We haven't ever done Addams Family, so I can only comment on HSM. It was our middle school musical last year, and we also did it nine years earlier. The students wanted to do it, and they loved it.
In terms of ensemble, it has even more ensemble stage time than
Beauty and the Beast. For us, having a very active ensemble is essential to our show selection (we don't make cuts), and having a lot of smaller roles is also important.
Although it's true that productions you see online all look pretty much the same, there is no reason you would need to stick with that look for design, if you have the capability/team to do something different. (Though I agree that AF has a lot of fun design scope!)
As to how we made it our own ...
We always do work with the ensemble on character development, whatever the show. They do character profiles, get hot seated, and fill in questionnaires. We built on this by adding ensemble stories to the stage business. This is a typical process for us for all our musicals, but what made HSM a great show for us was the number of scenes in which there was scope for adding ensemble business: opening, homeroom, hallway scenes, science class, detention, study hall. You could even add additional hallway action during scene changes, which might help with the time blurring that you noticed. We used it to play up the themes of the show. We also used it to build up some of the smaller roles (Ms. Tenney, Jack Scott, etc.).
But the real answer to your question is that you are so lucky: you have this year's show and next year's show already chosen! You just have to decide which order :-)
------------------------------
Kristin Hall
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Drama Director
Lincoln MA
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 08-27-2022 04:32
From: Jennifer Simms
Subject: Feedback on High School Musical vs Addams Family
I direct replied to you, but in short I vote Addams! It's a really fun time!
------------------------------
Jennifer Simms
Theater Director
Greenwood Community High School
IN
Original Message:
Sent: 08-24-2022 16:23
From: Carla Molina
Subject: Feedback on High School Musical vs Addams Family
You all have been so helpful in narrowing down my choices for this year's middle school production. I'm down to High School Musical and Addams Family. I'm more personally excited about AF while my students are more eager about HSM. My reservations are -
Addams Family: I have 60 kids and while I know we can have any number of ancestors, I worry I can only do so much with them. Last year we did Beauty and the Beast which was a good mix of a large number of leads and smaller parts for a few ensemble people. Am I overthinking the ensemble? What creative things have you done or seen done that felt meaty for the ensemble?
High School Musical: I've watched a lot of these and they're super fun. However, when I see them, they're all kind of the same. When I've done shows in the past, the fun part is making it our own. It feels so cut and dry (costumes and sets). I also struggle with the delineation of time/settings - when I read the script and when I watch, it's almost too blurred. Have you seen anything really unique that set apart a certain production of HSM?
Any thoughts on choosing one over the other? If you've done either, what surprised you, what did you love?
I know my kids will have a blast with either show and they'll be crowd pleasers as well. I'm also steering the ship so to speak this year so there's more pressure in choosing the show. Thank you for giving my ramblings attention. I appreciate all your input!
------------------------------
Carla
------------------------------