Friday, September 21, 2007
Documentary to 'Expose' High School Musicals
Backstage: "Written and directed by Barry Blaustein, the film follows three Southern Indiana high schools that spend tens of thousands of dollars on their musical productions in order to compete for admission to the International Thespian Festival. Blaustein and Spitfire's Nigel Sinclair are producing. Guy East and Tobin Armbrust of Spitfire are executive producers."
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14 comments:
In my experience with my own high school musicals, I would not call it cut throat. It all seemed to be just for fun. We did work hard obviously but at the same time it was for enjoyment. Maybe the fact that we were not competing for any awards made it less stressful.
i also have not experienced the cut throat atmosphere, nor have i experience working on a high school show that has a budget of tens of thousands of dollars. i don't know how universal that is.
i like the idea of having real high school musical stories on display... its a good change from the fluffy things we're used to seeing. its in a way very similar to all other reality television shows which is a very interesting way to go. who knew that there would be such a market for a show such as this. i will be interested to see the success.
I think we've all been waiting for or expecting something like this to come up. High school theatre groups are prime material for a documentary. What definitely adds the twist though is that these high schools are spending such a ridiculous amount of money on these productions. It's fairly absurd for a high school - but who knows - they may use the money really well. They probably hire outside designers though, which is always unfortunate. I will definitely make a point to check this out when it gets released.
How do the high schools get that kind of money anyway? If they're raising it on their own, I can't see a reason why they wouldn't be able to use it for their productions.
This does seem to be an interesting premise. i can understand how high school drama can be the perfect breeding ground for reality show drama. the two are practically the same. the interesting part is definitely the budget on these shows though. with a budget like that the schools are bound to bring in a lot of outside designers, costumes etc. i would rather them compete with only things that the kids (or teachers) made/designed themselves. i would find that much more exciting.
I'm glad someone is going to finally "expose" the world of high school theatre. I have never seen "High School Musical" but I know how intense some high schools can get with theatre. I'm glad this kind of movie can actually get made I guess the director/writer thought of the angle of three schools competing as apposed to three crazy high schools so that someone would let him make it. I wonder how people will look at theatre after this.
Tens of Thousands of dollars... I cant say that I could ever see a "cut throat world of high school musicals" but I cant say that I have been to Southern India either. I'm glad their is a documentary being made on something like this. It will be interesting to watch when it comes out.
I firmly believe that high school theatre is always deserving of being 'exposed' because it would make such a fabulous reality television show. However, what these producers are out to expose is not the collaborative bonding effort or fun-in-a-back-room type of theatre experience of which most of us here are products of.
They are trying to capitalize on a MTV generation of shows like 'my super sweet 16' and 'laguna beach' which take people who are too rich and attractive for their own good and make fools of them in front of the rest of world. It might make for good television, hell, i watch it all the time, but it insults me in the way that it taints the image of a wonderful institution such as high school theatre.
The title didn’t interest me at first. After I scrolled down a bit, there were 9 comments(a lot!) to make me click on this news. These high schools allocate such big budget for the competition. Their motive is apparently for the school’s reputation. But is it correct an educational organization set a pattern of using money value to compete? rather than the importance of the cooperation, the ability or the creation? What if they lose, could they really know why they fail?
Well, I definitely did experience a high school theatre department like this, and I for one can't wait to see this documentary. I don't think I got through one show in high school where someone wasn't crying when the cast list, and even the crew list, was posted. In regards to all the money, you can spend that much money if you make it back in ticket sales, which I know our high school always was able to do. The bigger the production, though, the more important it seems to everyone involved and the more that emotion gets involved. I just hope they portray it by showing people truly dedicated to their craft, not just a bunch of psychos whose lives are being run by their directors.
I can definately relate with a 'cut throat' atmosphere in my high school. Our budgets for our musical were usually about 20 grand for a self funded group (we made it back in ticket sales and program ads). There was a state competition in New Jersey for high school theater that seemed to be my directors prime focus from casting to costume design. While in some ways it was stifling and stressful, it really did bring a competative atmosphere that encouraged (and sometimes forced) everyone to do their absolute best. In a business were everything is cut throat, i guess its not bad to start out in high school.
Although I never experienced cut throat theatre, my high school was no disney movie. There was always scandal, contreversy and dubious actions taken by people. And we were spending less than 1000 dollars on our shows!
Hello there! I just graduated from one of the schools featured in the documentary. I wasn't a part of the theater department, but I saw the shows and, let me tell you, they are GREAT! The kids are so talented! I just hope that this documentary doesn't portray them in a negative light. I think the whole "cutthroat" aspect all the press releases are mentioning is a little embellished.
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