Honestly Once Upon a Matress might be worse with Lady Larkin getting pregnant. But pregnancy not sex. I guess it just depends upon the community
Wonderful Town is another option that isn’t done that often and could work. Some terrific songs (Comden and Green and Bernstein). The cast recording from the 2003-4 Broadway revival is the best one to listen to, as Rosalind Russell in the original didn’t have a strong singing voice.
It always makes me shake my head when a community would be fine with murder and mayhem, but, oh heavens, any hint of sex is a no no. 8-|
I am a theatre mom and a director. Each summer, I direct a huge musical. This past summer, it was Hairspray. It is very true – don’t take it on unless you have enough diversity in your cast to convey the spirit and message of the show to the audience. MTI does allow you to use a letter in your playbill to apologize if you can’t find enough diversity and actors for those roles. But I would never do this show unless it could be cast correctly. However, I didn’t rely on who walked in the door for auditions (we had around 100!). I went out and found some of my cast…from posts on social media (invited one girl to audition from several songs she posted on Instagram), from area church and choir directors, from teachers…I put the word out and managed to find more than enough talent to fill those roles. But you have to be resourceful and go find your talent. I regularly attend middle school and high school productions in the area to scout great talent…and it has paid off in some amazing productions. That being said, our show sold out every show but one (Weeknight) and we had patrons who had no connection to any actor in the show come see the show 2 or 3 times!! It was a message that needed to be heard right now.
My D’s high school just did “James and the Giant Peach” and it was a sell out 6 of the 8 nights.
While I don’t think Urinetown is anywhere close to R rated, just the name alone is going to put off some families if they’re not familiar with the show. The town high school where I live did the show 2 years ago and attendance was down a bit from the previous year (Addams Family) and the following year (Seussical) - however, I don’t know if that was due to weather, timing (conflicts with sporting/other events for the school), or the show itself.
It’s not my favorite musical, but Mama Mia was a huge hit at S’s summer stock theater last year. Baby boomer and female audiences loved it. Costumes are a hoot.
OP here. I recently found out the play selection committee wants to do Mamma Mia. The royalties are very expensive and we are trying to figure out how to pay for it. This is for the summer of 2019. So glad it’s not another repeat of something we’ve already done.
Also found out the “other” theatre is doing Newsies next year. They have not announced the rest of their season yet.
Our theatre group was established in 1980. The “other” one has been here 10 years. They have a new state-of-the-art theatre and full-time directors. Our little group can barely compete. I am not an actor and only volunteer behind the scenes so I wouldn’t care if we dissolved our group and let the artistic folks just go to the other group. I would probably be banished if I were to suggest it. As with most groups, we have a board of directors, but all decisions are made by a small group of “old-timers” who are resistant to change.
Audiences can be really funny. My D’s high school did spelling bee her junior year. To avoid controversy, they changed the erection song to my unfortunate distraction, changed the curse words to things like “jeezy petes” and STILL managed to get complaints about the line, “I hear that she’s pro-choice, though still a virgin” Our director, bless her soul, wrote back, well the character is 12, so SHOULDN’T she be a virgin?! Ah, the Midwest… 
@onette a few years ago, a local summer theater company ran into that problem with Hairspray. They had an actor cast for the black male lead (forget the name? Corny Collins?). Then, a week before the show, the guy playing the lead had to drop out for some reason (not specified), but the woman that ran the company had to scramble to find a replacement.