I had to share this with you!
I had to share this with you!
#1I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 1:32am
It will either make you sick or make you laugh...or both!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xqco_Qf12c&feature=related
#2re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 1:36am
Ugh. I used to post that High School's clips on here. They did COMPANY too.
I think it's utterly ridiculous for a HS to do FOLLIES. But I really don't want to get into this argument right now.
#2re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 1:58am
oh, come on, jay...you have to admit it was rather entertaining in some weird, inappropriate sort of way! Doesn't anyone have kids in HS? The girl in the blue actually had a very good voice. Sondheim ain't easy even for the professionals. With good training, I think she could have some sort of future. (with a better wig, I hope).
Ok, I'm an optimist!
#3re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 1:59amIs this the school that did GYPSY?
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
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-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
#4re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 2:01am
No. It's another HS. And if you post a negative comment the director or whoever uploads the clips (it someone who works on their productions) ATTACKS you.
Updated On: 7/16/08 at 02:01 AM
LadyRosecoe
Broadway Star Joined: 8/4/07
#5re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 2:03amI give them credit for pulling off choreography similar to the 2001 revival. It came complete with a single file of women raising their arms and swaying! Where was the golden glitter hailing down on them?
gypsy4
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/07
#6re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 2:26amthis highschool has done cabaret before thats crazy.
#7re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 2:35am
I don't see why a high school do FOLLIES. The choreography with the younger selves makes little sense, especially since the movements at the beginning when the older women are facing upstage isn't remotely similar to the one the younger ones are doing.
The girl playing Stella has a nice voice though with that wig she looks like she's singing Annie instead of Stella.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#8re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 2:55amIt looks like they did Merrily We Roll Along as well. I'm guessing this director is a Sondheim fan, eh?
"I'm afraid that the children that the two of you would spawn would come out in costume, off book and belting Merman."
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#9re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 3:13pm
While the material is probably over the heads of some of them, and clearly they don't have the gravitas to pull it off, what do you expect from a high school? Should they only do shows in which they can all play teenagers? I'm not being snarky, I'm just curious.
I say good for them for having the resources and support to this sort of show on a high school level. By the time I graduated high school my school was doing those awful back of the magazine type plays that no one has ever heard of.
Updated On: 7/16/08 at 03:13 PM
#10re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 3:22pmAmen, Phyllis Rogers Stone. I'm pretty new here, but I too wonder why the fairly frequent "aren't those high school kids awful?" threads when clearly there is a whole lot of talent there. Meanwhile, more power to their directors trying to teach them that there is more to theatre than "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown", Grease, and Bye, Bye Birdie. Those who love to sit back and say, "Gee, I'm better that that", well, Duh. If you're over 25 and have even a bit of training, is that the best you can do -- be proud that you're better than a high schooler?
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#11re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 3:59pm
I just wonder what people think this school should be doing as an alternative to those they've been doing.
And I'm sorry - I would have foamed at the mouth to have done Follies or Merrily when I was in high school. I can't believe on this board I'm the only one.
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#12re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 4:05pm
PS - It's now scandalous to Gypsy in high school? I mean, I get that it's about a stripper and all and that with every passing year this country gets more and more uptight, but it's pretty benign. I always assume any show that came before 1965 or so would be acceptable in a high school, give or take.
Updated On: 7/16/08 at 04:05 PM
#13re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 4:07pmPhyllis, I agree with you. I'm in high school, and I would kill to do some of these more challenging shows. Sure, they'd be difficult and the cast wouldn't have the nuance of an older cast, but so what? It's high school. I think it's better to do shows that will challenge the actors, rather than doing the same boring standards.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
#14re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 4:17pmFor a high school production, I thought that was pretty damn good.
winston89
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/18/06
#15re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 4:30pm
When I was in high school we didn't have the budget ( or space to rehearse) to do a musical. I can understand people saying that some musicals are ones that high schoolers shouldn't be touching. However, I do wonder what are some musicals a high school can be doing that aren't the typical Grease or Charlie Brown etc. What are some other shows that one would consider high school appropriate that haven't been done to death?
Personally, I am all in favor of having high school students doing material that would challenge them. In my high school even though we did plays only we did plays that most high schools wouldn't do and plays most acting students would do until they were in college.
I remember one story (this was before I was in the high school but still to give you a sense of my drama department) where my school was having trouble getting the rights to do The Elephant Man because it was around the time the most recent revival was closing. By the time we would have started performances the revival would have been closed for a couple of weeks. My director wrote a letter and got a reply from the playwright who was convinced that high schoolers couldn't pull of that material well but if they wanted to try he wasn't going to stop them. My school ended up having the last laugh because not only did they pull it off they did an amazing job at it.
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#16re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 4:45pm
I was pretty damned impressed! Especially with the choreography.
I think it's great, even if it is a bit creepy...MOST HS musicals are creepy on some level...so what?
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gypsy4
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/07
#17re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 4:58pm
check my local high schools production of crazy for you tell me what you think. the video quality is a little bad.
crazy for you
#18re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 10:34pm
Frankly, I don't care what those High Schools put on the stage, but when they post it online for all the world to see, are they not mature enough to understand that not everybody who views it will think they are as great as they think they are?
High School is great as an introduction to the theater, but maturity requires knowing when you are in over your heads.
I blame the directors of these things for trying to fulfill their ambitions through the kids, who may not really be up to the challenge.
If you post it, be prepared for the consequences.
That's all.
"To love another person is to see the face of God!"
#19re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/16/08 at 11:10pm
"but maturity requires knowing when you are in over your heads." and "I blame the directors of these things for trying to fulfill their ambitions through the kids, who may not really be up to the challenge."
So your point is that any 17 year old girl attempting Mama Rose is in over her head and won't be fully believable in the role, nor will she match Patti or Angela or Bernadette so they shouldn't be trying? Well, duh. Of course they won't fully succeed. That's what "training" and "learning" are.
With that kind of attitude -- seemingly that they shouldn't try what they can't totally succeed at doing -- I assume you also believe that high school football or basketball should be abolished too. After all, there's no way any of those kids will match the skills of an older professional. They're in over their heads and their coaches are just "trying to fulfill their ambitions through their kids who may not be up for the challenge." And why on earth should a high school band or orchestra perform in public since there's no way they'll match the skills of a nationally known Philharmonic orchestra?
I will agree that sometimes the high school kids get a false impression that their show was just as good as Broadway (aren't their parents telling them that, for example). But so what? What would the theatre be without dreams and confidence?
miss pennywise
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/7/04
#20re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/17/08 at 12:11am
I just read that Stephanie J. Block played Mama Rose in High School. ("Every aspiring actor should play Mama Rose in High School...and Tevye," says Ms. Block.) I know someone who was Dolly in a high school production of HELLO,DOLLY! She was wonderful! My daughter's school just did THE KING AND I. The King of Siam was played by someone 17, and he kicked ass. He was supposed to be the father of 67 children, BTW. Not all of them "legitimate." 
I grew up in Manhattan and started seeing Bway shows when I was 3. I'm not easy to please. But, personally, I think John Giresi deserves a hell of a lot of credit. He's a truly amazing director who has vision, talent and guts. He knows how to capitalize on the strengths of his actors and help bring out the best in them. I'm so impressed by the risks he takes. I mean, they did GRAND HOTEL!!!
The funniest thing for me is that I know kids who graduated from that high school (a long, long time ago), and they would have been thrilled to have someone like Mr. Giresi on the faculty. I'm still stunned that they took on the challenge of FOLLIES! No easy task! It's actually quite good. In fact, it's better than a lot of "professional" theatre I've seen. Sincerely.
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Rose_Lee
Swing Joined: 7/14/08
TooDarnHot
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/7/08
#22re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/17/08 at 12:26am
FULL MONTY at a highschool is the best.
yes, I've seen it done.
Leo
Swing Joined: 6/3/07
#23re: I had to share this with you!
Posted: 7/19/08 at 3:43pm
ljay889,
I only ATTACK when attacking is warranted! None-the-less, I like having the reputation. It keeps the riff-raff to a minimum.
Personally, I don't especially like this number [as performed by this HS], but a youtube "viewer" asked for it, so I reluctantly added it.
Some comments made in this blog have caused the clip to go into limbo-land... "IS EVERYBODY HAPPY?"
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