The best musical for high school- Page 2

[LilMiZBroADwaY23]

Posted: 8/19/04 at 10:00pm

Last year we did 'Working'. But due to my being a Freshman, I wasn't allowed a part. I don't know what we're doing this year.

[Roxie]

Posted: 8/19/04 at 10:09pm

Who were you in Footloose?? We haven't casted yet, I can't wait!

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 8/19/04 at 10:13pm

LilMiz B-way...

I doubt it will happen by your senior year...I have a feeling it will still be packing the Broadway house for a while now. Hah...but maybe by then you will be good enough to play Tracy on Broadway...(And I will be your Link)

Dream BIG!

Akiva

[lyfeisacabaret]

Posted: 8/19/04 at 10:15pm

Haha... I, sadly, was a freshman at the time, and we all know how that goes with casting. So, to answer your question, I was in the chorus... "Everybody cut, everybody cut..."
...good memories...

[Jon]

Posted: 8/19/04 at 10:43pm

I just hate when all-white schools do ONCE ON THIS ISLAND. Where is this mythical island of pasty-skinned blondes???

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 8/19/04 at 10:48pm

As a pasty-white girl who would like nothing better than to belt out the part of Asaka, I have to say that I would not have minded at all if my diversity-challenged high school had done Once on This Island. But yeah, I would imagine it's not as powerful with the element of racial struggles removed, and making the entire complication rest on the issues of social status and breeding. It could work, though. And I'm sure I'm not the only white girl who wants to be Asaka... I'm just to keep on dreaming my impossible dream.

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 8/19/04 at 10:49pm

hah Jon...I agree. Also The Wiz was NOT mean to be done by white kids. Not that it is in the script and necessary like OOTI but still. And I bet Aida will have the same prob when it is done in highschoolsm although that one I caan sort of see.

Akiva

[timote316]

Posted: 8/19/04 at 10:50pm

Although well overdone, Guys and Dolls is great for high schools. Its one of those shows that has roles for everyone. The chorus can be any most any size, and doesn't HAVE to be sex-specific. My HS did it 2 years ago, and it was awesome.

Footloose is good because the kids can be themselves, playing their own age.

Grease is good for a school with a large talent pool. There really aren't defined leads (looking at the music alone). Yes, Danny and Sandy are the leads, but they have like 2 songs, most other characters sing 1 too.

Fiddler and Joseph are also good for high schools, but you need a star for each. Not too many schools (at least in my area) have the 'star' needed to play Tevye or the Narrator, but when a school has one available, these shows are a great way to showcase them. However, Joseph can be done without one star, just break up the Narrator into 2 or 3 girls, but thats my opinion (I tried to convince our director to do that, cuz I wanted to play the Pharoah, no luck there lol).

Sometimes, high schools can surprise you, and pull a great show out of nowhere!

[aspiringguy715]

Posted: 8/19/04 at 10:51pm

Haha, don't worry Flowery, when I did the "The Wiz" when I was in Middle School it was an entirely white cast. Imagine me, the signature white boy singing the soulful "Slide Some Oil to Me!" It was hilarious. I heard they're doing "Once on This Island" at the Middle School this coming year. It'll be interesting Updated On: 8/19/04 at 10:51 PM

[shesings]

Posted: 8/19/04 at 10:57pm

shows my school did back in the day! (we did 2 musicals my senior year)

The Sound of Music
Once Upon a Mattress
The Pajama Game
Into the Woods
No, No Nanette

[Rentaholic2]

Posted: 8/19/04 at 11:09pm

Since I've been in HS, we've done Guys and Dolls, Grease, and Hello, Dolly! Hello, Dolly! bombed because the senior class didn't really pick it so they didn't care to much and we had an insane pyshco bi-otch for Dolly. Grease was the most successful...good for HS cause it needs a lot of energy...you have fun, the audience has fun.

This year we're doing LSoH, and I have a good shot at Seymour! (wish me luck!). This is a big deal, because my town is like the town in Footloose...we got SO many letters of complaint when we did Grease. Little Shop could be the end of the world for this small Texas farm town...wouldn't that be wonderful! We want to make jaws drop with controversy and dark-comedic humor!

The thing my theatre teachers have learned is that, no matter what musical you choose, the people that will be starring in it need to be excited about it and glad to do it. If they don't have a say in which musical is chosen and it ends up being one they don't really care for, well....it's my Hello, Dolly! story.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 12:13am

7th Grade---Wizard of Oz
8th Grade---Remembering Richard Rodgers, Into the Woods
9th Grade---Funny Girl
10th Grade (upcoming)---Fiddler on the Roof

This is just shows I did AT school and doesn't include theatre I did outside of school and/or professionaly.

[NYUstud]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 12:21am

Shows I did in High School:

Hello Dolly, Oklahoma, Music Man, South Pacific, Wizard of Oz, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown

[JoizeyActor]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 12:27am

We might be doing 'Lucky Stiff' next year. Should be interesting. But that isn't a popular high school show. Heh..

[gustof777]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 12:29am

Jeez A little night music and merrily for HS? you guys are sooo lucky my school loves to do shows that they have done like 3 times bfor!!!! we've done "Do Black Patent shoes really reflect up? Lucky Stiff, and 1940s radio hour and the only one i enjoyed or had heard of was lucky stiff wow to do Night Music or Merrily is a dream for me you all are lucky!!!

[the-one-you-want]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 12:30am

I always thought "Merrily we roll along" by Sondheim would make a wonderful high school production (considering the OBC was made up mostly of 18-22 year old actors).
Most over done? Hmm. Well, if I am forced to sit through another zitty 15 year old channeling audrey hepburn in "my fair lady" then i'll use my tie as a noose and collapse in 5h3 aisle during "the rain in spain."

[NYUstud]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 12:35am

I have seen Patent Shoes once at a nearby high school and it was terrible.

[gustof777]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 12:37am

worst show ever i hated being in it!! the music is decent but one of the worst books EVER for a musical i was sooo ashamed to be in it!! GrRr!! I wanna do merrily!!!

[BT]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 12:40am

Merrily we roll along is tough to pull off - Sondheim reworked it a bit for the Kennedy Center production last year and it was amazing. I really loved it. "Our Time" is such a great song...

[saddle shoe side kick]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 1:53am

My theatre teacher was singing "Our Time" with another girl who knew the show during theatre class. She is the one who runs the plays and told us that's what ours was going to be. I don't even really know what it's about but everyone seems to like it so I'm excited. -Penny

UPDATE- Since I saw it, I've thought Urinetown would be a fun show to do with school or a community theatre. It's ot an easy set (theirs was a wall that they turned around) and it's an odd and funny show. It's very different. Any thoughts on that?

Updated On: 8/20/04 at 01:53 AM

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 3:47am

9th grade - Take it Easy (Fred)
10th grade - You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown (Linus)
11th grade - Hello Dolly (Barnebe)
12th grade - West Side Story (Tony)

[BalletGirl85]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 3:51am

My high school did Gypsy (Dainty June) and A Christmas Carol (Tiny TINA...lmao) my freshman year, Once On This Island (Little Ti Moune) and Working (Delores, the waitress) my sophomore year, Little Shop of Horrors (Crystal!) and The Secret Garden (Mary) my junior year, and Into the Woods (Little Red) and Songs For A New World (I sang "I'm Not Afraid" and "Surabaya Santa") my senior year. They also just finished a HIGHLY acclaimed production of Bat Boy in May. Our director tried to steer clear of mainstream, and when we did Little Shop it wasn't as typically done as you see it done now.

We would do a more "low budget" type of show for the winter (Christmas Carol, Working, Little Shop of Horrors and Songs For a New World)and we'd earn tons of money off of those shows to do a big fiasco in the spring (Gypsy, Into the Woods, The Secret Garden and Once On This Island). Our director said he would never consider something like Grease or Bye Bye Birdie because it's TOO high school, and every school in our area did those shows about 6 billion times. Updated On: 8/20/04 at 03:51 AM

[Jon]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 9:42am

Urinetown is not available for regional/amateur/school groups. Never mind even discussing the probl;ems with tht title.

[BT]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 10:24am

There is nothing better than seeing a high school cast wearing grass skirts while someone sings "I'm gonna wash that man right outa my hair". My vote is for South Pacific - so corny it works (yeah, as corny as august).

[shesings]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 10:42am

ouch! I was totally one of those zitty 15 year old girls trying to be Julie Andrews in My Fair Lady ... well ok I was 18. I'm still offended! (*wink*)