Let's Put on a Musical!: How to Choose the Right Show for Your School, Community, or Professional Theater (Paperback)

by Peter Filichia (Author) "My customers," says Robert Eagle, Artistic Director of the Reagle Players in Waltham, Massachusetts, "want shows whose names they recognize..." (more)
Key Phrases: provided instrumentation, revival cast album, glorified rags, Supporting Singing Roles, Lead Singing Roles, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Doing a show is great fun—but how do you know which one to do? This practical resource will guide your school, community, or professional theater group to a musical that perfectly fits your budget, creative team, production capabilities, and audience.



With Let’s Put on a Musical! you’ll discover more than 200 famous and little-known shows—all cleverly categorized and described in terms of:





• Story

• Best-known songs

• Musical requirements, including instrumentation

• Chorus and dance numbers

• Staging—the sets, costumes, and props you’ll need




And it’s packed with nuggets about the original Broadway versions and useful tips on casting, publicity, and other practical matters relating to production. Whether it's a big classic like My Fair Lady or an all-but-forgotten show like Top Banana, if there's a musical in your future—or if you’re just a fan of the genre—Let’s Put on a Musical! will be an essential and fun-to-read addition to your theater library.

About the Author
Peter Filichia is the New Jersey theater critic for The Star-Ledger and author of the weekly "Stagestruck" column in Playbill magazine as well as Playbill On-Line.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823088170
• ISBN-13: 978-0823088171
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #826,802 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FANTASTIC overviews of most of today's musicals, April 3, 1999

By	"homergator" (North Palm Beach, FLorida (United States)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let's Put on a Musical!: How to Choose the Right Show for Your School, Community or Professional Theater (Paperback)

Filichia is certainly a maestro when it comes to knowledge of the musical theatre. His book is both a fun, educational read for anyone with a zest for Broadway and Beyond, but it also serves its true purpose: It can help you choose a musical better than any "how to" guide on the market. Although it is missing a few licensers (WHere's Guilbert and Sullivan) and it hasn't quite caught up to ALL the revivals, it's still an excellent guide to helping your community, school, pr professional theatre find the best possible show.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Do we really need another production of Fiddler on the Roof?, May 4, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Let's Put on a Musical!: How to Choose the Right Show for Your School, Community or Professional Theater (Paperback)

Peter Filichia,the former columnist for the now defunct Theater Weekly,knows musical theater. In his informally written,enthusiastic book,How to Put on a Musical,he offers sage advice for schools that have the ability,determination,and fortune to produce a musical but don't have the unlimited budget of the Schuberts. He casts a roving eye over the 100+ years of musical theater and divides up the riches into categories of the tried and true musicals (Carousel,Annie Get Your Gun), recent moneymakers (Annie,Godspell),musicals with a predominately male cast (The Boys of Syracuse),musicals that demand significant vocal talent (Candide),musicals tha require proficient dancers ( A Chorus Line),and so on.

Filichia also offers brief synopsises of the musicals,which is particularly helpful with the lesser-known shows. He also informs you of the necessary props,costumes,characters,famous songs from the shows (if any),and inventive publicity activities that can be done to promote the show (some are ingenous,while others are strange or dull).

Perhaps the most important thing that Filichia offers are the pros/cons of each musical-this is especially crucial for the schools that need to censor their dramatic presentations. If the storyline is suggestive or if the libretto contains foul language,you are duly notified. In less serious,yet just as important circumstances,Filichia points out unusual props (like an iron lung for City of Angels),difficult dialects (such as the local dialects for Oklahoma!),and if the musical is too familiar with audiences (such as Fiddler on the Roof).

America's grammer school,high school,and college drama departments need all the help they can get. With Filichia's understanding,chatty book,the directors of the aforesaid departments receive a helping hand. For curious,interested devotees of musical theater (such as myself),this is a book suitable for browsing and discovering unknown gems of the musical stage

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A priceless resource for directors and producers of theater!, April 23, 2003

By	G. Poirier "educator, mountain biker, camper,... (Fontana, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I got a job teaching high school drama despite having zero experience doing it. Worse, the only musicals I knew and had seen were "Cats" and "Phantom of the Opera." So, when the band and choir directors starting throwing ideas for shows at me I was at a total loss. How would I know, without reading, listening to, and/or seeing every show they mentioned if it was a good idea or not?

Then, I found this book. Now, when the choir director tells me she wants to do "Lil Abner" I can reply that it seems dated. Or, if she wants to do "Flower Drum Song," I can tell her that we don't have enough Asians in our pool of talent. I can counter to her that "Into The Woods" is recommended for high schoolers, despite her objections to the contrary. I can recommend that we perform "Little Shop of Horrors" because it is a periennial money-maker and kids love it!

The book is divided into sections like "Shows for a big budget" or "Musicals that rely heavily on costumes". There's "Musicals that feature choreography" and "Musicals with Little Choreography." It's helpful to find the shows grouped together like this.

Then, it breaks down the show, giving a synopsis, assests, liabilities (often the most important information!!!), cast needed, etc. If you're passingly familiar with a show, this is all you would need. If you don't know the show at all, this is enough to warrant further investigation or to rule it out entirely.

I love this book. I would be lost without it. The only bad thing about it is that it doesn't have every single last musical ever created in it! But, it must contain more than two or three hundred shows listed, so that should be enough to get you by. I highly recommend this book.