new musical

Hello i am planning to start a younge- 17-20 musical theatre group in wa and i was asking around for ideas of a musical which could kick the company off. I would like to do a younge, viabrant, dancing, good music musical which reflects the younge and viabrant company. i am a dancer and i love to have rocky music and great dance routens in my show-would anyone have any ideas of any musical which we could do.
thanyou

tom

Tom -

First let me express my relief at someone starting up a company and then asking for an opinion on what musical to perform. It seems to be a trend among younger would-be entrepreneurs to think 'gee I'd love to do that musical' and then starting up a one-joke-wonder company which then sink without a trace after said musical has been performed in a slighly half-arsed fashion, due to the inexperience of the production team.

Having got that off my chest - musicals to do. Avoid the big blockbuster-style dance musicals. My opinion of the recently mentioned 'Fame' - great musical, great with a big budget, great with quality triple threat performers some who are also excellent musicians. Finding the latter qualities in sufficient numbers in an 18-25 year old amateur group? Unlikely. Take a lead from WAAPA. Their productions are always classy, because they always gear their choices strictly to the abilities of their students, which are probably at, possibly above, the skills of young amateurs. They *never* do Fame, Grease, Chorus Line or even West Side Story because (and this is from the ex-head of Music Theatre) they simply don't have performers with the multiple skills and experience needed, even just for chorus roles, even after three years of full-time song & dance training, to pull off a quality production.

Now, good musicals for a small, moderately experienced group of performers, with varying levels of dance abilities:
- 'Working' by Stephen Schwartz (*great* songs in this one, easy to stage cheaply)
- 'Godspell' by Stephen Schwartz
- Any of the lesser known Kander & Ebb shows (authors of Cabaret and Chicago, but we've had a lot of those recently) e.g. 'Flora the Red Menace'
- 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' could be pulled off (as it was, of course, written for a group of amateurs). Please don't even start thinking about JC Superstar. It's suicide to ask a young guy to sing Gethsemane - for him and the audience.
- 'Rent'? Is this too difficult? I'm not hugely familiar with the show, but it definitely has the rock-y quality you're looking for.
- Cy Coleman has some terrific shows which could be done simply, although his are more jazzy than rocky (e.g. 'Seesaw', 'City of Angels', 'The Life' - good luck finding boys, hey Dave G? :-)
- 'Big' based on the Tom Hanks movie. Some of the music is marked (I kid you not) 'perky seventies pop' (!)

I'm sure I'll think of ten more in the middle of the night. This may not be the last you'll hear of me...

Amanda Chesterton

Hey,

All I can say is that I did a few musicals at school with not a lot of talent that went real far. I dont know about the rock thing but "The Wiz" went down real well...basically old story modern edge and with heaps of entusiastic young ppl it rocks literally!
We did others, and yes we did West Side Story and it kicked but it was heaps and heaps of work, esp for guys who arent dancers (like me) basically all the dance was dropped down to an average level and coz everyone could do that it worked really well. "Bye Bye Birdie" was funny and can be done fair well I think with not too much effort...but what is 'not too much effort' with a musical? That's a question no one can ever answer Im sure!
Anyhoo, think of those couple coz they were fun and successful using dedicated and enthusiastic individuals who just had to develop the talent they tended to hide....

Good luck! Musicals are wicked!

mE ;)

I just wanted to add my twopence!
I've done a fair bit of dance and want to get into pro Musical theatre eventually and I'm often disappointed by the extent to which my dancing skills DON'T come in to use in amateur theatre - I guess because most people aren't at that level.

BUT I still think if you want to put on a musical which you really love why not give it a go! Even if it is BIG, potentially difficult and disastrous who cares? Give it a go because thats what amateur theatre is all about. If you can't give it a go and learn from you're mistakes while having fun then I think we're all taking ourselves a bit too seriously. :)

> Hannah wrote:
> -------------------------------
> I'm often disappointed by the extent to which my dancing skills DON'T come in to use > in amateur theatre - I guess because most people aren't at that level.

Hear, hear and this is my objection to staging big musicals with people with minimal dance ability.

> BUT I still think if you want to put on a musical which you really love why not give it a > > go! Even if it is BIG, potentially difficult and disastrous who cares?

Erm...the people who pay to see it? I'm still livid I paid the $20 to see an appalling amateur 'big' musical production a few years ago.

> Give it a go because thats what amateur theatre is all about. If you can't give it a go
> and learn from you're mistakes while having fun then I think we're all taking ourselves > a bit too seriously. :)

Yes and no. The main criticism of amateur musical theatre, however, is that it's crap and full of people who 'don't take themselves seriously'. For those of us that do take it seriously, it's bloody annoying going back to step-ball-change-step-kick just for the sake of 'fun'. What I *do* find fun is doing a fantastic dance routine with people of an equal or greater ability. Either that, or very clever choreography that uses good dancers to their full potential and does something interesting with the remainder. Unless you have one or both of the above (good dancers &/or good choreographer) then I think it is a waste of everybody's time - but especially the paying audience. After all, if you're not doing it for the audience first and foremost, don't you think it's a little self-indulgent?

I'm sorry, but crappy amateur musicals really piss me off - /mainly/ because there is no excuse that they have to be crappy (and thus dump more bad press on the amateur scene) if you just chose the right material and have the right creative team in the first place. Best example being 'Playlovers' - you won't see them doing 'Fame' until they absolutely know they have the right people to do it.

Amanda Chesterton

PS 'Bye Bye Birdie' is about to be done as the major 3rd year production at WAAPA in June, which suggests that it might not be a good choice for a smaller, less funded group to do, as unfavourable comparisons may be drawn.

Dear tom,
Hi my name is leoni leaver and i am very interested in your quest for a young musical. I am presently 16 years old turning 17 this yr and would love to know more about your company and how to get involved in it and the musical you wish to perform.Please send me any information that would help me in my quest to join your company.

Yours truly

Leoni Leaver

Dear tom,
Hi my name is leoni leaver and i am very interested in your quest for a young musical. I am presently 16 years old turning 17 this yr and would love to know more about your company and how to get involved in it and the musical you wish to perform.Please send me any information that would help me in my quest to join your company.

Yours truly

Leoni Leaver

Hi leoni - it is great to have u interested. We are a new younge ameatur musical theatre group called- Break-A-Leg Performance Artists and we plan to produce a musical in the middle of 2002. We are still looking for a musical which is young, viabrant and reflects the youth whichare in the company ( if u have any ideas please say). We are around the age of 17-20 and young and viabrant.

Thankyou for your interest and hope to hear from u.
yours sincerely
richard bethell