I have been put on the commitee for our leaving musical and we have to choose a musical. Knowing that there are a great many thespians and even thesbians on the SDMB, suggestions would be welcome. Although we beginning planning it in January, we only get three weeks rehearsal time in the summer after the exams, so we need musicals with well known songs and plots. We also have a large chorus - it’s something that the whole year like to get involved in.
I do have a personal bias, and will refuse to do anything I don’t like and we are also limited by copyright - we can’t do anything that is being done on the West End. It also has to be pretty easy to stage - therefore West Side Story is out, even though we would like to do it. Grease, Guys and Dolls and Oklahoma have all been done recently so they’re off the list.
I would quite like to do some Sondeheim, but convincing the others would be a problem. My ideal choice would to do The Rocky Horror Show but the school is quite conservative and I think we’d give the Head a heart attack.
Our first meeting will be in January so I want to have ready a list of viable musicals that I like (selfish I know but I don’t want to listen to Tomorrow for weeks) with a plot synopsis, character list and songs. I have no intention of directing myself - I want to be an assistant director and do casting but I’ll have to wait and see.
All suggestions will be greatly appreciated and I’ll let you know what happens.
nadin
Always been fond of “The Music Man,” myself, but the Iowa jokes might be lost on Leicester. Then again, some good, ol’ Yank bashing might be just the thing.
Sondheim? Sheesh…
Hey, how about “Hair?” No costumes, to speak of. No, I didn’t mean it THAT way–nudity was always optional. I meant the clothes are street clothes. But the PROSPECT of nudity might haul in the rubes!
How about one of those great Wodehouse/Kern/Gershwin musicals from the 1910s and '20s?
Simple sets, fairly small casts with chorus, clever dialogue, they’re not done very often—and incredible songs, many of which have become standards!
See if you can find “Oh, Kay!,” “Sally,” “Lady Be Good,” “Funny Face,” “Oh, Boy!,” “Good News,” “No, No, Nanette,” or any of those other sprightly musicals.
I mean, who wants to see “Cabaret” or “West Side Story” for the 26th time?
Sondheim’s “Into The Woods” is relatively easy to stage, although not so easy to sing. But it’s a great show, starting with plots familiar to the audience and ending with new territory.
I’ve always liked “Man of La Mancha” and “Fiddler on the Roof” – these are ambitious given your schedule, but everyone would know the words.
Oh well. I was going to suggest The Forbidden Zone. Great version of Miinie the Moocher portrayed in the film by Danny Elfman. And a nice “production number” of Pico and Sepulveda.
Let’s see… “Oh, Kay!” is pretty good. We put that on three years ago and it was fun. This year, we put on “The Pajama Game” and that was very good. It’s a very good show, but a little risque, as our director put it…
My favorites are “Kiss Me, Kate”, but that really doesn’t have a huge chorus, and “The Scarlet Pimpernel”, which doesn’t have too many main parts (but’s it not well known, a GREAT show with wonderful music and if the right person is playing Percy, it’s hilarious!)
Here’s a piece of advice, though. Do not do “The Sound of Music” if you can help it. The productions that have been recently put on of that show have been very fluffy and light, and that’s what the show is now thought of, but it’s themes are actually really dark and deep. There are some things you could do to the show (for example, having the lighting get prgressively darker as the Nazi presence becomes more prominent) but you probably want to go more for a little known, fun show…
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (<-Sondheim!)
Blondel: an obscure musical by Tim Rice and some other guy that came and went in about 15 minutes and has catchy tunes, a large, varied cast and a very funny plot (It opens with four monks singing. Imagine a tune similar to the Beach Boys tune “Barbara-Ann” (“ba-ba-ba, Ba-Ba-Barbara Ann”) done as a barbershop quartet by the monks who sing “Buh-buh-buh, Buh-Benidictus”)
I’ve always had a soft spot for Pippin, and it works well with a large chorus because you can have an infinite number of people (well, just about infinite) being The Players (the chorus). It’s pretty easy to stage, too. Because it’s supposed to be a play about a performance (sort of), you can get away with miming almost all of the props, and the scenery pieces can be very generic. No fancy costumes, either.
Watch it, dropzone, Sonheim is God around these parts.
Eve’s got some solid suggestions in her post (and I’d add Anything Goes to her list). But her best point is: “I mean, who wants to see “Cabaret” or “West Side Story” for the 26th time?” Right on, sister!
I like Fenris’ list, too – especially Call Me Madam, an Irving Berlin gem that has a sure-to-please score that hasn’t been beaten to death by the amateur theater circuit.
I just have to throw in a plug for Sondheim’s (but, of course) A little Night Music. Not a big cast, and not really a kiddie-pleaser, but oh, what a rock-solid show!
Now for two borderline-obscure suggestions:
Is There Life After High School? This was a short-lived revue-style Broadway show from the 1980’s. It’s not very strong in the book department, but has a killer score. The cast recording exists on Original Cast Records. Get a copy and check it out.
Working. Based on the Studs Turkel bestselling book, this diamond of a show (also revue-style) languishes in obscurity because the LP cast recording is murder to find, and it’s not available on CD due to legal entanglements. The smart/funny/touching score highlights the lifestyles and attitudes of American workers from one end of the spectrum to the other. A really, really remarkable show. (If you can’t locate a recording, PBS did a teleplay version which may be available on video. Or ask me and I’ll make you a cassette.)
There’s an obscure musical called “Lunch” that I saw a few years ago. Not much chorus, but easy set, too. I don’t know who wrote it, though.
Oooh! “The Fantasticks!” That’s a good one, and you can add a small chorus. Universal, too. And a very simple set. I did it at my University a few years ago, and it was lots of fun.
My personal favorite is “Brigadoon”, but the songs are not very well known. I believe most of it takes place outdoors, so that should be easy. And, a large chorus would sound great in “Go Home with Bonnie Jean”.
I’ll second Bye Bye Birdie. You can put everyone in the chorus plus the songs are fun. I don’t know how hard it is to stage though. Other than that how about South Pacific?
I like the suggestions but I’m going ot have to be pretty persuasive to get the others to do it. The temptation is to go for something well know but IMHO they’ve all been done to death. Problem is getting about 200 people in the right place at the right time singing in tune. And it is a hell of a lot easier if they know the song first.
Another problem will be the “I have to kiss him. EEWWWW. I’m not doing that” approach the girls here have. I would but the problem is I’m tone deaf and not many people would pay to see me screech flatly.
Fraid we won’t be doing Joseph - it’s something the ickle kids do here and I’m not a big fan. I hate The Sound of Music with a passion so this is why I’m planning ahead (go on flame me - I know I’ll go to hell for it.)
We do have a a guy who would be brilliant as Percy for the Scarlet Pimpernel, he has wonderful comic timing, a great voice and can dance but I’m not sure this would be well known enough with our schedule. Limitations are that not many of the girls who can sing will and the exact opposite for the guys.
Most of the time is spent arguing over who’s going to direct - well it won’t be me directly but I’ll probably be doing most of it and which musical, hence the thread.
I’m going to have so much fun researching this - I saw my first musical when I was three and I go all the time to the West End now I’m bigger - last thing I saw was Chicago and was humming the songs for weeks after. That’s something I’d like to see - girls at my school screaming “HE RAN INTO MY KNIFE SEVEN TIMES!” for the sake of drama.
Keep them coming. Front runners at the moment are Kiss Me Kate, Little Shop of Horrors, A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum and anything Gershwin. They’ll all go on my list though - I’ll just be pushing harder for these.
Oh, Lord . . . Not the 269th production of “South Pacific,” “Bye Bye, Birdie” or “Cabaret” . . . I mean, yes, they’re all good musicals; but EVERYBODY does 'em.
Why not be the first group since 1906 to revive Anna Held’s scandalous hit “The Parisian Model?” Terrific storyline, gorgeous costumes, and snappy numbers like “A Gown for Each Hour of the Day,” “The Mattiche” (a snappy ragtime number), “Artists and Models,” and the ever-popular “I Just Can’t Make My Eyes Behave.”
If it helps, “The Parisian Model” had a book by Harry B. Smith and songs by Gus Edwards and Max Hoffmann, among others.
The “plot” concerned a fashion model who inherits a fortune from her aunt, provided she doesn’t reveal its source. Her artist boyfriend thinks she has a Sugar Daddy, so she decides to let him think so. It’s naughty by 1906 standards, but pretty adorable today, and the costumes and songs are perfect Belle Epoch! One number that scandalized even New York had the chorus girls in bathing costumes with sleighbells attached to their legs and feet—they lay down on their backs and “kicked” the music.
Why is it always musicals? There’s some damn funny/dramatic material out there that does not have a ‘soundtrack’ attached to it.
Ah, well, my school was the same. We slogged through ‘The Boyfriend’, ‘Okalahoma’ , [groan] ‘South Pacific’, and ‘Annie Get Your Gun’.
My campaign to stage ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ was shot down by the choral clique. the buggers.
