woman" or "A Long's Days Journey into Night" to get to know them and sometimes this can be a disservice because there were many "classics" that I did not like when I was exposed to them at a younger age but came to understand,appreciate and love them as I got older. I think more care and consideration should be given when it comes to the shows high school kids perform.

[TabooPhan1]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 5:41pm

artsamore-

You are absolutely correct- this is not a discussion of world politics, nor is it an NPR forum. So if you would not like your comments to be criticized with absurd generalizations, perhaps you should try to keep absurd generalizations out of your criticism (ie: "There is really nothing worse! There are many shows out there that schools can do that would be educational and challenge the students without being idiotic and laughable production."). And unless you are some sort of HS theatre connoisseur, I don't understand why you are so passionate about the quality of HS shows; heaven forbid you should have to sit through one! Afterall, it isn't what the kids get out of the shows, or what they learn about influential and historical theatre, it's whether or not artsamore could give it a nice write-up in the local newspaper.

And I do not believe you could learn the same things from simply researching and discussing a show in class, as opposed to performing the show and having a chance to do character analysis, scene study, and performance. That's like saying you could learn to sing from listening to tapes and talking about it, rather than learning with a teacher and going out and singing to people. I know it must sound good on paper to be able to just absorb the theatrical experience from a compact disc and a text book, but unfortunately that's not how it works.

And I WAS the belle of the ball in my high school, but thankfully I've moved on to bigger and better things. There's no need to be jealous of that. I'm sure you opened and closed the curtain to rave reviews, pumpkin.

[TabooPhan1]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 5:44pm

And PS:

"Okay pumpkin!" should end with a question mark, not an exclamation mark, as it is a question... unless you're complimenting a pumpkin.

[buffyactsing]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 6:14pm

To me, it's like cutting Jud's Lonely Room...cutting a delicious exploration of a character's internal psyche...it's just wrong. Then again, I feel for most shows, characters should be as fully developed as possible.

[buffyactsing]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 6:16pm

" think it a waste of time for them
to write school versions of musicals
let schools get the experience of
doing the real thing."

I very much agree. Are we trying to protect our teenagers by cutting out "Hey-Hoy Sailor Boy..." as if it will corrupt their innocent ears? I feel almost like it's more about protecting the parents from knowing that their kids know more than they want them to know.

[nitsua]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 7:33pm

Who cares if it's cut or not? And it's not like they rewrote the entire freakin score and script. They cut a few words, changed some lines.

Let's not get all pissy.

And I don't think any of you have actually seen the student edition, so none of you can judge it.

That's all.

PS: I would've loved to do the student edition of Sweeney Todd over the crap we did in high school. Instead, we did The Wizard of OZ and Once Upon a Mattress. I can't remember the other two.

[buffyactsing]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 7:52pm

My issue is with WHY it's cut...who are we protecting? Unless it actually IMPROVES the show, I don't see the need to cut or change Sweeney for High Schoolers.

[b-wayboy55]

Posted: 12/23/07 at 11:20pm

My school has done Sweeney twice. We did the regular virson my freshmen year and we did the student version ( concert) in november this year. We actually recorded it and it was a lot of fun! Most of it was cut because if you really think about it, it is bad for schools because it brings in hard subjects that some kids don't need to know about yet. Sweeney is a very in your face kindof show and a middle school or some high schools wouldn't be able to handle the mature content of the show! It is an amazing show either way!
Updated On: 12/23/07 at 11:20 PM

[kathryn2]

Posted: 9/2/08 at 11:12am

My high school did the school edition of Les Mis in March, The Mikado in December 2008 and they are doing Sweeney in 2009, both of which I was in and I’m hoping to go back for Sweeney as well. Our productions were said to be close to professional.
I think that as long as you have students willing to put in the work (we were doing 3-4 rehearsals per week after a full day of school + a few weekend rehearsals for a good few months) along with committed teachers, you can defiantly pull it off.


Updated On: 9/2/08 at 11:12 AM