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Wednesday, October 19, 2022
N.J. high school reverses decision to cancel production of musical ‘The Prom’ after backlash
nj.com: The show will in fact go on at Cedar Grove High School after school officials backtracked on a plan to cancel a student production of the “The Prom,” a musical about a lesbian student who wants to bring her girlfriend to her school prom.
This story really does prove that art mirrors life as the plot of the prom goes down but instead of the school board beginning a prom they are banning “The Prom”. This show is one of great importance to me as even though it can be campy at times The Prom tells a story of what happens when a community bands together to support a common cause . School boards censoring shows in a high school setting is a common phenomenon, however the fact that the school board censored a show that deals with LGBT representation and is targeted to be produced both by and for teenagers is something I take issue with. I am glad a high school version of this show has been developed so this issue will not happen in the future. Though I am familiar with this show and its themes I had no idea that The Prom was directly based on a true story and I look forward to reading about this show's inspiration. Theo
Heck yeah high school version of The Prom! It’s quite obvious from this article (and some skimming I’ve done on social media) that the initial reason for not wanting to put up the show was because of homophobia. I am glad it seems like the district is passed that or is going past it. I can see how a high school version of The Prom is welcomed. The show itself is more under the “PG-13” musical category, but I do remember a fair amount of sex jokes and such that do not really affect the show if they are taken off. My bigger question is if that is going to open up the possibility of altering the story. I can imagine the process of adjusting a musical for a high school version involves the approval of the publishing house/writers so that the plot remains as close to the original as possible, but still.
I honestly do not know what needed to be edited out of the prom to make it a high school version… when it was performed at the Alliance theatre in GA, I believe they did student matinees and it was actually very popular amongst the local high schools to go see it in groups. This article is also missing the fact that the school board reversed their decision after actors from the Alliance theatre and Broadway version posted it to their stories and started efforts to petition the school board. It was a wild mirror image of the prom to watch occur in real life. Unfortunately it did not surprise me that this incident occurred because there is so much homophobia and hatred that is rampent in this country. I truly hope plays like the Prom continue to be produced and seen by the youth of this country so we can continue to build a better future for all. I hope those kids have an amazing time building a prom.
I am very confused as to how this New Jersey school managed to license the show without knowing that it had what they claim to be “inappropriate themes”. At my high school, for our student led production, we had to put together a presentation for any show we wanted to do, including reasons why any material such as language or sexual jokes could be changed to something family friendly, or weren’t that bad. I know that we also had to do that for our non student run productions. We didn’t even announce what shows we were doing until all of that process had been completed and we paid for our rights. I am glad the show is getting performed, but I really hope it was not only because of the public backlash the school received. In stories like these, I always hope that the backlash actually caused the board to reexamine what they truly considered to be “inappropriate themes”, but I doubt it. If I hear another story about this same board withholding another show that their students chose for a less-than-stellar reason, I’ll be very disappointed.
It is always interesting to hear about school officials canceling productions that their theatre department or club is putting on, especially the reasoning behind the cancellation of the productions. And it definitely seems odd that this school’s reasoning was as vague as just saying the “themes” of “The Prom” was why they were canceling it. Especially when they approved it going on after protests from the students and finding out that there was a high school version of the show that has been released. I am just not sure that the whole situation should have even happened to be honest. But school officials will do what they do, which includes canceling productions for very obvious reasons but giving vague ones when asked and reversing their decision as soon as someone calls them on it.
Disappointing, but not super surprising. While not explicitly mentioned, it seems like the main issue the school had with this production was its positive representation of the LGBTQ+ community and the process of advocating for yourself. How ironic that that is what needed to take place in the process of putting on this production! I actually feel like this show is a great choice for a high school, much better than the popular Les Miz or Next to Normal or other heavy, adult productions where the issues may not seem as immediate or relevant as contemporary ones in The Prom do. I haven’t seen the production, but high schools all have Proms, and it seems very relatable. And Grease and Heathers and other high school aged productions have been done time and time again. I’m glad this article is out showing the sticky situation this school got into, and I’d be curious to see what came from it.
I don’t know the musical The Prom very well. I have only seen the Netflix movie, so I have no idea what would need to be changed for a high school production. If it’s just like inappropriate language like they say fuck a couple times and that was deemed inappropriate, then I understand that. I think it’s silly to let high school students swear on stage. They are definitely swearing and probably saying much more crass things during their lunch period. I am of two minds when it comes to junior versions of particularly raunchy musicals. On one side I thinks shows like Chicago and Heathers are so “adult” that it’s not worth to put them on if you have to sanitize them to meet district standards and that maybe these are just shows you don’t do in high school. On the other side, kids see and do worse online, let them do shows about murdering their husbands and having premarital sex. Either way, if you’re going to let students select the show they do, someone should probably be vetting their choices before they go through the process because having to cancel a production is just not a good look that says either we’re incompetent or homophobic.
This article is such an important one to discuss when talking specifically about censorship and political ideologies in the classroom. A big thing happening in the political world, alongside abortion rights, is the mulitple variations of the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill, a legal document that would expel the teaching, reference, and hence attendance of LGBTQ books, movies, teachers, etc. in the classroom. This bill was a republican presented bill, and it really goes to show how unwelcoming the right is to queer people as a whole. The bill bars the teaching or even dialogue of queerness within the classroom, and majorly stunts a students ability to understand their own identities, while simultaneously painting a negative image of being LGBTQ. By cancelling a production of a queer production, the school was inherently giving way to homophobic ideologies about queer content in schools, and they honestly deserved the backlash for following such hypocritical fallacies.
It’s crazy that a musical that is literally about this kind of censorship and disinclusion at a high school would be canceled at a high school for the same reason. It sounds like they were more concerned about language and certain content, which may not be referring to the LGBT themes of the show, since they are willing to do the junior version, but it still seems strange to me, especially since The Prom is a very family-friendly show. I love that these high school students chose it and feel represented by it, and it’s really sad to think they could’ve been deprived of this experience. There definitely is something bigger going on, shown by the controversy about the gender identity survey. Coming from Florida where there is similar oppression happening due to the Don’t Say Gay bill, it’s disheartening to see hatred being spread.
9 comments:
This story really does prove that art mirrors life as the plot of the prom goes down but instead of the school board beginning a prom they are banning “The Prom”. This show is one of great importance to me as even though it can be campy at times The Prom tells a story of what happens when a community bands together to support a common cause . School boards censoring shows in a high school setting is a common phenomenon, however the fact that the school board censored a show that deals with LGBT representation and is targeted to be produced both by and for teenagers is something I take issue with. I am glad a high school version of this show has been developed so this issue will not happen in the future. Though I am familiar with this show and its themes I had no idea that The Prom was directly based on a true story and I look forward to reading about this show's inspiration.
Theo
Heck yeah high school version of The Prom! It’s quite obvious from this article (and some skimming I’ve done on social media) that the initial reason for not wanting to put up the show was because of homophobia. I am glad it seems like the district is passed that or is going past it. I can see how a high school version of The Prom is welcomed. The show itself is more under the “PG-13” musical category, but I do remember a fair amount of sex jokes and such that do not really affect the show if they are taken off. My bigger question is if that is going to open up the possibility of altering the story. I can imagine the process of adjusting a musical for a high school version involves the approval of the publishing house/writers so that the plot remains as close to the original as possible, but still.
I honestly do not know what needed to be edited out of the prom to make it a high school version… when it was performed at the Alliance theatre in GA, I believe they did student matinees and it was actually very popular amongst the local high schools to go see it in groups. This article is also missing the fact that the school board reversed their decision after actors from the Alliance theatre and Broadway version posted it to their stories and started efforts to petition the school board. It was a wild mirror image of the prom to watch occur in real life. Unfortunately it did not surprise me that this incident occurred because there is so much homophobia and hatred that is rampent in this country. I truly hope plays like the Prom continue to be produced and seen by the youth of this country so we can continue to build a better future for all. I hope those kids have an amazing time building a prom.
I am very confused as to how this New Jersey school managed to license the show without knowing that it had what they claim to be “inappropriate themes”. At my high school, for our student led production, we had to put together a presentation for any show we wanted to do, including reasons why any material such as language or sexual jokes could be changed to something family friendly, or weren’t that bad. I know that we also had to do that for our non student run productions. We didn’t even announce what shows we were doing until all of that process had been completed and we paid for our rights. I am glad the show is getting performed, but I really hope it was not only because of the public backlash the school received. In stories like these, I always hope that the backlash actually caused the board to reexamine what they truly considered to be “inappropriate themes”, but I doubt it. If I hear another story about this same board withholding another show that their students chose for a less-than-stellar reason, I’ll be very disappointed.
It is always interesting to hear about school officials canceling productions that their theatre department or club is putting on, especially the reasoning behind the cancellation of the productions. And it definitely seems odd that this school’s reasoning was as vague as just saying the “themes” of “The Prom” was why they were canceling it. Especially when they approved it going on after protests from the students and finding out that there was a high school version of the show that has been released. I am just not sure that the whole situation should have even happened to be honest. But school officials will do what they do, which includes canceling productions for very obvious reasons but giving vague ones when asked and reversing their decision as soon as someone calls them on it.
Disappointing, but not super surprising. While not explicitly mentioned, it seems like the main issue the school had with this production was its positive representation of the LGBTQ+ community and the process of advocating for yourself. How ironic that that is what needed to take place in the process of putting on this production! I actually feel like this show is a great choice for a high school, much better than the popular Les Miz or Next to Normal or other heavy, adult productions where the issues may not seem as immediate or relevant as contemporary ones in The Prom do. I haven’t seen the production, but high schools all have Proms, and it seems very relatable. And Grease and Heathers and other high school aged productions have been done time and time again. I’m glad this article is out showing the sticky situation this school got into, and I’d be curious to see what came from it.
I don’t know the musical The Prom very well. I have only seen the Netflix movie, so I have no idea what would need to be changed for a high school production. If it’s just like inappropriate language like they say fuck a couple times and that was deemed inappropriate, then I understand that. I think it’s silly to let high school students swear on stage. They are definitely swearing and probably saying much more crass things during their lunch period. I am of two minds when it comes to junior versions of particularly raunchy musicals. On one side I thinks shows like Chicago and Heathers are so “adult” that it’s not worth to put them on if you have to sanitize them to meet district standards and that maybe these are just shows you don’t do in high school. On the other side, kids see and do worse online, let them do shows about murdering their husbands and having premarital sex. Either way, if you’re going to let students select the show they do, someone should probably be vetting their choices before they go through the process because having to cancel a production is just not a good look that says either we’re incompetent or homophobic.
This article is such an important one to discuss when talking specifically about censorship and political ideologies in the classroom. A big thing happening in the political world, alongside abortion rights, is the mulitple variations of the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill, a legal document that would expel the teaching, reference, and hence attendance of LGBTQ books, movies, teachers, etc. in the classroom. This bill was a republican presented bill, and it really goes to show how unwelcoming the right is to queer people as a whole. The bill bars the teaching or even dialogue of queerness within the classroom, and majorly stunts a students ability to understand their own identities, while simultaneously painting a negative image of being LGBTQ. By cancelling a production of a queer production, the school was inherently giving way to homophobic ideologies about queer content in schools, and they honestly deserved the backlash for following such hypocritical fallacies.
It’s crazy that a musical that is literally about this kind of censorship and disinclusion at a high school would be canceled at a high school for the same reason. It sounds like they were more concerned about language and certain content, which may not be referring to the LGBT themes of the show, since they are willing to do the junior version, but it still seems strange to me, especially since The Prom is a very family-friendly show. I love that these high school students chose it and feel represented by it, and it’s really sad to think they could’ve been deprived of this experience. There definitely is something bigger going on, shown by the controversy about the gender identity survey. Coming from Florida where there is similar oppression happening due to the Don’t Say Gay bill, it’s disheartening to see hatred being spread.
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