# What plays are performed in high schools nowadays? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549 "2012-02-02T16:00:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/41 "2012-02-03T13:58:08Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > My friend Joe told me that at his Texas high school they did _West Side Story_, and both the Sharks and the Jets talked in broad Texas accents. “Hi-_larious_,” says Joe. My senior year, they made us do _The Wiz_. There was not a single African American person in my school. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/42 "2012-02-03T14:09:26Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > :eek: They got rid of “Worse Things”?! That’s only the best song in the whole darn show!!! > > Glad we did the regular version. I think there was one line of dialogue changed, and Kenickie was supposed to sing “The chicks’ll dream” twice instead of “The chicks’ll cream”. Of course he didn’t. Yeah, and removing it also gives you one less soloist, which, when you’re trying to provide opportunities for kids, is kind of a bummer. But, when I did the show with middle-schoolers, I was glad for a cleaned up version. The show is tame enough for modern high schoolers, but when you’ve got 11 year olds in the show it does need some editing. I just did the show last spring at a high school, and we added (against my better judgement) all of the songs from the movie, which are now in the new revival version of the show. There’s nothing more bizarre than starting a 50s period comedy with a freaking BeeGee’s song. Ugh. > [@WhyNot](#): > > Question for those of you who’ve done/seen Sondheim at the high school level…was it any good? I mean, be honest now. > > Sondheim is _hard_, even for professionals. All those dissonant chords and rhythms that only flirt with logic… I’ve gritted my teeth through a couple of Into the Woodses, and it’s just brutal, even with a pretty talented high school cast. I’ve seen many productions of Into the Woods, some good, some bad, and even adults can screw it up pretty horribly. I was very fortunate; the high school production I did had kids who were not only very musically talented and smart, but great actors and characters (and a few good comedians, which helps). I’d be nervous to tackle that show at the high school level again, without being very confident in the kids I had (and in the director), but it _can_ be done well. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/43 "2012-02-03T14:30:28Z")
> [@pabstist](#): > > My wife is a high school drama teacher, and I build the sets. > > This spring they are doing “The Odd Couple (Female Version)”, perfect since all schools lack male actors! > Next year is “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown”. > She does a musical every other year. > > Recent years- > Once Upon a Mattress (the prince was a girl) > How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (the big boss was a girl) > The Hollow > You Can’t Take It With You > Anything Goes > Moon Over Buffalo > The Santaland Diaries (with 3 girls playing the part of the 1 guy) A few years back, the local college put on Shakespeare’s **Twelfth Night** with an all-female cast. Since the play is about gender mix-ups to begin with, it was…unusual. But interesting. ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/44 "2012-02-03T14:42:55Z")
I don’t know anything about leasing the rights or anything, but I wonder why Jason Robert Brown’s 13 hasn’t been mentioned? Actually, I guess high schoolers are older than 13 eh? Maybe I answered my own question… ---
**Author:** ![Haunted\_Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/94ad74/32.png) [@Haunted\_Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted_Pasta)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/45 "2012-02-03T15:45:17Z")
A couple of years ago some co-workers and I attended \*Les Miserables \*at a local high school, featuring my boss’ daughter as a prostitute. We were all very complementary the following Monday- “Sarah was a great whore!” “Your daughter was completely believable as a hooker!” It is fair to say that some of the magic of the whole production is lost when the “theater”’ spends its days as a school cafeteria, but for a high school production it was rather good. Some of those kids could sing really well. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/46 "2012-02-03T17:52:05Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > My senior year, they made us do _The Wiz_. > There was not a single African American person in my school. I saw a high school production of “Dreamgirls” with exactly one black kid. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/47 "2012-02-03T19:04:35Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Is **Our Town** still a big one? It was popular for a while, since you pretty much just need two ladders to do it. And a bunch of chairs, can’t leave them out. Plus, isn’t there a table? ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/48 "2012-02-03T19:05:53Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I saw a high school production of “Dreamgirls” with exactly one black kid. During the 80’s, my high school chorus put on selections from “The Wiz” with one black actress. (She played Glinda.) ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/49 "2012-02-03T20:05:52Z")
When I was doing sound for a road tour of the Broadway show _Whoopie_, we were so jealous of the show that followed us at several theaters - _The Gin Game_. We had all this crap, and they had a table and two chairs. My niece’s [high school did _Lucky Stiff_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdag1cMVRRc). They never did a full production of _Phantom of the Opera_, but did do [songs from it](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usQV5uBXvcY) during Show Choir productions. Personally, I don’t know why they kept doing these shows that cost them so much money in licensing fees. If they had done a Gilbert and Sullivan production, the costs would have been minimal (and my niece would have been great as a G&S ingenue). ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/50 "2012-02-03T20:17:24Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > When I was doing sound for a road tour of the Broadway show _Whoopie_, we were so jealous of the show that followed us at several theaters - _The Gin Game_. We had all this crap, and they had a table and two chairs. Do you mean \*Whoopie \*as in Goldberg, or \*Whoopee \*as in Eddie Cantor? ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/51 "2012-02-03T20:19:12Z")
A couple of local high schools have staged [Almost Maine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost,_Maine), and the wikipedia page says it has passed Midsummer Night’s Dream to be the most frequently performed high school play. The local high school performed Sweeny Todd last year. The school usually has the leading choir program in the state and did a hell of a job with it. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/52 "2012-02-03T20:51:04Z")
Jeepers, it was forty years ago. We did _The Tempest_ (I was Caliban), _The Man Who Came to Dinner_ (I was Beverly Carleton, a minor part), and another play I can’t remember that the drama coach found. I was an angsty teenager in that thing - at one point I had to eat peanut butter on stage and it stuck to the roof of my mouth and I couldn’t do my lines. We did _Kiss Me, Kate_ but I wasn’t in that one, due to the minor flaw of not being able to sing worth a darn. Come to think of it, I can’t act either, so the drama coach must have been desperate. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/53 "2012-02-03T20:53:56Z")
Last year a high school put on “West Side Story”.😃 Only problem was, it was so far away (technically in the county) no one even knew how to get there! Back in my day, my high school did “Bye Bye Birdie”. Last year, my old high school did…“Bye Bye Birdie”! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/54 "2012-02-03T21:17:42Z")
My daughter did “Into the Woods” and “Bugsy Malone”, and my son did “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” and “Grease”, all in middle school. My son went on to do “Midsummer Nights Dream”, “You Can’t Take It With You”, and a really excellent performance of “West Side Story” in high school. The latter production was good enough to make me forget it was a school production. All of the actors were even the same age as the characters - except, of course, for Officer Krupke, Lt. Schief, and Glad Hands. He also worked on a short musical written and directed by another student - quite a good production, and we’ll keep an eye on that kid’s future career. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/55 "2012-02-03T21:41:35Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > What plays are being performed by high school drama clubs nowadays? They’ve got to be more up-to-date than _Grease_, _Arsenic and Old Lace_, _Private Lives_ and _Our Town_. Not always. Those plays are both cheap to get the rights to perform and popular enough to draw in some people beyond the kids’ parents. They’re well known for a reason. > [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Is **Our Town** still a big one? It was popular for a while, since you pretty much just need two ladders to do it. Naturally. It shouldn’t be so popular; I know a lot of people who despise that play because they’ve only seen it in high schools and many high school kids just don’t have the chops to do it well. It’s a truly lovely play, though, when it’s done well (and I have seen high schools do it well on occasion). _Romeo and Juliet_ and the more accessible Shakespeare comedies are pretty common, too. They’re even better known than those old warhorses discussed above and they’re totally free, royalty-wise. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/56 "2012-02-03T22:19:18Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Do you mean \*Whoopie \*as in Goldberg, or \*Whoopee \*as in Eddie Cantor? The latter. It was profoundly stupid and unfunny, starring Maime Van Doren, most famous for _[Sex Kittens Go To College](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054298/)_. The show’s only saving grace was Imogene Coca, who was funny and a sweetheart. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/57 "2012-02-04T00:09:34Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > The latter. It was profoundly stupid and unfunny, starring Maime Van Doren, most famous for _[Sex Kittens Go To College](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054298/)_. The show’s only saving grace was Imogene Coca, who was funny and a sweetheart. Awww, that’s nice to hear about Imogene Coca. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/58 "2012-02-04T01:06:47Z")
_How I Learned to Drive_ A pedo uncles’ incestuous relationship with his 15 year old niece in the 1960’s. Explores the issues of control that the uncle maintained over his niece. He helped her grow up, introduced her to books, adult ideas, and even how to drive. Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle with sex included. Fascinating play by Paula Vogel. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1998) > **[How I Learned to Drive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_I_Learned_to_Drive)** > > How I Learned to Drive is a play written by American playwright Paula Vogel. The play premiered on March 16, 1997, Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre. Vogel received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work. It was written and developed at the Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska, with Molly Smith as artistic director. > The story follows the strained, sexual relationship between Li'l Bit and her aunt's husband, Uncle Peck, from her pre-adolescence through her teenage years into college ... We staged it at my college’s theater. Nearly all the actors were Freshman and barely out of high school. Pretty heavy subject for a cast of 18 year olds. Especially the girl that played the niece. We had a 35 year old actor play the uncle. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549/59 "2012-02-04T21:04:17Z")
> [@expectopatronum](#): > > i think a lot of high schools do beauty and the beast these days too. We’re looking forward to the production at my son’s HS soon… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plays-are-performed-in-high-schools-nowadays/611549.md?page=2)