I've learned a LOT through this whole process, like: make sure you give your kids plenty of time to learn their parts, only pick kids for speaking parts that are going to actually learn them, take time to go to the stage and hash things out. Things that seem like common sense but just seemed to fall by the wayside.
Since then, we just finished up 2 more musicals (I promise I'm not trying to torture myself, I actually enjoy it even though I have no choice). The 3rd and 4th grade classes that I had this past quarter worked on "Go West!," a musical about westward expansion in the US. Although waay too long (we cut 3 of the 7 songs), it had some really catchy songs that the kids loved and our parts were SO much more prepared. That said, it still had a lot to go before I'd want to charge admission :P
The 1st and 2nd grade classes worked on an adaptation of Carnival of the Animals. Again, we pared it way down since we only had about 8 hrs total (once a week for 45 min-1 hr) to prepare but I was so proud of them. They worked really hard and they were so cute!
This quarter will be even better!!! I found a couple of musicals in the state text books that are much better suited to our time frame. 3rd and 4th grade will be working on Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. while 1st and 2nd grade are doing Suessical the Musical Jr. I go home every day with some silly song about Interplanet Janet or green eggs and ham stuck in my head. I'm willing to suffer through though because the kids love it. They ask everytime if we are going to keep working on it.
I will be back soon with more details, pictures and ideas :)
