So you’re school has decided to do a musical. Musicals can be very exciting and
rewarding experiences for both staff and student alike. It’s a great way to teach the
arts to students, and to bring together visual arts, music, drama and dance in a
unique way.
The success of a high school musical will depend mainly on your good planning of
the event. You need to start early. The following is a musical timeline for putting a
typical high school musical together:
(Months/Weeks/Days Before Show):
12 Months:
-Create production team (producer, stage manager musical director)
-Contact rental company.
-Estimate of price.
-Hire a director; negotiate price.
-Meet with school admin.
-Obtain performance venue.
6 Months:
-Production meeting - Chose the show.
-Contact rental company, obtain rights.
-Arrange to obtain piano/vocal score right away.
-Reserve performance venue.
5 Months:
-Announce auditions.
-Hire rehearsal pianist for auditions and rehearsals.
-Choose audition music and make available.
4 and a Half Months:
-Hold auditions/call-backs.
-Choose main characters.
-Post cast list.
-Advertise within school for backstage crew (building sets, paining scenery,
assembling props).
4 Months:
-Read through script with entire cast.
-Props crew: Begin constructing sets.
-Begin onstage and music (singing) rehearsals.
3 Months:
-Form the following committees: Constume/Make up, Publicity/Ticket sales,
Lighting/Sound.
-Contact extra musicians for pit.
9 Weeks:
-Hold pit orchestra auditions.
8 Weeks:
-Begin advertising campaign.
-Cast should now have costumes.
-Post pit orchestra member list.
7 Weeks:
-Begin pit rehearsals
-Optional production meeting (communication between production team and all
committees)
4 Weeks:
-Production meeting - Plan final week of rehearsals, stage use by various teams.
-Acquire necessary permission to excuse students from class for any schedule
conflicts.
-Invite area schools to preview show.
2 Weeks:
-Rehearsal with pit and cast (Sing through).
-Pit rehearsal(s) of dance music with dancers.
-Run-thru of show with onstage cast/ piano.
1 Week:
-Props and scenery complete and ready for use.
-Run of scene changes with stage crew.
-Complete run of show with pit orchestra and cast.
5 Days:
-Final pit rehearsal to iron out problem spots.
-Cue-to-cue: work out lighting cues.
4 Days:
-Technical run of show with sound, all props, light cues, scene changes.
3 Days:
-Complete run of show with orchestra. Give notes after run.
2 Days (or day before show):
-DRESS REHEARSAL
(Give one day before public run as a day off, to rest the cast.)
General Advice for Doing Good School Musicals:
Administrative:
1) Delegate! Don’t try to be the onstage director, musical director, producer, chief
bottle-washer, etc. Find as many different people within your school as possible to
fill these roles.
The people you will need, at a minimum:
Director
Music Director
Producer
Stage Manager
Props & Scenery Coordinator
Choreographer
Lighting & Sound Director
Costume Coordinator
Publicity Coordinator
2) Know your venue. Do not plan a musical without knowing where you will be
performing it.
3) Auditions:
-Be good to your students when they come in for their audition. Remember that
many students are doing the first audition of their lives, and are probably terrified.
Set them at ease - be lighthearted and friendly, not austere and demanding.
-Encourage students to sing out with a full voice at the audition.
-Congratulate them after auditioning, and always find something positive to say to
them about how they performed.
4) Onstage:
-Begin rehearsing chorus early in the process. There is a need to get the main
characters’ part of the show worked out early of course, but you will benefit from
the excitement generated by rehearsing chorus early. Chorus numbers tend to be
energetic and exciting, and much momentum can be lost by ignoring chorus at the
beginning of the rehearsal run. Chorus members are very important. They are your
“townspeople”, your various unnamed characters that give vital atmosphere to a
show. Tell chorus members to invent a character name, and to develop a short one
or two-paragraph biography. This will help to eliminate that “onstage furniture”
look that so many high school students have.
-All singers should sing in their character’s voice. If the character speaks with a
southern drawl, he/she should sing with a southern drawl.
-Chorus should sing with eyebrows raised and backs straight.
-A musical theatre voice is a big voice with distinctive character, not a choir voice.
Invite a singing professional to a rehearsal to teach young singers how to safely
project their voice.
5) Miscellaneous Onstage/backstage
-Teach students to never touch props or scenery unless specifically instructed to
do so. This applies even to props that are used by that character. Unless it is show
time or rehearsal time, props should be placed and moved only by backstage crew.
-Onstage characters must be taught to be mindful and respectful of backstage
crew. Backstage crew have an important job to do during runs of a show. The
precise timing of scene changes requires actors to stay out of the way.
-Actors must never appear in house in costume or make-up. During the show’s
intermission, no actors should be meeting public, family or friends.
-Backstage during a show must be very quiet. Actors waiting in wings to make an
entrance must stay well off to the side to prevent being seen until entering the
stage.
-Be sure to tell students to thank any professionals you have invited to perform in
your pit orchestra, or who are involved in other aspects of the show. Point out to the
students how lucky they are to have people donating their time and efforts to their
show.
A musical will provide lifelong memories for you and your students. And it will
provide a unique opportunity to bring together various aspects of the fine arts in
your school. You will also find that musicals will engage people in an artistic
endeavor who might not normally involve themselves in the arts.
Gary Ewer is a veteran music teacher, clinician, composer and arranger. He is most
well known as the author of The
Essential Secrets of Songwriting and
Gary Ewer’s Easy Music Theory
Gary has taught music to students of every age group, from five-year-olds in
elementary school, through to university-level musicians. This enormously wide-
ranging scope has given him a unique perspective on how people learn. Teaching is
his passion.
He is in demand as an adjudicator, clinician, conductor and composer. His music
has been commissioned and performed by ensembles from amateur level through to
professional, including the world-renowned Elmer Isler Singers, The Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation, Symphony Nova Scotia, and others.
He currently teaches orchestration, theory, ear training and choral conducting at
Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
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