Since our high school musical this year has just been cast, I have started to prepare and anticipate next year's. However, the problem is my drama teacher is a total tightwad who has pretty conservative taste in musicals and I tend to like rather obscure and/or edgy stuff such as We Will Rock You, Zanna Don't and Starmites. Also, I am a mezzo/alto who'd most likely get cast in the sexy, rebellious sort of roles (think Anita, Rizzo or Velma and Roxie). That sort of character tends to be the lead in rock musicals and rock leads also mostly have lower ranges. Unfortunately for me, the teacher prefers classic musicals. E.g. the last few shows we did were Godspell, Guys and Dolls, Into the Woods and The Music Man. I have tried out for the last two, for Red Riding Hood and Marian respectively but my problem is I can't find many family-friendly musicals(as in not Chicago or Cabaret) with major roles for altos. Anyone have any ideas?

Once Upon a Mattress
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Seussical (especially if you do a female Cat)
Bye Bye Birdie

This should get you started

Beauty and the Beast has a lot of mezzos!

...and by a lot I mean, like 2, out of the three major female roles...anyways, but Belle is a fun role and her songs are beautiful!

Kiss Me, Kate comes to mind immediately. From the sound of it, you'd be great as Lois- look up Always True To You Darling

Well, Seussical's out. It has too much music and she wants ones with an even-ish balance of music and dialogue. Also, I have looked up Always True To You and I think I can do Lois but I don't think our school can do Kiss Me Kate. Apparently, it's too racy for her. Starmites, however, has the opposite problem. It's not only too over the top, it's apparently too much of a children's show for a high school even though when our local children's theater did it, all of the cast was in high school. So that leaves Beauty and the Beast, Once Upon a Mattress, Bye Bye Birdie and the two shows she has in mind, Urinetown and Footloose. Unless anyone has any other ideas. To clarify, the requirements are:

Not too racy
Good balance between dialogue and music
One or more major alto roles
A large cast but not heavily one gender or the other

South Pacific--Nellie (lead) & Bloody Mary (supporting) are lower voices...not sure if they are considered altos or mezzos. Nellie's 2 friends Dinah & Janet are much smaller roles, but they also have lower voices. The show needs a large cast of nurses & sailors.

Fiddler on the Roof--all of the female roles could be sung by altos and mezzos. I think Hodel is classified as a soprano, but her highest note is an E, and that's the highest of any of the women (not counting chorus songs). Lots of good female roles...Golde, Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Yente. Fruma-Sarah and Grandma Tzeitel are good cameos. It also needs a large cast to create several families.

Neither of those shows are racy. I have no idea about dialogue/music balance...that's not something I've ever noticed in shows before.

Other shows with lower-voice female roles that I'm a little less familiar with (not sure if they fit all your other criteria):

Brigadoon--Meg
Oklahoma--Ado Annie & Aunt Eller
Aida--Aida, Amneris, Nehebka (more of a rock-style musical)
All Shook Up--Natalie, Lorraine, Miss Sandra, Mayor, Sylvia (definitely rock...it's Elvis songs)
Annie Get Your Gun--Annie, Dolly
Crazy For You--Polly, Irene
Curtains--Georgia, Carmen
Titanic--not sure about the specific roles, but the cast is enormous...there's bound to be some altos in there

^ Not entirely sure what would make South Pacific less racy than Kiss Me, Kate, which is apparently too sexy for a high school according to this particular teacher...?

I did Urinetown at my high school in first year. It was a fun experience but it has a pretty small cast compared to most; if you try and add a chorus they get all superfluous and whatnot. The other two shows I did that are actual musicals that people know were West Side Story and Pippin.

In terms of the named parts, I think Pippin might strike the best balance between gender of the three. Especially if your Leading Player is a girl. A female Leading Player is also a great choice for a contralto or mezzo voice, as are Catherine and Fastrada. It's a real blast to be in, too. However, there's a great deal to do with sex in the show, and not a lot of it is easily jettisoned. At my Catholic high school we did it in its entirety without complaint, though.

Footloose is a god-awful show, and will break the bank in addition to sucking.

Incidentally, what is your school doing this year?

We're doing The Music Man this year. I tried out for Marian and sang Somewhere That's Green but the girl who got the part auditioned with Part of Your World which I think was a bit low because our songs were by the same composer and even a bit melodically similar. Anyway, Canadian Drama Geek, I see your point about Pippin and I don't think Footloose sucks as a show but I do think it'd be too much of a bother to put on. Apparently, Bye Bye Birdie is the only originally suggested show left because OUaM and BAtB are too immature and Kiss Me, Kate is too mature. I think that, besides Bye Bye Birdie , the ones that would work are Fiddler on the Roof, Brigadoon, Oklahoma and Aida.

Never even noticed that about 'Somewhere That's Green' and 'Part Of Your World', but now the similarities are nagging at me.

Well, Bye Bye Birdie's a really sweet musical. I was in it once and I had a ball.

Your teacher has a really skewed sense of what's mature and what's not, though. He does know that high school students are exposed to far raunchier than half of the shows he's saying are inappropriate, right?

Fiddler On The Roof is a great idea, too, as well as Oklahoma!

Someone mentioned Titanic, as well; that could be a really cool and ambitious project. And it has a huge cast.

Actually, he is a she and I've managed to make her see the light about racy stuff so now she only won't allow it if it's overt and pervasive throughout like Hair, Rent, or Rocky Horror. All other rules still apply but it has to have a small cast and a fair amount of name recognition. I was thinking The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee but our local theater just did that so what about Company or You're A Good Man Charlie Brown? Any other ideas?

Sorry about that. In my original language, 'he' is a gender-neutral term as well as masculine. I didn't mean to presume.

You're A Good Man Charlie Brown does have a small cast, but I think a bit too small for a high school. It doesn't even have a chorus.

Company would be interesting, to see the least. I don't think I've ever heard of a high school doing that, maybe because of the adult material that students wouldn't be likely to convey in their time of life. But if you can go Sondheim, may I suggest Into The Woods? It's become a bit of a favourite in my theatre community, because it's challenging, fun, has box office draw, and a small-to-medium cast that can be expanded or doublecast, depending on how many people you have.

Also, stuff from Ahrens and Flaherty would work well. I love The Glorious Ones, for instance, and Once On This Island is flexible in so many ways in terms of casting and staging.

I was recently in a production of On The Town, an old timey Comden and Green piece which is, in a word, AWESOME.

Thank you for mentioning them because I don't know anything Ahrens and Flaherty except for Seussical which is a definite no. We actually have done Into the Woods last year and I unsuccessfully tried out for the Baker's Wife which she wouldn't give to a freshman. I actually know of high schools that have done Company, just not in my state. Also, none of your suggestions are as well known as what we've previously done; Guys and Dolls, Godspell, Into the Woods and The Music Man. She likes shows with good name recognition which I don't think those have enough of.