Putting it TogetherThe School Musical Prep to Post

NOTES

Budget
- Local communities/parent support
- Some schools dont have a musical budget (or almost nothing)
o E.g. kids pay $30 to help cost & get 2 free tickets to the show
- Reach out to surrounding schools/colleges for help
- One teacher mentioned something about a raffle from We Are Teachers where the
faculty of the school entered a contest to win rights to the Lion King
- Try to reach out to BOCES for some help (set design, costumes, etc)
Show selection and timeframe considerations
- Know your audience
- In one school, the drama club picks the show
- Some schools need parent approval and/or Board of Ed approval
- Pre-casting (make sure you have the bases cover without actually casting each role or
picking a show to feature certain people)
o How does pre-casting affect the purpose/role of auditions?
Even with a fixed precast in mind, what is the purpose of having auditions
then?
Announcing show and auditions
- Some schools announce the next years show at the curtain call of the closing night
- Some schools wait until after the show to start planning next years show
*Recruiting Boys in the Musicals
- Incorporate theater games/stage combat for fun (maybe can be part of a show if
appropriate)
o Encourages the physical movement at a younger age rather than just singing and
dancing
- *6th grade is an awesome time to recruit boys because they do not have after school
sports, so they are looking for something to do after school
- always make sure you give the guys something to do
- do Jr. versions (Disney-MTI) of shows because they generally include small lines and/or
small solos for everyone so the guys wont feel so burdened from the material
- use the word movement rather than choreography/dancing because everyone
knows they can move, but some guys can feel uncomfortable with dancing
Auditions
- Use of an Audition Rubric
o Feedback after auditions
o explains what went well and what can be improved
o used as a defense to why didnt my child get that part?
- open v. closed auditions
o in open auditions the students immediately begin to compare each other and
judge each others auditions
 - on auditions form, instead of writing something like which role do you like, write some
like Are you up for a challenge (should you be given a large role)?
- if kids have a problem with auditions (or the cast list), encourage your students to have
an open dialogue with you to discuss the audition process/casting
- In one particular upper elementary musical theatre company,
o There were no traditional auditions, but rather 6 rehearsal/audition/meeting
type of thing where the kids learn all the music from the show as a group and do
group work/activities together
o During this entire process, the teacher is keeping track of who is acting like a
leader, and keeping track of who is cooperating well and taking the
directions/music/activities seriously
o By the end of the 6 rehearsal meetings, the teacher (and most of class) can easily
identify who deserves the larger roles
o
Some shows you can put on to train your cast (and even crew) for future shows
- Music Man (e.g. give a student a 2-line role to show what they can do with that part)
- Cinderella
- 1 act shows (Disney Jr, Into the Woods, etc)
o maybe have a student run show
- Damn Yankees
- Guys & Dolls
Some positive things about different schools theater productions
- Some schools incorporate band/orchestra students
- Diversity on stage (e.g. Hairspray)
- In certain productions/schools, kids not on stage for the scene will not hang out in the
wings behind the curtain, but rather sit in the pit for the whole show and sing the
chorus/ensemble parts from there
o A great show to do this with would be Godspell
- Strong choral sound with the acting
- Using Google Hangouts
- Performing nostalgic shows (e.g. HSM, etc)
Publicity
- E.g. if performing Beauty and the Beast, have kids take pictures with Belle/Beast before
the show
- ^ same thing for Cinderella
- ^ same thing with a cut out picture of the Little Shop of Horrors plant
- Try to perform Seussical Musical in March for Dr. Seuss birthday month
o The cast can come and read Dr. Seuss books to the children beforehand and offer
discounted tickets to the kids