The day the music died.

[bewitched]

That sucks Moonie! God forbid kids be allowed to expand their minds or anything...

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis

The pendulum swings. Back in 1980 when we did Woody Allen's "God," we had to change lines like "What if the message is 'Does the queen have the clap?'" to 'Does the queen have a social disease?' And so on. Another kid wanted to do a scene from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" but was not allowed to. A decade later, our drama teacher was receiving awards for student-written productions dealing with AIDS and other teen issues.

Apparently the pendulum has swung back.

I also recall in our day, such "reworked" lines had ways of slipping back in during performance night - oops

[flippyshark]

I went to a concert put on by Disney cast members - (the group is called Encore, and they do some incredibly nice musical concerts) - and in this particular case, they did a medley from RENT. Disney cast activities demands that such events be family friendly, so it was with some amusement that I listened to their rendition of La Vie Boheme, and heard the memorable substitution of "Cinderellabration" in place of "mucho masturbation."

[Morrigoon]

And to think, my high school did Cabaret and Hair. Okay, toned down versions, but in the end, we're still talking about shows with acid dropping and lines like "Each and every one... a virgin".

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I'll never forget the anger I felt when my high school friends were censored in their performance of "Working". My friend's monologue, in which his character fantasizes about strangling his coworkers (who hasn't??) had whole sentences cut down to grunts and hand gestures. It was a short while past Columbine and any concept of violence was verboten.

[The Lovely Mrs. tod]

Originally Posted by flippyshark

I went to a concert put on by Disney cast members - (the group is called Encore, and they do some incredibly nice musical concerts) - and in this particular case, they did a medley from RENT. Disney cast activities demands that such events be family friendly, so it was with some amusement that I listened to their rendition of La Vie Boheme, and heard the memorable substitution of "Cinderellabration" in place of "mucho masturbation."

I haven't laughed this hard in WEEKS! Seriously!

[Strangler Lewis]

That's what our teacher did with "God." She found a less offensive synonym.

[Moonliner]

The Plot Thickens...

Here is the official response on this issue:

The admin. was under the impression that Chicago was a student version of the show. Once it was found that it wasn't, a peer review of the script was conducted and their comments communicated to the director. Since Jessica received an "official" denial in writing (e-mail) from the rights holder that no changes can be made, it was deemed that there was no option but to cancel the show than to allow it to continue in its original form.

So I have two targets. The "peer review board" and Samuel French
I'm also going to start digging for a student version of the play.

Does anyone have any experience with Samuel French?

[Morrigoon]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

I'll never forget the anger I felt when my high school friends were censored in their performance of "Working". My friend's monologue, in which his character fantasizes about strangling his coworkers (who hasn't??) had whole sentences cut down to grunts and hand gestures. It was a short while past Columbine and any concept of violence was verboten.

That whole bit must have been cut out of our version (what replaced Into The Woods when the Northridge Earthquake sidelined our first read-thru. Stupid Working). Then again, I only really remember the housewife (my part) the waitress (part I auditioned for), the person whining about Guantanamera as elevator music, and I think a trucker?

[alphabassettgrrl]

That sucks, Moonie. A week to go????

Glad you're raising a stink about the censorship!