<p>My favorite HS non-musical, by far, was Neil Simon’s “Fools” - hilarious, camp, silly but good pacing - you just need to find a Russian accent coach. Our kids all sounded like they were camp followers of Dracula straight out of Transylvania.</p>
<p>Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Steve Martin) is also a riot - our HS didn’t get the rights but we attended another HS production - wonderful!</p>
<p>Having just seen a college production of Carousel, I personally think it is a much, much better R&H show than Oklahoma. If you watch the (now ancient) movie or just listen to the soundtrack, it doesn’t come across - but though the book is dated (and a bit schizo) and some of the characters are fragmented, the musical numbers and choreo are excellent - the overall experience is very satisfying. </p>
<p>The show I most wish a HS would discover is “Bat Boy.” I saw it at the Fringe put on by a group from Cambridge, and it was a great crowd-pleaser, highly imaginative show (in the spirit of Little Shop and Rocky Horror - unique). Here’s a snippet from Wikipedia:</p>
<p>"The story about a half-boy, half bat found living in a cave inspired bookwriters Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming to write a stage adaptation. They were joined by composer/lyricist Laurence O’Keefe (an American who is no apparent relation to the English bassist Laurence O’Keefe) and their first production premiered on Halloween 1997.</p>
<p>In the musical, Bat Boy learns to speak from his adoptive family, yearns for acceptance and tries to join society, only to face hatred and violence from a town that fears him and jealous rage from his foster father. Although full of blood, violence, incest and interspecies sex, Bat Boy: The Musical has won several awards and rave reviews and is regarded as one of the funniest and most imaginative musicals in years. John Lahr of The New Yorker observes “this is the only play in the history of the theatre whose hero ends Act I with a rabbit in his mouth, and who moves on in Act II to an entire cow’s head.”"</p>