Judith Prior Musicals Popular with Schools
Judith Prior’s What’s New Pussycat World Premiere.
The Blue Mountains College in West Otago New Zealand staged the World Premiere of Judith Prior’s What’s New Pussycat in February. The jukebox musical based on the story of Puss in Boots was a hit. Director Vicki Crawford chose it because of the large number of parts including acting only roles and the availability of a CD backing track. Student Shani Hayes who pioneered the lead of Puss reports.
We had a lot of fun putting on What’s New Pussycat. There were big roles and small roles with just singing or just acting to tailor to everyone’s needs. From the moment we heard the storyline we all knew the part we wanted for ourselves.
On the first night of rehearsals we sat down and sang through the soundtrack; from the beginning we all sung loud and got into it because they were the songs we knew and loved.
The characters had such quirky personalities that it made the show entertaining and made acting them fun and challenging.
As there were so many dance numbers and different roles both big and small we all got a chance to shine, stand out and feel important. We all supported each other when we forgot our lines or did the wrong move.
When it came time to perform the show just came alive for us all with the audience laughing, clapping and singing along. So many people approached us after the show and said how much they enjoyed it and it was the best show they’d seen yet. Hearing comments like that made us feel proud.
Rockin’ Robin
Ben Lohrey directed Rockin’ Robin at Burnie High School in Tasmania and is currently in rehearsal for What’s New Pussycat.
Having previously tackled musical productions that have an original score, Rockin’ Robin marked our first foray into the world of the “jukebox musical”. We were attracted to the musical because of the terrific score that contains many very well-known and catchy musical numbers from the 50s, 60s and 70s. This, coupled with a very humorous script, strong lead roles for both males and females and the scope for the inclusion of a very large ensemble (we had 120 ) made Rockin’ Robin the ideal choice for our 2011 whole school production.
It was our most successful musical to date. The cast and the band loved working with the musical score and audiences loved the story, the characters, the witty dialogue and the big production numbers.
Based on the success of Rockin Robin, we had no hesitation in jumping at the chance to secure the rights to the new Judith Prior musical What’s New Pussycat for our 2013 show and we are very much looking forward to our season in September.
Kookaburra Kids
Judith Prior has released a new musical for middle school or primary students, Kookaburra Kids.
Students at an Australian holiday camp discover that the local Mayor plans to close the camp and redevelop the site.
Using social media and the good old bush telegraph they launch a campaign against this.
Music includes traditional songs such as Kookaburra sits in the old Gumtree and I am an Australian.
Click here for more information anbout Judith Prior's musicals.