"Times are gritty."

...oh my HEAVUNZZZZ

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97826099

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I disagree. There are people out there who underestimate what a high school theatre troupe can do. I have heard of productions of Rent performed in a high school that blew people away. Yes, there might be some schools that aren't ok with the subject matter and would try to alter it or just not do it at all. But, then there are others who are okay with it.

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If you "have" to change more than 5 lines, just don't do that show. Try Beauty and the Beast or Annie instead. There are probably more than enough amateur theatres out there willing to do the show intact.

Why did the girl playing Maureen even bother trying out if she didn't like the show? And geez- what a moron. She lives near San Francisco of all places and doesn't think people with AIDS deserve any sympathy? Because obviously the only way anyone ever gets it is by being irresponsible, so they're deserving of the consequences, right? Ugh.

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Updated On: 12/5/08 at 12:50 AM

San Mateo hardly equals San Francisco.

Hi Lizzie!

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Not quite San Francisco should still be more informed than that. I would expect that kind of mindset from Colorado Springs or Salt Lake City.

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a friend and I were just talking about editing productions for schools. we were both in agreement that if you have to change things, you shouldn't put on the production (like several of you have been saying.) she was telling me that her high school did Equus, and obviously there was no nudity where there ought to be.

I've actually never seen it, but is the Les Miz school edition really more edited for time and production constraints? that's the impression I've gotten, as opposed to editing shows for "questionable" content. I still think it's ridiculous to do shows that you then edit, when there are many high quality shows that are suitable for schools. it's my belief that "questionable" content is usually there for a reason, and removing it lessens the value of a play or musical.

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Not quite San Francisco should still be more informed than that. I would expect that kind of mindset from Colorado Springs or Salt Lake City.

If only I could show you the suburbs I saw several Yes on 8 signs within the same distance of SF as San Mateo. Don't assume.


If I were going to assume anything, it would be that people are actually kind and caring, and that maybe people realize that no one, regardless of what they've done, deserves to suffer from AIDS. how naive of me, really.

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"Tits & Ass" became "Tops & Tails"??? Why bother?? There are so many teen- and family-appropriate shows out there - why would anyone change iconic lines in an iconic show and pretend no one notices? That's just silly. Try "She Loves Me". It's nice & beige.

I gotta jump in here too to say a few things:

First, believe it or not, San Mateo (in spite of its proximity to San Francisco) is NOT San Francisco. To anyone who hasn't visited or lived in the Bay Area, you'd be floored at the microcosm of varying demographics, families, and values in any 5-mile radius. I could see SF from my backyard as a kid but couldn't have been raised in a more WASP-y neighborhood.

To give credit where it's due, San Mateo High School puts on enormously good shows. Partly because they are 1 of only 2(?) high schools in the area and get TONS of money for their theatre department. They have a large performing arts center (often rented out for exhibitions and visiting acts) and a plethora of talented kids to choose from. Many of my closest friends went to and performed at SMHS and have moved on to bigger and better creative endeavors (because this affluent school gave them their first taste and chance to enjoy performing)

That said... I did not see their version of RENT (though many of my friends back home did). Bias aside, I am not a big fan of ANY high school performing this material. The subject is frankly too mature. Not that today's kids can't "handle it" but I can't think of a single high school senior who would identify with the perils of a struggling artist fighting AIDS in the 1990s. I didn't meet my first HIV survivor until my sophomore year of college and I didn't have a grasp of what it meant to truly OWN myself until near-graduation of university.

As Xavier (teen playing Angel) attests in the NPR broadcast, there were students harrassing him post-preview and one even called him "Faggot." As much hope as I like to put into adolesents, and in-spite of the faculty's best efforts to provide education programs adjunct to rehearsal, they (males in particular) are just not READY to have the "real world" splashed in-front of them through rock music.

It takes TIME and life experience to even begin to tackle the project of RENT.

Updated On: 12/5/08 at 11:57 AM

In Les Miz, it is edited for time and there are some section that are slightly modified musically...but you'd really only notice what is missing if it happened to be YOUR favorite section. Nothing "questionable" has been removed. The prostitute scene is almost entirely entact. (Although I know schools that won't do it that way.) The show still ran over two hours.

I agree....if you have to do more than change a few swears, then you shouldn't do the show. Under most circumstances other changes are ILLEGAL.

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But, when you think of it most actors never experience what it is like to go through what their character is going through. That is the whole point of acting to get a creative sense of what is going on in the characters head. I am sure that there were actors in Rent on Broadway in its later years who never experienced the AIDS outbreak in the 80's to its full extent because they were too young. Yet, they still did the show as if they knew what was going on.

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I'm sorry, but did you just say that Rent doesn't focus on AIDS?

I always love the idea that no high school should do shows where the kids don't have the life experiences to suitably play the roles. I guess they should then certainly steer away from Shakespeare (and nearly everything else as well) -- uh, Hamlet? Macbeth? And forget shows like Arsenic and Old Lace or You Can't Take It With You -- how could high school kids possibly know what it's like to be an 80 year old spinster or to be living in the Great Depression?