Which would you direct?

I would prefer to direct something fresh like Floyd Collins - but only you know for sure if an unknown title will sell tickets.




Just a guy in Texas who loves movies. 

Sweeney Todd is that is the only one out of the 4 shows that I am family with an have seen

I have not seen Floyd but love the music. True, it a little more unknown.

I don't see that the size of the orchestra really affects how one will direct Sweeney Todd, unless one wants to recreate John Doyle's staging (in which case they'd be copying rather than directing their own production). You can do a more traditional production of Sweeney Todd with your own vision and do it with a large orchestra if you can afford it, or a small one if that's all you can get.

Out of curiosity, this seems like an interesting list. Why these four in particular?

There were many more musicals on our list. The 4 above were the ones from the remaining list that I was particularly interested in directing. Anyway, the community theatre chooses 3 plays and 2 musicals. Ultimately they decided on SWEENEY and Hunchbach of Norte Dame (Disney) for the 2 musicals. The theatre is outdoors and we perform shows in front of a barn as the back wall. The theatre typically chooses one small cast musical and 1 large cast musical each year. I guess I misspoke in my original post. I should have said SMALL CAST VS. LARGE CAST as opposed to orchestra size. Although, outdoors is more conducive to a large orchestra rather than the limited space in the barn. With the small cast shows, we can easily take the show indoors where there is an alternate set during inclement weather. With the large cast musicals we just "eat" the royalty cost for that performance and cancel if it rains. So, our SWEENEY was chosen as the smaller show/smaller cast. I would rather have a large cast as well as a larger (not necessarily huge) orchestra that we can accommodate better outdoors. I think I have our board convinced that I can draw large enough crowds to compensate for any shows we would have to cancel due to rain.... There were also some on the committee that, unlike me, like the rival concept of stylized setting, insane asylum, using buckets of red liquid poured to simulate throats slashing. Plus the orchestrations were neutered in the revival and Sweeney is the last character that should be neutered. I can explain myself better than this, but that would require a longer post going in a different direction.... Another thought, I want to collaborate with the opera community at our University. I like the idea of bringing some young talent from opera students as well as getting their departments collaborative take.

I guess I can understand that, but I'll repeat: there is no small version of Sweeney Todd. When your theatre licenses the material, they will just get the show as written. The asylum setting, the buckets of blood, the smaller cast, the reduced orchestra... that was all part of John Doyle's directorial concept. To my knowledge, you can't license someone else's direction. This doesn't mean that you can't find a way to do a smaller, chamber sized production of the show. The York Theatre revival from the 80s did that, too. But I think it's probably important for your board to know that if they ask you to straight up do John Doyle's production it will technically be intellectual property theft. You sound like a creative director. Especially if you didn't care for Doyle's revival, probably better to come up with your own way of doing it on a smaller scale.

You are correct. There is not a revival version nor even a revised script or revised orchestrations I do believe there is some confusion with some play selection committee members. I think all of it was spearheaded by a guy on the play selection committee who offered Sweeney as a choice... The only staging he saw was a natl tour of a production with Doyle's staging. Thus, he kept "selling" it with that concept in mind. Yes, I would like to do something a bit more grander, but more importantly, make it our own rather than a duplication of either the Revival or original staging. Thanks!

You are correct. There is not a revival version nor even a revised script or revised orchestrations I do believe there is some confusion with some play selection committee members. I think all of it was spearheaded by a guy on the play selection committee who offered Sweeney as a choice... The only staging he saw was a natl tour of a production with Doyle's staging. Thus, he kept "selling" it with that concept in mind. Yes, I would like to do something a bit more grander, but more importantly, make it our own rather than a duplication of either the Revival or original staging. Thanks!