www.huffingtonpost.com: A parent who was "All Shook Up" about Elvis Presley songs in a high-school drama prompted educators to cancel the musical, deeming it too sexual. But the decision was reversed Thursday by administrators at the high school south of Salt Lake City.
The administrators at Herriman High School received permission from the copyright owners of "All Shook Up" to edit some of Presley's songs and make scene changes in the American jukebox musical that borrows from William Shakespeare.
5 comments:
This reminds me of my experience with my parents when doing my first High School Musical; "RENT". Unfamiliar with story and the true meaning of the play, and reason for its importance they were unhappy with the content and that we were allowed to do it as high school students. It containing drugs, aids, homosexuality, sex, etc...the main focus was LOVE, and how important it is to give and receive love no matter what you have and what your going through because ultimately, to love is why we've been put on this earth.
With all of that being said, I think the best way to measure a show, is to recognize its message, and to look at the good of the show and how it can impact lives, rather than the little worldly things that are in the mix of the true message. The arts are only reflections of our reality...do people not look at themselves in the mirror everyday before leaving the house for work, school, outings, etc.?
I think people are just starting to become absurd. It seems like everyone these days is finding everything offensive and we are having to go about our art form very carefully so as not to step on anyone's toes. Well, I say let the toes be stepped on. Theatre is an art form meant to challenge and raise questions. Sure, at some more elementary levels I can understand a filtering of some sort. But if that is to happen it should happen on the grounds of a younger and less understanding audience, not an argument over what some may find offensive at the high school level, especially when the argument is made by ignorant people not familiar with a common Shakespearean storyline.
I wonder if the same parent would have a problem with the play 'Twelfth Night' that ' All Shook Up', as the premise of a female crossdressing is the same. And does the parent have a problem with all of the other plays which feature characters crossdressing? And would anyone have noticed had the parent pointed it out. Sometimes, with things like this, I think that pointing it out is going to bring attention to an issue no one thought was an issue in the first place.
This is absolutely RIDICULOUS! But then again it's Utah. Is it bad that I'm not surprised it's Utah? Even if the play did suggest cross dressing in a homosexual way, what would be the problem? These parents seem to desire traditional and respectable plays. When I think of traditional and respectable, I think of Shakespeare. Every high school English student has studied Shakespeare. And yet, Shakespeare wrote about characters who cross dressed many times! Let's see, "Antony and Cleopatra," "The Merchant of Venice," "As You Like It." Even now, some of the most successful musicals and plays involve cross dressing. Do you remember "Les Miserables?" It was kind of just made into a major motion picture. This subject is everywhere in theatre, and it is admired by even the most conservative readers. Besides, theatre is a place where anyone can be anything. It is where ultimate freedom can thrive, and this high school has just put a cage around that freedom. But then again, it's Utah...
Thank God for Utah. My sensitive moral disposition is buoyed by the thought that even in the depravity of our once great nation, a lone voice of good wholesomeness and wholesome goodness may still quiet the permissive screech of the unwashed throng. I am heartened by the knowledge that lewd lyrical style and suggestive hips of Mr. Elvis are still recognized by some, even in these times, for what they are: an invitation straight to hell. What moral conviction, what impervious ethical fortitude are we expected to maintain in defense of these "artists" who question the very fabric of our sexuality? I mean, a girl dressing up as a boy? Next thing you know they'll be putting on "Tootsie!" I for one am immensely gratified that there are other folks out there who know right from wrong unequivocally, like me, because I do, know right from wrong, better than anyone else ever could.
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