Controversial musicals - Page 2

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 11/10/15 at 9:32pm

Call_me_jorge said: "Would the scottsboro Boys be a controversial show?

 

"

No. Which is exactly what is wrong with the show, in my opinion. "Racism is bad" doesn't even require a reply, in this day and age, much less 2 hours of illustration.

 

A better show would "argue" for its villains, as the saying goes, and probably include the excuses people still make for racism: "But people like to stay with their own kind." "You can't expect people raised under the old system to change too quickly." "Black people are overly sexual; they can't help themselves." "If they didn't commit the rapes for which they were convicted, they probably got away with other crimes we don't even know about." "It's really just a few rotten apples that spoil things for everyone."

 

The above are just off the top of my head, obviously.

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 11/10/15 at 10:34pm

I think you may have missed the point of The Scottsboro Boys. Black men are incarcerated at a much higher rate than any other group, and they are more likely to get harsher sentences for their crimes or be wrongfully convicted. That particular story is an ugly spot in our history and it's not told very often. By saying it should essentially be told through a racist white person's eyes to add controversy is frankly ridiculous, especially since the show is already presented as a minstrel show.

[binau]

Posted: 11/10/15 at 10:39pm

Those protests at the Scottsboro Boys were just sad - the show was helping the cause, not hurting it.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 11/11/15 at 5:54am

It is one of the few show talked about here that DID create controversy!  Yes, it was misplaced, and yes, it hurt the show...but there was controversy.

 

(And I still think it's a shame as I adored the show.  It's so odd how drawn I am to historically based shows, even though I have little interest in history as an academic subject.)

[rebeccmam31]

Posted: 11/11/15 at 8:22am

Weren't there protests concerning Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson as well?  I seem to remember reading something fairly recently where a theater opted not to stage the show due to the controversy surrounding the treatment of Native Americans.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 11/11/15 at 9:45am

I don't remember any during the bway or off bway run. And I think it silly to object as native Americans were treated horribly during Jackson's time.  You can't pretend they weren't.  

[rebeccmam31]

Posted: 11/11/15 at 12:46pm

dramamama611 said: "I don't remember any during the bway or off bway run. And I think it silly to object as native Americans were treated horribly during Jackson's time.  You can't pretend they weren't."

I would agree with that.  I've never seen the show, but in reading about it and listening to the lyrics, I think the horrible treatment of Native Americans is part of the POINT.

 

I googled to see what I had read, and what I saw was about protest in Minneapolis when they were mounting a production there in 2014.  But the search also showed that there was some drama when it was at the Public in 2010 (just before the move to Broadway).  And Stanford and a theater in Raleigh cancelled productions of it altogether in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

[dompayne98]

Posted: 11/11/15 at 1:10pm

In regards to Avenue Q, there was a bit of controversy when this happened:

"A touring production sparked a controversy in Colorado Springs where a poster depicting the cleavage of muppet character Lucy T. Slut was banned from bus shelters."

 

Also, I wanted it to be more controversial subject matters and I understand that I may have kind of mislead you and they may not be controversial subject matters to you but are to some. It's all done to opinion :)

[dramamama611]

Posted: 11/11/15 at 1:42pm

In that case you might as well include every musical as someone, somewhere will have the opinion it's "controversial".

 

 

 

[mattyp4]

Posted: 11/11/15 at 2:30pm

It seems like you're choosing Avenue Q, Billy Elliot & Book of Mormon because of the foul language & in the case of the latter two, some crude humor.  I don't know if that spells "controversial" to me other than perhaps "unorthodox" from typical Broadway fare. 

I think Scottsboro Boys is a better example, although yes, it seems like the real controversy stemmed from the protests by the people who totally misunderstood the show.  But it was a bold show.  And I loved it.  Too bad the bad press kind of killed it.

I never saw the original production (only the stripped down staging at the Delocorte) but The Capeman comes to mind when thinking of controversy.  I remember reading about family members of the Capeman's murder victims protesting outside the theater on opening night.  They thought the show was glorifying the killer.  Seems pretty controversial to me.

Rent is arguably controversial.  I don't really find A Chorus Line controversial though.  Groundbreaking, perhaps, but not really controversial. 

I'm too young to dip back into the 60s/70s/80s but it seems like there were probably lots of radical, lesser known shows that would have proved controversial.

Interesting topic though.  Have fun with it.

[mattyp4]

Posted: 11/11/15 at 2:31pm

mattyp4 said: "It seems like you're choosing Avenue Q, Billy Elliot & Book of Mormon because of the foul language & in the case of the latter two, some crude humor."

 

Sorry-- I meant to refer to Avenue Q & Book of Mormon for its crude humor.  Got my order mixed up!