Open Forum

If you need smaller shows there are tons of all female shows: Nunsense (there are several), The Wonderettes, Quilters, Crowns.

For full scale musicals with few male leads is actually not as hard as it may seem - as long as you have at least 1-2 strong singers. " Old fashioned"/golden age ones are often helpful, and interestingly the ones with a lot of dance tend to not need as many guys such as 42nd St and No, No, Nanette.  Oklahoma technically only needs one strong singer, and the others can be character driven - most of Rodger and Hammerstein are written that way: 1 legit male voice, the rest character like (Carousel, South Pacific, Sound of Music).  But stay away from Lerner & Loewe (Camelot, Paint Your Wagon), Frank Loesser (Guys & Dolls, How To Succeed), and Bock & Harnick (Fiddler - well actually that one is pretty good since only Tevye and Motel have to sing solo although you need a host of men in general for townspeople and guards ) since they tend to heavily feature men in their musicals.

Legally Blonde you only really need two that can sing, Little Women is great and again only one guy really (another sneaks in there but is minimal), Wizard of Oz/Wiz doesn't require too much on the guys parts - and technically a female could play the scarecrow/lion right? (not sure if the contract would consider that against what the gender appropriateness would be).

Smile is about a beauty pageant and I'm not familiar with it (it's a dark satire) but assume it would have few men in it.

Beauty and the Beast is actually very light in guys as well.

Hope that helps!

------------------------------
Brandon Becker
Denver CO

Original Message:
Sent: 02-20-2016 09:36
From: Lisa Singleterry
Subject: Musicals with few male parts

Does anyone have any experience with any musicals with few (3 or under) male leads?  Which ones do you recommend?  We have LOTS of girls, but very few guys.

We also have this same problem! This year we did 9 to 5, which is only two male leads. Last year we did legally blonde, two major lead singers and then two other small ones that could be character driven. The year before that we did Gypsy which is really one plus a good dancing boy who can sing. We also did Xanadu, which is two male leads, two minor boys which could be character driven and is super fun!

---------------------------------
Carolyn Little
High School English Teacher
Toms River Board of Education
Beachwood NJ
---------------------------------



Original Message:
Sent: 2/20/2016 10:40:48 AM
From: brandon_becker@dpsk12.org
Subject: RE: Musicals with few male parts

If you need smaller shows there are tons of all female shows: Nunsense (there are several), The Wonderettes, Quilters, Crowns.

For full scale musicals with few male leads is actually not as hard as it may seem - as long as you have at least 1-2 strong singers. " Old fashioned"/golden age ones are often helpful, and interestingly the ones with a lot of dance tend to not need as many guys such as 42nd St and No, No, Nanette.  Oklahoma technically only needs one strong singer, and the others can be character driven - most of Rodger and Hammerstein are written that way: 1 legit male voice, the rest character like (Carousel, South Pacific, Sound of Music).  But stay away from Lerner & Loewe (Camelot, Paint Your Wagon), Frank Loesser (Guys & Dolls, How To Succeed), and Bock & Harnick (Fiddler - well actually that one is pretty good since only Tevye and Motel have to sing solo although you need a host of men in general for townspeople and guards ) since they tend to heavily feature men in their musicals.

Legally Blonde you only really need two that can sing, Little Women is great and again only one guy really (another sneaks in there but is minimal), Wizard of Oz/Wiz doesn't require too much on the guys parts - and technically a female could play the scarecrow/lion right? (not sure if the contract would consider that against what the gender appropriateness would be).

Smile is about a beauty pageant and I'm not familiar with it (it's a dark satire) but assume it would have few men in it.

Beauty and the Beast is actually very light in guys as well.

Hope that helps!

------------------------------ Brandon Becker Denver CO

Hi!

I actually just went through the same situation. I have a lot of strong female singers and 1 strong male and another that can carry a tune. The rest of my boys (6) aren't strong singers or dancers. 

I ended up doing a production of Seussical Jr. It showcased my strong girls and I was able to get away without having many boys. The only "male" characters I had were Mr. Mayor (very charactery singing, only 1 duet) and Horton (strong singer). The rest of the leads were women. The cat, the majority of the monkeys, and Jojo were all women. It worked well and was a blast for the students. My only warning with the show.....prop and costume heavy! It's also all sung. Lots of dancing, but can be beginner/intermediate. My strong dancers were the monkeys and the bird girls.

The other shows I considered were Smile, Secrets Every Smart Travler Should Know (it's a 4 person review show, but it can be expanded), Moby Dick: The Musical, and Xanadu (but you need 3-4 strong male leads for this show). I went with Seussical because the rights were cheaper and I needed a larger cast show. I had 36 kids, but next time I'd do the show with maybe 20-25.

Hope this helps!

------------------------------
Alexander Gonzalez
Theater Instructor
Doral Performing Arts & Entertainment Academy
Doral, Florida
ALGonzalez@doralacademyprep.org

Original Message:
Sent: 02-20-2016 09:36
From: Lisa Singleterry
Subject: Musicals with few male parts

Does anyone have any experience with any musicals with few (3 or under) male leads?  Which ones do you recommend?  We have LOTS of girls, but very few guys.

Aida only has 3 strong males needed. The rest of the male cast is ensemble

------------------------------
Shira Schwartz
Chandler Unified School District
Chandler AZ

Original Message:
Sent: 02-21-2016 10:00
From: Alexander Gonzalez
Subject: Musicals with few male parts

Hi!

I actually just went through the same situation. I have a lot of strong female singers and 1 strong male and another that can carry a tune. The rest of my boys (6) aren't strong singers or dancers. 

I ended up doing a production of Seussical Jr. It showcased my strong girls and I was able to get away without having many boys. The only "male" characters I had were Mr. Mayor (very charactery singing, only 1 duet) and Horton (strong singer). The rest of the leads were women. The cat, the majority of the monkeys, and Jojo were all women. It worked well and was a blast for the students. My only warning with the show.....prop and costume heavy! It's also all sung. Lots of dancing, but can be beginner/intermediate. My strong dancers were the monkeys and the bird girls.

The other shows I considered were Smile, Secrets Every Smart Travler Should Know (it's a 4 person review show, but it can be expanded), Moby Dick: The Musical, and Xanadu (but you need 3-4 strong male leads for this show). I went with Seussical because the rights were cheaper and I needed a larger cast show. I had 36 kids, but next time I'd do the show with maybe 20-25.

Hope this helps!

------------------------------
Alexander Gonzalez
Theater Instructor
Doral Performing Arts & Entertainment Academy
Doral, Florida
<maskemail>ALGonzalez@...</maskemail>

I'll make my perennial pitch for "The Christmas Doll," a wonderful Dickensian-style musical by Joan Cushing, published in Dramatics in 2011 and available from Dramatic Publishing.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgEOgCRZccY

------------------------------
Julie Coppens
Juneau AK

Original Message:
Sent: 02-20-2016 09:36
From: Lisa Singleterry
Subject: Musicals with few male parts

Does anyone have any experience with any musicals with few (3 or under) male leads?  Which ones do you recommend?  We have LOTS of girls, but very few guys.

I know of an easy, low cost, pirate musical...A Life Worth Living. Only 3 male leads, only one of those has a solo. It's in the process of being published for performance, so let me know if you are interested in more info!

------------------------------
Analiese Hamm
ECHS Drama Director
Lake Park GA

Original Message:
Sent: 02-20-2016 09:36
From: Lisa Singleterry
Subject: Musicals with few male parts

Does anyone have any experience with any musicals with few (3 or under) male leads?  Which ones do you recommend?  We have LOTS of girls, but very few guys.