How to follow up "Grease"
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Play Suggestions
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URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1992
Printed Date: 11/26/24 at 8:52am
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Topic: How to follow up "Grease"
Posted By: Gymmic10
Subject: How to follow up "Grease"
Date Posted: 8/27/06 at 4:44pm
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So, our company's youth just got done performing "Grease" to a sell-out crowd 2 weeks in a row. It was one of the best plays we have ever put on. It was also the highest grossing play ever for our company. Anyway...we have no clue what to do now. We need a play with many characters that is very well known. I know we will probably never do as good as "Grease", because, how can you? We were thinking "Westside Story", among others. Is that a good one. Does anyone have any surefire, people will love it, awesome plays? |
Replies:
Posted By: castMe
Date Posted: 8/27/06 at 6:41pm
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West Side Story is an outstanding musical with terrific music. We
did this show two years ago to sold out houses and the impact on the
theater was such, and created such a buzz, that the theater now
regularly sells out its musicals. A word of warning: West Side Story is a dance show along the lines of A Chorus Line. Don't expect to turn heads with wonderful acting and singing alone. If you have a corps of great dancers and can line up a strong choreographer, go for it. If not, look at Guys and Dolls, Bye, Bye Birdie or another well-known show in which dance is not as important. And don't think you can never top your last show, or you won't. Think positive, be positive.  ------------- Investigate. Imagine. Choose. |
Posted By: Aimee
Date Posted: 8/28/06 at 9:38am
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We just did "Cinderella" and had STO for all performances. (this was a high school performance) For this year's musical we are doing Bye Bye Birdie. I agree with Castme, you can never "top" a show, you can only make each show the best it can be. Have fun no matter what! Aimee ------------- Aimee |
Posted By: dboris
Date Posted: 8/28/06 at 12:43pm
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West Side Story is an excellent show, but it's a lot different then Grease in that it's a much more serious show. Be sure that you understand you audiance, they may have come to Grease but cause it's light and fun entertainment. They may come to West Side Story and come out of it depressed. Guys and Dolls is a good one that is much more along the lines of Grease, just plain fun. Dan
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Posted By: TheActingTechie
Date Posted: 9/01/06 at 1:41am
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It takes a lot of really good dancers to put on West Side Story effectively. Do it only if you are up for the challenge. As another poster said, Guys and Dolls would make a great followup to Grease, as it doesn't require that much vocally or choreography wise, but is essentially the most recognizable name to audiences not nessecerally familiar with Musical Theatre.
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Posted By: suzecue1
Date Posted: 9/22/06 at 9:32am
We also just presented "Grease", and had the same great results. "Grease" has a multi-generational draw, however, any well known musicals should give you similar results. West Side Story needs great male dancers, which can be hard to find. Some other well known shows would be, "Fiddler on the Roof", "Oklahoma", "Sound of Music", and "Annie". If you build your reputation of delivering a great show, they will come..... ------------- Sue ***** So many hats.....so few heads! |
Posted By: P&M Sales
Date Posted: 9/22/06 at 9:47am
Posted By: mattyjaco
Date Posted: 9/25/06 at 11:16am
| Depending on the age of the youth, I would reccomend Man of La Mancha, with a creative director and set designer this show is one to please. Classic music and story, we did this 2 years ago and still recieve compliments to this day. |
Posted By: eveharrington
Date Posted: 9/25/06 at 6:07pm
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This requires a little more work but we did a partially improvised spoof of American Idol with a mix of good singers and purposely awful talent. Open it up to any talent, improvise the host and judges comments, and then in our case we let the audience vote, had a short intermission and brought back three finalists to perform again. We got a great response, and because of the voting, it was different every night. ------------- "If nothing else, there's applause... like waves of love pouring over the footlights." |
Posted By: Thespian_4_ever
Date Posted: 12/29/06 at 6:10pm
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I don't know if you want just Musicals or Plays too, so I'll put both...
MUSICALS...
Oklahoma!
The Sound of Music
High School Musical
West Side Story
A Year With Frog and Toad
A Christmas Survival Guide ~ Christmas Show
The Full Monty
Secret Garden
BUDDY! The Buddy Holly Story
Chicago
Disney's Beauty and the Beast
Camelot ~ Super Long!
Plays...
Steel Magnolias
On Golden Pond
Murder in Green Meadows
Dear Santa
How I Learned to Drive
The Diviners
Wonder of the World
Ethan Claymore
Thats all I can think of off the top of my head...
Hope this helps! ------------- |
Posted By: Mama M
Date Posted: 1/04/07 at 2:13am
| May I suggest "Children of Eden" by Stephen Schwartz - great musical and you can encompass all ages. This is a great draw for your gate. All the grandparents, aunts and uncles want to see their 6th grader in a high school production. Keep the set simple and the dancing the a minimum. Concentrate on the blocking and chorus and the story will come out beautifully. Have fun!!!! |
Posted By: Paramitch
Date Posted: 1/26/07 at 6:28pm
This? Is BRILLIANT. Love this as a marketing concept, and it would have been pretty budget-friendly to stage, too, I'd imagine.
I'm not a huge fan of the show (the oversinging and melisma kill me), but hey, 28 million people can't be wrong). It's definitely something that would be audience-friendly. Awesome. ------------- Angela Mitchell ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Performing Arts Guide, About.com http://performingarts.about.com performingarts.guide@about.com Twitter PerfArtsGuide |
Posted By: Stageman
Date Posted: 5/25/07 at 2:57pm
| I think "Bye Bye Birdie" would fit right in - it's a lot of fun, and very teen friendly. I think it also would have quite a draw for an audience. |
Posted By: pdavis69
Date Posted: 5/25/07 at 4:22pm
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You may want to take a look at the discussion going on about Honk! It is a great show, fairly new and fun. ------------- Patrick L. Davis Fort Findlay Playhouse |
Posted By: JackScottHSM
Date Posted: 5/26/07 at 12:49pm
| West side story is a great play, just make sure you have a lot of guys.. |
Posted By: ruby
Date Posted: 5/29/07 at 12:19am
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You may want to take a look at the discussion going on about Honk! It is a great show, fairly new and fun. ------------- http://www.meetyourband.com |
Posted By: red diva
Date Posted: 5/29/07 at 9:40am
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"Black Patent Leather Shoes", "Charlie Brown" (not a huge cast, but very do-able and very popular with the crowds). ------------- "I've worked long and hard to earn the right to be called Diva!" |
Posted By: njg1
Date Posted: 3/16/08 at 4:41am
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We had a similar situation- "Grease" was our biggest grossing musical EVER...Here are my suggestions: "Once on this Island" is a fabulous show....beautiful story, wonderful music, great ensemble cast, and the audience loves it...... "Fame" can easily match "Grease" for "teen" popularity..... and, last but not least, "Footloose" will bring in a similar crowd..We just did it and sold out every night... Good luck! |