High-school musicals: big casts and big bucks

A few years ago, to shake things up, Bishop Blanchet High broke away from the high-school-theater cycle of "West Side Story" and "Fiddler on the Roof" and produced "Barnum," a musical based on the legendary showman. Teens swung from trapezes 25 feet in the air and a teacher's terrier was trained to jump onto and ride a pony — all under a tent raised in the school parking lot.

Clowns from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey even gave face-painting tips and gag ideas.

And faster than you can say "The Greatest Show on Earth," Blanchet High, a Catholic school of 1,078 students, had produced a $90,000 musical.

These days, high-school musicals are polished, expensive and Broadway-inspired, local drama teachers say. Several school drama programs are even self-supporting, with musicals largely earning the revenue for the entire program. That's because — despite their expense — the musicals sell tickets and help draw donations from parents and alumni.

Typically, musicals produced at the high-school level cost less than $10,000. But a growing number of Seattle-area schools are staging shows that cost much more: This spring, pricey shows will open at Shorecrest High in Shoreline ($38,800); Kentridge ($25,000) and Kentwood ($25,000) in Kent; and Seattle's Roosevelt High School ($35,000) and Blanchet ($60,000).

As the budgets rise, so do production values. "Productions now rival professional shows" at some high schools, said 5th Avenue Theatre spokeswoman Kat Ramsburg. As the education programs manager at the 5th, Ramsburg helps evaluate 78 high-school musicals across the state. "And some have budgets that rival a lot of small community theaters'. "

But such high-end productions can cause resentment from schools without a large enough fundraising base to pull together a Broadway-like musical. Rainier Beach High, for instance, will produce "The Wiz" in June for about $1,000, mostly through funds raised by its drama teacher, Makela Steward.

"I feel my kids are missing out. It's unfair," said Steward, who also teaches English. "But we don't have the [large] PTA and alumni base. That's just the way things are."

Elevators and turntables

For the schools with the funds, you can see where the money goes. Just take a peek in school auditoriums where students create elaborate sets that incorporate features such as a working elevator, electronic turntables that rotate scenery, and a sprinkler system that replicates the drizzle in Gene Kelly's signature number from "Singin' in the Rain."

Students also sew intricate period pieces and costumes with ruffles and origami folding.

Then there's the work not done by students. Many drama teachers hire dance choreographers, or in the case of Kamiak High in Mukilteo, a fight choreographer, who was paid a stipend to stage a 30-second melee for the upcoming "Hello, Dolly!"

And at some campuses, professionals are in the productions. Sometimes that's the only way to pull off the music, said Kentridge High drama teacher Jenny Grajewski, who heads one of the state's top drama departments.

Kentridge High has hired a drummer, pianist, horn player and reed player to perform with the 15-student orchestra for "Thoroughly Modern Millie," playing next month.

"Some of the parts, the kids can't play. The tunes are too hard," Grajewski said. "We use kids wherever we can, but we want quality music in our show because if it's bad, it can kill a show."

As musicals get more elaborate, using professional musicians has become more common. But the trend is sensitive enough that it's checked by judges of the High School Musical Theatre Award, a local version of the Tonys presented to schools by the 5th Avenue Theatre. To win in the costume or scenic-design categories, for instance, schools must do at least 60 percent of that work. And students have to make up a "significant majority" of the musicians to win Outstanding Orchestra.

The fact such guidelines exist underscores what a grand spectacle these spring musicals have become.

At Roosevelt High, the spring musical is "by far, the largest community event," said drama teacher Ruben Van Kempen, with sold-out performances attended by students, parents, teachers, alums and the community, some of whom "start calling in January to see when tickets are selling."

For this spring, Van Kempen first thought about directing "Into the Woods," a Stephen Sondheim fairy-tale musical that requires a dozen actors taking on challenging roles. But this is Roosevelt, he said, where 170 students will audition, and elaborate sets and costumes — "the wow factor," Van Kempen said — are expected. So instead, Roosevelt will tackle "Thoroughly Modern Millie," which requires a large cast that can sing and tap dance, two students who speak Mandarin, seven set changes, lots of wigs, and as many as eight costume changes for some cast members.

"There is more pressure"

"This is the biggest production. It's exciting ... but nerve-racking," said Roosevelt senior Sarah Schenkkan, 17, who plays the lead in the show, opening at the school in May. "There is more pressure."

Roosevelt's ranks among the nation's top high-school drama programs, and produces Broadway and off-Broadway actors the way some schools churn out Division I basketball players. It's the only Seattle public school with an extensive drama program, with courses in lighting and stage design, three voice coaches and a new $3.1 million auditorium with an orchestra pit and balcony seating.

Roosevelt's drama program also has a booster club that raises as much as $40,000 annually.

In the costume-design course, students researched hat patterns in Ladies' Home Journal issues from the 1920s and sewed period pieces from scratch for "Millie."

And there are no professional ringers. The work, said Van Kempen, "is all in-house. We don't hire anybody."

The self-supporting drama program will pay for the $35,000 musical through fundraisers and ticket sales. Just the royalty fee for "Millie" — more than $8,000 — would make this production impossible at some schools.

Broadway's influence

The affinity for musicals, drama teachers say, comes partly from Broadway's influence on teen pop culture. The musicals "Chicago" and "Dreamgirls" were made into movies, bringing Broadway to the far-more-accessible movie screen. And musicals make it to television, too, as in Disney's "High School Musical" and NBC's "Grease: You're the One That I Want!"

"We are seeing the evolution of the high-school musical," said Jimmy Nixon, founder of Broadway Bound Children's Theatre, a local after-school theater program that drew a record 1,000 school-age youths last year.

And though some English teachers — such as Rainier Beach's Steward — still pull double duty in the drama department, many schools now hire staffers with stage backgrounds.

Like Mo Mershon, a former off-Broadway actress who heads Blanchet's prestigious drama program. Mershon staged "Barnum" back in 2002 to "raise the bar" in the quality of school musicals.

Blanchet, which has a performing-arts facility that rivals Roosevelt's, embraced her grand vision. This is, after all, a school with a student-run costume shop with 4,000 pieces, from monk robes to cowboy outfits, items often loaned out to other school drama departments. The school recently installed a $160,000 lighting and sound system in its small theater — and that's not even where the students are performing "Grease" this weekend.

For that, Blanchet rented the Moore Theatre in downtown Seattle for four performances ... to give students a real-life musical experience.

Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com

Kentridge High School, Kent, "Thoroughly Modern Millie": 7 p.m. May 2-5 and May 9-12, and 1:30 p.m. May 5 and 12. Information: www.kent.k12.wa.us/KSD/KR/CLUBS/Drama/index.htm

Shorecrest High School, Shoreline, "The Wizard

of Oz": 7:30 p.m. May 11, 12, 18 and 19, and 2 p.m. May 12, 13, 19 and 20. Information: http://learn.shorelineschools.org/shorecrest/ljohnson1/index.php

Roosevelt High School, Seattle, "Thoroughly Modern Millie": 7:30 p.m. May 24 and 25 and May 31-June 2, and 2:30 p.m. June 2 and 3, 1410 N.E. 66th St. Information: www.rooseveltdrama.org/currentmusical.shtml

Other notables: Two schools staging extensive musicals this spring are doing it within the more typical $10,000 budget: Kamiak High School in Mukilteo and Renton's Liberty High School. Liberty stages "Crazy for You" at 7:30 tonight and Thursday through next Saturday and 2:30 p.m. next Saturday (information: www.liberty.issaquah.wednet.edu/Students/drama/CrazyForYou_PR.htm). Kamiak's "Hello Dolly" goes on at 7 p.m. May 4, 5, 11 and 2 p.m. May 12 (information: 425-356-6654, Ext. 3).