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  • 1.  Moby Dick: The Musical

    Posted 01-27-2017 11:10
    Has anyone produced Moby Dick: The Musical? Easy, difficult? Difficulties?
    I'm in need a a show with many female roles and nothing really rings my bell. Legally Blonde is a possibility but I don't have the types for it.


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    John Perry
    Drama Instructor
    Atherton High School
    Louisville KY
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  • 2.  RE: Moby Dick: The Musical

    Posted 01-28-2017 11:51
    We did Moby Dick four years ago. It was one of the most challenging productions we have done, and one of the most fun! There are no rehearsal or performance aides available from MTI, so you will have to either record the vocal parts yourself or plunk them out live in rehearsals. The roles for the girls are fantastic as well as challenging, and the role of Head/Ahab was a great challenge for our actor to portray. Creating the different scenes brings to mind Peter and the Starcatcher, as its from found objects in the girl's school. Making Moby Dick out of large white golf umbrellas is still one of my favorite visuals we have done.

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    Steve Skelcey
    Colorado Springs CO
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  • 3.  RE: Moby Dick: The Musical

    Posted 01-28-2017 11:52
    I think this is a great show!  The music is wonderful and it's amazingly close to the novel in many ways. You will need to be a careful about some of the raunchy humor, depending on your community. Obviously the London production really played up the sexuality. It's just as possible to play it down though. A lot of it will depend on how aware you allow the schoolgirls to be of the double entendres they are constantly making. That's an acting/ directorial choice.  If you really emphasize the "Dick" jokes, you'll probably get letters from parents. I think subtlety works best anyway, even if the "bad girls" would probably be adolescent and not-so-subtle in real life. You could also ask MTI about cutting a few of the more off-color jokes. And I'm not sure if casting the male lead in drag is a requirement (although I did and it worked fine.)  All in all though I've always considered Moby Dick, the Musical (along with Zombie Prom) to be one of the great hidden gems of High School Musical Theater. 


    John D. Monteverde
    PHS - Drama Teacher
    jmonteverde@pittsfield.net



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