Musicals

36 pages

Large, flexible cast (approx. 17 boys and 19 girls)

If you want to know what really goes on in middle school, join these students as they perform insightful songs highlighting their monologues and scenes. "Doing the Tag" introduces friendships and rivalries, "Hanging in the Hallway" finds a girl longing for the boy of her dreams to notice her, and "I'm Hot/I'm Not" shows us all about popularity. "America" tells the troubles facing a foreign-born student, while "Cambiata" deals with the challenge of the unchanged male voice in chorus class. "Hormonal Blues" finds a boy in the throes of first love with a girl he...

41 pages

5 m, 3 w, choruses

This lighthearted comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan has enjoyed great audience appeal since it opened in 1878. This version, with its subtle cuts in the libretto and tasteful song selection, features more simplified harmony for the chorus and in some cases easier keys for teen singers. At a trim 90 minutes, it's a perfect length for today's audiences. The story is as familiar as ever: Old Admiral Sir Joseph Porter plans to marry the much younger Josephine with the consent of her father, Captain Corcoran. But Josephine is in love with Ralph, a common seaman,...

31 pages

Flexible cast of 12, extras

A mini-musical (45 minutes) version of the fairy tale about the tailor who, when he can't pay his taxes, promotes his daughter as being able to weave straw into gold. Luckily, a funny little man named Rumpelstiltskin gets her out of that fix and into another when she must guess his funny, not-so-little name. Perfect for children but sophisticated enough to be enjoyed by adults. The various scenes may be played before a series of simple flats connected to form a giant story book.

61 pages

Widely flexible cast (14 or more)

Rudyard Kipling's dramatic and entertaining stories about how the Camel got his hump, how the Elephant got his nose, how the Whale got his spout, and other richly woven tales come to life in this engaging musical. Mr. and Mrs. Kipling and their two bubbly yet unpretentious daughters serve as narrators. The story weaves from animal tales to the final human one, how Man--or in this case an enterprising young girl!--wrote the first letter. Especially engaging is the two-person whale which is a great theatrical device. The show opens with the song, "When the Worl...

72 pages

Flexible cast, approx. 9 m, 9 w, extras

Combine the drama of Shakespeare with the craziness of high school! Jane, a nerdy-looking new student, is all but ignored by the in-crowd. They're too involved with trying to get parts as extras for the movie that's going to be filmed there. Little do they know Jane is really the pampered, glamorous teen soap opera star, Tiffany! She's undercover to prove she can act and hopefully earn the lead in the movie. In drama class, Jane is teamed up with Tim, the class bookworm. They look like losers...until they do their Shakespeare scene. That threatens posse leade...

45 pages

8 m, 8 w, numerous flexible roles

A wonderful musical adapted from the classic Cinderella story with animal characters. Prince Richard--the Rabbit-Hearted and Princess Tabitha of the Blue Mountain Grove are the center of this adaptation. It seems that when the Grove burned down years ago, Tabitha's parents left her on the doorsteps of the Bugmerks, a family of toads on the edge of a swamp. Life is only bearable for her by her close friend and confidant, Mercedes, a mouse. When the night of the ball comes, the Bugmerks leave poor Cinderabbit behind. And who appears? Gracie--Cinderabbit's Jewis...

70 pages

Approx. 11 characters + townspeople

Here’s a rousing musical defense of the wolf, presented in English Panto style. Panto employs hybridized fairy tales, puns, cross-dressed characters, big-head characters, magical transformations and silliness to the max. With plot aspects from “The Three Little Pigs,” “Red Riding Hood,” “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” and even “Frankenstein,” the pigs are shown to be the real culprits. They're clever media manipulators with strictly their own swinish interests at heart. The two-member orchestra also becomes a hilarious part of the performance as they interact with ...

41 pages

4 m, 4 w, 1 boy, 1 girl + villagers 1 exterior

The people in the Apple Kingdom live on apples: apple soup, apple salad and, of course, apple pies. Jonathan and Blossom are two fun-loving but not so innocent twins and on their birthday they play a trick on the townspeople that backfires. They say that an "Applephoon" is coming that will destroy all of the apples in the kingdom's orchards. The villagers, all being selfish, immediately run to the orchards and begin picking all the apples and carrying them home by the buckets full. After all the apples are picked, the villagers find that they are stricken wit...

76 pages

6 m, 10 w, 2 flexible

Sixteen students have been invited to a week-long audition for a summer production at the Professional Actors School of Theatre and they are vying for the top eight leads. Working under the take-no-prisoners stage manager, we see the students in private moments of triumph and disaster as they learn lines, songs and dance routines. Penny misses her deceased father who used to encourage her so much; Jake is frantic because his assigned reading requires him to cry; and Melanie may have to go back home to help with the family finances. The exuberance and determin...

40 pages

3 m, 2 w, 1 flexible

Get the youngsters in your audience twitching their noses, making engine noises, bowing to the king, catching imaginary gold thread, and shouting out names, especially Rumpelstiltskin! With such audience participation, this fairy tale adaptation is loads of active fun. It features a braggart father, his long-suffering wife, their poor but beautiful daughter, a strict rule-enforcing chancellor; a monarch whose kingdom depends on straw being spun into gold, and of course, the mysterious little man who is willing to perform that exceptional feat – but at a treme...

59 pages

5 m, 5 w, 12 or more flexible. (With doubling, 7 actors)

"The Velveteen Rabbit" is Margery Williams' endearing tale of love between a boy and his favorite toy. At first the Rabbit is new and lonely in the toy chest, where the other toys deride his inability to "do" anything ... until the Skin Horse teaches him "It isn't what you do, it's who you are," and sings to him about becoming REAL. Sure enough, in time, the Boy begins to love the Rabbit, and when he says to Nana, "He's not a toy!" the dream comes true. When the Boy gets scarlet fever, the Rabbit's constant vigil helps save him. But later the Doctor orders th...

63 pages

4 m, 3 w, 1 flexible, and chorus from 5 to 20 young people

In this allegorical fantasy an Agent keeps people under control by making them afraid to touch each other. A young woman escapes, however, and begins tending a garden overseen by Mossrag, a wise outsider. The Agent sends a young man to get her back, but instead the couple learn of the sweetness and sorrows of becoming involved in each other’s life. When they try to share these feelings with others, they put the gentle Mossrag in mortal danger. An uplifting show with a fun, contemporary mellow-rock score with such songs as “Love Hurts,” “Superficiality Sells,”...

34 pages

4 m, 3 w, 4 flexible, extras

Santa’s elves, Flip and Twip, are sent to help Mrs. Santa with her last-minute preparations for Christmas Eve. The two elves spin mischief, but real trouble arrives in the form of King Sarak and his spoiled son, Prince Horace. By royal decree, Horace’s Christmas stocking must include all the toys in the land! When Santa refuses, offering instead to visit Prince Horace in the usual manner, the King has the toys seized, thus jeopardizing the merriment of Christmas. With Mrs. Santa’s guidance, plus cooperation between Flip and Twip, as well as lots of audience i...

36 pages

Approx. 3 m, 4 w, 3 flexible

Little Red loves playing in the forest with all her animal friends and doesn’t want any responsibilities—like taking food to Grandma’s house. But a hungry wolf changes that! Posing as an injured sheepdog, he’s able to trap her forest friends into a cave and con Red in to telling him where Grandmother lives. Once there he eats Grandma and Red! Luckily, the ever-cautious Sammy the Skunk saves the day with his brains and his “perfume.” Grandma and Red are rescued from the Wolf’s tummy for a happy ending, including a more responsible Red! A "country and western" ...