HS production of

[PastorErnst]

WEST JORDAN, UTAH — A Utah school district has cancelled a high school play that uses Elvis Presley’s music after a complaint about a sexually suggestive song.

Jordan School District officials announced plans Wednesday to scrap Herriman High School’s production of All Shook Up, saying it could be offensive.

It was not immediately clear which song prompted the decision.

District spokeswoman Sandy Riesgraf says a person approached the district and complained about the play, which is loosely based on William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

Riesgraf says administrators reviewed the script and determined it didn’t meet new standards put in place in August after another high school play came under scrutiny.

The Deseret News reports students had already started rehearsing the play, which was scheduled for February. Riesgraf says a replacement will be selected.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1310071--high-school-musical-with-elvis-songs-cancelled-for-being-sexually-suggestive

[whatever2]

Reality Check, West Jordan: 95% of the students at Herriman High School have messages in their text logs that are more sexually suggestive than any lyric in All Shook Up.

[yankeefan7]

Kind of funny since the Arts HS my daughters went to did the show (Charlotte NC) 5-6 years ago and it was no problem - lol. BTW - the lead in it back then is currently a understudy for the Off-Broadway show "Forever Broadway"

[trixigold]

Do Mormons still have prohibitions about dancing? I'm surprised they do musicals at all. (Sorry for appearing Mormon-intolerant, I just know what I've heard second-hand, Mormons feel free to enlighten me).

[Kelly2]

I mean, the Mormon religion openly hates gays so I'm surprised they allow any kind of theatre at all.

[Kelly2]

Double post.

[dramamama611]

If there are such "standards" in place, why don't the shows need to be APPROVED before going into rehearsal/auditions. AND those approving, should be required to actually READ the sript and listen to the score.

I really have no problem with a community deciding upon their own standards, but doing this AFTER the show has been cast and in rehearsals is just unfair to those involved.

[whatever2]

i can't BELIEVE i'm defending the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, but ...

Mormonism does not prohibit dancing; you probably are thinking of any one of a number of fundamentalist christian sects which number dancing amongst their extravagant list of prohibitions.

Mormonism does not openly hate gays. LDS teaching purports to take a love-the-sinner-hate-the-sin approach to homosexuality. That bit of mental gymnastics frequently results in the organization espousing homophobic stands on policy issues, and in its adherents floundering for a world view that doesn't make their brains hurt; not surprisingly, in the face of such institutional schizophrenia no small percentage of the latter end up h8ters. But, officially and openly the church teaches that Heavenly Father loves us -- He just hates what we do with our naughty bits.

[Kelly2]

Whatever2, I'm sorry but you're not going to convince me that the Mormon church does not openly and actively discriminate against gays and not only that, donates a significant amount of their not-for-profit non-taxed revenue towards causes that specifically intend to reduce the rights of LGBT members of society. If that's "loving" the sinner, I sure don't want to know what hating the sinner is. "Progressive" Mormons always try to make the argument you're making, but in this country you really do vote with your wallet and the money they are required to tithe to the church goes straight to hatred and bigotry.

On topic, it really does surprise me this show was selected at all, and I agree that having standards within a community is their right, but it is unfair to cancel after the rehearsal process has already begun.

[Kristie-K2]

The production is still on...with permission from the author, they will change the dialogue or might take out a song. The show is set for four days in Feb and March. Nice going Utah. This show will be sold out........

[whatever2]

my intention was not to convince you that the church of jesus christ of latter day saints doesn't discriminate against gays; that it does is beyond debate.

you seem to have glossed right over the "hate-the-sin" part of their formulation. their beliefs are more nuanced than you've credited here, and i was simply pointing that out.

there is no point in sounding as ignorant about their lifestyle as they sound about ours.

ditto for the dancing business.

[EricMontreal22]

Yeah, no matter what one feels about the Mormon church they have a history of putting an emphasis on arts education--music and theatre--so to think that they don't allow dancing is, well, wrong.

[justoldbill]

Keep 'em busy,
Keep 'em quiet,
Keep the kids in line....

[LizzieCurry]

BYU has an extremely strong musical theatre program.

[trentsketch]

I'd bet that the song is I Don't Want To. That's the song where the Elvis character thinks he might be gay because the cross-dressing mechanic gave him a kiss. It's that or A Little Less Conversation.

[MrJNLong]

The song in question was "A Little Less Conversation."
This district just passed a new policy after an extremely conservative fanatic group backed ONE Parent's complaint and made a huge deal about a different school in the district's production of "Dead Man Walking." They caved to this singular loud voice, and in so doing, made a policy that states that all productions must "adhere to community standards" and EVERY script being considered for any production must now be read by a committeee of school board members, parents, and multiple others before being approved. "All Shook Up" had been approved before this new policy was announced, but now, once again after only ONE complaint, they tried to shut it all down. It was only after fairly large community and state-wide outcry on many radio shows, etc... that the district called TRW and arranged to have the song cut.
I'm still exptremely pissed off at the whole situation and the spineless school board...

[trentsketch]

So they cut the leading lady's big number and remove any sense of tension from Act II? This is actually worse than the alternate "shut up and kiss me" ending in the rich/poor version of the book.