<p>My daughter’s school does a fall play, a winter Reader’s Theater, a spring musical, and a summer evening of 10 minute plays. The fall play is usually a comedy - this year they did The Odd Couple, they’ve also done You Can’t Take It With You, and a production of Noises Off that was brilliant (rather than having two sets, they moved the audience from the theater to backstage. It was hilarious, but they did have an exceptionally talented bunch of students that year.)</p>
<p>For spring musicals, they’ve recently done Little Shop of Horrors, which was terrific but had a much smaller cast than usual, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which I highly recommend - there is a lot of audience participation and opportunities for a big chorus to be really involved in the action. </p>
<p>Reader’s Theater is where they seem to be more willing to do drama: they’ve done Animal Farm, Romeo & Juliet and this year they’re doing 1984. But they’ve also done an evening of Doctor Suess, which had a hilarious Suessification of Romeo & Juliet. </p>
<p>The evening of 10 minute plays is a personal favorite of mine. They’ve done a lot of David Ives, his short plays are terrific, plus the plays are all student directed. My D has directed a few Christopher Durang pieces (The Actor’s Nightmare, For Whom The Southern Belle Tolls, The Funeral) for this show, and performed in a bunch of others.</p>
<p>I loathe Carousel, but Oklahoma is a favorite. This year my D’s school is doing Man of La Mancha - D auditioned yesterday, she’s crossing her fingers that she gets Aldonza. They have a lot of strong men in the music program at her school - the director of vocal music and theater at her school is an amazing teacher. </p>
<p>I think it’s good to occasionally dust off the old chestnuts, and there are also some shows that are flawed but fun. I agree with an earlier assessment of Sondheim - his shows are not going to sell-out, but the kids will learn a lot while doing the show. Sweeney Todd is a personal favorite of mine, but I love his whole catalog.</p>