How Schools Are Evolving the Musical Tradition: Insights From Our Founder

How Schools Are Evolving the Musical Tradition: Insights From Our Founder

School life never stops moving or adapting, especially when it comes to creative pursuits and extracurricular activities. In this blog post, we reflect on the ways in which school musicals are changing and offer tips on putting on your own production from our Founder, Tom Kirkham.

In founding the School Musicals Company, we aimed to create musical theatre specifically for children. Then and now, we strive to tell engaging stories, write lovable songs and, most importantly, provide opportunities to involve as many students as possible.

Inclusivity is a fundamental part of our vision. Participating in a production has many benefits, so we believe schools should continuously look for ways to involve children and give them the chance to learn and grow through musical experiences.

How to pick the right production

The key is choosing a show that offers a wide variety of parts and doesn’t limit lines and time on stage to a handful of lead roles. While some disappointment always follows auditions, schools should do all they can to prevent students from feeling left out.

Everyone should get the chance to take part, no matter their learning profile, performing ability or level of confidence. Some popular musicals like Grease and Beauty and the Beast, timeless and iconic though they are, place enormous pressure on students to memorise no end of lines, lyrics, choreographies, costume changes and more.

While some will thrive here, it’s worth exploring alternatives designed with young performers in mind. Consider shows with balanced roles that allow more students to shine and explore characters for themselves rather than mimic famous performances.

Themes in popular shows, often originally written for adults, are also far from students’ frame of reference. We recommend choosing musicals for primary schools that speak to children and musicals for secondary schools that speak to teenagers, so performers can draw on their personal experiences.

It’s great to see more and more schools considering the size of their shows, too. Shorter productions have shorter rehearsals, where the ensemble can home in on key moments rather than practising tens of songs and dances for weeks on end, which can drain focus. Some of our own best musicals for schools are abridged versions of classic stories like The Wizard of Oz, which cuts back on scenes but keeps the magical sense of adventure.

Distributing more lines and offering more named parts can foster a sense of inclusion and take some of the weight off the lead performers. This makes all the difference to students’ sense of ownership of the show while also potentially lowering teachers’ stress levels!

We understand that running a school musical is a massive undertaking, especially as it’s often done outside of lessons. That’s why we give teachers as much guidance as we can about each show, including character profiles, line totals, staging suggestions, audition tips, singalong versions of every song, and even editable scripts to help you tailor to your cast.

We’ve also made it easier to choose your next project by listing our top ten musicals for schools. Look no further for popular musicals for high schools, middle schools, first schools and every school in between. Catchy, funny, junior, senior—we’ve got it all!

Expert insights

At the School Musicals Company, we’ve witnessed the transformative power of participating in musicals firsthand. Tom, our founder, who spent fifteen years as Head of Performing Arts and five years as a Stagecoach teacher, has seen it work wonders.

He says, “The growth in confidence through the rehearsal process, as well as the performances and the enjoyment of a shared endeavour with others, has been manifest each and every time. Any show that does this for children can rightly be called a success.”

Recognising musicals’ ability to educate as well as entertain, many schools are now evolving the tradition to offer students opportunities for self-expression, teamwork and personal growth by exploring a colourful range of themes and characters.

Theatre is a powerful way to unite a school community and provides the perfect opportunity for young performers to showcase their talents. For every child participating in one of our school productions, we want them to have fun, gain confidence, and develop a deeper understanding of themselves and their worth.