Options

I am directing an elementary school production at a school with a very limited budget. The parents are very interested, so I'm excited. The problem is that I don't know what kind of talent I have, how many kids are interested and there is no budget to speak of. (I'm not even getting paid unless I can fund that!) I would like to go to the preliminary meeting next week with a lit of 3 or 4 possible shows. Here are some requirements:

Flexible cast size

60 minutes tops

unchallenging score

minimal/simple sets

Any help would be appreciated. It galls me that school arts programs are being cut so drastically, but no one wrote a grant for this year. They were supposed to pay last year's director, but at the end of the day, discovered they had no funds. Nice, huh? I'm doing this for the sake of the children, but do not want a big hassle for my efforts. Something simple, good and inexpensive is what I need.

'Not too hard! LOL Thanks.

Rosemary

Congrats on doing a show for the right reason, for your kids despite all odds!   I am currently on the SMASH make a musical.org tour and educational project and just walked out of an inner city school with the same requests!   Lots of choices, but let's have you request perusals to give you a good idea.  Schoolhouse Rock is a great first choice as well as Annie JR. they are both 60 min, and easy to expand.  Annie JR is a wee bit harder to rehearse, set scenery and costume, but a wonderful story.  The MTI KIDS shows run 30 minutes, and are an excellent starting point also. Jungle Book Kids is a generic show, simple sets and very manageable music.  All fit your criteria and would be FUN!   Please feel free to email at show support and happy to send pics and go into more detail about your choices.  Also take a peek at Audition central on the Broadway JR web site, it makes auditioning easy and gives you a lot of character ideas.  Exciting journey you have ahead Rosemary..let me know how I can help!!   Cindy