Great set list. Nice range within the theme, and some excellent showcase pieces.
The only minor issue is going to be obtaining permissions and the license to be able to perform all these pieces, if you're billing this as a revue show. I don't think 'Hamilton' is technically available yet for licensing for performances, and I'm not sure if you would be able to get the permissions to perform all these pieces in this particular order or arrangement; what you're creating is still something that requires royalty payments and all that jazz.
It might, in fact, be cheaper to do a musical like 'West Side Story' or 'Ragtime' rather than what you're proposing (and a lot less taxing in terms of trying to secure rights and the possibilities of being refused/rejected. Whilst musicals are more expensive to license, generally they're also bringing in a lot more money than your traditional play (just because). And you don't have to go over board on designing a set and making a Broadway style showcase set, either; if you have the materials to do that and the money, awesome, but we did West Side Story on a shoestring and made the most profit that we ever made, being that our set consisted of a painted street scene, and two chorus riser platforms that had chain link fences attached, and then just one or two other furniture properties that were brought on when needed.
If I'm wrong about the expense/permissions thing for compiling your own revue, then I apologize, but I think it might not be the right way to go about. Excellent idea, though, and seriously, fantastic set list.
If you want to tie it into the Dreamers/current events, then one thing you could do would be to set up an interactive lobby display. This was also something we trailed with West Side Story, with provocative questions about immigration and related topics to the themes of WSS in particular. The audience really got into it, posting responses and thoughts on the lobby displays, and by the fourth night, the lobby display was covered with thoughtful, interesting and, sometimes, unresolved ideas and opinions. This was what kept the conversations about immigration and what it means to be 'American', and how exclusion can be have potentially lethal and long-lasting consequences.
But I'd love to hear from others if I'm off base about the royalties/licensing challenges your idea might have.
The only way to learn how to put on a musical is to be brave and go for it! After your first one, you get better.
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Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor
Etobicoke ON
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-14-2017 12:59
From: Arden Thomas
Subject: creating a revue on the theme of immigration and dreamers
I'm in a very small school (90 students right now) with a very small budget ($3500 for the whole year), a small student group inexperienced in musicals for the most part (8 students 100% committed, 7 students "maybe"), and a theater director who has never directed a musical before (that's me!).
But the kids really want to do a musical, and most of my yearly budget is already spent on renting a black box for our winter show of Almost, Maine so I thought that this Spring I'd do a revue based on the theme of immigration and dreamers. I got very excited about this, but in our musicals meeting yesterday, the kids were like, "meh." Hmm.
Anyway ... How do I go about making this revue? Do I write narration between songs? How do I sustain audience interest throughout? How does it *not* feel like I'm just stringing songs together for the sake of ... Stringing-Songs-Together-Because-I-Have-No-Budget?
Thanks!
Arden
p.s. here are some songs / musicals I've found on this theme
"America" - West Side Story
"Lady's Maid" - Titanic
"Far From the Home I Love" - Fiddler on the Roof
"Anatevke" - Fiddler on the Roof
"Inutil" - In the Heights
"Paciencia y Fe" - In the Heights
"A Shtetl Iz Amereke" - Ragtime
"Success" - Ragtime
"A New World" - Songs For a New World
"God's Own Country" - Boys From the Photograph
"Rags" - Rags
"Children of the Wind" - Rags
"Greenhorn" - Rags
"Sal Tlay Ka Siti" - The Book of Mormon
"Melt Us" - All American
"I Am Going To Like It Here" - Flower Drum Song
"No Boom Boom" - Zorba
"How Can I Call This Home" - Parade
"My Shot" - Hamilton
"Hamilton" - Hamilton
"The Schyler Sisters" - Hamilton
"Seasons of Love" - Rent
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Arden Thomas
theater director
Sequoyah High School
Pasadena CA
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