Worst Changes Made in an Amateur Production — Page 4

I was in a production of PAGEANT here in Mississippi, and this is what they did: There was only ONE guy in a dress, the rest were all women, they added a big ass chorus (of like 56 people), and to top it all off, WE HAD A F***IN' CHILDREN'S CHORUS!

It was a living hell.

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Julius Ceaser set in outer space!

"Similar experience, execpt it was "We all need help to feel fine, our God's divine!"

I made the suggestion to change it to "We all need help to feel loose, let's have some juice" but that didn't fly either.

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LSoH- 4 white street urchins. 4th girl's name is "Champagne"

Into the woods-
Prologue set in a Train riding "Into the woods"

Once on this Island-
Agwe played by a male and a female

And I'll add mine...

When I was 11 I played in the band for my school's production of Cabaret. Some changes were made, from the film and from the stage show...

Ernst became a girl called Max.

I'm not overly familiar with the original stage show, but from all the cast recording's I've seen we also had a fair few cuts in the way of songs: our song list went:

* Willkommen
* Don't Tell Mama
* Telephone Song
* Perfectly Marvelous
* Two Ladies
* Tomorrow Belongs to Me
* Why Should I Wake Up?
* Tomorrow Belongs to Me (Reprise)
* If You Could See Her
* Cabaret
* Finale

Suprisingly (perhaps) Sally's abortion was left in.

I loved the music and still do in fact. I really must get around to seeing the show in London.

I saw my friend's production of DAMN YANKEES in her high school in Long Island, and the lyrics to "The Game" were completely sanitized, like instead of:

"Though I got the lady high
I just left her high and dry"

it became:

"Though she made my spirits fly (I think that was it)
I just left her high and dry"

And also, when we did Sweeney Todd, the director cut out the Beggar Woman's lullaby because he thought it never existed. Even after the second time around, I can't prove him wrong.

In Grease, because it was a younger production, instead of the word "V.D." in the Alma Mater Parody, we changed it to "fleas".

In a children's production of The Boyfriend, we interpolated a Cole Porter song into it called "Why Don't We Try Staying Home?" I thought it was humiliating, but it was a good addition.

And in Little Shop, we changed one of the cities being mentioned in the finale to our own (the town in which it was playing). That was the worst, while the best was they added the whole Arthur Denton (Bill Murray) scene. That got ROWDY applause.

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I direct the Theatre productions at a Christian High School and will admit to being guilty of cleaning up some things. There's no way we could've done the shows we have with the random cursing and obligatory sexiness that's thrown in nowadays. It's usually very small changes that we end up making. Omitting curse words and such. The thing is, I like that these kids leave my school having some experience with mainstream theatre....otherwise we'd be stuck doing those dumb Christian shows that the publishers put out. Those are fine for church choirs or youth groups to put on, but for high school they're just not enough. The graduating class last year had some great shows that they could put on their resume:
Pirates of Penzance, Oklahoma, Guys & Dolls, Damn Yankees, Cinderella, Fools, Harvey, Arsenic & Old Lace. This year we're doing Thoroughly Modern Millie....and again I have to clean up two curse words, I think....otherwise the show is great as is. There's just no need for it....IMO.

1. Did a production of CABARET in 1983 with a female Emcee. This meant the Two Ladies were two (bad) drag queens. Additionally, I was the gorilla. The director decided it was a REAL gorilla and had me do weeks of research on my posture and physicality. "Weeks?" you may ask? Yes: The concept went even further, supposing that said gorilla was kept in a too-small cage backstage at the Kit Kat Klub and was unnaturally stooped and crippled. Oh yes, and I had to at one point hump the emcee's leg, prompting her to beat me into submission with my leash before telling the audience that I "wouldn't look Jewish at all."

2. YAGMBC, in which I played Charlie Brown, interpolating "Poor, Sweet Baby" and :Where Did That Little Dog Go?" and their attendant scenes from SNOOPY!!! When all was said and done, it was decided that Schroeder didn't have enough to do, so a local composer was engaged to write an original new number for him about how much he loved Beethoven.

3. There was a local bar managed by a dubiously talented Asian man who loved Gilbert and Sullivan. He put on several so-bad-they're-good productions of G&S classics, but with added references to local politicians and celebrites. Also, the aforementioned manager always cast himself in the comic lead role, despite his only 50% command of the English language - or should I say the "Engrish Rangrage," to give an example. He also found great high humor in mentioning the Oregon town of Dufur ("Doofer"), even so far as changing the names of English cities to Dufur even when it destroyed a rhyme.

Random cursing and obligatory sexiness?


I have to completely disagree. If it is a GOOD, WELL WRITTEN show, nothing is random or 'obligatory' as you state. It is there for a very specific purpose that the author intended. If you choose to do a show, then do it. Do not presume that you know better than the playwright or composer. Are you neil Simon? No. Don't you dare try to rewrite The Odd Couple. You get a license agreement to do the show as written. If you or your school are so uptight and, dare I say it, coming with the view that God says that you know best, don't do the damn show. You are doing more harm to the kids by displaying a complete lack of respect for the work and your license.

"There is no need for it.. IMO."

It isn't about YOUR opinion. It's about the playwright's. Your job is to interpret what the playwright gives you.. no change what the playwright gives you.

And what do you mean 'nowadays'? Have you SEEN some old school musicals? That stuff has always been there in the theatre.

broadwayguy-
I do not know better than any author of any show. That's not my point...I'm just saying that if it's between doing the show without cursing and not doing a show at all...I'd rather do the show without cursing. We haven't done the Odd Couple and we're not going to do the Odd Couple...where'd you get that?? I just have to make minor adjustments so that my audience has an enjoyable experience and will come back to the next show. It's just plain practical.

Dez-

It isn't practical. It's illegal.

That may be for the best.