Open Forum

I'm looking for musical options that don't require many guys but still have a few. I have half a dozen strong females, and others who can handle featured roles. Boys are my issue. I have one senior guy who is a decent tenor and a solid performer, but would really struggle to pull off traditional romantic lead. It's just not in his personality and his acting range is limited. But he is the only guy who sings who I am counting on to audition at this point. I have two of freshmen boys I haven't really worked with who may show up. Another boy who doesn't sing. Possibly others will come out of the woodwork, but I can't make a choice that hinges on hypothetical Troy Boltons. 

So, any thoughts on shows for strong females that can work with 1-3 singing males? 

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Noel Wotherspoon
High School Drama Director
Fairfield High School
IA
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9 to 5 is a good option, but might be a bit too mature for your freshman.

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[Jenni] [Jordan]
[Director of Theater and Dance]
[11th Grade Coordinator]
[Day Student Advisor]
[Miss Hall's School]
[Pittsfield] [MA]
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Hey, how about 57th NATIONAL MATHLETE SUM-IT?    5 strong roles for females, 1 male role.   Think "Spelling Bee" but with math.  TRW has it.  There are two versions - large cast (6 leads + many smaller roles) or just 6 cast members.  Great music and a lot of fun.  Good luck!!

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Larry Little
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I have the same problem.  I was looking at Once Upon a Mattress because the only males absolutely necessary are the prince, the king, and Sir Harry.  The others can be played by either gender.  We decided on Alice by Heart for lots of reasons--ensemble piece 2 males, 5 females, 3 either, and an expandable cast.  Godspell?  Another ensemble piece.  Good luck!

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Robin Christopher
Geneva High School
OH
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Look into Godspell. This has an extremely flexible cast and opportunities to feature a lot of individuals in singing roles and acting roles. You can also combine roles if necessary. The show specifically requires two males and any other roles can be male or female, although it is nice to have a few more males sprinkled in there. The ensemble can be as big or small as you like. And design wise the possibilities are endless. I've done this show twice, once with a more desert vibe and the other time with a very much industrial urban feel. I've also seen it staged as if in the backstage area of a theatre and the actors pulling random props to use in the storytelling portions of the show. The students and audience loved it both times we did it. This is one of my favorites because it is so flexible in casting and design.

Best of luck!

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Jillian Lietzau
Lutheran High School
CO
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Xanadu, Little Mermaid, Annie, James and the Giant Peach are all ones I've done for the same reason. 

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Penelope Haskew
Director of Education
San Juan Community Theatre/Friday Harbor HS
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Little Women the musical? It has four guys but Mr Laurence can talk/sing his song.

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Sean Blauvelt
Arroyo Grande High School
CA
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Hello! For something spirited, funny, educational, and well-reviewed try On Account of Sex: a musical tale of the 19th Amendment. Everyone who sees it loves it, and it's a blast to perform. The show needs as few as 0 males and up to 6. You can read it for free here: Preview: On Account of Sex, by Bryan Colley and Tara Varney (Perusal) | Gitelman & Good Publishers, and you can learn more, read reviews, see pictures, etc. here: On Account of Sex by Bryan Colley, Tara Varney Play | Gitelman & Good Publishers

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Jason Sebacher
Founder, Managing Editor
Gitelman & Good Publishers
Chicago, IL
jason@gitelmangoodpublishers.com
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Thanks for the suggestions, everyone, keep them coming!

The last two musicals we did were Mean Girls and Once Upon a Mattress. I just co-directed Freaky Friday for the community theatre over the summer. A new youth theatre group in town is doing Xanadu Jr this summer as well. So, all those are out.

Historically the department always does musicals with a chorus/ensemble or has created one if it didn't exist. While I'd be happy to do something smaller cast, I worry about being exclusionary. I'm losing a strong senior class after this year and haven't had much engagement from the freshmen class thus far, but anticipate lots will come out for a musical. I'm worried that part of this is from the new youth group. They were originally going to cut it off at 15, but they've extended to 18. I worry about alienating the younger kids who now have this other option. 

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Noel Wotherspoon
High School Drama Director
Fairfield High School
IA
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What about Wizard of Oz?  Lots of parts and the Lion and Scarecrow could be either gender.  It was on my short list for the same reason.  Matilda?  The only person that had to have strong vocals was the Escapologist (we doubled him as Wormwood) and it worked out well.  Bruce can also be played with an alto.  We did it two years ago when only two males auditioned.  We picked up another male later who had no acting or vocal experience but was hysterical as Rudolpho.  Annie is also a good choice--three males auditioned for that so we had Warbucks, Rooster, and Roosevelt.  The only one with strong vocals was Rooster.

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Robin Christopher
Geneva High School
OH
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-10-2025 13:22
From: Noel Wotherspoon
Subject: Musicals with few male characters

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone, keep them coming!

The last two musicals we did were Mean Girls and Once Upon a Mattress. I just co-directed Freaky Friday for the community theatre over the summer. A new youth theatre group in town is doing Xanadu Jr this summer as well. So, all those are out.

Historically the department always does musicals with a chorus/ensemble or has created one if it didn't exist. While I'd be happy to do something smaller cast, I worry about being exclusionary. I'm losing a strong senior class after this year and haven't had much engagement from the freshmen class thus far, but anticipate lots will come out for a musical. I'm worried that part of this is from the new youth group. They were originally going to cut it off at 15, but they've extended to 18. I worry about alienating the younger kids who now have this other option. 

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Noel Wotherspoon
High School Drama Director
Fairfield High School
IA
------------------------------

This is me pretty much every year. We did The Olympians with numbers like that. I definitely only had three guys, but they all sang. One is a romantic lead, but not really typical. He's kind of sweet and geeky. I made the soldiers girls. Let me know if you want to talk more about this show!

The Olympians - Theatrical Rights Worldwide

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Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre, Film, and Communications Instructor
Shenandoah Valley Governor's School
Fishersville, VA
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Our school is about to do "The Olympians," which seems to have a few male roles but could easily played by a student who doesn't care about gender presentation. 

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Joan Jubett
(she/her)
Director of High School Fall Play and Spring Festival of Plays
High School Theater Teacher
LREI
New York, NY
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This is my same challenge every year! This year we are producing The Hello Girls - just started this week and it's been a blast so far. We expanded the ensemble to include 20 actors total, which includes 5 featured women. There are 3 doughboys who sing but you could probably switch octaves to cast women (we have a mix of male/female/non-binary playing them in the original octave). One singing male otherwise and one actor who can speak-sing his small parts. Other shows with few men that we've done recently: Amelie (large ensemble, lots of parts for featured actors - but you definitely need an Amelie to pull it off), Chicago (2ish men?), Mean Girls (2ish? we had a non-binary actor as Damian), Beauty and the Beast (Gaston, Beast, and Lumiere were male). For this year, we also considered Alice By Heart, 9 to 5, Little Women, and Cabaret. Hope this helps!

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Lindsay Hearn Brustein
St. Stephen's Episcopal School
Austin TX
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I thought about suggesting The Hello Girls, which we piloted and which I LOVE. But, I felt like I needed more than three guys. Riser can speak sing, but he has to be a killer actor. Matterson has to be a decent singer, and Pershing has a solo. I had to recruit some extra guys to fill out the doughboys, since they have 4- or 5-part harmony. I also had two girls play additional soldiers. But it's an AMAZING show, one of the best things we've ever done here. Please feel free to reach out if you have questions about it.

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Cassy Maxton-Whitacre
Theatre, Film, and Communications Instructor
Shenandoah Valley Governor's School
Fishersville, VA
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-11-2025 19:18
From: Lindsay Brustein
Subject: Musicals with few male characters

This is my same challenge every year! This year we are producing The Hello Girls - just started this week and it's been a blast so far. We expanded the ensemble to include 20 actors total, which includes 5 featured women. There are 3 doughboys who sing but you could probably switch octaves to cast women (we have a mix of male/female/non-binary playing them in the original octave). One singing male otherwise and one actor who can speak-sing his small parts. Other shows with few men that we've done recently: Amelie (large ensemble, lots of parts for featured actors - but you definitely need an Amelie to pull it off), Chicago (2ish men?), Mean Girls (2ish? we had a non-binary actor as Damian), Beauty and the Beast (Gaston, Beast, and Lumiere were male). For this year, we also considered Alice By Heart, 9 to 5, Little Women, and Cabaret. Hope this helps!

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Lindsay Hearn Brustein
St. Stephen's Episcopal School
Austin TX
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