School Musical

star2ballie · School Musical

Hi all,

I was wondering if any of you have performed/seen this performed by a High School group, and what your thoughts are. I really want this to be our fall musical...I think it has some of the best music I've heard in a while, and while I haven't seen it, I know the plot and that is always striking to me as well.

Keep in mind that my school's theatre department is (please forgive me for sounding less than humble here) one of the best around, and our productions could generally be matched to college shows. We have tons of talented performers and our director is...in a phrase, unbelievably amazing.

Anyway, if any of you have thoughts, pictures, comments, etc., they are much appreciated! Thanks!

wicked_diva

I can't see this working out in a high school, no matter the talent. The subject matter seems far too adult. And you would need to cast by race, which could very well create problems of "segregation" for a school board.

Celeste_SM

What she said. This would be a terribly difficult show to do at the high school level, first because of the race-based casting required. The content is also adult, but I've seen high schools do more adult material so that isn't a deal-breaker. It's also a very complex show due to the number of cast, number of scenes/locations, continuous music, and the technical requirements (flying and/or pyro). Not saying it's impossible, but it would be hard.

aktor28

Well, I know that the International Thespian Festival put together a high school performance of "Ragtime" a couple of years ago. Thespians from all over the country (United States) tried out, and such. So I suppose it can be done.

dramamama88

I disagree. If you have the right cast, this show can be very well done by high schoolers. I saw the Illinois Theater Fest all state cast perform this a few years back, and it was better than alot of professional productions Ive seen.

candleshoe

My highschool was the first high school to do this show back in 2003. (We are in Southern Indiana) It's an incredible show and I think we did it justice! We did it in a very semi-minimalistic way, in which we used a lot of projections for scenery and had a steel and brick set to set off the 'industrial' feel to it! It was a great show!

A picture:

broadwaybaby1310

My school, in southern Ohio is going to do this show, but we're doing the school edition, which I think is a little shorter and is more PG rated than the original. I'm really excited because we are also hosting the Ohio International Thespians State Conferance this year and we get the prime performance spot. So all you high-schoolers living in Ohio, come to Northmont H.S. this spring and see Ragtime! I'll definately be in it, at least in the chorus! Come check it out!

piscesmoni

I actually read an article about a high school production of this and a lot of the people in the town were going crazy because of the material. It helped their ticket sales, though, but you just have to be cautious with this musical.

broadwaybaby1310

ILoveToSing2010

yea are school is one of the best around to i am not just saying that cause its my school but we win tons of awards all the time and we have one of the mest music programs in the east coast and we are thinking about doing ragtime too, but everyone is thinking it is going to be way to big, but they have said that about other shows and we pulled it off and won awards.

Eponine93

The problem with Ragtime in schools is that you need both lots of money, a talented production staff, and a huge diversity in the cast. I feel that very schools are able to do that. It's not just about having the money and having the staff who are prepared to handle it. It's about having the Coalhouse as well. And very few schools have all three.

Plus, even though there's a school edition, I think there are only two shows with school editions. The other show is Les Miserables. Honestly, what do you think would see more tickets and earn back all the money eaten up by putting on a production of such a huge show- Ragtime or Les Mis?

norayouadora

broadwaybaby1310

norayouadora

^Oh, ha, just goes to show how unobservant I am! We did the IE first, so I guess I just didn't recognize you when we saw Ragtime that night. Truth be told, I didn't even realize that was a wig; I just thought you had your hair done up really well. d'oh!

Stupid me, hehe. I dunno if you'll remember, but in our group, I was the bigger girl in the green sweater, lol.

But now that you mention it, I think can remember you from the Group IE. You really do have a great voice, the people from my school was raving about your school's Ragtime. And your group was amazing. When we heard that one of the other groups was doing "One Day More," we pretty much died on the spot... And after you guys went, we pretty much knew it was between us and your group (no offense to the other groups). I'm just so jealous that you have that much talent at your school--you can tell everyone who was in the group that you had us sweating bullets while you were performing, lol. And tell everyone from Ragtime that it was a great production. Haha, I feel like such a spaz because I'm carrying on so much, but I loved it. It would be awesome if you posted pictures, if you want to. Very Happy

broadwaybaby1310

norayouadora

Aaaah, cool! Great pictures. Thanks for sharing! Mr. Green

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