You would think so.

I don't think many school administrations would be too happy about the simulated onstage masturbation and sex, a same-sex kiss (in conservative regions of the US), and a song full of expletives either. Yeah, the school on 90210 did it, but that's television. I love SA, but it's just not realistic for a high school to put on and get away with. And any tame "school editions" would just be insulting and demeaning to the original meaning of the play.

^Exactly.

I'm taking some of these shows I know and putting them into two lists: high school, and college. If it's in the high school category, assume that a college could do them also, but not the other way around. I've also added a few titles.

High School
Aida
Camelot
Footloose
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Into the Woods
Jekyll and Hyde
Little Shop of Horrors
Oliver!
Urinetown
West Side Story


College
Cabaret
Chicago
A Chorus Line
Company
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Gypsy
Hair
Jesus Christ Superstar
My Fair Lady
Les Miserables
Oklahoma!
The Producers
Ragtime
Rent
Sweeney Todd


I will say there are a few I'm unsure about, such as Ragtime, Oklahoma, and Sweeney Todd since I've never seen any high school productions, but I imagine them a bit too difficult for a high school to pull off. There are issues of ethnicity as well as talent in Ragtime, Oklahoma apprently has content issues, and I just put Sweeney Todd in the college category because from what I gather it's one of Sondheim's harder shows. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

I'm also listing a few other shows to discuss, under where I think they fit:

High School:
Anything Goes
Beauty and the Beast
Cinderella

Any others?

I've seen/heard of many instances where high schools have pulled off Oklahoma! and Les Miserables beautifully.

...the characters are 13 years old. This is certainly no matter of "life experience". High school and college is just about the perfect age to do a show like Spring Awakening, actually. Very few people older than that would be believable onstage as junior high school kids.








I suppose it depends on where you live. Out here in California, schools tend to be much more liberal. A couple public high schools near me did productions of The Vagina Monologues, A Chorus Line, Cabaret and Hair without editing out the expletives and "questionable" content in the script or taming down anything, and nobody batted an eyelash.

I don't think that there are really any shows that are "inappropriate" for high schools in that sense. In most cases, it's more of a question of how difficult the material is. And with some shows, the characters' conflicts are directly tied in to being of a certain age - therefore, there is no way that any high schooler can be realistically expected to find authentic emotional connection. I have seen youth productions of Company and Follies that failed specifically for this reason.

I've seen some pretty stellar magnet schools perform Company and Gypsy where some of the performers blow me away! it all depends on the school and atmosphere.

I still disagree about Spring Awakening in high school. A Chorus Line, Cabaret, and Hair all include story lines/references revolving around sex, but in SA, it is actually being presented and SIMULATED on stage. I can imagine parental consent being a huge problem there, unless both the actors playing Wendla and Melchior are 18. Yes, high school aged actors (or very youthful looking college students) are the perfect age to perform the show but I just can't see a lot of high schools, unless they are EXTREMELY liberal or performing arts schools, taking a risk with the sex scene unless it was cut altogether.

I just feel that shows like Spring Awakening and Rent will always be more suited towards college-level theater, which has far less restrictions and regulations to worry about than high school. I guess we will have to agree to disagree.

But that goes without saying for just about any show. There are always going to be musicals that are and aren't suited to different high schools depending on the level of talent in the student body and how conservative the school is. The original post was specifically asking about which shows are appropriate for teenagers, not which shows are most likely to appeal to school administrators. And as far as I'm concerned, Spring Awakening is certainly not inappropriate. The sex scene could be staged in a whole variety of different ways. Depends on how imaginative the director is.

Keep Spring Awakening in the professional or college world. That's my stance on it.

The original post asked about "high schools," not "teenagers." There is a difference between high schools (an institution) and teenagers (the minors who attend class there). The two are similar issues when it comes to the abilities of the cast, but when it comes to content, that's another story. Whether or not a show is appropriate for high schools must necessarily encompass whether or not its content exceeds the limits that practically any administration would allow to be produced by the school. The question automatically eliminates anything but material that would be approved by the administrators.

There is no such thing as material that "practically any administration would allow to be produced." Even Grease, which is one of the most commonly produced shows among schools, was rejected by my cousin's school because of the sexual themes. And as other people have mentioned in this thread, the same thing has happened with Oklahoma. On the other hand... the local public high school near my home does The Vagina Monologues every single year for "V-Day". Many school administrators would never even think of allowing their students to do such a show. It all depends on the school and how conservative the area is.