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  • 1.  Good musicals for a year with no stage

    Posted 04-16-2020 09:30
    In the midst of all the current craziness, my K-8 school also has a building project coming up.  

    For a year we will be rehearsing in a small space, and performing in the elementary school gym with very minimal lighting and sound, and no stage.

    Any suggestions for (Junior) musicals that will work well?  We have actors from grades 5-8, and we don't make cuts, so ideally there are a lot of roles, and plenty for the ensemble to do.

    (Our last 7 have been: Frozen, Guys and Dolls, Shrek, Lion King, Music Man, Grease, Annie)

    Also, any advice for performing in gymnasiums is very welcome!
    Hopefully the project will be completed on schedule, and it will just be one year ...

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    Kristin Hall
    Pronouns: she/her/hers
    Drama Director
    Lincoln Public Schools
    Lincoln MA
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  • 2.  RE: Good musicals for a year with no stage

    Posted 04-17-2020 04:49
    You might look at High School Musical. Large parts of it are set in a gym. Also it's easy to roll out some tables for the Cafeteria scene and put some risers at one end to be the "stage area". Then it's just some set pieces for the science classroom and the rooftop garden. It's also easy to costume. Basketball uniforms and some cheerleaders but otherwise it's modern dress. You can cast a LOT of kids and I think the show is having a bit of a resurgence. It's been 14 years so the kids who watched it as teens when it first came out are not adults with younger kids of their own so there's a lot of nostalgia around it.

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    John Monteverde
    Drama Teacher
    A3: The Academy of Arts & Academics
    Springfield, OR
    john.monteverde@springfield.k12.or.us
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Good musicals for a year with no stage

    Posted 04-17-2020 08:46
    I second the recommendation for High School Musical. I did it with my middle schoolers in the gym and it was perfect! And the middle schoolers LOVED playing high school students! We did exactly as John remarked, we rolled in tables for the cafeteria scene, rolled in a white board for the classroom, it was easy!

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    Frieda Gebert
    Drama and Speech
    Boyle County Schools
    Danville, KY
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Good musicals for a year with no stage

    Posted 04-17-2020 12:12
    Look at Beat by Beat they have a good batch of musicals for kids to perform. I've done some with much success. They come with everything like the Broadway Junior series.

    Check them out.


    Break a Leg and may all your theatre seats be filled,


    Kelly Thomas

    Poteet High School


    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Good musicals for a year with no stage

    Posted 04-17-2020 13:45
    We just did The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, JV from Broadway Licensing. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

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    Tim Buchheit, Director
    Department of Theatre and Speech
    St. Francis Borgia Regional High School
    Washington, Mo.
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    Original Message


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