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#1

refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/11/09 at 11:12pm

so maybe it was just me, but i remembered when RENT premired at the La Jolla Playhouse that Sharon Brown, who played the SOL Soloist and other characters did not cuss... in the scene where she plays the bag lady she said f*ck but she did not say goddam (i forgot what she said instead) which I know many will not say that as some believe it is taking the Lord's name in vain... anybody remember that?

which also leads me to ask, are there any broadway performers who do not like cussing when the part asks for it and have any performers been accomodated for that? just something i was wondering
#2

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/11/09 at 11:14pm

Kahty Lee Gifford did the same thing in Putting it Together. Instead of saying "God damn it" she said "f*ck".
#3

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/11/09 at 11:18pm

That's god damn ****ing ridiculous.
Twitter @NamoInExile Instagram none
#4

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/11/09 at 11:22pm

This isn't swearing...but there are certain performers who refuse to do other suggestive things on stage. For example, Laura Osnes auditioned for the HAIR revival and although she didnt get the show, she said in an interview that she would've refused to do the nude scene.
http://backstagebarbie.blogspot.com
#5

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/11/09 at 11:27pm

God also said thou shalt not kill. Are you going to stop bathing to avoid killing germs? By that logic you're going to hell anyway so you might as well say what you please.
#6

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/11/09 at 11:33pm

I think it's incredibly hypocritical to the profession of acting to refuse to do something that the CHARACTER YOU'RE PLAYING would do. It's not YOU doing it, it is the character! The playwright has written that the baglady in RENT says goddamn, and that DEFINES that character. It's leagues different than the word fcuking!

"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
#7

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/11/09 at 11:42pm

Keep in mind that even if Osnes did get cast in Hair, the nude scene has been traditionally optional. So she wouldn't have had to do it if she didn't want to.

But, I will say, when I went to see Every Little Step and they were showing some of the acting auditions for the show, some of the actors that did end up being in the show either in the Broadway revival or the tour censored themselves in the audition but swore and said the actual line in the show itself. I wonder why they would have censored themselves in the audition and not the actual show.
"If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear" Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll
#8

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 12:02am

i don't think it's hypocritical at all... if there was a word that i didn't feel like saying because it made me feel uncomfortable then i think it should be OK for me to not say it... so every movie actress in the world should be fired for not showing her breats in a movie? i just don't think it's hypocritical...

and wow... that stop bathing comparison to kills germs was just WAY overreaching there...
#9

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 12:07am

I don't think you should even be allowed to audition for Hair if you won't do the nude thing. that's crazy. That's like wanting to play Elphaba but refusing to wear green make-up
Without bread we'd just be hungry but without theatre we'd be dead
#10

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 12:08am

I guess it depends on why one is doing theatre and what sort of level you are at. A Kathy Lee Gifford can do that. Someone in community theatre can. Someone in the middle might get fined by equity.

As someone who does theatre on occasion (not vocationally), I don't think I've ever once refused to do something that was in the script. I'm not a professional, but if professional people can refuse to say lines because they are afraid that line will condemn them to hell, then perhaps it's a good thing that I'm not.
#11

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 12:33am

There have been enough Mormons in Jersey Boys for me to believe this can't be that much of an issue, as long as the actor is willing to separate the character from their own personality.
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
#12

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 12:34am

i understand where everyone is coming from... i just don't think it's wrong if someoen doesn't want to say a word if it makes them feel uncomfortable... i think refusing to wear green makeup is completely different then just refusing to say one cuss word in a show...
#13

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 12:40am

Why? Why is the playwright's contribution less valid than the performer's?
#14

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 12:43am

eastlasagna- It isn't about what you feel is right or wrong. You must perform a show EXACTLY as it is written, or you are breaking the law. End of story. No ifs ands or buts.
David walked into the valley With a stone clutched in his hand He was only a boy But he knew someone must take a stand There will always be a valley Always mountains one must scale There will always be perilous waters Which someone must sail -Into the Fire Scarlet Pimpernel
#15

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 12:46am

Wow. Gee. Performer's contributions? Those are to contribute to the work of the words of the writer. If you can't say the words, it means you can't become the truth of the character, basically. And if you can't say the words, get out of the trade. And if you're not IN the trade, then don't audition for it if you get "uncomfortable" because of what it is. Jeepers. Gosh. Holy Mazeppa.
#17

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 1:13am

Lizzie, I'd never heard about her. Maybe she didn't like a bunch of gay guys "fondling her everywhere."

Stephenson said: "I feel that God has something out there that's even better than that {show} -- otherwise I'd be in trouble."

Um...
#18

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 1:18am

I'll say goddamn, ****. ****, bitch, ****, cocksucker, and the like on stage till the cows come home but I refuse to utter a word written by Theresa Rebeck or sing a single note written by Frank Wildhorn or Stephen Schwartz.

We all have our standards.
#19

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 1:20am

I think that's different. I mean, the whores in Les Miz are even less believable as whores than Julia Roberts was in Pretty Women. It's not like this was Klute or someting.

I'm with you on Theresa Rebeck, by the way.
#20

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 1:51am

right.. because EVERY show has been performed EXACTLY like how it's written... why stop at just words... let's fire people who riff when they sing songs... or sue the people of the all white version of ragtime that someone was a part of...

my initial post wasn't even saying if it was right or wrong... i was just freaking wondering what actors out there have asked to not say a cuss word because they felt unocmfortable.... F*CK some of you guys are sensitive...
#21

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 1:54am

Personally, I just don't understand why any actors have a problem with it. You're doing it as a character; it is not you saying it. It is saying what a playwright wrote for a character. If I were a playwright, I would be upset if someone refused to say something I had written. It's not an actor's place to refuse. Either they take the part as written, or lose the job.

But I'm not an actor.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#22

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 2:37am

I think that there is a difference between riffing in a song and alternating or not saying lines in the script due to your level of comfort. Riffing is just a way that an actor adds their own spin on a song. Yes, they are singing the song as written while adding something of their own into the mix. If, for example, you say gosh darn rather then Goddamn due to the fact that you feel uncomfortable because you think that your using the lords name in vein then that is different. There is a difference between adding your own little something to the mix and just alternating it altogether just because your not that comfortable with how it is written in the scrip.

I would think that any smart actor no matter what level of theatre they are doing, would know and understand that you're playing a character and the fun that comes with acting is when you get the chance to play someone that is worlds different from how you are in real life.

I was in a production of Carousel where the actor who originally got cast as Billy had to turn it down because he was a strong Catholic and didn't feel comfortable playing a character that not only beat his wife but got forgiven for such an act. I tol him that considering that there is a saint of actors, dancers and clowns I don't think that he would be offending his god. I also said that if his god was understanding then he would know that it was just a show and didn't reflect how the kid was in real life.
"If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear" Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll
#23

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 2:38am

jacobtsf-
Um...nothing is 100% performed as written. Nothing. By your standard, anytime an actor flubs a line, they should be fined. Are you saying that a high school shouldn't do All My Sons, unless they keep goddam in the script? I certainly hope not.

Typically, the actors I see censoring like that are in schools. And typically they replace the word with something else, and unless you really know it, you don't notice it. At all.

And cats, that was a really really really bad example. BAD.
http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer
#24

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 2:52am

winston - I believe the cursing during Val's monologue in 'Every Little Step' was dubbed in post production as to avoid receiving an R rating for the film. (I think it's 2 uses of the word that gets you an automatic R nowadays.)
"I'm afraid that the children that the two of you would spawn would come out in costume, off book and belting Merman."
#25

re: refusing to cuss in a show

Posted: 8/12/09 at 2:59am

But the difference was was that it was pretty clear to me that it wasn't dubbed and that the actors were saying different words. Keep in mind, that they all weren't dubbed. And, that that part of the film was not the only part that showed swearing.
"If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear" Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll

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