There's a fine, fine line...or is there?

Recently in my blogroll I stumbled upon this post by Carrie Dunn which discusses the roles of popular musicals in high schools, and addresses the problems some schools are having staging shows with less-than-appropriate content for parents to be watching their children portraying on stage. It got me thinking.

Here's an example. A new edited version of RENT was approved by show creator Jonathan Larson's estate this year so that high schools now have rights to perform it, but the new version still addresses the same hard-hitting themes of homosexuality, drug addiction, and coping with H.I.V. that the original does, probably because these elements are such integral components of the characters, and to remove them would dehumanize the show and frankly leave you with nothing more than a sad plot and empty, emotionless songs.

Now, let's be logical. As much as I've already confessed my undying love for this in-your-face rock musical, I can't quite say I'd want my mom watching me shoot heroin at age 17 on a high school stage. I'm not sure a show containing such strong coming-of-age, finding-your-identity issues can ever really be edited well enough to be appropriate for a high school to perform.

Consequently, three schools have already canceled performances of RENT: School Edition, and debates about the show's provocative content have sparked up all over the country.

As someone who's performed in some not-so-PG shows in the past, I sympathize with Dunn's point of view and with parents who are concerned about the messages these shows are broadcasting. Take a popular high school favorite, Guys and Dolls. Um, gambling and alcoholism, anyone?

Or for that matter, try Grease, everyone's favorite day-in-the-life-at-Rydell-High movie: "The stage show might not have all the explicit back-seat fumbling," Dunn writes, "but it's certainly innuendo-laden: Summer Nights, where Danny brags about his sexual prowess, is pretty unequivocal, and Rizzo still confesses that she might be pregnant – and Kenickie isn't the only one who could be the father. As for the show's overriding messages – that you must smoke, drink and abandon all your principles to get a boyfriend and thus be happy – it's hardly life-affirming stuff."

Should high schools have the freedom to perform such promiscuous shows, or should we demand something more appropriate? Perhaps this is the reason Disney found immediate success in its cleverly-named High School Musical.

Since HSM has taken off as one of the most popular productions being done in high schools these days, I'm almost positive there are schools in the Baltimore area who are performing it. If not, there are most likely schools staging West Side Story or its other provocative counterparts mentioned above. I'm going to see what I can find and try to get a perspective on it from people involved in the productions. I'll report back here when I do.

I remain your Drama Queen.