I work as a music director for educational and non-profit theater and as a freelance writer. My main webhub is my entertainment media blog Cue the Media.
I'm usually pretty good at picking out my students' new obsession musical before they start asking to perform the show or songs from the show at every possible opportunity, but Be More Chill's popularity in that Middle/High School age group threw me for a loop. I knew Joe Iconis from playing enough auditions/cabarets to see Head Shot, Flesh and Bone, and some of those Smash songs come into rotation. It just felt like out of nowhere in the past few weeks every male studen
While I haven't seen Margaritaville myself, a good friend I work with got dragged along with some friends to see the show. She is not a Buffet fan (but her friends are) and she wound up really enjoying herself. She said the audience had a wide mix--children to seniors--who laughed their way through the show and had a good time. I did bring up the flying sequence and she rolled her eyes. Not all the jokes landed for her but enough hit that she enjoyed herself.
Are there shows with really outdated gender stereotypes? Yes. Obviously. Theater is centuries old. Society changes. What was acceptable at one point quickly (or not so quickly) falls out of the realm of the appropriate. Does that mean we erase history? No. The smart approach is to contextualize it. Bring it up with the producers, the creative team, and the cast as a jumping off point for artistic expression and interpretation. Discuss your approach in the director's notes. Don't
I think the argument for Fun Home here is that it went from a traditional proscenium staging to in the round for Broadway. The content didn't change so much as the staging, out of necessity.
Aida's changes were wild, and it's pretty impressive how willing Walt Disney Theatrical were willing to allow for those changes (compared to shows like Mermaid where they kept those bizarre plexiglass sets even after they made no sense in the out of town try out). It has to be because i
Yeah, if you can only say major or minor, it's a major role. Minors roles in Sound of Music would be the three sisters at the convent, Franz, Frau Schmidt, and the nazi officials who begin to enter at the end of Act I.
Max is interwoven throughout most of the show and has those two big trios with the Captain and Elsa. He sets the children's performance at the concert in motion and then is the major character in the concert scene who stalls for and collaborates with the von Trap
I'm sure there have been productions where the carousel isn't shown, but I've always viewed some physical representation as essential to that opening sequence. The audience is meant to be taken back by a carousel appearing on stage the same way Julie falls head over heels for Billie. It's not a coincidence both are supposed to climax at the same time.
Can it be worked around? I'm sure with the right vision. Anything is possible. Should it? That's a question for
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture could be an awesome song cycle. If you haven't heard of the game, it's an exploration game where the player collects memories of people who have disappeared from a small village with no warning or explanation. There's more to the story, but that concept alone and some of the people's stories could be good theater. It's all very Spoon River Anthology or Our Town Act III.
I don't think video game musicals are easy at all. The pe
There really aren't that many horror/suspense musicals, and the ones that exist are mostly dark comedies with horror elements. Think Bat Boy, Heathers, Carrie, Evil Dead, Silence!, Toxic Avenger, Little Shop of Horrors, Dance of the Vampire, Young Frankenstein, Shockheaded Peter, Re-Animator, and Zombie Prom.
There are some straight up horror/suspense/gothic musicals that are totally hit or miss depending on the production. I'm a big fan of Nevermore, but it's a pretty
I forgot about the Tams Witmark shows. Wizard of Oz is very good. They keep Jitterbug, ditch the poppies sequence, and give Auntie Em a sweet little duet with Dorothy when Dorothy is trapped in the Witch's castle. That adaptation works.
And I agree that Seussical is the only one I know to improve on the material. It's more focused and sticks to the stories that children would actually engage with and enjoy.
I've music directed quite a few of the MTI Jr shows. Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Honk, Seussical, and Shrek are all solid adaptations. Beauty and the Beast is too long and does nothing to simplify Beast or Belle's harder solo songs for younger voices. Same with Music Man and Into the Woods--the material is still very challenging for the age group's intended. Mulan's only advantage is a huge cast. Lion King is basically a staged concert in the Kids or Jr version.
I enjoyed the production, but it was not well-attended. I paid for an orchestra seat (because I just don't like the mezzanine in that theater) and most of the people around me had discounted tickets from TKTS or TodayTix and the like. Quite a few only went to the show to see Sally Field (but only at a discount). It just did not pull in enough money to last until the original closing date.
As someone who gets paid by various theaters as a musician and/or a technician, I think what you're doing sounds about right. I get handed 1099 forms to fill out if I'm making more than $600 in a year. Otherwise, it's a cash under the table deal for a couple nights' work.
At most, if the worker isn't on a year-round staff, they're a contract employee. If you have permanent members who work on every show, you could technically consider them employees. Frank
Spamalot had the most commercial success and buzz about it. Light in the Piazza had probably the most talked about performance of the season (Victoria Clark). Spelling Bee and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels had their fans, as well.
Spamalot was predicted to nearly sweep the awards and then didn't. All the nominated Best Musicals took him big prizes, and Light in the Piazza took all of the design (lighting, costume, scenic) and musi
I knew one of these awards bodies had to go all in for The Hairy Ape. A tremendous production. The only surprise for me was The Hairy Ape not making the cut for Original Music in a Play. The music added so much to the production and really set up the dance and fight choreography beautifully.
Once Upon a Mattress is a good choice. Big cast with lots of room for production numbers. You can get away with a unit set and some moving pieces and still tell the story well.
All Shook Up is another one. 10 great parts and room for as much ensemble as you want. Sets can be very simple since Act II is supposed to take place in an abandoned amusement park. The Elvis Presley music is the draw.
Legally Blonde is a lot of fun and HS kids tend to love it. The show does call for two
Most of the score isn't too low even in the Mary Martin keys.
RNH offers a lot of extra orchestrations/arrangements in different keys or for alternate songs for an additional fee. This includes raising the key of "The Sound of Music" to the Julie Andrews key. Other options include Edelweiss in Ab, adding "I Have Confidence" with a full orchestra instead of the "My Favorite Things" reprise, and replacing "An Ordinary Couple" with "Somethi
As another theater educator, I have to back up dramamama here. It's wonderful that ALW is going to waive performance fees for a contemporary show. It's wonderful that schools are even allowed to license the show while it's playing on Broadway.
Do not confuse availability with feasibility. There are vocally taxing parts in School of Rock that already make it difficult to cast K-12 students in those roles. Add on the requirement that the instruments must be played by the
The libretto is very open in the lynching scene. It mentions the noose, the bag, and the wedding band and that's about it. I was in a production that used historical images projected on the set that had the hangmen recreate one of the infamous postcards of local people posing in front of Leo Frank's hanging body when the noose went around his neck. I've seen the KKK robes and confederate flags done, as well. The scene needs a big statement leading into the final number t
