<p>I seem to be the only one with any qualms about the production, and I admittedly haven’t seen the show. How do they handle the grinding up of the murder victims to be sold to the public as meat pies? -That taste even better! And the finding of the toe in one of the pies. It was the aspects of casual cannibalism that surprised me.</p>
<p>And how do they handle the murders? Do you see them? Are they implied or explicit? </p>
<p>Soozie, I’m not clear what you mean by not being into censoring. Would you be a proponent of the full-nudity shows in high school, too? I’m afraid I would again disagree with you (but perhaps you can live with that? ) What about the students who aren’t willing to be part of that - must they automatically give up theater completely?</p>
<p>My S2 saw Rent in NYC when he was in high school (10th grade) and hated it. He was uncomfortable with the nudity. He said he closed his eyes and listened to the music, which was outstanding. He is not shy, ignorant, or backward. Not every high schooler is automatically casual about sex, gore, etc. </p>
<p>I also think it is different at a college level or summer program level, where the drama students have the opportunity to go outside the usual limitations, and the audience expectation is different. At our high school, there are 2 musicals a year, so if a kid is in musical theater all four years (unusual, but it could happen) and gets cast every time, they would be in a total of 8 shows. Whatever show the school decides to do, they automatically reject a whole bunch of others. (Just like whatever book a library decides to buy means they aren’t budgeted for another.) I am against censorship, but there is a certain amount of choosing that must occur. I am not convinced this is the best choice for a public high school. The fact that someone has created “school versions” means that others must feel that way, too.</p>
<p>[Cross posted with neumes - so true about audiences! Symphony orchestras deal with the same issues. Stuff that is interesting for the performers is not always what the audience wants to hear. By the way, our HS did Grease last year, and had complaints because of the teen sex/pregnancy issues! I can’t imagine what they’d say about Sweeny Todd!]</p>
<p>Good point about ticket sales. The school does have an interest in generating a bit of revenue from tickets sales. Plus, it’s more fun to play to a packed house than a mostly empty one.</p>
<p>Our public school is doing Pippin this year and the synopsis doesn’t sound very appealing to me. Haven’t seen Sweeney Todd, but I think I’d skip that one, too. Our local Catholic girls school did Les Mis, with my son, the only non-Catholic, as the foreman. His solo included horrible language and hitting Fantine. Makes a mother proud! The next year he got to play a priest in their production of Jekyl & Hyde.</p>
<p>I already acknowledged that certain shows may appeal more to the range of ages in a community and may be taken into account. I also think the main thing is the experience for the participants though. And I am against limiting the shows to “safe” material. </p>
<p>You asked about the stage version of Sweeney Todd (which is not nearly as gory as the movie)…the youth productions I saw at my D’s camp (this was before her camp did the first production/workshop with MTI for the new School Edition version)…the people who are murdered are murdered with a blade to the neck and you see that action and immediately the person falls down a chute and can’t be seen. No different than my D was “murdered” as Lucy in Jekyll and Hyde (as are other characters). As far as “meat pies”…you just know what they are and they are a prop that looks like a pie. For that matter, when my D was in Pippin, they had fake body parts thrown around the stage in the “battle” scene. </p>
<p>No, I am not a proponent of nudity in high school shows. The kids are under 18 and are not legal age to consent to that. For instance, my D’s theater camp put on Hair and eliminated the nudity. </p>
<p>At college last year, my D was nude for an entire scene and simulated having sex on stage in the musical but she was 19 years old. You asked about kids who are not willing to be a part of that and do they have to “give up theater.” At my D’s college, those who auditioned for that musical, knew upfront that it involved nudity and had to decide whether or not that wished to participate. However, there are many productions at her school and not all shows involve nudity! Nobody has to give up theater. In fact, many are there studying it, including herself. </p>
<p>You mention RENT and nudity. RENT doesn’t have nudity in it and I have seen it numerous times as have my kids over the years. My own parents took me to see Hair when I was growing up and that does have nudity. If your son is not into nudity on stage, there is a tiny bit in Spring Awakening. Same with Full Monty. </p>
<p>I agree with you that at a theater summer program for youth, the audiences are more tolerant. I never once heard a parent at my D’s theater camp complain about the musicals and plays that were chosen (which were NOT limited at all to kiddie shows). But those are parents who support theater. I realize in a community with a public high school, that is a bit different. Still, I do not like to see a school prohibit any theatrical works (same with books). The school show isn’t just for the audience but also for the educational experience of those who are in it. Therefore, I would be entirely comfortable with Sweeney Todd at a high school, or any musical I can think of, in fact. </p>
<p>There are a lot of books and dramas that involve murder. I don’t understand why that is not OK at a high school.</p>
<p>You’ll have to tell me what they do with the King’s line, “I don’t know if the <em>__ing I’m getting is worth the _</em>_ing I’m getting.” Had to change it at our state universitity and wasn’t nearly as funny.</p>
<p>Our school nixed Grease because of the teen sexuality thing and edited a full scene out of Dames at Sea because it may potentially offend Asian audience members. Then they did the Mystery of Edwin Drood - after that uproar we are back to the same old same old Rodgers and Hammerstein shows…</p>
<p>BTW - my favorite show from HS was Finian’s Rainbow…NO school would ever do that one in today’s politically correct world…</p>
<p>Teriwtt, I wasn’t there, so I can’t really tell you too much. This was a long time ago (2002?), so my memory is foggy on what there was. I believe it was two males. I do know that the teacher sent a letter of apology to all the students after the fact, saying that he had been unaware that the show involved nudity. Maybe they changed the show. Or maybe it was just a couple actors being creative that night?</p>
<p>Toledo, if my child has to use certain language or has to hit someone in a play, it doesn’t bother me one bit. She is acting out a character in a story and not doesn’t mean she condones those behaviors for her own self. I mean she was a whore (Lucy) in Jekyll and Hyde. She was a child prositute in the recent musical at her college. She also was in Pippin (played The Leading Player).</p>
<p>Our high school did Pippen last year. It was racier than I remembered, but they did a wonderful job. Still it was definitely a PG. (There’s a scene where the characters are supposed to be having sex - they did it fully clothed under sheets, but still!) I am sure some parents of elementary school aged kids weren’t super happy. It’s a great musical though - I love the music.</p>
<p>In college our house did Hair and most of the cast took off their clothes for the nude scene.</p>
<p>RENT definitely has NO nudity. My assumption is that the issue was more that there are sexual themes and homosexuality. </p>
<p>I forgot…D’s theater camp did Mystery of Edwin Drood this summer (she no longer attends as she is now in college). They also put on Laramie Project.</p>
<p>binx, Sweeny is based on an old London legend, kind of a boogyman character from the victorian era. It doesn’t come across as casual cannibalism, more as kind of a gothic thriller. In the staged versions I’ve seen, there’s no blood. At most, it’s suggested with a red scarf. You see the murders, but they are staged at the same level of explicitness as in an opera or a Shakespearean tragedy. Sorry to keep bringing these up as examples, but they really apply here!</p>
<p>You don’t see them grinding anything up, and Toby holding up a toe is the character holding up something small and then saying something about it being a toe. I’ve sat in the front row for one of these performances, and it’s not grisly (though maybe it’s a bit gristly ). </p>
<p>The cannibalism is not the truly shocking part of the play. The Judge and his treatment of the women who fall into his path is strong stuff, including the first song that the judge sings. The movie softened this. And the denoument, when Sweeny realizes what he’s done (I’m trying not to put in spoilers here!) is another shocker.</p>
<p>Thanks to whomever added Rent to the discussions. I knew that they were showing the final Broadway performance in movie theatres but I didn’t know it was coming up so soon. The discussion caused an ad to appear. It’s next week.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen Sweeney Todd, but I expect that if the school has the funds to pay copyright costs, the theatre dept is probably adept enough to modify for general audiences.</p>
<p>My youngest attended a K-12 school & when an art class she registered for in middle school was canceled at the last minute, she and a few friends were placed in the high school theatre class. ( she was 11) the production was the Lysistrata, which I was not familiar with.</p>
<p>Coincidentally, older D had just begun at Reed & The Lysistrata was in the required reading for Hum110 ( along with *The Oresteia, Nicomachean Ethics, Herodotus,Thucydides, *et.al.)</p>
<p>She brought her text of Aristophanes home at Thanksgiving break, which was from a ** very** liberal translation- which left nothing to the imagination.
:eek:
However- even though the drama instructor never did learn the girls names and referred to them as a group " the little girls", the production was appropriate for the whole school to see & I enjoyed the setting of Haight-Ashbury in the 1960’s.</p>
<p>I don’t remember if area public schools have done Sweeney Todd, but they have produced Three Penny Opera, Cabaret & a local Catholic school recently staged The Laramie Project.</p>
<p>The limiting factor seems to be the copyright fees, not the topic.</p>
<p>Rent has no nudity. It’s not a show for young kids, though H at my suggestion (I knew it was based on an opera) took younger S to see it at age 12 on Broadway. Raised some interesting issues for younger S, who loved the show, to discuss with me: drug use, HIV infection, bad decisions people make about their lives. As far as I’m concerned, there are worse things kids are exposed to via the daily news.</p>
<p>I saw “Sweeny Todd” on TV 24 years ago when Angela Landsbury (sp?) was starring in it. Fabulous show. Not gory at all despite the plot. As someone here has said, the worst part of it was the Judge’s treatment of women, not the cannibalism. Interesting subject for family discussion. Not a show for little kids, but neither are most Shakespeare plays, yet high schools perform them.</p>
<p>SlitheyTove, re: post #12, I found the following description of the school edition of Sweeney Todd, which admittedly doesn’t give a lot of detail-“This special School Edition has been masterfully adapted, working directly with Mr. Sondheim, to retain the dark wit and grand scope of the original work, with a few lyric and key changes to facilitate high school productions.”</p>
<p>Yes, I believe you all that Rent apparently has no nudity. I’ve Googled Rent and waded through pages, but cannot find any reference to nudity. Maybe that’s why it came as such a surprise to everyone, because it wasn’t supposed to be there.</p>
<p>I’m thinking the written synopsis of Sweeny Todd must be much more gory then the actual show. Perhaps a testament to my over-active imagination that I found it horrifying. I don’t think it’s a musical I’m going to rush out and see. (Our school did Little Shop of Horrors, and I couldn’t go see it, either, even though others raved about it.)</p>
<p>“Yes, I believe you all that Rent apparently has no nudity. I’ve Googled Rent and waded through pages, but cannot find any reference to nudity. Maybe that’s why it came as such a surprise to everyone, because it wasn’t supposed to be there.”</p>
<p>Wouldn’t that be every teacher’s nighmare? To take a group of kids to a show and have THAT be the night that the cast decided to play around with nudity?! Yikes!</p>
<p>^It’s also entirely possible that the night the kids in question went to see RENT, it was Prank Night.</p>
<p>I don’t know how common it is in professional shows, but in our HS productions, closing night was always Prank Night. We always did little tiny things out of respect for the show and the director, but sometimes people really do some shocking (and unnecessary) things.</p>
<p>NSM-Angela Lansbury is my favorite Mrs. Lovett. :)</p>
<p>I think what it comes down to is knowing the difference between reality and make-believe. Simply because a school puts on Sweeney doesn’t mean they’re condoning ANY of the behaviors. </p>
<p>I saw the movie over Christmas and loved it. I have the soundtrack on my iTunes and listen to it constantly. But am I going to go out, kill someone, and grind them into a pie? No…EW.</p>
) What about the students who aren’t willing to be part of that - must they automatically give up theater completely?</p>