[newbiedirector]

I am brainstorming for shows next year. Here's the scoop.

1 strong high baritone with dancing ability (great actor)
1 strong low baritone with dancing ability (great actor)
1 weak (popish, but not legit) low tenor who is a talented actor

1 AMAZING belter with huge range

Our chorus is (surprise) filled with girls and has very few guys . .. example, we are doing Brigadoon and there are 37 in the cast, 9 of which are guys:(

Thanks in advance for the ideas and thoughts!

[pianoman55]

Ahh I see.

Well if i read this correctly.. you are doing Brigadoon this year? Wellllllll.. there's a couple shows that I have in mind.

1. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: Currently the rights are not being given out due to a national tour. Howeverrrrr.. the tour ends in March of 2008.. which means that you should be able to apply and get the rights any time after that. It is licensed by MTI.

2. Guys And Dolls: This COULD work if you could pull off using the guys in the ensemble as multiple parts. For instance, ensemble men in Guys And Dolls are used for "Gangsters" but also "Cuban Locals" and random parts on stage during the seen.. sellers and peddlers.


Either of those would be a good choice. If I could.. I would suggest Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

[rcs]

Just a few I thought of:

1. Bye Bye Birdie:

1 strong high baritone w/ dancing ability--Albert Peterson
1 strong low baritone w/ dancing ability--Conrad Birdie

or possibly vice versa

1 weak low tenor--Harry MacAfee or Hugo Peabody

1 AMAZING belter with huge range: Rose Alvarez

And then you have your girl-heavy chorus.

The problem: there's also a male barbershop quartet in one number, and if you don't have four guys that can handle it, you could have some problems to overcome.

2. Gypsy:

1 AMAZING belter with huge range: Mama Rose (extremely difficult role, but if your belter can handle it, go right ahead)

1 strong low baritone w/ dancing ability: Herbie
1 strong high baritone w/ dancing ability: Tulsa (provided he can hit a high G comfortably; if not you can transpose his song down)

Then use your weak tenor for a chorus/non-singing role.

Could work, although some farmboys might have to be cast cross-gender.

3. Little Women:

1 AMAZING belter with huge range: Jo March
1 strong high baritone w/ dancing ability: Professor Bhaer
1 strong low baritone w/ dancing ability: John Brooke
1 weak low tenor: Laurie (herein lies the potential snag: Laurie is a a tenor role that can be done with a poppish voice, but his part is quite demanding and goes quite high. Don't do it unless you think your tenor can handle it.)

4. Hello, Dolly!:

1 AMAZING belter with huge range: Dolly Levi

Then, the three guys you mentioned become Cornelius, Barnaby, and Vandergelder (not sure which to cast as which without knowing more about them)


All of these shows have a good, "showcase" leading belter role and a reasonably girl-heavy ensemble (or at least an ensemble where the girls get as much to do as the guys). I would NOT recommend a show such as Guys and Dolls (or WSS, or Damn Yankees, or a number of other shows) because their ensembles are too guy-heavy.

My starting point for all of this was looking for a star vehicle for your belter, and here are a few other shows that could potentially fit that bill, but which I don't know well enough to judge:

Annie Get Your Gun
Funny Girl
Anything Goes
Chicago (subject matter may not be appropriate for high school)
Bells are Ringing

[newbiedirector]

Those were great ideas! any others are welcome . . .

We were actually hoping for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; I'm just trying not to count on it.

[Brock07]

Thoroughly Modern Millie would be my suggestion. Just a few guys and lots of girls.

[PappyCat]

How about Once Upon a Mattress?

It has a fantastic part for an amazing belter and Several Baritone parts.

Another benefit of OUAM is that it's an Ensemble cast so there are like, 8 big parts.