I second the motion for
1776. One year we happened to have, weirdly enough, two dozen or so boys who all could (and, more importantly,
would) sing and dance, so my co-director and I said, "If we ever wanted to do that show, this would be the year." Our kids loved it, and we even added an in-school performance that most of our U.S. history classes attended, so it was good educational outreach. The costumes and wigs were a bit pricey, but we played the show thrust syle with minimal scenery - mostly just tables and chairs which were borrowed from a colonial-style furniture store in exchange for a program ad - so the budget balanced out better than it has for most of our musicals. I love the show anyway, so it was great to be able to stage it. If you do it, the published reading edition includes an interesting essay by book writer Peter Stone, explaining what in the show is absolutely factual, what is educated historical conjecture, and what is purely invented; we provided that reference to our history teachers so they could do talk-backs with their students after seeing the show.
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Jeff Grove
Theatre Teacher, Aesthetics Department Chair
Stanton College Preparatory School
Jacksonville FL
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-23-2019 22:03
From: Kevin Manley
Subject: Musical (Boys High School)
I've looked around in previous threads but have some pretty specific parameters for a musical recommendation. All boys school - we can come up with a few girls. "Fairly manageable" score - we want our band to be able to provide the music. Not Godspell, Charlie Brown, or Seusical (don't even know if these fit the bill for simple music and mostly boys). Someone suggested "Tommy", but I don't know anything about it and can't find any discussion about it on the board here. Thanks, if you can make a suggestion!
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Kevin Manley
Drama Teacher
San Diego CA
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