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School boards are canceling and disapproving high school musical productions because they dislike the LGBTQ content of the plays, as reported by the May 5 front-page article “Culture war’s latest casualty: High school musicals.” This is unfortunate but to be expected in states where real-life LGBTQ people are treated as pariahs.
But students who denigrate the “old-fashioned” American musicals that bigoted school boards would approve might be missing something. And if they think they are too good to act in these plays, they are wrong.
One student was quoted as saying that she wants to do the banned plays because they “make us think harder … drive us to keep creating art.” Yes, but actors also need to develop and hone their craft, and a high school student could learn a lot about the craft of musical theater from a show such as “Carousel” or “Oklahoma!” No high school student is above doing such a classic.
Another student was quoted as saying, “It was unfortunate to go from having a character that felt like so much of me … to this dumbed-down, cute little lady.” First, this is acting. As an actor, you are supposed to inhabit and portray characters other than yourself — that is why they call it acting, not therapeutic role-playing. Second, the contempt evident in the phrasing “dumbed-down, cute little lady” revealed a failure to explore the character. It looks to me as though this actor needs to learn more about the craft of acting.
And one more piece of advice to high school actors: Examine these old musicals a little more closely. You just might find some subversive Easter eggs hidden there that you can exploit.
How could the case be made for people to be sympathetic to the high school students and faculty whose play was canceled when it included “a song about erections, the appearance of Jesus Christ and the fact that one character has two fathers”? The song about erections and the portrayal of Jesus, as scripted in the play, would have been offensive to many people, particularly Christians. Consider that in addition to fellow high school students, the younger brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents who would come to see the play could be offended by such material.
The article quoted people bemoaning that many high school plays are canceled because they deal with LGBTQ or race issues. Surely furthering LGBTQ and race issues in high school plays will not be advanced with such songs and portrayals of Jesus Christ.
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