your favorite offbeat musicals!

[DirectorHaley]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 2:48pm

I'm looking for suggestions of more "underground" musicals to look into... trying to find a directing project for this year. I just finished directing "Reefer Madness!", and before that I worked on "Bat Boy". I love offbeat, sometimes-campy, dark, funny and unusual stuff, and since I've already done my two favorites, I feel like it can only go down from here! What are your favorite weird and wacky shows?

I'm working on building a theatre company with some of the people I've worked with lately in New York... though I'd love to hear ALL your recommendations, I'd be most into small, ensemble-based shows (casts of 15-ish or under, adaptable to smaller spaces, not dependent on a huge budget, etc).

thanks :)

[Matters]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 3:01pm

STARMITES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Starmites was the first musical I was in and to this day its one of my favourite musicals. Its about a comic book geek who gets transported to the world of her favourite comic book and....its just SO much fun, its sort of like seussical in that it uses a variety of different musical styles. I got the CD afew months ago and the music is really catchy and the show is quite campy. If you want more info you can PM me or visit the website at www.starmites.com Hope this helps

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 3:02pm

Valley of the Dolls was great on stage in L.A. about 10 years ago, but I think they just did the movie script as is. The cast we had was terrific.

Also:
Ruthless
Poseidon Adventure - The Musical

[gumbo2]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 3:05pm

Darn, I was about to say Ruthless. Also, I was in Pageant recently, which is a musical with 7 guys, 6 of them dressed as women competing in a beauty pageant and one is the MC. It's one of the funniest musicals I've ever seen or been a part of.

[SweeneyPhanatic]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 3:06pm

Well, it's a well-known show, but it fits what you're looking for in a show: Little Shop of Horrors. (BTW: If you do LSOH, definately rent the plant puppets. Will save you a lot of time making them, and they look better than a lot of self-made plants I've seen).

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 3:20pm

An interesting musical that comes to mind for me is:


3three

[WonderBoy]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 3:21pm

EATING RAOUL

[Craig]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 3:26pm

Weird Romance

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 3:39pm

Zana, Dont!

it takes place in an alternate fantasy universe where homosexuality is the norm and two high school kids have to hide their budding but forbidden heterosexual relationship.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 3:41pm

Zombie Prom

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 3:42pm

Eating Raoul
Goblin Market
Canterbury Tales
Prettybelle

[dirty rotten guy]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 3:48pm

Assassins

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 3:51pm

I'd add Zombie Prom and The Fixx to my list.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 4:02pm

Moby Dick
Metropolis

[philcrosby]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 4:04pm

Ditto on: Weird Romance and Ruthless!

I would add: The Stops, Thrill Me, Pageant, Pete n Keely, Miss Gulch Returns, as well as Howard Crabtree's When Pigs Fly and Whoop-De-Doo.

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 5:43pm

I would definitely say Ruthless, and 3hree also comes to mind.

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 5:49pm

Bye Bye Birdie, if played right, can be so campy and odd (to have a crazy Ursula, Mrs. Peterson, Harvey, Hugo, etc.), but it has to be played right to be off-beat. Otherwise, it might just pass as normal.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 5:57pm

The Musical of Musicals, A Class Act, and A New Brain

[PersonofInterest]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 6:02pm

Personals is really fun.
In Trousers is obviously one of my favs.

[theatrewolf]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 6:06pm

Weird Romance all the way. Plus Debbie Does Dallas the musical.
Very funny.

[ComaBaby01]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 6:07pm

I just stared in Moby Dick the Musical (see avatar) and it's awesome and extremely hilarious if played right.

My school also did Smile a few years back. def look into that too.

if there's rights out, my top recommendation to you is Bright Lights Big City.

[gustof777]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 6:09pm

Definitley Bright Lights...amazing music and IMO a very misunderstood but brilliant show.

[theatrewolf]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 6:12pm

It's not quirky but it is small and only needs four actors and a piano, Romance Romance. From the early 80's: Three Guys Naked From the Waist Down.

[Hello Dawley]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 6:17pm

Bat Boy and Reefer Madness are actually 2 of my favorites too! I played Bat Boy last year and I start rehearsing for it again next week! Rocky Horror, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Urinetown, and Assassins are a few of my other favorites!

[achancetofly]

Posted: 7/10/06 at 7:01pm

I'd have to second Zombie Prom...and also stuff like Hedwig and the Angry Inch or Urinetown could work out wonderfully...although I'm not sure how far "underground" you'd consider those two...