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News & ArtsTuesday, December 15, 2009
Homo / News / Theater High School Musical
Posted by Dan Savage on Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 8:49 AM
The guy who runs the theater department at a high school in Massachusetts was worried that no one would audition for the school's fall musical because four of the lead roles were gay characters. He was wrong:
Peter Atlas always thought Concord-Carlisle Regional High School was open to diversity, but when he put out his casting call for the musical “Falsettos’’ he had doubts about the turnout. How many teenagers would audition for a show about two homosexual couples, a straight couple, and a 12-year-old boy? Dozens, he learned. When it came time to cast the seven-member ensemble, Atlas had his pick from among around 50 candidates from across the student body.
The bigots are blowing a gasket...
The play is actually about a family where the father leaves his wife and children to live with his homosexual lover. The family deals with the husband's flagrant sexual relationship with the other man, as well as their lesbian neighbors, along with a heavy doses of profanity and general perversion. The "musical's" songs include such gems as "My Father's a Homo" and "Four Jews in a Room Bitching" and "I'm Breaking Down." ... These activist school officials are pushing a depraved, pornographic piece of propaganda on kids, the main purpose of which is to normalize homosexuality and break down kids emotional barriers about it—s well as undermine the family.
Perhaps Concord-Carlisle should stick to more traditional high-school-musical fare. Like Carousel (domestic violence), Sweet Charity (prostitution), Cabaret (abortion), Guys and Dolls (gambling, binge drinking, premarital sex), Godspell (dirty hippies), Little Shop of Horrors (murder), Mame (sex, binge drinking, non-traditional family structures), Grease (sex, smoking, drinking), The Fantasticks (rape), Gypsy (child labor, stripping), West Side Story (gang violence, rape, murder)...
4
I remember Anything Goes (drinking, fornication, blasphemy) caused quite the stir with the God Squad at my high school.
5
"Break down kids emotional barriers"? What's that? Where can I get one, emotional barrier, NOT a kid......Christ you pervs.
7
At least they aren't attempting the Finn/Lapine grotesquerie A New Brain. That thing is an abomination.
9
Hey, murder, rape, domestic violence, binge drinking...those are all wholesome vices. It's the buttsecks that isn't!
10
Yeah, a lot of parents at my high school were into the idea of their kids engaging in a wholesome extra curricular. Like our performance of A Chorus Line. And Anything Goes. And South Pacific.
12
Four Jews in a room bitching
Four Jews in a room plot a crime
I'm bitching, he's bitching, they're bitching, we're bitching
Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch
Funny, funny, funny, funny
Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch all the time.
And that's the opening of the show. I saw it on Broadway when I was in High School and it is still one of the best shows I've ever seen. Good for this school for doing it.
Four Jews in a room plot a crime
I'm bitching, he's bitching, they're bitching, we're bitching
Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch
Funny, funny, funny, funny
Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch all the time.
And that's the opening of the show. I saw it on Broadway when I was in High School and it is still one of the best shows I've ever seen. Good for this school for doing it.
14
@4 Is that the same, "anything goes" that the blonde sings in the beginning of Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom?
17
@11 eric .. from what i remember from the movie maria's best friend anita ( rita moreno ) suffers a sexual assault at the hands of the jets when she tries to deliver a message to tony at doc's soda shop. doc interrupts the assault before penetration happens , but anita is traumatized and lies telling the group that bernardo has killed maria to prevent them from dating.
20
I love A New Brain. Beautiful music.
Falsettos isn't one I have dipped into, but it seems an odd choice for a high school theater.
Falsettos isn't one I have dipped into, but it seems an odd choice for a high school theater.
21
I love it. I'm so glad I'm from MA. And these MassResistance folks make me laugh my ass off. It's gotta be like two fat old men and their skanky wives in a basement somewhere, because I've never even heard of them.
22
We did Oliver! in my high school. Let's see, unwed mothers, child abuse, child abandonment, child labour, human trafficking, drinking, theft, prostitution, kidnapping, assault, and murder.
And I'm pretty sure there was some buttsecks going on in that workhouse, too. ("Please sir... I want some more!)
And I'm pretty sure there was some buttsecks going on in that workhouse, too. ("Please sir... I want some more!)
24
@8:
Or anything by Shakespeare for that matter. Guy was hornier than a pack of rabbits in a meadow in May; heck, he single-handedly coined about 1/4 of the euphemisms for genitals in modern English.
@11:
It happens late in the show, after Tony kills Bernardo during the rumble. Maria goes looking for him at Pops and runs into the Jets. There's a stage direction that involves several of the Jets holding Maria down, while the rest raise Baby John over her. They're about to lower him down on top of her when Pops comes in and puts the kibosh on the proceedings. Granted, it's pretty tame by contemporary standards, but the intent is unambiguous.
Or anything by Shakespeare for that matter. Guy was hornier than a pack of rabbits in a meadow in May; heck, he single-handedly coined about 1/4 of the euphemisms for genitals in modern English.
@11:
It happens late in the show, after Tony kills Bernardo during the rumble. Maria goes looking for him at Pops and runs into the Jets. There's a stage direction that involves several of the Jets holding Maria down, while the rest raise Baby John over her. They're about to lower him down on top of her when Pops comes in and puts the kibosh on the proceedings. Granted, it's pretty tame by contemporary standards, but the intent is unambiguous.
25
GAAAAH! @17 is totally correct: it's Anita in that scene NOT Maria.
I've only done the show, like three times. You'd think I'd remember a crucial detail like that...
I've only done the show, like three times. You'd think I'd remember a crucial detail like that...
27
Senior year of HS we did Man of La Mancha. Torture, gang rape, prostitution, assault, elder abuse, and (nobody expects the) Spanish Inquisition.
28
now dan don't be coy with your pretend surprise you know the homosexual agenda is enjoying great success and acceptance among kids these days they can be brainwashed into accepting anything and you have been very successful with your little homo 'hitler youth' movement
29
I worked at a summer stock one year doing The Full Monty and 7 Brides for 7 Brothers. There was an uproar from the conservative community about Monty because of the gay story line and the stripping, and not a peep about 7 Brides. We thought it was funny that they hated the show about community, doing whatever it takes for your family, overcoming the odds, etc. and loved the one about abducting women to force them to marry you and do your housework.
31
Presenting human vice in the context of the harm it does is educational and useful.
Glamorizing it and hiding the ill effects is propoganda that undermines society.
Glamorizing it and hiding the ill effects is propoganda that undermines society.
33
I challenge anyone to name a musical with themes/events that don't violate any of the commandments. I'll give you a dollar.
34
#14, no, that's a different "Anything Goes".
AnyTHING goes in, anyTHING goes out,
Fish, bananas, old pajamas,
Mutton, beef and trout!
When I was a freshman in high school we did "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". I played Dr. Spivey and got to talk about rape.
AnyTHING goes in, anyTHING goes out,
Fish, bananas, old pajamas,
Mutton, beef and trout!
When I was a freshman in high school we did "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". I played Dr. Spivey and got to talk about rape.
35
We did Carousel (depending on the version, also has attempted murder, as well as domestic abuse and hautnings), Mame and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor dreamcoat (murder, slavery, and in our version, gay porn hidden on stage)
38
I doubt there is a single musical in existence free from the influence of us godless liberal elites.
39
@36: Wrrrrrrrrong:
Jennyanydots: Sloth
The Rum Tum Tugger: Pride
Mungojerrie & Rumpelteazer: Theft
Bustopher Jones: Greed
Old Deuteronomy: Adultery
Growltiger: Wrath
Mr. Mistoffelees: Warlock
Jellylorum: Every sin possible
Jennyanydots: Sloth
The Rum Tum Tugger: Pride
Mungojerrie & Rumpelteazer: Theft
Bustopher Jones: Greed
Old Deuteronomy: Adultery
Growltiger: Wrath
Mr. Mistoffelees: Warlock
Jellylorum: Every sin possible
40
@30- My second high school did Equus. It's a great play for high school kids. We did Caucasian Chalk Circle, Metamorphosis, a bunch of Shakespeare... We didn't do musicals, the drama teacher was pretty strongly opposed to them. The chorus people got together a musical review one year because they wanted to sing show tunes.
My first high schools did South Pacific, Music Man, Pajama Game...etc.... South Pacific is a dirty piece of work.
@33- Jesus Christ Superstar
@36- Worshiping false idols.
My first high schools did South Pacific, Music Man, Pajama Game...etc.... South Pacific is a dirty piece of work.
@33- Jesus Christ Superstar
@36- Worshiping false idols.
41
Ya'll know entirely too much about musical theatre! I'm impressed, and I have two theatre degrees.
45
@22 Beat me to it- although I was in Oliver! in middle school, making all those adult themes even more glaring.
(And let me tell you, did I ever put the "fag" in Fagin!)
(And let me tell you, did I ever put the "fag" in Fagin!)
46
When I was teaching in an elementary school, we had the middle school come in and do an assembly where they were promoting their spring musical. It was Grease. With K-5th graders in the auditorium. I had a kid who was a little bit of a misbehaver but was still a nice kid. He walked up to me and asked me what a "Pussy Machine" was. That's what you get when the middle school music teacher is retiring and can get away with anything.
47
You haven't lived until you've seen five year olds in Grease singing:
It's a scream!
The chicks'll cream
at Greased Lightning.
It's a scream!
The chicks'll cream
at Greased Lightning.
51
@38:
That's not fair. You get to keep your dollar due to Sabbath breaking whenever there's a Saturday show.
That's not fair. You get to keep your dollar due to Sabbath breaking whenever there's a Saturday show.
52
Or you could do like my high school, and do David and Lisa (suicide), Man and Superman (atheistic themes, general Shaw-ism), Sweeney Todd (murder and cannibalism), Dark of the Moon (witchcraft, murder), It's a Wonderful Life (suicide, prostitution, theft)...it goes on and on.
Oh, and @48 - The Sound of Music has all the Nazi master-race stuff in it, gets very creepy in spots. And some right-wingers don't even like Mary Poppins (which I've never seen done by a school anyway) because Mary is magical, ergo, witchcraft.
Oh, and @48 - The Sound of Music has all the Nazi master-race stuff in it, gets very creepy in spots. And some right-wingers don't even like Mary Poppins (which I've never seen done by a school anyway) because Mary is magical, ergo, witchcraft.
54
I'm late to the game here, but I smell a Stranger road trip to check out this production. Way to go, school!
55
Theatre offends God because it isn't church. Church is meant to have a monopoly on singing and high-falutin' speechifying and make-believe.
56
I'm a gay and I love musicals and I really like Falsettos. Still, I cringe at the thought of a high school director choosing a story about adults having mid-life crises. Does he think Falsettos will engage his high school students because it reflects struggles they're going through? I suspect he always wanted to direct it, and he's using his position at the high school to fulfill that wish. The fact that so many students turned out demonstrates the thirst young performers have for something challenging and different, but will they get much out of it? Sadly, there is a lack of quality theatre written expressly for teenagers, which is why so many high schools often turn to safe, old chestnuts. I still don't like the choice of Falsettos; it is like having teenagers act in a stage play of Kramer vs. Kramer.
All that being said, I do like the fact that it is getting conservative panties in a bunch.
All that being said, I do like the fact that it is getting conservative panties in a bunch.
57
I went to Lexington High School, which is the next town over. My choral director was married tot he choral director and Concorde-Carlisle at the time. Those bigot will have no luck there at all. In 1979 Concord-Carlisle had an openly bi student who starred in Carousel as Billy.
These people have to face facts: same-sex marriage is legal in MA. The state government has already implicitly said that gay relationships are worthy of state protection and cultivation. They really just need to move.
These people have to face facts: same-sex marriage is legal in MA. The state government has already implicitly said that gay relationships are worthy of state protection and cultivation. They really just need to move.
61
@7 I love New Brain. I played piano for a three-week run in August, and it was a wonderful experience. One of a very few shows I've played that I think I could do 8 shows a week for months on end without wanting to shoot myself (that's very high praise from me).
64
The single most shocking thing about this whole story is the fact that there are people out there who haven't yet realized that, with very few exceptions, all theater (right along with all other forms of art) is basically about the stuff the right wing considers sinful. That's why it's so awesome; artists (writers, actors, musicians, painters, dancers, whatever) are naughty as hell.
If those old bigots ever actually bothered to read any of Shakespeare's works to the point of comprehension, we'd be seeing a right-wing crusade to have them struck from schools and burned.
If those old bigots ever actually bothered to read any of Shakespeare's works to the point of comprehension, we'd be seeing a right-wing crusade to have them struck from schools and burned.
65
OK, Fiddler on the Roof. It's about violating Traditions! left and right but not a single commandment.
Since we're reminiscing, my high school did that show. As I could both play the violin and act they cast me as the Fiddler, and I had to play that solo while trying to not fall off that fuckin' roof.
OK, Fiddler on the Roof. It's about violating Traditions! left and right but not a single commandment.
Since we're reminiscing, my high school did that show. As I could both play the violin and act they cast me as the Fiddler, and I had to play that solo while trying to not fall off that fuckin' roof.
66
@62 and @63: Actually, 7 Brides is based on the ancient Roman legend, the Rape of the Sabine Women, not a Biblical story. Which just helps to underline what a wholesome, sweet show it is. Oh, and @58 I mentioned 7 Brides way up at 29...WHY DIDN'T YOU READ MY ANECDOTE?? ::Single tear::
67
@66 - I assumed @62 was talking about Carousel, not 7 Brides...Carousel being the parable of the prodigal son, basically.
68
Yay! That more traditional high school musical fare sounds fun too when you put it like that. See? There's something for everyone here.
70
@69 I read Macbeth, Hamlet, R&J, Othello, Midsummer, and Twelfth Night before my junior year of high school in public schools in Colorado. And maybe I was just lucky, but all of the teachers who taught them did it pretty thoroughly, including all of the sex and murder and such. They may be hard to find, but there are still educators out there that believe that even the controversial parts of our cultural history are important.
71
@65 In Fiddler, Tevye lies to his wife about his dream -- that's bearing false witness, one of the 10 biggies. And I'm pretty sure you could interpret something about not honoring thy father and mother in there too, what with the running away with a gentile and all that. So I'm gonna go with it breaks 2 of them.
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