Not the best end to an evening...JAWM

[Saddlemomma]

My DD was very excited to go to the local middle/high school's annual play this afternoon.  It was a musical production of "The Addams Family."

 

Since DD is in the local children's theater group and actually attends this school for band/flute classes.  She was eager to support "her part-time" school, as well as the chorus/band/drama club students.

 

It didn't go well.  While the play was witty and cute in some spots, it will full of sexual innuendo, crass language, and two instances of extremely poor jokes.  The first one was like a slap to both my daughter's and my faces.  I was so hoping my DD didn't catch it.  The characters of Wednesday and her boyfriend were arguing.  In trying to convey his undying love, despite their misunderstanding, Wednesday's boyfriend was comparing his love to several famous historical figures, rattling off their names in quick succession.  Wednesday stops him in mid-stream and says, "Hey, I'm homeschooled remember; cut to the chase" (implying she doesn't know any of these historical figures).  The audience roared with laughter.  The ironic part to the whole scene was that the actor who played the boyfriend couldn't even pronounce "Ulysses" correctly, and he is a senior!

 

When we left the school auditorium, my DD looked at me and said, "I really didn't appreciate their slam about homeschooling or the comment about the Jehovah's Witness."  I could tell she was really hurt, crushed in fact.  She then proceeded to tell me she no longer wanted anything to do with pursuing drama at that school when she's eligible next year.  (Something she had been looking forward to.)

The Jehovah's Witness joke involved burning of said JW who knocked on the Addams's door to proselytize.  I can only assume this joke came about because over the last couple of weeks we have seen an increase in JWs canvassing local neighborhoods, even out in our more remote area.  Regardless, it made me cringe in my seat.  My heart, already bruised by the homeschooling joke, was further torn for any JW's who might be sitting in the audience.  What were these directors and kids thinking?!

 

I was appalled.  I couldn't believe it!  We live in a tiny town in northern, ME, right in the Bible belt and this is considered appropriate entertainment performed by middle and high school students.  No wonder the world is in the shape it's in when we promote this type of thinking in our youth.

 

I'm so hurt and angry at this point, I don't know how I'm going to take my DD to her class on Tuesday.  I do know that if any of the teachers ask if I was able to watch the play how I'll respond.  I guarantee they won't like my answer any more than I liked seeing my daughter's feelings trampled upon through their careless, misinformed view of homeschooling or intolerance of another person's chosen religion.  I so feel like writing a letter to the editor of our paper about this, but it would just be chalked up to just another ignorant prude denigrating or misunderstanding superior intellectual-enlightening entertainment.

 

Sorry, but I just had to get that off my chest before Tuesday morning!  Thanks for being my JAWM sounding board.  Phew!  I feel somewhat better.

[elegantlion]

:grouphug:  :grouphug: I'm sorry it was a bad experience, how disappointing. 

[trulycrabby]

I am sorry; and I really would be disappointed and angry to hear such tasteless, awful jokes. :grouphug:

[zoobie]

I'm sorry your DD's feelings were hurt. :grouphug:

 

I believe the setting JWs on fire is in the Broadway version. I'm not sure about the homeschooling crack. Was it supposed to be a self-deprecating joke by the character? When my one of my kids messes something up, sometimes the other will sigh and say, "He/she is homeschooled!" But it's a family joke for us.

[Jean in Newcastle]

:grouphug: I'm sorry.  Was this a musical script/score that they bought or one they wrote?  I've always seen high school plays that were already written and so the jokes would portray the writer's thoughts, though of course the staff who reviewed it and planned to do it have a lot of culpability.  

[Anne in CA]

Honestly, I wouldn't want my child to be influenced by someone who thought this sort of things is funny. I probably wouldn't bother with a letter to the editor, but I might draft an email to the principal of the school, who is probably vested in keeping up per pupil enrollment, and letting them know why your child will probably not be there next year. People need to know. If no one complains the principal will think it's fine.

 

 

[LostSurprise]

I'm sorry it rubbed you wrong. 

 

For the homeschool comment, I just assumed she meant she was homeschooled, she gets it already, move on! Rattling off historical figures impress her. 

 

 

 I can only assume this joke came about because over the last couple of weeks we have seen an increase in JWs canvassing local neighborhoods, even out in our more remote area.  

 

Note that this is surely a production licensed from the original copyright owners, and all the jokes and text come from them.  In fact, it may violate the licensing agreement for the school to change any of the text.  A quick google search shows that the homeschool joke appears in the broadway version.

[Guest submarines]

I'm sorry it was a bad experience. :grouphug:

 

I took the homeschooled comment completely differently, like she'd already *know* all those historical figures.

 

The JW joke, in the context of the AF, doesn't bother me that much either.

 

This is not to invalidate your experience, just to possibly offer a different perspective. If the theater program is a good one, maybe you could help your DD not to take the show so personally.

 

 

[Dmmetler]

We went to see a community theater version a few months ago. I have a hard time imagining it being considered acceptable for middle/high school! The jokes are in the script we heard. It gets pretty crude in places-quite a difference from the Addams Family TV show!

 

 

 

 

[Elisabet1]

I hope you send an email to the principal letting them know about the bigoted remarks and other stuff. That is just rotten!!!   (((hugs)))

[Saddlemomma]

I'm sorry it was a bad experience. :grouphug:

 

I took the homeschooled comment completely differently, like she'd already *know* all those historical figures.

 

The JW joke, in the context of the AF, doesn't bother me that much either.

 

This is not to invalidate your experience, just to possibly offer a different perspective. If the theater program is a good one, maybe you could help your DD not to take the show so personally.

 

I appreciate the idea that maybe that comment wasn't supposed to denigrate homeschooling and if it wasn't the perception in the original production...great!  However, we're not the only homeschoolers who got the impression that it wasn't meant as a positive in the way it was presented in this production.

 

I will be mentioning to DD how it was "supposed" to be treated in the original play.  Hopefully that will make her feel better.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending upon how you look at it), DD is very sensitive regarding hurting others.  She has a very strong sense of right and wrong.  Therefore, she doesn't enjoy or appreciate jokes in poor taste, like burning JWs (or any other people group). Those kinds of things really upset her.

 

I remember once in a gym class she took at the local elementary school, a boy got hit hard with a basketball right in the groin.  He fell to the floor sobbing.  While the other kids circled around him pointing and laughing, DD ran to him, got on the floor and tried to comfort him and tell him it would be okay.  It took me the whole ride home to try to explain to her why the other kids were so cruel and uncaring about the poor boy; making fun of him rather than trying to help.  She just couldn't grasp their unfeeling behavior then and still can't understand such insensitive behavior now.

 

Thanks everyone for your :grouphug: s.  I'm in a much better frame of mind this AM.

[Lizzie in Ma]

:grouphug: :grouphug:

[GailV]

I'm sorry it rubbed you wrong. 

 

For the homeschool comment, I just assumed she meant she was homeschooled, she gets it already, move on! Rattling off historical figures impress her. 

 

Agreed. We've seen 2 productions of it by professionals -- touring group and a different group.  Both times the "homeschool" comment seemed to be a comment slamming public or private school given that Wednesday is presented as an extremely intelligent person, possibly the smartest in the show.  The second time we saw it the joke was played down so that it flew right by most people.  Edited to add that both my (intelligent) homeschool daughters would  LOVE to play Wednesday Addams, and don't see her character as being anti-homeschool.

 

Edited to Add:  I really don't remember the JW joke specifically, but suspect it was just about people coming to their door.  It could've just as easily been the guy in the meat truck that we always joke about here on WTM. The writers picked a group most of their audience could identify as going door to door.  Years ago Fuller Brush salesmen or Avon ladies might've been a possibility.

 

Shows are like that -- the director and cast bring quite a bit to the live performance, and can choose to emphasize various elements.  That's part of the charm of live theater.

 

The relative crudeness of many, many shows depends on the company doing it.  I especially noticed this with Shrek, where one professional  tour group's Farquaad relied on coarse physical humor to get laughs out of his lines (and therefor seemed like a crummier actor for having to stoop to that).

 

I've heard people complain that high school groups sometimes try to see what they can get away with, particularly on closing night.  I've never actually seen this in person, but my kids are in theater so they hear a lot of tales.  For example, a kiss that's meant to be fairly innocent can suddenly change to the male lead sticking his tongue in the female's mouth, sometimes as a "surprise".

 

I"m sorry it turned into a crummy evening for you.  You'll have plenty of good discussions from it, though.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I think that perhaps with a more sensitive child you are going to have to prescreen dramas and musicals like that.  A show like The Addam's Family relies on being inappropriate as part of it's premise/ comedy.  For the same reason I wouldn't encourage her to go see The Rocky Horror Picture Show or The Little Shop of Horrors or other parody/ comedy type musicals.  Personally I am not offended by shows like that but my sense of humor doesn't run in that vein so I wouldn't necessarily choose to go see them either.  

[Guest submarines]

I appreciate the idea that maybe that comment wasn't supposed to denigrate homeschooling and if it wasn't the perception in the original production...great!  However, we're not the only homeschoolers who got the impression that it wasn't meant as a positive in the way it was presented in this production.

 

I will be mentioning to DD how it was "supposed" to be treated in the original play.  Hopefully that will make her feel better.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending upon how you look at it), DD is very sensitive regarding hurting others.  She has a very strong sense of right and wrong.  Therefore, she doesn't enjoy or appreciate jokes in poor taste, like burning JWs (or any other people group). Those kinds of things really upset her.

 

I remember once in a gym class she took at the local elementary school, a boy got hit hard with a basketball right in the groin.  He fell to the floor sobbing.  While the other kids circled around him pointing and laughing, DD ran to him, got on the floor and tried to comfort him and tell him it would be okay.  It took me the whole ride home to try to explain to her why the other kids were so cruel and uncaring about the poor boy; making fun of him rather than trying to help.  She just couldn't grasp their unfeeling behavior then and still can't understand such insensitive behavior now.

 

Thanks everyone for your :grouphug: s.  I'm in a much better frame of mind this AM.

 

She sounds like such a gentle, caring soul. :grouphug:

 

[NorthwestMom]

Note that this is surely a production licensed from the original copyright owners, and all the jokes and text come from them.  In fact, it may violate the licensing agreement for the school to change any of the text.  A quick google search shows that the homeschool joke appears in the broadway version.

 

This is true. Our local theater company refused to let the elementary school change any lines in the play the school hired them to produce, because the script was licensed. It's just how it works.  I am sorry you were so hurt.  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

[Dmmetler]

On the homeschooling, here's a clip from the very first TV Addams family episode-homeschooling definitely was an unusual choice at the time. And it definitely shows that the Addams family teaches history :)

 

http://www.veoh.com/watch/v266830S5WHjA2w?h1=Addams+Family+Homeschooling

 

 

 

[Catwoman]

My DD was very excited to go to the local middle/high school's annual play this afternoon. It was a musical production of "The Addams Family."

 

Since DD is in the local children's theater group and actually attends this school for band/flute classes. She was eager to support "her part-time" school, as well as the chorus/band/drama club students.

 

It didn't go well. While the play was witty and cute in some spots, it will full of sexual innuendo, crass language, and two instances of extremely poor jokes. The first one was like a slap to both my daughter's and my faces. I was so hoping my DD didn't catch it. The characters of Wednesday and her boyfriend were arguing. In trying to convey his undying love, despite their misunderstanding, Wednesday's boyfriend was comparing his love to several famous historical figures, rattling off their names in quick succession. Wednesday stops him in mid-stream and says, "Hey, I'm homeschooled remember; cut to the chase" (implying she doesn't know any of these historical figures). The audience roared with laughter. The ironic part to the whole scene was that the actor who played the boyfriend couldn't even pronounce "Ulysses" correctly, and he is a senior!

 

When we left the school auditorium, my DD looked at me and said, "I really didn't appreciate their slam about homeschooling or the comment about the Jehovah's Witness." I could tell she was really hurt, crushed in fact. She then proceeded to tell me she no longer wanted anything to do with pursuing drama at that school when she's eligible next year. (Something she had been looking forward to.)

The Jehovah's Witness joke involved burning of said JW who knocked on the Addams's door to proselytize. I can only assume this joke came about because over the last couple of weeks we have seen an increase in JWs canvassing local neighborhoods, even out in our more remote area. Regardless, it made me cringe in my seat. My heart, already bruised by the homeschooling joke, was further torn for any JW's who might be sitting in the audience. What were these directors and kids thinking?!

 

I was appalled. I couldn't believe it! We live in a tiny town in northern, ME, right in the Bible belt and this is considered appropriate entertainment performed by middle and high school students. No wonder the world is in the shape it's in when we promote this type of thinking in our youth.

 

I'm so hurt and angry at this point, I don't know how I'm going to take my DD to her class on Tuesday. I do know that if any of the teachers ask if I was able to watch the play how I'll respond. I guarantee they won't like my answer any more than I liked seeing my daughter's feelings trampled upon through their careless, misinformed view of homeschooling or intolerance of another person's chosen religion. I so feel like writing a letter to the editor of our paper about this, but it would just be chalked up to just another ignorant prude denigrating or misunderstanding superior intellectual-enlightening entertainment.

 

Sorry, but I just had to get that off my chest before Tuesday morning! Thanks for being my JAWM sounding board. Phew! I feel somewhat better.

Honestly, I think both you and your dd are overreacting. OK, you found some of the lines in the play to be offensive, but it seems way over the top for her to be "really hurt," "crushed" and no longer wanting anything to do with drama based on this one thing. And I truly have no idea why you are so "hurt and angry."

 

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the production, but I don't understand why you wouldn't simply agree with your dd that it wasn't what you had expected it to be, and just let it go.

[applethyme]

:grouphug: :grouphug:

[StephanieZ]

FWIW, IIRC (and I did google to confirm my memory), both of those jokes are direct from the script. We saw the play at our local university (traveling production, expensive tickets) a couple years ago, and they were both in there.

 

So, although the jokes are in questionable taste, they are/were NOT created by the current production at the school, they were simply reading from a set script. I hope that helps you and your daughter not take it personally. 

 

(((Hugs)))

[DianeW88]

Honestly, I think both you and your dd are overreacting. OK, you found some of the lines in the play to be offensive, but it seems way over the top for her to be "really hurt," "crushed" and no longer wanting anything to do with drama based on this one thing. And I truly have no idea why you are so "hurt and angry."

 

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the production, but I don't understand why you wouldn't simply agree with your dd that it wasn't what you had expected it to be, and just let it go.

 

I agree.  It's the nature of the beast.  Theater productions often mock and/or satirize socially relevant events, institutions, or people.  If your dd is interested in theater, she needs to get used to this sort of thing. 

 

A Broadway play whose sole purpose is mocking my religion (The Book of Mormon) has been a blockbuster for the past several years.  It is what it is.  My response is that my church should emboss the bottom of all our new Books of Mormon that we hand out with the words, "Winner! 2012 Tony Award". :lol:

[LibraryLover]

The character of Wednesday is well -established: she is a (diabolical) genius. So the hs comment is actually a compliment, of sorts. The audience knows  that smart hs'd kids win spelling bees etc. That's why it is funny. ("Cut to the chase" means stop blathering on about something I already know.)  The Addams Family background:  Sinister.  In one of the movies, the children try to kill the baby. ;)

[catz]

I agree.  It's the nature of the beast.  Theater productions often mock and/or satirize socially relevant events, institutions, or people.  If your dd is interested in theater, she needs to get used to this sort of thing. 

 

A Broadway play whose sole purpose is mocking my religion (The Book of Mormon) has been a blockbuster for the past several years.  It is what it is.  My response is that my church should emboss the bottom of all our new Books of Mormon that we hand out with the words, "Winner! 2012 Tony Award". :lol:

 

We actually went to Book of Mormon when it came to town and The Church of Mormon ran ads in the playbill.  Seriously, a work of genius on the part of the Mormons.  :)  They said "You saw the show, now read the book!".  ETA - now that I've seen it, I wouldn't necessarily say it's sole purpose it's mocking Mormonism however.  That's another thread though. 

 

I do agree that theater is often satirical in nature.  You can find satire and mocking in Shakespeare.  It has actually been a good source of discussion here. 

 

I always thought Wednesday was the prodigy child too.

 

[LibraryLover]

We actually went to Book of Mormon when it came to town and The Church of Mormon ran ads in the playbill. Seriously, a work of genius on the part of the Mormons. :) They said "You saw the show, now read the book!". ETA - now that I've seen it, I wouldn't necessarily say it's sole purpose it's mocking Mormonism however. That's another thread though.

 

I do agree that theater is often satirical in nature. You can find satire and mocking in Shakespeare. It has actually been a good source of discussion here.

 

I always thought Wednesday was the prodigy child too.

 

The character evolved. ;) She was more a sweet little girl in the old TV show, although she raised thoroughbred spiders. ;) lol But she is a prodigy.

[Jan in SC]

I agree. It's the nature of the beast. Theater productions often mock and/or satirize socially relevant events, institutions, or people. If your dd is interested in theater, she needs to get used to this sort of thing.

 

A Broadway play whose sole purpose is mocking my religion (The Book of Mormon) has been a blockbuster for the past several years. It is what it is. My response is that my church should emboss the bottom of all our new Books of Mormon that we hand out with the words, "Winner! 2012 Tony Award". :lol:

This is the best post I have ever read. You are an awesome person.

[inmyopinion]

Both lines are part of the script as our local college production had them also.  Ironically, in ours, Lucas was played by a homeschooler.  Overall, this play is what it is, an adult-themed show, and I am surprised the school did it.    But, honestly, I was not offended personally.  

[KidsHappen]

I'm sorry it rubbed you wrong. 

 

For the homeschool comment, I just assumed she meant she was homeschooled, she gets it already, move on! Rattling off historical figures impress her. 

This is how I took it as well.