The NY Times has a great piece up today about high schools attempting to mount productions of the musical Rent. Read the full post.
Feb 20
2009
03:03 PM ET
Is 'Rent' still too wild for high school?
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Actually, if someone is “acting” a striptease, they are in fact DOING a striptease. That makes it a little different from what is being asked of the actors in the other roles. And I am no prude; I’ve had to do some serious battle to work w/some of the material I’ve done with kids. I just think a 14-year-old stripping (even “watered down”) is a place to draw the line. (I don’t expect teenagers to agree with me, of course.)
And don’t worry about Janice’s comment, you guys. Anyone who thinks sexual orientation is something “trendy” like some kind of shoes or dance craze is so out of touch with humanity and with her own empathy that it’s sad. We just have to love and be patient with these people.
a mature audience will see a mature show. the young actors would not be in the show if they couldnt mentally and emotionally handle the content.
There is no stripping in the stage show. The scene in the club was just in the movie version. Even then, Rosario Dawson was dressed. So people are expressing strong opinions about a show they’ve never actually seen…hmmm.
Unfortunately, there are even more explicit scenes in music videos but they aren’t necessarily telling a story the way Rent does.
And my world happily includes gays as well as straights, and there is even some room left over for the bigots!
I’ve seen the stage show several times, in fact. I recognize that nothing she does is an “official” striptease (and thank god nothing close to what was in the film), but most of the outfits/movement required of her are something I would define as just that. I think 14-year-old girls are over-sexualized as it is (and too many would think it’s great fun to do that role) and am well aware that much worse is asked of them in other contexts in music videos, movies, etc.; I still think this is inappropriate. I don’t think Mimi is the ONLY character that is too overtly sexual for children to be playing, either.
I wish the discussion were about THAT rather than the fact there are gay characters; it’s really sad that that’s still a concern in so many school districts.
That said, I have to be fair. I have not read the “school” version of the show and have no idea what has been removed. I’ve seen a lot of kiddified versions of shows that work just fine, while the original script would’ve been wildly inappopriate. But, and maybe I’m too much of a purist, I’d rather have kids see and discuss the intact show as Larson intended it, and then have them actually perform in it in college. That’s another issue, though.
But by all means, every high school should do Seasons of Love in a chorus concert or something. 25 kids filling a stage singing that one out gets me every time!
i would like to say that I go to the school in question, and 14 year old girls arent even in the show, its all upper classmen, number one. and number two, our principal is a messed up piece of work who thinks she is god at our school, she does this stuff out of pleasure, and partly because she can’t approve of anything unconservative. our school is filled with WASPy kids and really cool, but strange teachers, and this is just not what we need right now.
Kim, I agree with you about the oversexualization of (14 year old) girls in general, and that several roles in Rent, as they are written for the stage and the movie, are not appropriate to be acted out by children.
Encinal High School in Alameda, CA recently did “RENT: School Edition” as their Spring musical. It was toned down in very minor ways. The heavier cursing was removed as was the number “Contact” (The orgy scene, which was also cut in the feature film.). Some other changes were in the music to make it easier for students to perform (I.E. “Christmas Bells” was shortened). The show was still a great show and conveys a very important message. Shielding high school students from issues that are current is stupid and doesn’t work. Issues need to be addressed in the way that they are in RENT, and not ignored.
I think it depends on the school. I go to two high schools, one of which is normal public school, and another is an arts academy. The Academy would have no problem with RENT; last year they did a production of Cabaret, complete with slutty Kit-Kat girls (two of whom were male) and “Two Ladies”, which was about a threesome. There’s even a chance the musical in its entirety would be included. However, my other high school won’t even put on a production of The Laramie Project. Merely discussing RENT would be a huge step for them. Some people still have a LONG way to go.
well first of all i live in the fred phelpsist state of kansas ughhh so we cannot perform rent in our hih school . i object to not being able to perform rent in our high schools because there is some real life problems that go on today that no one has brought up. the school board wastes time teaching people what they want them to know,stuff like how the good ole bigoted us of a obtained texas and not what goes on in real life. real life there is gay people , and there people to and deserve equal marage rights . i think it is a lot bigoted that the major reason that rent is not preformed in school is because of the charoctors , angel , collins and maurine because they and gay , crossdressers and lesbian . real life there is aids and i think kids should be taught about it . and sorry yall but drugs are a real issue in real life and just because the show is not ” appropriate for highschoolers” what ever that means because that stuff goes on everyday ! so for my conclusion rent should be preformed in school
I think schools should be able to preform Rent. I wish my high school would have – would have loved to play Maureen! And as a lesbian myself, I find it insulting that the fact that there happen to be gay and lesbian characters in this musical means that this amazing work of art is not allowed to be performed in some schools.