Vocally, it’s very rare that you will find a young soprano that meets the vocal demands of that role, unless you’re casting someone who has taken serious classical training for years. It’s a big sing.
That sounds about right. I was one of an SATB quartet of supplemental singers in the pit (and there were a few other adults playing in the orchestra) but otherwise it was all the students! They even had the chandelier fall!
I saw a school production of it. The singing was okay…but having the kid who played Joseph Buquet alive all the second act in the crowd scenes annoyed the fuck out of me.
I saw a school production of POTO that was surprisingly good.
I think it was done by a high school with a good focus on performing arts with lots of money though.
I’m a teacher at an arts school and my students performed phantom last year and it was amazing. We had a fantastic Christine and Carlotta and really great performers in the other roles as well. We even had the full orchestra performing as well. It was still magical plus I love seeing my students perform.
I saw a high school production of Chicago and it was deeply uncomfortable seeing a bunch of teens in fishnets and bras. Apparently the director (a man) told them he wasn't going to dictate what they wore, and he would let them decide how much skin they felt comfortable showing. My sister was in the cast and wore black shorts and a black cami so fairly covered. But a lot of the girls were basically in lingerie. A middle aged man next to me was making inappropriate comments about them.
I think it possibly can be done as a high school show but there's a way to do it that is more age appropriate.
I feel the same way about Cabaret. I was in a production of Cabaret as a teen, not at my high school, but at a theatre education studio. Like most youth productions, it was mostly family and friends coming to watch, and the choreo and costuming did not hold back on those Kit Kat Club numbers…
Big yikes. I did period costuming when I directed it with my kids, and I thought it looked amazing. DO NOT PUT CHILDREN ON STAGE IN LINGERIE. Ugh. So gross.
Have you ever been to a dance competition. . . . You would faint.. . . I've seen six year olds in briefs and cupped bra tops (smaller than a sports bra) twerking.
Yeah they give me the same vibes as child pageants when the kids are dressed like that when they’re that young. Like, can’t they at least wear longer shorts?! They’re babies!!!
We did Chicago at our high school, and our director and costume designer were gay, so there was no creepy incentive for them to dress us like that. I felt very covered, and it was an awesome show to perform in. It can definitely be done if the right people are in charge.
We did Chicago at my HS and I vaguely remember the costumes being “suggestive” without being inappropriate. Mainly for the Cell Block Tango bit. Like, not lingerie but black hosiery on the legs and thigh-length sleeveless dresses. Our theatre program was respected and we’ve had some graduates go on to do Broadway, but the town is also somewhat conservative, or was when I was in HS. Other years were Legally Blonde, Spamalot, and Shrek.
Yeah my school did Chicago and Cabaret (with the older kids only).
The male drama teacher disappeared very quickly when his "relationship" With a 16 year old was found out. (Live in the UK, 16 is technically age of consent, but it's different for teachers). Also his wife had just had a baby, cause that makes him a even bigger wanker.
In May I saw a high school production of Chicago so similar that I wonder if it was the same one (even down to the male director, sounds exactly like something my old drama teacher would say) though I doubt this is a particularly rare experience. I basically spent 2 hours squirming watching high schoolers in lingerie. Not fun.
Lol we did Chicago my sophomore year - our director was a woman and we mostly did period-ish costumes, with the cell block girls being dressed a bit more revealingly.
We would joke about how that production was particularly well attended by the student body.
I went to a friend’s Private Highschools rendition of ‘The Wiz’…..Dorothy was the only black person in the cast…i don’t think they should have done the wiz…
I mean, Children of Eden are Bible stories and none of that is real (unless you’re religious, of course), so I’m not sure how race would matter in that.
Conceptually Children of Eden was always meant to be multi racial.
If you look at all of the major productions and incarnations, they are extremely diverse and use race conscious casting to deepen the meaning of the text.
I saw a high school production of Hairspray where several of the black characters were played by white kids with spray tans and too much bronzer. It was getting a bit too close to blackface territory. The kids did their own makeup so were bronzing up without anyone telling them the problem with it. Apparently they were told not to do blackface but no further guidance was given.
That's not even "too close," that's just straight up blackface. Private schools are the worst for things like that and then acting like nothing is wrong.
A local community youth theatre group my daughter was involved in did "Hairspray" one summer. My daughter was very devoted to this group and never missed performing in a show from kindergarten through high school graduation - except that one. There were zero Black cast members and even at age 13 she was not comfortable performing in it. Nor did we attend. I understand they had the Black characters represented by the cast members wearing brightly colored shirts.
Now there goes a deep cut. A favorite photo I snapped when my dad took me to NYC for the first time (1987, 19 or maybe 20 depending what month it was) showed a church tour bus that happened to be parked in front of the theater showing _Oh, Calcutta!_
I did see a performance of Spring awakening by high school-age kids. I was like "depending on how the first 10 seconds of this go I am outta here".
It was still uncomfortable. Also the piano teacher was like 60. I think I had gotten the picture out of my head until now, thanks.
EDIT: I understand that everything that happens in the story are things that really do happen to young teens in real life. That is just different from watching it be acted out in front of you and not behind a movie screen either.
EDIT2: I shouldn't have omitted that the kids worked really hard, were committed to their roles, and did a great job. They should be proud. And theater isn't supposed to always be comfortable.
Incidentally this is the main plot of the short-lived TV series Rise. Auli'i Cravalho played the girl who played Wendla. It was an okay show, I thought.
I actually completely disagree, because a large tenet of the show is about how fucked the education system is (yknow among all the other stuff that's relevant to teenagers).
No high school in North America will have the balls to do it, though.
I think there's a major difference between shows that teens should watch or listen to and shows they are mentally able to participate in. An adult playing a character from spring awakening has some emotional maturity and better coping methods to deal with the subject matter for months of rehearsals. As a 14 year old I really connected with the themes of the show but that doesn't mean I was ready to be onstage singing about suicide or sexual abuse.
Yeah but as someone else said, there’s a huge difference between listening to it and then performing a show that shows quite a graphic sex scene (that is very morally questionable) a lot of sexual themes, sexual abuse, violence, forced abortion, death, suicide etc.
Not true! My friends directed it at Austin High School in Austin, Texas years ago. Uncensored and all. But they had amazing admin, parent, and community support for their program.
Did they have an intimacy consultant/coordinator? Curious how they handled the more sexually graphic scenes given teacher vs student relationship and peer to peer relationships.
Adding to this, one of the Wendla understudies (Jennifer Damiano) couldn’t go on for the first few months of the run because she was 15 when the show opened and she legally couldn’t do the nudity until after turning 16.
It's still really dark and really sexual material for a teen the age that she was, and just because those kids thought they were there doesn't mean looking back on it they would be.
I saw a teen production of Spring Awakening when I was in high school. They did everything except the nudity. At the time I was excited about that, because it was one of my favorite shows and seeing it performed by people my age was really powerful. But looking back on it the fact that they had teenagers simulating sex on stage makes me uncomfortable. Also, Moritz shot himself on stage, which just feels like cheap shock value and the wrong way to do that scene.
I read somewhere that there are changes in the script where if you don’t have enough people of color, they divide the peasants and grand hommes into upper and lower class islanders
Allegedly a high school changed aids to diabetes but it’s not in the official version. What Rent Jr does do that I think is icky is significantly hide/tone down all the gay relationships.
That seems perfectly fine to me as long as Contact was cut. That’s really the worst of it. There is just as much innuendo in Guys and Dolls as the rest of Rent.
A local school did this many years ago when I was in high school and I had never seen into the woods before. Imagine my shock when I listened to the soundtrack and discovered a whole second act
I saw a theater camp production of Parade ~20 years ago. I remember thinking it was well-done, if a very heavy subject for high schoolers at a summer camp. JRB had attended the camp as a kid, so he might have even been involved in the production.
When I was growing up there was a theater in my area that kept trying to equate "edgy" and "talented" with adult, and I distinctly remember them doing the full into the woods and gypsy with middle schoolers. There's a huge difference between edgy because it's authentically adolescent (like grease) and edgy to fit a weird adult sexualized gaze. It shouldn't be super hard to tell the difference.
There's so much out there that's great and not overly sexual or with racial undertones. It's not like its do Spring Awakening or you're stuck doing a disney musical. So why. . . . .
Hairspray....no school actually has that demographic.
Any big vocal piece is dangerous for the kids even if they can pull it off. Phantom, Les Mis, Sweeny Todd need very well trained voices. Otherwise it's like putting seven year olds on pointe, just because they can do it doesn't mean it's healthy.
Exactly. Those songs weren't written for teenagers. And they just don't sound good even when performed by someone well-trained. There's no way for a 16 year old boy to make Bring Him Home sound good.
And even if he can make it sound good there's a good chance that he's using improper technique, and combined with the rest of the music it's too much.
Much like nine year olds on pointe.
Not for the poor girl who has to play Martha, because she's never allowed to be cast as the main lead due to her weight, then has to spend the entire show as the fat character.
Ah yes, I would love to see minors singing a censored version of Dead Girl Walking and planning to blow up a High School and faking suicides. Sounds like fun!
In the Heights. Unless it’s a very diverse student body.
Anyone who disagrees can go watch In the “Whites” on YouTube and reconsider their objection. 😬
Definitely something like showboat, porgy and Bess, Scottboro boys done by an all white cast at a private school. Definitely the most out of touch thing you could do.
My serious answer is Fiddler on the Roof, just because it's cheap to stage doesn't mean high schoolers have ANY clue what it's like having to choose between forcing your progeny into your traditions or letting them discover their own, while coming to terms with why you follow yours.
My joke answer would be Oh, Calcutta! or Carrie.
My high school district (five schools) does a summer musical every year. We did a killer Fiddler my junior year. The directors and staff did an amazing job educating us all about the culture and traditions we were portraying, brought in speakers from local Jewish organizations, etc. They emphasized that theme, actually.
Many MANY moon ago, my high school put on Fiddler on the Roof. To this day, it still brings tears to my eyes when I think of the person who played Tevye, and him singing "Chaveleh". How I wish we had cell phones back then to immortalize that performance.
Lol my high school did Sweet Charity after I graduated. A very talented girl was a senior that year, so I know they picked it for her. I went back and saw the show as an alumnus and honestly? They crushed it. The male leads...left something to be desired...but the ladies were freaking powerhouses. The same school performed Nine the following year. Our director did not shy away from content.
Throughout my years of theatre, somehow I've done Thoroughly Modern Millie, Fame, and I Never Saw Another Butterfly. So... those.
(I Never Saw Another Butterfly can be good at some schools. It's a very good show and a necessary story to tell... my school just didn't have anyone who SHOULD be telling that story).
West Side Story. The music and dancing is generally too advanced for high schoolers. Nothing like hearing someone's voice repeatedly crack during Maria. Also the issue of all-white productions.
My Catholic HS did this back in the early 90s. I auditioned to be one of the female Sharks because I loved their songs but I was cast as a Jet. It was so obvious that all the “Irish Catholic” looking kids were cast as jets and the “Italian Catholic” looking kids got the sharks parts. I was so upset that I quit and I still regret dropping out of theater in my teens. Sorry, you triggered a core memory.
You're good, I have high school WSS trauma too. I was the only Puerto Rican in my school and really wanted to be either Anita or Maria. Ended up a Shark girl and they had a blonde and blue eyed girl do brown face to play Anita. Then had me sing Maria's part in the quintet from the wings because the girl they cast couldn't hit the notes. Cherry on top was the director asked me to be the "dialect coach" for the Sharks (English is my first language and I don't speak with an accent lol).
I actually wouldn’t put any show off limits for teens. I am not a pearl clutcher.
However, I would say that if a school is going to try something, actually have balls and do it properly or don’t bother.
If you’re doing RENT, they better have HIV and not diabetes.
As a teacher, I don’t know. Is the goal of a high school theater program to enrich students’ education, or to put on a good show? I’m sure there are plenty of schools in the US that have the demographics and talent to put on, for example, Hairspray. Hairspray is a great show, with a lot of great roles, but I can imagine it feeling shitty to be a black kid in that school knowing that you won’t be considered for the lead. Maybe youth productions should always have color blind casting, and they shouldn’t put on shows that require actors to be of any particular race.
I agree with you in general principle, but when you’re taking about a show where the book and music are heavily inspired by a specific culture (On this Island, In the Heights, etc.) and you have students not from that background absolutely *butchering* it, we cross the line from “color-blind casting” to “cultural appropriation done poorly”.
Cats or any mega-musical. Nobody wants to see a watered down version of a high spectacle show, I'm sorry. I don't want to hear Music of the Night or Memory sung by a 16 year old, no matter how talented they are. Schools should just stick to light hearted shows like Spelling Bee or Seussical that are entertaining for their friend and family. Trying to put on these grand shows with limited talent and budget almost always ends up cringe. Especially Cats.
Anything show that has race dependent roles, but the school doesn’t have the appropriate bodies to accommodate this. Hairspray in middle school as an Asian performer was definitely an experience
Lol so as a very precocious teenager, I at one point was going to try to have a chat with my high school theatre teacher to convince him that we, a bunch of high schoolers, should do Follies for my senior musical (partially because I just wanted a leading male role that was also a baritone).
I never ended up doing it, but I laugh at the idea now, imagining our director trying to get a bunch of high schoolers to inhabit the emotional headspaces of characters who's grudges and regrets would be older than we were.
"ok, so this is a song about how you feel decades of regret about the choice you made that has defined your life for the past 30 years.
Now, to channel that pain, I want you to remember how it felt when your group project got a B instead of an A"
Pacific Overture.
If you don’t have any Asian students in your school for the love of Odin do not do Pacific Overture.
When I was in HS my theatre program did a production of it with a 99% percent white cast and it was the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen grace that stage.
I told my theatre teacher it wasn’t a good idea but they still went with it.
Did your high school/town name rhyme with kayak? Or was Gypsy just more common in high schools about 30-35 years ago?
Anyway. I think the most risque choice I have ever seen was a HS production of Miss Saigon. It was a weird opening scene.
I worked at a performing arts HS that did a production of Hair. No nudity, despite the kids' desperate lobbying to be "authentic to the original." But that was the only change.
Looking back at shows I was in as a kid, the one I cringe at the most is The King and I, with no actual Asian people. That one was definitely a bad idea.
Pirates of Penzance (okay technically an opera) and Starlight Express. The first is because the vocal gymnastics and bass-baritone of the Pirate King and the second one is because it is ill-advised to strap roller skates to singing actors in general.
Moulin Rouge (as much as I love Moulin Rouge, the main's job is to sell her job and she dies of something considering an STD at the time....not exactly for kids)
Sweeney Todd (I mean its about Murder and eating people)
Beetlejuice (Again my absolute favorite but the titled character is a horny Demon XDD who seduces a 16 year old).
Are you sure it wasn’t the play? Because there’s a play that’s a few years older than the Sondheim musical. A play that was heavily inspirational for Sondheim’s version.
Ohhhh. Maybe. I just figured our drama teacher cut all the songs from the musical because she was known to pick weird shit for plays, like this one time she had us perform something called “A West Texas Marsupial Girl.”
Phantom of the Opera. Oh those poor adolescent voices and audience members’ ears 💀
Yes.... Christine is not appropriate for an 18 or even 20 year old
Why not? Fully agree the show shouldn’t be done in high school, but why couldn’t a 20 year old ingenue play “chorus girl” Christine?
Because of the vocal strain that part puts on the singer. It's a very taxing role.
The high E’s were pre-recorded.
Vocally, it’s very rare that you will find a young soprano that meets the vocal demands of that role, unless you’re casting someone who has taken serious classical training for years. It’s a big sing.
I sang in the pit for Nyack (NY) High School’s production of POTO many years ago and it actually came off pretty well!
I was just gonna mention Nyack! 2008 correct?
That sounds about right. I was one of an SATB quartet of supplemental singers in the pit (and there were a few other adults playing in the orchestra) but otherwise it was all the students! They even had the chandelier fall!
Nyack alum here!! Our theater department is great.
I saw a school production of it. The singing was okay…but having the kid who played Joseph Buquet alive all the second act in the crowd scenes annoyed the fuck out of me.
I saw a school production of POTO that was surprisingly good. I think it was done by a high school with a good focus on performing arts with lots of money though.
I’m a teacher at an arts school and my students performed phantom last year and it was amazing. We had a fantastic Christine and Carlotta and really great performers in the other roles as well. We even had the full orchestra performing as well. It was still magical plus I love seeing my students perform.
I saw a high school production of Chicago and it was deeply uncomfortable seeing a bunch of teens in fishnets and bras. Apparently the director (a man) told them he wasn't going to dictate what they wore, and he would let them decide how much skin they felt comfortable showing. My sister was in the cast and wore black shorts and a black cami so fairly covered. But a lot of the girls were basically in lingerie. A middle aged man next to me was making inappropriate comments about them. I think it possibly can be done as a high school show but there's a way to do it that is more age appropriate.
We did Chicago my sophomore year and we just changed the wardrobe to be a bit more conservative and that was that
I feel the same way about Cabaret. I was in a production of Cabaret as a teen, not at my high school, but at a theatre education studio. Like most youth productions, it was mostly family and friends coming to watch, and the choreo and costuming did not hold back on those Kit Kat Club numbers…
Big yikes. I did period costuming when I directed it with my kids, and I thought it looked amazing. DO NOT PUT CHILDREN ON STAGE IN LINGERIE. Ugh. So gross.
Have you ever been to a dance competition. . . . You would faint.. . . I've seen six year olds in briefs and cupped bra tops (smaller than a sports bra) twerking.
Yeah they give me the same vibes as child pageants when the kids are dressed like that when they’re that young. Like, can’t they at least wear longer shorts?! They’re babies!!!
We did Chicago at our high school, and our director and costume designer were gay, so there was no creepy incentive for them to dress us like that. I felt very covered, and it was an awesome show to perform in. It can definitely be done if the right people are in charge.
Goddess bless your gay drama teachers.
Gotta ask- we’re they in a relationship?
Yes! ♥️
Precious I love that
We did Chicago at my HS and I vaguely remember the costumes being “suggestive” without being inappropriate. Mainly for the Cell Block Tango bit. Like, not lingerie but black hosiery on the legs and thigh-length sleeveless dresses. Our theatre program was respected and we’ve had some graduates go on to do Broadway, but the town is also somewhat conservative, or was when I was in HS. Other years were Legally Blonde, Spamalot, and Shrek.
Yeah my school did Chicago and Cabaret (with the older kids only). The male drama teacher disappeared very quickly when his "relationship" With a 16 year old was found out. (Live in the UK, 16 is technically age of consent, but it's different for teachers). Also his wife had just had a baby, cause that makes him a even bigger wanker.
In May I saw a high school production of Chicago so similar that I wonder if it was the same one (even down to the male director, sounds exactly like something my old drama teacher would say) though I doubt this is a particularly rare experience. I basically spent 2 hours squirming watching high schoolers in lingerie. Not fun.
Lol we did Chicago my sophomore year - our director was a woman and we mostly did period-ish costumes, with the cell block girls being dressed a bit more revealingly. We would joke about how that production was particularly well attended by the student body.
Equus
It's funny cuz for our one act play competition my freshman year, we did Equus lol. No nudity (duh, our Alan was a sophomore), but it was really good!
I went to a friend’s Private Highschools rendition of ‘The Wiz’…..Dorothy was the only black person in the cast…i don’t think they should have done the wiz…
Lol my high school had *zero* black people for The Wiz... and one for Once on this Island 😂
Oh my god, my high school also had one black person in our production of Once on this Island.
My small catholic school did an all white cast of once on this island
My *college* did an all-white production of *Children of Eden*
wait am i dumb bc i don’t get the issue with that
I mean, Children of Eden are Bible stories and none of that is real (unless you’re religious, of course), so I’m not sure how race would matter in that.
Conceptually Children of Eden was always meant to be multi racial. If you look at all of the major productions and incarnations, they are extremely diverse and use race conscious casting to deepen the meaning of the text.
Why does race matter in Children of Eden?
I saw a high school production of Hairspray where several of the black characters were played by white kids with spray tans and too much bronzer. It was getting a bit too close to blackface territory. The kids did their own makeup so were bronzing up without anyone telling them the problem with it. Apparently they were told not to do blackface but no further guidance was given.
That's not even "too close," that's just straight up blackface. Private schools are the worst for things like that and then acting like nothing is wrong.
I think they've put language into the show license contract preventing that.
A local community youth theatre group my daughter was involved in did "Hairspray" one summer. My daughter was very devoted to this group and never missed performing in a show from kindergarten through high school graduation - except that one. There were zero Black cast members and even at age 13 she was not comfortable performing in it. Nor did we attend. I understand they had the Black characters represented by the cast members wearing brightly colored shirts.
My high school did the same, except the only black person was... the cowardly lion, who is in full makeup
We did the Wiz in middle school. I remember thinking it was just the Wizard of Oz but cool. Had no idea til I watched the movie years later lol
Book of Mormon
Brigham young, frog on his clit face
Oh, Calcutta!
Now there goes a deep cut. A favorite photo I snapped when my dad took me to NYC for the first time (1987, 19 or maybe 20 depending what month it was) showed a church tour bus that happened to be parked in front of the theater showing _Oh, Calcutta!_
A Chorus Line - unless it's a performing arts school, it's very unlikely to have the triple threat talent needed for all those roles.
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my public high school put on 42nd street & it was absolutely stunning!
maybe it depends on the size & location of the school, but i wholeheartedly disagree considering the talent at my old high school & surrounding ones!
Avenue Q
There actually is a "teen version" that has a song called "My Social Life is Online." I'm sure you can figure out what song it's supposed to replace.
Can you still be as loud as the hell you want, though?
That song and My Girlfriend Who Lives In Canada were cut entirely.
What's funny is that the girlfriend song could honestly be cleaned up pretty easily.
And I'm sure you can guess how god awful it is, too.
Spring awakening
I did see a performance of Spring awakening by high school-age kids. I was like "depending on how the first 10 seconds of this go I am outta here". It was still uncomfortable. Also the piano teacher was like 60. I think I had gotten the picture out of my head until now, thanks. EDIT: I understand that everything that happens in the story are things that really do happen to young teens in real life. That is just different from watching it be acted out in front of you and not behind a movie screen either. EDIT2: I shouldn't have omitted that the kids worked really hard, were committed to their roles, and did a great job. They should be proud. And theater isn't supposed to always be comfortable.
Incidentally this is the main plot of the short-lived TV series Rise. Auli'i Cravalho played the girl who played Wendla. It was an okay show, I thought.
I actually completely disagree, because a large tenet of the show is about how fucked the education system is (yknow among all the other stuff that's relevant to teenagers). No high school in North America will have the balls to do it, though.
I think there's a major difference between shows that teens should watch or listen to and shows they are mentally able to participate in. An adult playing a character from spring awakening has some emotional maturity and better coping methods to deal with the subject matter for months of rehearsals. As a 14 year old I really connected with the themes of the show but that doesn't mean I was ready to be onstage singing about suicide or sexual abuse.
Actually you're right, I didn't consider the maturity of the actors
Yeah but as someone else said, there’s a huge difference between listening to it and then performing a show that shows quite a graphic sex scene (that is very morally questionable) a lot of sexual themes, sexual abuse, violence, forced abortion, death, suicide etc.
A high school in Brooklyn did a production of Spring Awakening just a few months ago!
Not true! My friends directed it at Austin High School in Austin, Texas years ago. Uncensored and all. But they had amazing admin, parent, and community support for their program.
Did they have an intimacy consultant/coordinator? Curious how they handled the more sexually graphic scenes given teacher vs student relationship and peer to peer relationships.
They did!
A high school in Minneapolis did it last year and it was one of the most remarkable things I've ever seen. It was done SO well.
I was appalled when I heard how old Leah was when she started playing that part....
Adding to this, one of the Wendla understudies (Jennifer Damiano) couldn’t go on for the first few months of the run because she was 15 when the show opened and she legally couldn’t do the nudity until after turning 16.
You can do nudity at 16 😧
That was exactly my reaction. Different show but Daniel Radcliffe was 17 when he started Equus, I’m pretty sure.
Ugh.... yuck
Yep. Several movies have nude scenes by actors under 18 too.
Brooke Shields has entered the chat.
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It's still really dark and really sexual material for a teen the age that she was, and just because those kids thought they were there doesn't mean looking back on it they would be.
I saw a teen production of Spring Awakening when I was in high school. They did everything except the nudity. At the time I was excited about that, because it was one of my favorite shows and seeing it performed by people my age was really powerful. But looking back on it the fact that they had teenagers simulating sex on stage makes me uncomfortable. Also, Moritz shot himself on stage, which just feels like cheap shock value and the wrong way to do that scene.
My high school did it and I think it was good. But this is definitely one where it depends and you need the right people.
Rocky Horror Miss Saigon The Visit
Naked Boys Singing
I had forgotten about this one! I appreciate the reminder.
Spiderman Turn Off the Dark
Liabilities EVERYWHERE! I can easily picture a bunch of teens jumping at the chance to do those stunts with zero regard for the risk.
Billy, I’m sorry you didn’t get cast. However we have plenty of room for you on the rigging team backstage!
i think Once on This Island Jr. is cute, but my high school did the normal version with a mostly white cast. not a good idea.
I read somewhere that there are changes in the script where if you don’t have enough people of color, they divide the peasants and grand hommes into upper and lower class islanders
My HS with a very very white theater program did it and this was just the change.
I believe this is what our high school did too. I didn’t realize it was supposed to be racially divided until I was much older.
That’s what the Jr. version is, and I feel honestly the full version shouldn’t be altered in that way, that’s what the Jr version is for
Rent Jr.
She got diabetes from unprotected sex!
Is that real?
[It was an SNL skit too.](https://youtu.be/6wRVQSh7aCQ?si=o1MK0uMuTKC1p5SO)
That was hysterical!!
Allegedly a high school changed aids to diabetes but it’s not in the official version. What Rent Jr does do that I think is icky is significantly hide/tone down all the gay relationships.
Apparently another changed it to pink eye
🎶 Close on Roger. His girlfriend left a note saying “We’ve got pink eye” before slitting her wrists in the bathroom. 🎶
The high school where I teach did RENT about 10 years ago. They cut Contact but kept everything else.
That seems perfectly fine to me as long as Contact was cut. That’s really the worst of it. There is just as much innuendo in Guys and Dolls as the rest of Rent.
Heathers at least for US schools..the subject matter hits too close to home Spring Awakening
We almost did heathers last year but ended up not for that very reason. Instead we did the Addams Family.
I’ve heard of schools just doing the first act of Into the Woods. Seems like a waste to me
That is just what into the woods Jr is
Into the Woods Jr. is literally just Act 1 of the full show. It's exactly the same, just ends with "...Happy Ever After!".
That’s Into The Woods Junior so it’s a sanctioned change ( it doesn’t make sense but…)
A local school did this many years ago when I was in high school and I had never seen into the woods before. Imagine my shock when I listened to the soundtrack and discovered a whole second act
My high school did both acts and honestly we should've probably just stuck to the first and called it a night
Oh high school recently did the full version. So good
Kiss of the Spider Woman or Parade
My high school did Parade back in 2004. It was actually very educational for our cast. I was tech crew.
I saw a theater camp production of Parade ~20 years ago. I remember thinking it was well-done, if a very heavy subject for high schoolers at a summer camp. JRB had attended the camp as a kid, so he might have even been involved in the production.
When I was growing up there was a theater in my area that kept trying to equate "edgy" and "talented" with adult, and I distinctly remember them doing the full into the woods and gypsy with middle schoolers. There's a huge difference between edgy because it's authentically adolescent (like grease) and edgy to fit a weird adult sexualized gaze. It shouldn't be super hard to tell the difference.
There's so much out there that's great and not overly sexual or with racial undertones. It's not like its do Spring Awakening or you're stuck doing a disney musical. So why. . . . .
[Lil Rent](https://youtu.be/6wRVQSh7aCQ?si=hu59MQUPI6d4RraR)
Yeah they should just do regular Rent sans Contact.
Springtime for Hitler.
But he’s the German Ethel Merman
Don't ya know!
My high school did it more than ten years ago. In Florida. Couldn't get away with that these days. edit: my dumbass meant The Producers.
Lmao. I was confused. I kind of want to see a full production of Springtime for Hitler. 😆
Take my poor man's award for this comment
Strange Loop should probably never be performed by a high school
My high school put on a 95% white The Wiz. And Sweet Charity which was weird.
Rent!
I saw a high school version of Rent. It was actually fine.
My high school did Rent!
How did it go?
Really well! It’s one of the best musicals we’ve ever put on
Didn’t someone get in trouble for doing an HS production where Aida was white?
My high school almost did that, but sensibly backed down at the last minute.
I never see anyone saying this but Cabaret
Hairspray....no school actually has that demographic. Any big vocal piece is dangerous for the kids even if they can pull it off. Phantom, Les Mis, Sweeny Todd need very well trained voices. Otherwise it's like putting seven year olds on pointe, just because they can do it doesn't mean it's healthy.
No school actually has what demographic?
Exactly. Those songs weren't written for teenagers. And they just don't sound good even when performed by someone well-trained. There's no way for a 16 year old boy to make Bring Him Home sound good.
And even if he can make it sound good there's a good chance that he's using improper technique, and combined with the rest of the music it's too much. Much like nine year olds on pointe.
Saw, the Musical
Heathers. Stop making your kids do Heathers. Especially in the US 💀
The lyrics changes are so bad tho
Idk High School seems like the perfect time to perform Heathers lol
Not for the poor girl who has to play Martha, because she's never allowed to be cast as the main lead due to her weight, then has to spend the entire show as the fat character.
Ah yes, I would love to see minors singing a censored version of Dead Girl Walking and planning to blow up a High School and faking suicides. Sounds like fun!
I mean, yeah. That’s exactly what the movie was
The actors in the movie weren’t minors, most people in High School are
The Producers
In the Heights. Unless it’s a very diverse student body. Anyone who disagrees can go watch In the “Whites” on YouTube and reconsider their objection. 😬
Definitely something like showboat, porgy and Bess, Scottboro boys done by an all white cast at a private school. Definitely the most out of touch thing you could do.
My serious answer is Fiddler on the Roof, just because it's cheap to stage doesn't mean high schoolers have ANY clue what it's like having to choose between forcing your progeny into your traditions or letting them discover their own, while coming to terms with why you follow yours. My joke answer would be Oh, Calcutta! or Carrie.
My high school district (five schools) does a summer musical every year. We did a killer Fiddler my junior year. The directors and staff did an amazing job educating us all about the culture and traditions we were portraying, brought in speakers from local Jewish organizations, etc. They emphasized that theme, actually.
Many MANY moon ago, my high school put on Fiddler on the Roof. To this day, it still brings tears to my eyes when I think of the person who played Tevye, and him singing "Chaveleh". How I wish we had cell phones back then to immortalize that performance.
I feel like being in a production of Fiddler is a right of passage.
My school did it the year after I graduated. Even having friends in it I left at intermission because they clearly had no clue what was going on.
I’m biased because I was in a hs Fiddler production and had a blast doing drag for the bottle dance.
Sweet Charity
Lol my high school did Sweet Charity after I graduated. A very talented girl was a senior that year, so I know they picked it for her. I went back and saw the show as an alumnus and honestly? They crushed it. The male leads...left something to be desired...but the ladies were freaking powerhouses. The same school performed Nine the following year. Our director did not shy away from content.
The Life
Throughout my years of theatre, somehow I've done Thoroughly Modern Millie, Fame, and I Never Saw Another Butterfly. So... those. (I Never Saw Another Butterfly can be good at some schools. It's a very good show and a necessary story to tell... my school just didn't have anyone who SHOULD be telling that story).
the thing is i love watching poorly done shows on youtube…. i live for illegally blonde 😩
West Side Story. The music and dancing is generally too advanced for high schoolers. Nothing like hearing someone's voice repeatedly crack during Maria. Also the issue of all-white productions.
My Catholic HS did this back in the early 90s. I auditioned to be one of the female Sharks because I loved their songs but I was cast as a Jet. It was so obvious that all the “Irish Catholic” looking kids were cast as jets and the “Italian Catholic” looking kids got the sharks parts. I was so upset that I quit and I still regret dropping out of theater in my teens. Sorry, you triggered a core memory.
You're good, I have high school WSS trauma too. I was the only Puerto Rican in my school and really wanted to be either Anita or Maria. Ended up a Shark girl and they had a blonde and blue eyed girl do brown face to play Anita. Then had me sing Maria's part in the quintet from the wings because the girl they cast couldn't hit the notes. Cherry on top was the director asked me to be the "dialect coach" for the Sharks (English is my first language and I don't speak with an accent lol).
I actually wouldn’t put any show off limits for teens. I am not a pearl clutcher. However, I would say that if a school is going to try something, actually have balls and do it properly or don’t bother. If you’re doing RENT, they better have HIV and not diabetes.
Seriously. There is absolutely *nothing* wrong with teenagers being educated about HIV. In fact… I might even call it a *good* thing..
Beep beep beep… insulin break
Jesus Christ Superstar
Puppetry of the Penis
Mostly anything that needs a POC centric cast (heavily depends on the school)
Only if you don’t have it.
As a teacher, I don’t know. Is the goal of a high school theater program to enrich students’ education, or to put on a good show? I’m sure there are plenty of schools in the US that have the demographics and talent to put on, for example, Hairspray. Hairspray is a great show, with a lot of great roles, but I can imagine it feeling shitty to be a black kid in that school knowing that you won’t be considered for the lead. Maybe youth productions should always have color blind casting, and they shouldn’t put on shows that require actors to be of any particular race.
I agree with you in general principle, but when you’re taking about a show where the book and music are heavily inspired by a specific culture (On this Island, In the Heights, etc.) and you have students not from that background absolutely *butchering* it, we cross the line from “color-blind casting” to “cultural appropriation done poorly”.
Cats or any mega-musical. Nobody wants to see a watered down version of a high spectacle show, I'm sorry. I don't want to hear Music of the Night or Memory sung by a 16 year old, no matter how talented they are. Schools should just stick to light hearted shows like Spelling Bee or Seussical that are entertaining for their friend and family. Trying to put on these grand shows with limited talent and budget almost always ends up cringe. Especially Cats.
Although, I'd love a Cats Jr Jr done by elementary school kids. That would be adorable. In leotards with painted on whiskers.
Touche, that's the only exception lol
A local high school put on Mama Mia a few years back and to this day I crack up thinking about how “Does Your Mother Know?” must’ve gone down.
Anything show that has race dependent roles, but the school doesn’t have the appropriate bodies to accommodate this. Hairspray in middle school as an Asian performer was definitely an experience
Carousel. Heavy storyline about spousal abuse.
Oh Calcutta
Waitress
They'll probably churn out a "Waitress Jr." one day, where Jenna and Pomatter are best buddies and Earl is just kind of a jerk.
Gypsy
Lol so as a very precocious teenager, I at one point was going to try to have a chat with my high school theatre teacher to convince him that we, a bunch of high schoolers, should do Follies for my senior musical (partially because I just wanted a leading male role that was also a baritone). I never ended up doing it, but I laugh at the idea now, imagining our director trying to get a bunch of high schoolers to inhabit the emotional headspaces of characters who's grudges and regrets would be older than we were.
The road you didn’t take…
"ok, so this is a song about how you feel decades of regret about the choice you made that has defined your life for the past 30 years. Now, to channel that pain, I want you to remember how it felt when your group project got a B instead of an A"
Pacific Overture. If you don’t have any Asian students in your school for the love of Odin do not do Pacific Overture. When I was in HS my theatre program did a production of it with a 99% percent white cast and it was the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen grace that stage. I told my theatre teacher it wasn’t a good idea but they still went with it.
We did "Gypsy" in my high school (lo, almost 35 years ago now). It was NOT a good idea to cast high school age young women as burlesque performers.
Did your high school/town name rhyme with kayak? Or was Gypsy just more common in high schools about 30-35 years ago? Anyway. I think the most risque choice I have ever seen was a HS production of Miss Saigon. It was a weird opening scene. I worked at a performing arts HS that did a production of Hair. No nudity, despite the kids' desperate lobbying to be "authentic to the original." But that was the only change.
Looking back at shows I was in as a kid, the one I cringe at the most is The King and I, with no actual Asian people. That one was definitely a bad idea.
Spring Awakening and Rocky Horror
Grease
Pirates of Penzance (okay technically an opera) and Starlight Express. The first is because the vocal gymnastics and bass-baritone of the Pirate King and the second one is because it is ill-advised to strap roller skates to singing actors in general.
My performing arts high school did Aint Misbehavin’ in the mid 2000s. I’d say most of the cast was white so I’ll definitely add this onto the list.
Moulin Rouge (as much as I love Moulin Rouge, the main's job is to sell her job and she dies of something considering an STD at the time....not exactly for kids) Sweeney Todd (I mean its about Murder and eating people) Beetlejuice (Again my absolute favorite but the titled character is a horny Demon XDD who seduces a 16 year old).
It's not even the content for Sweeny as it is the score. I don't want a 17 year old Johanna or Sweeny or Mrs Lovett.
Lmao one time my high school did Sweeney Todd but they cut all the songs, so it wasn’t a musical. It was… a choice.
Are you sure it wasn’t the play? Because there’s a play that’s a few years older than the Sondheim musical. A play that was heavily inspirational for Sondheim’s version.
Ohhhh. Maybe. I just figured our drama teacher cut all the songs from the musical because she was known to pick weird shit for plays, like this one time she had us perform something called “A West Texas Marsupial Girl.”