re: HS principal says no to Urinetown. Catch: Same HS has done ACL and Les Miz in the past

http://www.wsaw.com/home/headlines/4659766.html

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Um, the principal is the boss.

Is this really anything new?

People are silly. I knew that already.

"Principal says the others were plays people were familiar with--shows that had been on broadway for years."

By the way, URINETOWN was on Broadway for years. 3 years.

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Stupid.
Honestly, people these days.

They're not being made to feel invalid; they're just not getting to do the musical they wanted to.

I think they certainly have a right to disagrre with the principal. Urinetown is a good, clean show, and it's frickin hilarious. There is no reason they shouldn't perfrom it.

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Good Lord. There are hundreds of musicals they can do - this is hardly a tragedy. No one is ever going to get their own way 100% of the time, and it doesn't matter if it's right or not - someone has to be in authority. You're all going to have lots of trouble in the real world.

I'm in the real world. Been here a while. I'm just not in your real world. I believe that all decisions should be open to discussion and that everyone, especially in a school setting, should be respected as an equal, as to confidently prepare kids for the real worlds ahead of them and continue to build their confidence. It's "hardly a tragedy" to you, but for these kids, school is their day-to-day world, and for theater kids, their world is even smaller and it is vitally important to them.

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Updated On: 11/15/06 at 11:40 PM

so when the principal says "bathroom humor" do we think he meant to be punny? or was he being serious.

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*Little Sally*
I don't think too many people are going to come see this musical, Officer Lockstock.

*Lockstock*
Why do you say that, Little Sally? Don't you think people want to be told that their way of life is unsustainable?

*Little Sally*
That, and the title's awful.

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When I first saw Urinetown, I realized that this show would be one of the best shows for high schools to do. There is relatively no obscene content to have to make more "kid-friendly." You'd almost instantly have a good attendence showing, due to the high school kids wanting to see a show about something like paying to pee. And you wouldn't have to spend a fortune on costumes, staging, an props.

But high school musical censorship is hardly a new trend. My high school tried to do Grease (it was rejected due to content), West Side Story (also rejected), and Children of Eden (it was passed, but very reluctantly... Surprisingly, they didn't care if we did a musical with religious overtones, they just didn't think this one was well-known enough. The superintendent and principal wanted us to do "Godspell" or "Jesus Christ Superstar."

I feel for these students and for the director. It's hard to be thrown into a situation like this where you must adapt quickly and reluctantly. I hope they have a successful show.

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"I believe that all decisions should be open to discussion and that everyone, especially in a school setting, should be respected as an equal, as to confidently prepare kids for the real worlds ahead of them and continue to build their confidence. It's "hardly a tragedy" to you, but for these kids, school is their day-to-day world, and for theater kids, their world is even smaller and it is vitally important to them."

I don't want to be rude, but this is a joke right? First, in my job, I certainly can disagree with my boss-- but the boss makes the rules. Disagree too much and the boss will decide to replace me. Kids need to be prepared to be told "NO" too.

And the Principal is the one with all the responsibility and authority here. If Mrs. Murphy gets outraged about the violence and "potty humor" in the school play, she doesn't call the kids who wanted to do it, she calls the Prinicpal. And the Principal is the one who gets canned if too many parents get outraged. The kids get detention for their poor judgement, the Principal gets fired.

Any way, Kids aren't equals. They are Kids. They are in school to learn. That's how you prepare them for the "Real World."

And Oh Yeah, it was 25 years ago, but my highschool had a problem with "Mame" because there was smoking and drinking.

This has been happening since there were high schools and theater. When I was in school, we couldn't do ANNIE GET YOUR GUN because of the racist references. We couldn't do GREASE because of the sexual references. And - we got over it.

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