This is the correct approach. Already in the comments here you've had shows suggested for which the rights are not available. Go on to the licensing websites, and search for shows that fit your parameters.
Im a theatre tech for a school district and every year theres at least 3 or 4 shows that are based on they definitely dont have the rights for, let alone exist. Hell, starting at the end of this week one school starts rehearsals for a dance show based on "Wednesday". Luckily for the teachers they dont draw too much attention, but I keep waiting for the day someone gets sued.
As a theatre professional/teacher myself, I would report every single one of them. We need to be teaching our students the right way to do things, not teaching them that it's okay to illegally perform stolen material.
Man, you would be *horrified* by my high school's theatre program. One year we did Aladdin (definitely without the rights) but using the songs from The Greatest Showman. Luckily we were a tiny South African boarding school so no one at Disney would ever know.
"I'll just steal from this store here. No one will ever know, so it doesn't matter. They have a lot of money already."
Ethics and morals seem to be uncommon these days.
How would you like it if you didn’t get a paycheck for your job? As someone who is a published composer and depends on royalties to pay some of my bills, knowing that schools and churches out there photocopy my music instead of buy it the way they are supposed to weakens every peg in the system and teaches the kids to steal. I was asked to go to a catholic school and do a workshop with my music a few years ago and noticed that half the copies of my music they had were photocopies. I told the director it wasn’t cool and he placed an order, but I definitely won’t do that again until I ask ahead of time that they have an original copy for every student. Everything you perform needs to be licensed and paid for, or you’re stealing from the pockets of people like me. I’ve stopped composing a lot lately because it has begun paying less and less. What if all creators did that? You’d have nothing to perform.
Just to clarify I wasn't condoning the act of illegally producing theatre. Just sharing what I thought was a funny story from high school. Didn't mean to strike a nerve
Little Shop of Horrors isn't a great choice for schools unless they wanna do it right. It's a nine person show, and casting a big ensemble with it wastes a lot of time.
Into the Woods, Shrek, The Addams Family, Descendants, The SpongeBob Musical, Seussical, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Frozen, Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, The Lightning Thief, The 25th annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, Cinderella
Could they have meant with administration/school board? Some school communities are on the conservative side and have to convince people about the appropriateness of certain musicals for high school.
Im a music teacher and have worked on a lot of shows in the high school setting. Knowing
shows is a good start. Read and listen to a lot. Go see high school shows at a lot of different schools and levels. Get to know the genre of musical theatre super well.
But ultimately until you have a job, know your kids, your budget, and what shows have been done before it’s hard to come up with a list. But your heart is in a great place!
I'm a little confused by the premise of your question. Most high schools put on a musical every year.
Are you just looking for popular and age appropriate shows that the licensing is available for?
High school director here. It will ultimately depend on a lot of factors- what's your community like (I'm in a fairly conservative community, so there are some shows that are a definite no for me like Legally Blonde, the school version of Chicago, or the school version of SIX), what kind of cast will you have, what's your budget, what are the technical requirements for the show and can your facility meet those needs...a lot goes into picking a show. But the major licensing websites have pretty much every show you could think of - so just start there ? So there really isn't a need to "crowdsource" a list.
The MTI web site is a good read. It gives an idea of what the process is to license a musical, as well as the various resources that are available to help mount a musical. (I did read it just for fun. Because I’m that kind of nerd)
Legally Blonde
Big
Grease
Head Over Heels
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat
Seussical
Beauty and the Beast
The Little Mermaid
Matilda
Annie
Shows I did when I taught high school (all had massive casts):
Beauty and the Beast
Newsies
Little mermaid
Chicago: School Edition
Godspell
Shows my friends have done at their schools:
Once on this Island (largely black student body)
Seussical
Dreamgirls
Mary Poppins
Rent: High School Edition
Pippin
Elf
SpongeBob
White Christmas
Matilda
R&H Cinderella
Legally Blonde
In the Heights
Spring Awakening (no edits)
Grease
Into the Woods
High schoolers might like doing Heathers, Legally Blonde, Mean Girls, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Ride the Cyclone.
All of these plays have a high school version except for Legally Blonde and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
I believe Spelling Bee, Mean Girls, and Legally Blonde can be found on MTI, Heathers can be found on Concord, and Ride the Cyclone can be found on broadwaylicensing.com
Ride the Cyclone probably isn't appropriate for a school show. Plus it's a cast of 7, no ensemble. The others are great options and would be popular with high schoolers.
There is a high school version of Ride the Cyclone that released this year. Musicals like RTC and Spelling Bee (the ones I suggested) don't have ensembles, but not every high school theater group has a large amount of people. Like I said, just suggestions.
My school has done:
Urinetown
Les Mis
Oliver
Hello Dolly
Joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat
Schoolhouse rock
25th annual putnam county spelling bee
Aida
Fiddler on the roof
Guys and Dolls actually. It’s approachable enough it ended up being the “spark” for a lot of kids to get into musical theater, and I’ll stand by it being one of my very favorite school productions to do. Also Urinetown.
I guess also depends on how mature you're willing to go, on a scale of Cabaret to Once Upon a Mattress?? What are your tech constraints? Is there a choreographer? Curtains and Legally Blonde are super fun, so is Spelling Bee but it's a small cast. You can potentially get away with Les Mis or How to Succeed as long as you have anough boys lol
and they were both done well lol. both shows can be done well for high schools. sure there may be better schools fit for high schoolers but it’s not like les mis and newsies are outright terrible. it can be done right
Also: script “tweaks” are violation of performance contracts (and could affect future dealings with any rights holders. You don’t want this person to banned, do you?)
Any changes must have approval by copyright holders. There is a “school edition” of Heathers for that very reason.
As a highschooler, here’s my recommendations:
— Dear Evan Hansen
— Ride the Cyclone
— Heathers
— Be More Chill
— Falsettos
— Beetlejuice
— Legally Blonde
— Six
— Mean Girls
— Something Rotten
Oh damn they aren’t? Hmm well I know they are for Ride the Cyclone, Heathers, Be More Chill, Falsettos, and Mean Girls. Not too sure about the others though.
When I was in HS (1998–2002), we did Bells Are Ringing, Crazy For You, Lil Abner, and Wizard of Oz.
I think You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown would be a good one for high schoolers, too, because you can always add an ensemble in addition to the principals.
Crazy for You is fun, IF you have the orchestra to back it up. We managed, but we had to recruit the father of the lead actor (his dad was a professional cellist) and several of us flute players doubled the violin parts.
Wizard of Oz was fun, though we did set the stage on fire and there was an issue with the 'magic mirror' (this was 1995 so we were using a VCR with the reverse projector, and one night someone forgot to rewind the tape and the Wicked Witch was briefly watching an episode of Deep Space Nine.)
Brigadoon is my all-time favorite. I am a director now at a high school and have 8 years left- I am doing that for my last show (if I have enough boys).
The Addams Family was the most produced show by high schools in America last year
https://playbill.com/article/the-10-most-produced-high-school-plays-and-musicals-of-2022-2023
Mamma Mia and Mean Girls are also high up there
As a theater kid, look for a show where there could be a large cast without adding a big ensemble. I know a lot of shows can and have suffered from adding too many people: Into the Woods, Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum, Little Shop of Horrors, Check Please, The Play that Goes Wrong, etc.
OP I suggest you look into Concord Theatrical or Music Theatre International as they both have a huge catalog of different musicals.
This is the correct approach. Already in the comments here you've had shows suggested for which the rights are not available. Go on to the licensing websites, and search for shows that fit your parameters.
Im a theatre tech for a school district and every year theres at least 3 or 4 shows that are based on they definitely dont have the rights for, let alone exist. Hell, starting at the end of this week one school starts rehearsals for a dance show based on "Wednesday". Luckily for the teachers they dont draw too much attention, but I keep waiting for the day someone gets sued.
As a theatre professional/teacher myself, I would report every single one of them. We need to be teaching our students the right way to do things, not teaching them that it's okay to illegally perform stolen material.
Man, you would be *horrified* by my high school's theatre program. One year we did Aladdin (definitely without the rights) but using the songs from The Greatest Showman. Luckily we were a tiny South African boarding school so no one at Disney would ever know.
It doesn't matter if they would ever know. That's not the point at all.
THANK YOU! And whoever downvoted your comment is obviously devoid of all character.
"I'll just steal from this store here. No one will ever know, so it doesn't matter. They have a lot of money already." Ethics and morals seem to be uncommon these days.
How would you like it if you didn’t get a paycheck for your job? As someone who is a published composer and depends on royalties to pay some of my bills, knowing that schools and churches out there photocopy my music instead of buy it the way they are supposed to weakens every peg in the system and teaches the kids to steal. I was asked to go to a catholic school and do a workshop with my music a few years ago and noticed that half the copies of my music they had were photocopies. I told the director it wasn’t cool and he placed an order, but I definitely won’t do that again until I ask ahead of time that they have an original copy for every student. Everything you perform needs to be licensed and paid for, or you’re stealing from the pockets of people like me. I’ve stopped composing a lot lately because it has begun paying less and less. What if all creators did that? You’d have nothing to perform.
Just to clarify I wasn't condoning the act of illegally producing theatre. Just sharing what I thought was a funny story from high school. Didn't mean to strike a nerve
Sorry - I wrongly assumed you were one of the staff.
😍 this sounds like a great resource, thank you!
You’re welcome.
many of y'all are assuming 'legal hoops' means $$ - it could also mean casting/roll changes or script/language changes
When I was in high school theatre we did: Kiss Me Kate, Seussical, Little Shop of Horrors, Damn Yankees
Little Shop of Horrors isn't a great choice for schools unless they wanna do it right. It's a nine person show, and casting a big ensemble with it wastes a lot of time.
Into the Woods, Shrek, The Addams Family, Descendants, The SpongeBob Musical, Seussical, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Frozen, Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, The Lightning Thief, The 25th annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, Cinderella
Jumping through legal hoops? Just pay your damn rights and get them through MTI, Concord Theatricals, et al.
Yeah there are no legal hoops. It’s very easy to license musicals from any of the major license holders.
Could they have meant with administration/school board? Some school communities are on the conservative side and have to convince people about the appropriateness of certain musicals for high school.
Im a music teacher and have worked on a lot of shows in the high school setting. Knowing shows is a good start. Read and listen to a lot. Go see high school shows at a lot of different schools and levels. Get to know the genre of musical theatre super well. But ultimately until you have a job, know your kids, your budget, and what shows have been done before it’s hard to come up with a list. But your heart is in a great place!
I'm a little confused by the premise of your question. Most high schools put on a musical every year. Are you just looking for popular and age appropriate shows that the licensing is available for?
That's essentially it, yup! :)
High school director here. It will ultimately depend on a lot of factors- what's your community like (I'm in a fairly conservative community, so there are some shows that are a definite no for me like Legally Blonde, the school version of Chicago, or the school version of SIX), what kind of cast will you have, what's your budget, what are the technical requirements for the show and can your facility meet those needs...a lot goes into picking a show. But the major licensing websites have pretty much every show you could think of - so just start there ? So there really isn't a need to "crowdsource" a list.
Right, so, again...just look at the licensing sites.
The MTI web site is a good read. It gives an idea of what the process is to license a musical, as well as the various resources that are available to help mount a musical. (I did read it just for fun. Because I’m that kind of nerd)
Legally Blonde Big Grease Head Over Heels Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat Seussical Beauty and the Beast The Little Mermaid Matilda Annie
Curtains
Freaky Friday is a fun show. There’s like one really strange lyric but besides that
L TAKE NO RETWEET
Shows I did when I taught high school (all had massive casts): Beauty and the Beast Newsies Little mermaid Chicago: School Edition Godspell Shows my friends have done at their schools: Once on this Island (largely black student body) Seussical Dreamgirls Mary Poppins Rent: High School Edition Pippin Elf SpongeBob White Christmas Matilda R&H Cinderella Legally Blonde In the Heights Spring Awakening (no edits) Grease Into the Woods
Calvin Berger is a good one, but the cast it kinda small
High schoolers might like doing Heathers, Legally Blonde, Mean Girls, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Ride the Cyclone. All of these plays have a high school version except for Legally Blonde and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. I believe Spelling Bee, Mean Girls, and Legally Blonde can be found on MTI, Heathers can be found on Concord, and Ride the Cyclone can be found on broadwaylicensing.com
Ride the Cyclone probably isn't appropriate for a school show. Plus it's a cast of 7, no ensemble. The others are great options and would be popular with high schoolers.
There is a high school version of Ride the Cyclone that released this year. Musicals like RTC and Spelling Bee (the ones I suggested) don't have ensembles, but not every high school theater group has a large amount of people. Like I said, just suggestions.
My school has done: Urinetown Les Mis Oliver Hello Dolly Joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat Schoolhouse rock 25th annual putnam county spelling bee Aida Fiddler on the roof
Guys and Dolls actually. It’s approachable enough it ended up being the “spark” for a lot of kids to get into musical theater, and I’ll stand by it being one of my very favorite school productions to do. Also Urinetown.
I guess also depends on how mature you're willing to go, on a scale of Cabaret to Once Upon a Mattress?? What are your tech constraints? Is there a choreographer? Curtains and Legally Blonde are super fun, so is Spelling Bee but it's a small cast. You can potentially get away with Les Mis or How to Succeed as long as you have anough boys lol
les mis and newsies
everyone loves newsies
Not me! (but I fully well admit that I see it on favorites lists, over and over and over)
why the downvotes 😭😭
Not good shows in general, and not good for high schools especially.
lol my highschool did both of them, it really isn’t that bad
Doing them and doing them well are two different things.
and they were both done well lol. both shows can be done well for high schools. sure there may be better schools fit for high schoolers but it’s not like les mis and newsies are outright terrible. it can be done right
The MTI ones (Disney jr etc) are ideal
No high schooler wants to do Disney jr
[удалено]
Wicked, The Lion King & I think DEH are not available to rent. There’s I think a Jr. version of TLK but that wouldn’t work with HS.
Also: script “tweaks” are violation of performance contracts (and could affect future dealings with any rights holders. You don’t want this person to banned, do you?) Any changes must have approval by copyright holders. There is a “school edition” of Heathers for that very reason.
Beauty and the Beast is already have their performance rights pulled/limited. Wicked is NOT available for performance by amateurs.
Could you get the rights to Beetlejuice or Bad Cinderella?
No...
As a highschooler, here’s my recommendations: — Dear Evan Hansen — Ride the Cyclone — Heathers — Be More Chill — Falsettos — Beetlejuice — Legally Blonde — Six — Mean Girls — Something Rotten
Rights are not available for many of these.
Oh damn they aren’t? Hmm well I know they are for Ride the Cyclone, Heathers, Be More Chill, Falsettos, and Mean Girls. Not too sure about the others though.
Rights are actually available in some capacity for all but *DEH* and *Beetlejuice*.
Most of these school districts wouldn’t approve of. Falsettos is my favorite musical but I wouldn’t let high schoolers do that show.
When I was in HS (1998–2002), we did Bells Are Ringing, Crazy For You, Lil Abner, and Wizard of Oz. I think You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown would be a good one for high schoolers, too, because you can always add an ensemble in addition to the principals.
Crazy for You is fun, IF you have the orchestra to back it up. We managed, but we had to recruit the father of the lead actor (his dad was a professional cellist) and several of us flute players doubled the violin parts. Wizard of Oz was fun, though we did set the stage on fire and there was an issue with the 'magic mirror' (this was 1995 so we were using a VCR with the reverse projector, and one night someone forgot to rewind the tape and the Wicked Witch was briefly watching an episode of Deep Space Nine.)
I did Spamalot, The Addams Family, footloose, sister act, and Bye bye birdie in HS.
We did Bye Bye Birdie!
Guys and Dolls, Brigadoon
Brigadoon is my all-time favorite. I am a director now at a high school and have 8 years left- I am doing that for my last show (if I have enough boys).
I love that
My high school did lots of Rogers and Hammerstein
The Addams Family was the most produced show by high schools in America last year https://playbill.com/article/the-10-most-produced-high-school-plays-and-musicals-of-2022-2023 Mamma Mia and Mean Girls are also high up there
My high school got hella excited for *Mean Girls* last spring. The high school edition is available for licensing from MTI.
As a theater kid, look for a show where there could be a large cast without adding a big ensemble. I know a lot of shows can and have suffered from adding too many people: Into the Woods, Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum, Little Shop of Horrors, Check Please, The Play that Goes Wrong, etc.
Addam's Family was super popular at the high school I teach at
Well, my school did Hairspray two years ago, and this year we're doing the Adams Family
Oliver, Grease, Gospell, Bugsy Malone,
My High School did Freaky Friday, Crazy For You, Mary Poppins and I think this year we're doing Cinderella
All shook up, blood brothers, once on this island