Back to School: Season Planning (UK)

It’s back-to-school season, and you know what that means… time for students – and teachers – to learn! And what better way to learn than through the art of live theatre? As you’re planning your next school theatre season, take a look at these amazing Concord Theatricals plays and musicals, handily organised into categories focused on learning. No matter what you hope to learn this season, you’re sure to find some great ideas in this list!

Here’s a brief table of contents:

1. 1. Let’s Learn Exciting CHOREOGRAPHY
   2. Let’s Learn CLASSIC PLAYS
   3. Let’s Learn the Art of COMEDY
   4. Let’s Learn COSTUME DESIGN
   5. Let’s Learn to Work as an ENSEMBLE
   6. Let’s Learn HISTORY
   7. Let’s Learn LITERATURE
   8. Let’s Learn SET DESIGN
   9. Let’s Learn to SING in a Variety of Styles

1. Let’s Learn Exciting CHOREOGRAPHY

Get your bodies moving in a wide variety of dance styles, including tap, jazz, old-school rock ’n’ roll and traditional Broadway dance… plus Latin styles from Merengue to Reggaeton.

42nd Street by Harry Warren, Al Dubin, Michael Stewart, Mark Bramble and Bradford Ropes (Also available in a Youth Edition)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 7f, 6m + Ensemble)

A Chorus Line: Teen Edition by Michael Bennett, James Kirkwood, Nicholas Dante, Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban (Original Edition also available) 
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 9f, 10m)

Anything Goes (2022 Revision) by Cole Porter, P.G. Wodehouse, Guy Bolton, Howard Lindsay, Russel Crouse, Timothy Crouse and John Weidman (Also available in a Youth Edition)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 3f, 4m + Ensemble)

Chicago: Teen Edition by John Kander, Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 10f, 9m)

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie: Teen Edition by Tom MacRae, Dan Gillespie Sells and Jonathan Butterell
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 8f, 17m)

Footloose by Tom Snow, Dean Pitchford, Walter Bobbie, Eric Carmen, Sammy Hagar, Kenny Loggins and Jim Steinman (Also available in a 90-Minute Version and Youth Edition) 
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 7f, 8m + Ensemble)

Shake, Ripple & Roll: A Rock and Roll Musical by David Perkins and Jenifer Toksvig
(Short Musical, Comedy / 5f, 5m)

2. Let’s Learn CLASSIC PLAYS

These classics from the Great Theatrical Canon range from heartbreaking family dramas to chilling mysteries to raucous comedies. Some are ancient, some are new, and some are spooky!

Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4f, 9m)

An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3f, 4m)

Blood Brothers (Play Version) by Willy Russell
(Short Play, Drama / 3f, 5m, 5 any gender)

Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand and Martin Crimp
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4f, 10m)

Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht, translated by Eric Bentley (also available in translation by David Hare)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5f, 18m)

Private Lives by Noël Coward
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3f, 2m)

The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Bentley, trans.) by Bertolt Brecht, translated by Eric Bentley
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 14f, 39m, 4 any gender)

The Homecoming by Harold Pinter
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 1f, 5m)

The Ghost Train (Revised) by Arnold Ridley
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4f, 5m)

The Stepmother by Githa Sowerby
(Full-Length Play / 5f, 4m)

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill and Stephen Mallastratt
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2m, 1 any gender)

Three Sisters (Ruhl) by Sarah Ruhl, adapted from Anton Chekhov
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5f, 9m)

The Marvel Spotlight Series: Mirror of Most Value: A Ms. Marvel Play, Hammered: A Thor & Loki Play and Squirrel Girl Goes to College: A Squirrel Girl Play

3. Let’s Learn the Art of COMEDY

Comedy is possibly the world’s favourite art form, and every good actor must learn to master it. Hone your comic skills by presenting one of these riotous laugh-fests, either traditional or contemporary.

A Chorus of Disapproval by Alan Ayckbourn
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 6f, 7m)

Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 5f, 2m)

Done to Death by Fred Carmichael
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 8f, 8m)

Fools by Neil Simon
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3f, 7m)

Ken Ludwig’s Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood by Ken Ludwig
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2f, 6m)

Nice Work If You Can Get It: Teen Edition by George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin and Joe DiPietro (Original Version also available)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 5f, 5m)

SHEWOLVES by Sarah Middleton
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2f)

The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow and John Buchan (also available in Abridged and Even More Abridged versions)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 1f, 1m, 2 any gender)

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 6f, 4m, 9 girls, 8 boys)

The History Boys by Alan Bennett
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 1f, 11m)

The Odd Couple by Neil Simon (also available in a Female Version)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2f, 6m)

The Shakespeare Conspiracy by Andrew Shepherd
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 8f, 8m)

2016 Playwrights Realm production of The Wolves (Daniel Velasquez)

4. Let’s Learn COSTUME DESIGN

Gorgeous gowns and tuxes, playful period designs and colourful creations of unlimited imagination… these shows will provide your costume team with plenty of inspiration!

Anastasia: The Musical by Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (also available in a Youth Edition)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 4f, 5m, 1 girl + Ensemble)

Hello, Dolly! by Michael Stewart, Jerry Herman and Thornton Wilder
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 5f, 4m + Ensemble)

Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn by Irving Berlin, Gordon Greenberg and Chad Hodge
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 3f, 3m, 1 boy + Ensemble)

Mirror of Most Value: A Ms. Marvel Play (Marvel Spotlight) by Masi Asare
(Short Play, Drama / 8f, 4m, 10 any gender)

Mr. Burns, a post-electric play by Anne Washburn and Michael Friedman
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 5f, 3m)

Murder on the Nile by Agatha Christie
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5f, 8m)

Once Upon a Mattress by Mary Rodgers, Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller and Marshall Barer (also available in a Youth Edition)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 4f, 7m + Ensemble)

Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Broadway Version) by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II and Douglas Carter Beane (also available in Original, Enchanted or Youth Edition)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 5f, 4m + Ensemble)

She Kills Monsters: Young Adventurers Edition by Qui Nguyen (Original Version also available)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 6f, 3m)

The Grinning Man by Carl Grose, Tom Morris, Tim Philips and Marc Teitler
(Full-Length Musical, Dark Comedy / 5f, 7m)

The SpongeBob Musical by Stephen Hillenburg, Kyle Jarrow, Tina Landau, Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Panic! At the Disco, Plain White T’s, They Might Be Giants, T.I., David Bowie, Tom Kenny, Andy Paley and Tom Kitt (also available in a Youth Edition)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 16 any gender)

5. Let’s Learn to Work as an ENSEMBLE

Teamwork is the key to any successful theatre program. Here’s a variety of plays and musicals that will encourage your cast and crew to work together in harmony.

A Charlie Brown Christmas by Charles M. Schulz, Bill Melendez, Lee Mendelson and Eric Schaeffer 
(Short Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 5f, 5m, 1 any gender +Ensemble)

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3f, 8m)

Clue: The Musical by Peter DePietro, Galen Blum, Wayne Barker, Vinnie Martucci and Tom Chiodo
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 3f, 5m)

Dreamland by Chris Miller and Nathan Tysen
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 4f, 4m, 18 any gender)

Flies by Charlie Josephine
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 7f, 1m)

How To Eat Like a Child by Delia Ephron, John Forster and Judith Kahan
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 30 any gender, Flexible Cast Size)

Kodachrome by Adam Szymkowicz (also available in a One-Act Version)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 3f, 2m)

Marian, or The True Tale of Robin Hood: Teen Edition by Adam Szymkowicz
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 4f, 4m, 6 any gender)

Middletown by Will Eno
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 6f, 6m)

Snoopy!!! (Original) by Charles M. Schulz, Larry Grossman, Hal Hackady, Warren Lockhart, Arthur Whitelaw and Michael L. Grace (London Version and The World According to Snoopy also available)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 3f, 3m, 1 any gender +Ensemble)

Teechers Leavers 22 by John Godber
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2f, 1m)

The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 10f)

Twelfth Night by Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 4f, 7m +Ensemble)

You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown (Revised) by Charles M. Schulz, Clark Gesner, Michael Mayer and Andrew Lippa (Original Version also available)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 2f, 4m +Ensemble)

2022 Mayflower Theatre production of The Lightning Thief (Stuart Marti)

6. Let’s Learn HISTORY

These plays and musicals capture real-world events, both the small moments and the seismic occurrences, and bring them to life onstage. Encourage your actors to learn more about the world by researching the stories explored in these compelling stage works.

26 Pebbles by Eric Ulloa
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4f, 2m)

A Piece of My Heart by Shirley Lauro
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 6f, 1m)

Anatomy of Gray by Jim Leonard Jr.
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5f, 4m)

Decision Height by Meredith Dayna Levy
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 9f)

Elephant’s Graveyard (One-Act Version) by George Brant
(Short Play, Drama / 3f, 10m)

I, Joan by Charlie Josephine
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4f, 6m, 1 any gender)

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!: Youth Edition by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II
(Short Musical, Comedy / 4f, 5m)

Pandemonium (A Greek Myth-Adventure) by David Perkins and Jenifer Toksvig
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 4f, 7m, 10 boys or girls)

Picasso at the Lapin Agile by Steve Martin
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2f, 7m)

SIX: TEEN EDITION by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy)

The Elephant Man by Bernard Pomerance
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2f, 6m)

7. Let’s Learn LITERATURE

Here’s a category to make your English department happy! These plays and musicals are all adapted from works of literature, from Greek classics to contemporary youth fiction. Spark an interest in reading – in your cast and in your audience – by presenting a great show based on a great book.

Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2f, 5m)

James and the Giant Peach by David Wood and Roald Dahl
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2f, 4m)

Ken Ludwig’s The Three Musketeers by Ken Ludwig
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 4f, 8m)

Ken Ludwig’s Treasure Island by Ken Ludwig and Robert Louis Stevenson
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2f, 9m)

Private Peaceful (Ensemble Version) by Michael Morpurgo and Simon Reade (One Actor version and Smaller Ensemble version also available)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5f, 14m)

Shakespeare in Love (High School Edition) by Lee Hall, Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard (Original version also available)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 6f, 18m)

Skellig by David Almond
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4f, 6m)

Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ The Musical by Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 3f, 3m, 1 girl, 3 boys)

The Boy Who Kicked Pigs by Tom Baker, Clem Garritty, Natasha Hodgson, Zoe Roberts, Oliver Jones and David Cumming
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 2f, 2m)

The Canterville Ghost (Kelly) by Tim Kelly and Oscar Wilde
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 14f, 6m)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon and Simon Stephens
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 5f, 5m)

The Good Doctor by Neil Simon
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2f, 3m)

The Happy Prince by Caroline Dooley, David Perkins and Oscar Wilde
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 4f, 8m, 4 boys or girls)

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Eamonn O’Dwyer and Helen Watts
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 8f, 10m)

The Lightning Thief by Joe Tracz, Rob Rokicki and Rick Riordan
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 7 any gender + Ensemble)

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster and Susan Nanus
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 19 any gender)

The Worst Witch by Emma Reeves, Jill Murphy and Luke Potter
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 10f)

Tuck Everlasting: Theatre For Young Audiences Edition by Claudia Shear, Tim Federle, Chris Miller, Nathan Tysen and Natalie Babbitt
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 3f, 6m, 1 girl + Ensemble)

2015 5th Avenue Theatre production of Jasper in Deadland (Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade)

8. Let’s Learn SET DESIGN

Some are whimsical and filled with magic, some are dark and filled with dread. Two are set on a boat, and one requires some strategically placed doors for hilariously rapid-fire stage business. These plays and musicals will undoubtedly inspire your set design team to create their most impressive work.

Alice in Wonderland (Bradfield) by Poltergeist Theatre, Jack Bradfield and Gerel Falconer
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3f, 2m)

Amélie: Teen Edition by Craig Lucas, Daniel Messé and Nathan Tysen
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 5f, 7m, 1 girl + Ensemble)

Irving Berlin’s White Christmas by Irving Berlin, David Ives and Paul Blake
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 5f, 6m, 1 girl + Ensemble)

Jasper in Deadland by Hunter Foster and Ryan Scott Oliver
(Full-Length Musical, Dark Comedy / 4f, 5m)

Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me A Tenor by Ken Ludwig
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 4f, 4m)

The Secret Garden by Marsha Norman, Lucy Simon and Frances Hodgson Burnett (Spring Version also available)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 10f, 12m, 1 girl, 1 boy + Ensemble)

The Wizard of Oz: Youth Edition by L. Frank Baum, Harold Arlen, E. Y. Harburg and Herbert Stothart (RSC Version also available)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 3f, 5m, 16 any gender)

Titanic by Peter Stone and Maury Yeston (Also available in a flexible cast-sized Ensemble Version)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 14f, 23m)

Yo, Vikings! by Sam Willmott and Marcus Stevens
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 6f, 8m +Ensemble)

9. Let’s Learn to SING in a Variety of Styles

There’s more than one way to sing in a musical, and these shows feature music of all styles. Inspire your cast to sing in a new form – from operetta, traditional Broadway and early rock ’n’ roll to bluegrass, modern rock and contemporary musical theatre.

As You Like It (Taub) by Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 5f, 6m)

Be More Chill by Joe Iconis, Joe Tracz and Ned Vizzini
(Full Length Musical, Comedy / 4f, 6m + Ensemble)

Bye Bye Birdie by Michael Stewart, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams (also available in a Youth Edition)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 6f, 5m + Ensemble)

Carrie: The Musical by Michael Gore, Dean Pitchford, Lawrence D. Cohen and Stephen King
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 5f, 2m + Ensemble)

Crazy For You® by George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin and Ken Ludwig (also available in a Youth Edition)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 3f, 4m + Ensemble)

Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun by Irving Berlin, Herbert Fields, Dorothy Fields and Peter Stone
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 3f, 6m, 2 girls, 1 boy + Ensemble)

Kiss Me, Kate (Revised 1999) by Cole Porter, Sam Spewack and Bella Spewack
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 3f, 7m + Ensemble)

Rock of Ages: Teen Edition by Chris D’Arienzo (also available in a Youth Edition)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 11f, 9m, 10 any gender)

The Sound Of Music by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse (also available in a Youth Edition)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 7f, 4m, 5 girls, 2 boys + Ensemble)

Zombie Prom by John Dempsey, Dana P. Rowe, Mac Tumminelli and Hugh M. Murphy (also available in a one-hour Atomic Edition)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 5f, 5m)

Header Image: 2021 Notre Dame High School at Theatre Deli Sheffield production of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie: Teen Edition (Tristram Kenton)