overdone musicals- Page 2

[nztheatreluva]

Posted: 11/21/04 at 8:48pm

Annie
Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat
Bye Bye Birdie
My Fair Lady
Little Shop of Horrors
Wizard of Oz
Sound of Music

[Rentaholic2]

Posted: 11/21/04 at 10:04pm

Just finished our EIGTH and final performance of Little Shop. How's that for overdone?

[broadwaybaby77]

Posted: 11/21/04 at 10:08pm

oh goodness. my school is doing once upon a mattress this year. more proof for those saying it's overdone.

annie, music man, anything disney (death to disney!)

in response to the first post...

in two more years my high school is doing urinetown. either that or tommy, but i'm praying for urinetown.

they're trying to bring it back to broadway. ::crosses fingers:: Updated On: 11/21/04 at 10:08 PM

[AngryYoungMan]

Posted: 11/21/04 at 10:13pm

I don't think many high schools OR colleges do Jesus Christ Superstar...it's such a hard show to do, and not many people can sing it.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 11/21/04 at 10:29pm

Though I, like most of you, am tired of seeing the umpteenth production of OKLAHOMA or FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, there is little else they can do.

High school musicals must do shows that have a large chorus (because many people have to be involved) and, above all else, they must be appropriate.

Due to PTAs and parents and Principals and School Boards, there are many great shows that just won't fly in high school. This makes many great shows go out the window of possibility.

High schools have to produce age-appropriate stuff. (And talent appropriate). God bless any school that tries to conquer a Sondheim show, but it will never be as good as a Loesser or a Berlin or a R&H show in high school.

Merely because the experience of 99% of high school actors doesn't allow them to sound their best with Sondheim. they do not have the training. and high school directors want them to sound their best.

That leaves them with esay-to-sing, appropriate shows that have a large chorus.

Most of the shows that fit this criteria are old classics . And that is why they get recycled.

But the shows that get done again and again in high schools:
Guys and Dolls
Fiddler on the Roof
Once Upon a Matress
Annie Get Your Gun
Oklahoma
The Pajama Game
Pippin
The Music Man
Anything Goes
Oliver
etc

They get done because they work.
A high school can't (feasibly) produce Cabaret or The Producers.

And the kids who are in the shows get to do a show that they are comfortable with; one that they know well.
And if they don't know the show, then it isn't "overdone" to them, anyway.
And do the parents or teachers or other students really care if a show is overdone?
No. They don't come to high school to see ground-breaking theatre.
They come to see kids perform and see if there is someone in their school that has the true talent to maybe make it on Broadway.

And once they "make it" they can perform in ground-breaking shows.

But high school theatre is not about changing the face of theatre. It is about just giving the kids, talented or untalented, a chance to perform and a time to see what it is like to be in the spotlight.

EDIT: Also, as for new shows that fit the "criteria" for a high school show. They have to wait for the tours to get done, so they can license the show. So ecpect to see a WHOLE lotta high schools do SEUSSICAL now that the rights are available.

Updated On: 11/21/04 at 10:29 PM

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 11/21/04 at 10:31pm

Granted, I'm in middle school, but we're pretty much high school level talent anyway.
Last year we did Bye Bye Birdie, but this year we are doing The Secret Garden.
I'm not sure if we can pull it off, but it's a great choice, and not overdone in the least.

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 11/21/04 at 10:37pm

OMG ANNIE!!! everywhere I go its Annie, I mean Im not complaining, Annie was the first good part in a musical i ever got so its special for me and I love the musical but its EVERYWHERE
and The Wiz

[junglered]

Posted: 11/21/04 at 10:41pm

#1 - The Sound of Music - enough, already!

followed closely by: Oklahoma!
and South Pacific

Also, let's give these musicals a rest:

Camelot
My Fair Lady
Annie
West Side Story
The Music Man Updated On: 11/21/04 at 10:41 PM

Posted: 11/21/04 at 10:44pm

My high school kinda seems to pride itself on doing wierd musicals... like Tintypes... anyone ever heard of Tintypes... I'll give you one good reason why not: It's a TERRIBLE show.

Overdone shows: Annie, THE MUSIC MAN, Damn Yankees (I did 2 shows in like 4 months... wtf?!?), Oliver, Pippen, Oklahoma... I really could go on, but most of mine have been covered

[Racetrack]

Posted: 11/21/04 at 10:46pm

This year my school is doing Once Upon a Mattress which to my knowlege it hasn't done.

For my school the musicals that have definitely been done over again are:

Guys and Dolls
Anything Goes
Lil'Abner(which it hasn't done in a little over twenty years)
Oklahoma
Good News(which also hasn't been done in a long time)
Fiddler on the Roof
Music Man(although it's been ten years since that one)

I'll have to think of more. My friend and I really wanted Little Shop of Horrors since it's never been done before, but that won't happen.

Racetrack.

[Skempp]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 6:28pm

It doesn't seem to be done quite as much as it used to be, but The Fantasticks is worn to slap-death. I agree with Annie, Oklahoma, Bye Bye Birdie and Godspell. You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown also makes me shiver.

[kangaroo]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 7:32pm

Actually, my school has never repeated a musical... ever

But as for the area... a lot seem to do
West Side Story
Hello Dolly

and we recently both competed for Joseph and this year Les Miserables. They actually stole it... we announced we were going to do it... and then they took it from us.

stupid rivals... kangaroo

[La06]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 9:30pm

Yes, Guys and Dolls is so overdone...but me being Sarah Brown just last week, I can't say anything more.