[Rosebud]

I would like some advice on the following situation: I will be teaching Drama for the first time next school year and am curious as to what would be a good musical to try for my first production. The criteria that I need to adhere to would be:
*not a huge budget
*fairly easy singing and dancing
*more female leads than males
*fairly simple set (we don't have a lot of storage space)

I am open to any suggestions. Thank you for your advice. I greatly appreciate it. I was already thinking about:
1) Bye Bye Birdie
2) Footloose

[Salome]

try High Spirits. the musical version of Blithe SPirits. its 2 sets 5 females,2 males. delightful score.brilliant book based on Noel COward's masterpiece.

[LesWickedPhantom]

interesting...there's a musical version of Blithe Spirit? I love that play... my school did it my freshman year, and I worked backstage... great show.

[Luc]

Brigadoon is a good one. I just did it at my Jr. High School. We have a teeny-tiny budget (like, litterally under $1000). There are plenty roles for women as well as men. And a couple of the men's roles can be switched to female roles. Like Mr. Lundie has like a full page worth of speaking. We changed it to Mrs. Lundie and it worked fine. Same goes for Mr. MacLaren, Sandy (who is a guy, believe it or not). And, also, Meg Brockie has quite a deal to sing, and you can break her solos up. Like in MacConnachy square, we had someone else do her wee little solo. Works fine!
And that was probably a waste of your time, since this is only a suggestion!

[Jenko]

[Salome]

yes..High Spirits was a big hit in the 1960s. the boradway cast consisted of Edward Woodward,Bea lillie and Tammy Grimes.

it really is a great show.

Coward himself directed the OBC.

[Cazzy Mcsnazzy]

I think oliver is a good show to do with a school. The singing is simple ( no harmonies) and there are lots of parts, a few non singing parts which always goes down well for the actors of the school who complain about muscials There are probably equal parts for males and females but you can switch dodger or oliver to be a girl. Ive seen it done before and it didnt ruin it. And you can have girls as orphans. You can have next to no dancing in it if you want or you can have alot! Its up to you!

[Salome]

dodger doesnt work played by a girl..oliver can be played by a girl if she looks boyish enough.

but Oliver has far too many male roles. Mr. Bumble,Fagin,Mr. Sowerberry,Mr. Brownlow,Bill Sykes,Dodger, Dr. Grimwig,Noah Claypole,Charley Bates,


only female roles are Nancy,Mrs. Corney,Mrs. Sowerberry, Charlotte and Mrs. Bedwin

[momsterv]

Once Upon A Mattress could be a good one.

2 singing men, 3 singing women, 2 that can be either. Other roles that aren't heavily singing. Dancing can be as difficult as you want it to be. There are a few good harmonies, but otherwise the singing isn't difficult. See the Once Upon a Mattress board for more info.

[Cazzy Mcsnazzy]

Dont forget Bet! And i know theyre not really main roles but there are the rose, milk and strawberry sellers in who will buy. Charlie Bates does really do anything. But your probably right. I was just thinking for a school production there is usually about 40 people wanting to be involved. x

[dramababy500]

Just some words of wisdom:

Dare to live outside the box!!!

My high school drama teacher dared to do the shows that no other high school would dream of doing and it taught all of us involved that we should never be confined. We learned not to accept the limits placed on us simply because we were high school students. In doing these shows we were driven to do well mainly because we wanted the community to know that we could do anything. Any show you do should be a learning experiance for the people involved. I think the most important lesson you can teach anyone (weither they are 5 or 95) is that no one can tell you no. It may take a fight but you can always get what you want in life.

I understand this will be the first show you direct in a high school, and you should do whatever show you feel most comfortable doing... but remember, boxes are dark and cramped. There's a whole world of lessons to be learned outside of them.

(Sorry if that was super cheesy)

[philsusername]

Hi!

First and formost - Congratulations!
I am a grammer school drama teacher -- so I can relate to you, just finishing up my first year. I hav directed a few grammer and high school shows, and I love doing someting that no one knows -- they have nothing to compare it to!

For example, thisyear I did ANNIE WARBUCKS, the sequel to Annie. No one ever heard of it, when I announced the show, the kids had weird looks on thier face. They didn't know the plot, score, characters or anything -- nor did anyone but myself. Throughout the process, the kids were singing the songs in the hallway, and the audience, adminstration, tachers and everyone loved it!

The first comment they said was "I Love NOT knowing what happens" Then " Where can i get the cd? " I have never seen people so enthusaised about a musical! That was the most rewarding feeling I have everhad inside.

In choosing the musical thikn outside the box, relize your limitations, and use your imagination!! That's what theatre is! A lot of times-- less is more.

A Few GREAT, simple high school shows are:

APPLAUSE
URINETOWN
ANYTHING GOES
THE GOODBYE GIRL
MY FAVORITE YEAR
PROMISES PROMISES
FUNNY GIRL

amoung many others!

Goodl uck!

If you have any questions or anything, let me know:

[Holly]

[Sammy_beck]

It's impressive that you want to try and tackle a musical especially for your first year as a drama teacher.
My suggestion would be to try a Jr. musical, something like Aladdin Jr. or another show like that. There isn't a lot of dancing and you could probably easily be able switch parts between males and females. Another show that you could try could be Bye Bye Birdie. There isn't a lot of dancing in that one but you do need at least one very strong male vocalist and a least two strong females. You could try doing a show like West Side Story although that is male heavy but you could have some of the guys in the gangs be females.

___
Current Role: Silly Girl #1, Napkin/Plate “Beauty and the Beast”
Past Roles: Hermia "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Anne "The Diary of Anne Frank", Elaine Harper "Arsenic and Old Lace", Pepper, July, Annie "Annie", Brigitta "The Sound of Music", Dwarf, White Stag "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", Alice "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", Rizzo "Grease"

[katieanne]

What age range are you looking at? Please, please, please don't make these kids do Bye, Bye, Birdie or Annie, or even Once Upon a Mattress for your first show. They're fine shows, I guess, but they are so overdone and high school kids generally want to do something more mature than UOaM.

[Sammy_beck]

[AudreyTD]

My first school show was Oliver - then we did Bugsy, followed by Chess. Although we have more girls than boys as well, it's funny that we've gone for "male orientated" pieces - but always had lots of girls in the chorus. All 3 work low budget - I am not sure where you are messaging from, but I know that the States tends to have a much higher budget than the UK, and we've managed on about £1,200 each year - and made a profit on tickets sold at £5 and £3.

For a VERY small cast - something like A Slice of Saturday Night is fun - but the humour is verging on adult. Alternatively, and to involve more people, Little Shop of Horrors is good - and you can restrict the dancing of the 3 Ronettes to hand movements. Of course there's Grease - which I would say would be less dance heavy that Footloose - in that you can get away with a good couple to do the Dance at the Gym.

Something like Dracular Spectacular could be good - where you can have women playing "male" roles as everyone's a monster anyway.

Good luck - particularly on the teaching...the directing part's easy!!

[tresgatos99]

Take a look at "Once On This Island." Great music, one set, as minimal of dancing, costumes, etc. as you want. My kids loved it. Don't be put off by the racial makeup of the original cast--the authors' small changes in the book make it work just as well. We did it five years ago and people still talk about it.

--gatos

[katieanne]

[BroadwayBabyEddy1]

Try Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. There are many female parts as well as male parts and characters can be changed, added, or cut easily. The sets are very simple and can be made out of household objects. The music is very adjustable too and can be made as easy or as difficult as you need. It's a flexible show which is impressive but fairly simple to do.

[mattynotes]

I would suggest either You're a good man charlie brown or ON THE TOWN.

YAGMCB has a small cast- 4 males and 2 females

ON THE TOWN- 3
male leads- and 3 female leads, some dancing involved

[kk5033]

Don't know if you are still looking for shows.

I am a Drama teacher here in NYC and I have been doing full blown musicals each year for 5 years. I have great girl talent, so so boys. Once in a while I get a gem for a boy, but the girls blow them away.

Here's what we've done:

1) On the Town - need at least 4 boys for Pitkin, Oz, Gabey, Chip. The rest can be girls.
2) How 2 Succeed in Business : Finch, Frump, Biggley, Womper definitely need to be boys but the rest are good to go as girls.
3) Damn Yankees: Okay maybe a few more boys than the others but they only sing Heart and a little back up here and there. Applegate can be converted to a girl(I know some people hate that on this site).
4) Bye Bye Birdie : you know...
5) Guys and Dolls: Converted Arvide to Arvida, Big Jule to Big Julie and gave her a bodyguard. Still need some crapshooters but i had some girls who were quite athletic dress up for that scene.

I know how you feel. Don't worry. Do some serious fundraising. Start a patron fund kind of like the pledge drives for public TV. Give them a tote bag that costs you 2 bucks and make them a member for $20. Free tickets for membership and signed programs at the end of the show cost you nothing. We made almost 2000 just in our patron fund. Just be careful to document all monies coming in and going out.

break a leg.

KK