I don’t serve on a community theatre board, but I have
THOUGHTS. In my opinion, if your stage is a postage stamp, you shouldn’t produce
musicals with a huge cast. It limits what the choreographer, costumer, and set
designer can do. Tiny stages should run You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, She
Loves Me, and Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder; not Fiddler or Les Miz. If
your audience wants family fare, stage Disney or Rogers & Hammerstein. Avoid
Hamilton, Hair, Cabaret and Rent. If your audition pool is 99.9% white, forget
West Side Story, Hairspray, The Wiz, and Carmen Jones. As much as I’d love to
see (and help stage) The King and I and Flower Drum Song, I’d hate to watch a British/Scandinavian/German cast trying to look Chinese or Thai. And if your venue and budget don’t have
room for a live orchestra, skip musicals altogether. Do Christmas Carol, Our
Town, or anything Agatha Christie.
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