Wow, Jojo-- I'm sorry, I probally came off pretty odd. I took about 30 seconds and pumped out the post for fun--I didn't realize it had to be an immaculate portrayl of grammer and form! If I came off as silly and pompus, I really didn't mean to. Just wanted some fun--and I'm not saying Guys and Dolls is a bad show! It's fun! It's just not very challenging when compared to a show that requires a strict style of dance or singing, hmm? So step off your Harvard high horse and just have fun, allright?
PS-- Yes, Jojo, I totally belive that a direction of a show, esp. in an academic setting, is more crucial then the material. That's why I never get sick of the "Standards" like Guys and Dolls and West Side Story--heck, a well thought out direction and perspective can make me grab a ticket for anything! And Margo Channing-- A high school "Follies" is a very, very odd thing indeed!! I shudder...
My former husband went to an all boys Catholic High School and they did Fiddler On The Roof. Ok start laughing now. He played Tevye and had to wear tzitzit { undergarment with ritual fringes worn by orthodox men. } They were crocheted by a nun. I didntr knoiw him then, but I would have given anything to see that production.
"Friends are the people you chose as family."....Me.
i saw a highschool production of 'Chicago' ah its good to know what we are teaching america's youth the fundamentals of theatre-sex, violence, murder and stretching the truth so save your own ass. and i am sure those costumes were not school dress code.
haha
though i must say their 'we both reached for the gun' was very clever for a highschool performance
Updated On: 8/31/04 at 11:09 PM
For some reason, a high school doing Lippa's the Wild Party seems incredibly strange to me...it's far from an easy score to sing...I couldn't even imagine the pipes that Kate, Burrs, and Queenie had to have...plus it's very sexual, and of course Burrs is abusive. Oh yeah...not to mention the non-stop use of alcohol, the cigarette that never leaves Kate's hand, the fact that she's a whore, and the crack she snorts....and there's an entire song that could easily be taken as mocking the bible. Heck, I could go on forever about why it seems strange.
As strange as the idea fo a high school doing a show like Sweeney Todd is...it doesn't seem to be nearly as bad.
Anyway...the artistic director in my school district suggested that the middle school in our district did Sweeney Todd this year. I literally laughed in her face...I simply had no other reaction. This is the same woman who would not allow The Sound of Music to be performed at the high school because a swastika (that would later be torn up on stage) had to appear on stage.
Just to show you how crazy some artistic directors of schools are...
My brother's elementary school did Fiddler. It was hilarious and adorable and very very earnest, and wasn't really expected to be much more. And that's fine- the kids loved it.
i did cabaret last year - which is the most emotional and yes, uncomfortable and hard shows ever - and this year we're doing jeykll and hyde - jesus - wish me luck
I Have The Best One; "the vagina monologues"-by far the most inappropriate show i have ever seen at a high school-not that didn't laugh my a** off. BTW: side note is my high school the only one in the country that doesn't do musicals? I wish we did.
"I guess she is one very confident girl who feels if you see it, it shall be.
I hope she sees a room with a piano player and a bunch of scary middle-aged queens sitting behind a table, talking to each other as she auditions!!"
-Marc Shaiman on Kelly Osbourne in Hairspray
I saw a high school do a competition peice with Steel Magnolias once
It was horrible
In the words of the great MargoChanning
"Broadwayworld.com -- Your One Stop on the Internet for All Things Broadway, Nasty Political Discussions, Meltdowns, Name-Calling and General Nonsense along with being a Premiere Pick-up Joint for Hotties, Shut-ins, Rambunctuous Teenagers With Bad Grammar, and All Manner of Bitter, Jaded Theatre Queens with WAY Too Much Time on Their Hands"?
When I was in high school my senior year (2002) we did Sugar. Kinda odd. And it definitely sucked. I know they still don't have a theatre dept/drama dept. So there is very minimal costume/sets/lighting done with the shows.
"You can't stop someone who wants to be an artist. If they're going to do it, they're going to do it... Work as hard as you can on the things you can work on. Until it seems like there is no possible chance you're going to succeed, don't give up." ~ANDREW ASNES
avatar: me and jason gillman... in the pouring rain.
i saw teens on Long Island do ASPECTS OF LOVE in a high school. oy! (i was going to college on Long Island at the time. i saw it in the paper and said to my roomie 'oh. we simply MUST see this.' i knew it was a racy show by reputation and said how is this actually orccurring. LOL. so, we did and sat there simply agog and aghast.) for those of ya that don't know the piece, it deals FRANKLY with sex and love, various combinations of lovers, heterosexual, May/December romances, lesbian relat., etc. It a A.L. Webber musical. that theme song was driving me loco ('love changes everything'). Weren't 50 reprises of it sufficient?
Well - lemme tell ya, after it was over, I'll bet someone caught major flack. apparently they snuck it all thru without getting script approval, etc. the school had no CLUE what it was about. when the final curtain rang down, it was 'cricket city.' the parents flew into a rage and it was a turmoil in the theater, the lobby, the parking lot. absolute chaos. screaming, yelling, people grabbing their kids, people yelling at the orchestra. we 2 just sat back and watched as Long Island went haywire. NOT the show for teens in a public h.s. to put on. Love may change everything, but I'll bet it didn't change some poor schnook from getting FIRED. LOL
"I am not 'a' Eunice Burns. I am THE Eunice Burns!!!"
My schools doing cabaret this year, and I think the newer revival version... eek. But hey, we've already done chicago and laramie project. My 7th grade class, and this was the first show that most of these kids had done, did Our Town... it was hillarious and a little disturbing and kinda cool at the same time.
The biggest OMG show I've ever heard- a children's theater for 5-21 year olds in my area did A Chorus Line, barely edited. People walked out during the montage...
When I was in Jr. High, we did The Wiz. And I'll tell you, some of those songs being sung by a bunch of 13 year old white kids... the saddest thing I ever heard. It was the most god-awful show I've even done. But I played The Wiz, and I had to wear a lime green, checkered suit with an orange bow-tie. *shudder*
I can't control
my destiny.
I trust my soul
my only goal
is just to be
Ebonic Singer- Was there a TV special on your school and it's production of Hair? I remember watching something on TV a couple years about the 1st production of Hair by a high school.... just wondering.
If you limit your choices to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise."- Robert Fritz
Funny story: My highschool always refused to let us do Grease because of the content and the ending in which the moral of the story appears to be that in order to be accepted and get a guy u have to become a slut.
My friend was in a highschool production of Grease where among many other changes, the most ridiculous was how Rizzo's "problem" was changed from possibly being pregnant, to having a smoking problem, lol.
"When I was in Jr. High, we did The Wiz. And I'll tell you, some of those songs being sung by a bunch of 13 year old white kids... the saddest thing I ever heard. It was the most god-awful show I've even done. But I played The Wiz, and I had to wear a lime green, checkered suit with an orange bow-tie. *shudder* "
LOL...we did it with a bunch of 14-18 year old kids...about a little more than half were white. It was AWESOME :) Our Wiz wore a white suit with a green sequined bow tie
My high school did Gypsy..... which is kind of pointless.... how do you do a show about a stripper and keep it clean enough to appease the school board???
Also... a friend of mine did and all-white cast version of Once on this Island..... i know the writers wrote changes in the script so it could be done by white people... but i still find it just plain wrong