"You can get a rape on horseback..."
So I just heard on my roommate's radio (I'm assuming NPR), that there's some new production of The Fantasticks being put on in New York, and for it they've changed the lyrics for that song about rape to something less, well, rape-y.
I'm not sure what's sadder... that the original librettist (Tom Jones) made the changes himself, saying, "Over the years, I grew increasingly uncomfortable with getting laughs from the word 'rape.' I've finally solved the problem by writing new lyrics that keep the playfulness but don't use that word. I know some people are going to hate that I changed it, but others -- including myself -- would've hated me if I didn't." or that the shitty tourist audiences always laughed at the song, forcing the librettist to feel like he had to change it.
I, of course, side against both Tom Jones and his audiences.
But, really, if the North Allegheny school district could pull the song off without laughter or discomfort, then how sorry are those Middle-American tourists that have seemingly pushed this musical into such obvious conservative revisionism?
I'm not sure what's sadder... that the original librettist (Tom Jones) made the changes himself, saying, "Over the years, I grew increasingly uncomfortable with getting laughs from the word 'rape.' I've finally solved the problem by writing new lyrics that keep the playfulness but don't use that word. I know some people are going to hate that I changed it, but others -- including myself -- would've hated me if I didn't." or that the shitty tourist audiences always laughed at the song, forcing the librettist to feel like he had to change it.
I, of course, side against both Tom Jones and his audiences.
But, really, if the North Allegheny school district could pull the song off without laughter or discomfort, then how sorry are those Middle-American tourists that have seemingly pushed this musical into such obvious conservative revisionism?
2 Comments:
Is that the Tom Jones who wrote the lyrics? If true, I did not know that.
Having played clarinet in pit band for said North Allegheny production of The Fantasticks, I can attest to the goodness of that song, the obviousness that they're not really talking about "rape" rape, and the fact that it will not overly disturb even relatively young audiences.
Also, the original New York run of the show went for something like 40 years. If the Rape Song is really that bad, the damage is done.
Morning news-browsing update: no, that's not actually the Tom Jones.
Incidentally, I don't see a lot of theater and I don't read theater reviews, but that review is the smarmiest piece of crap I've read for a long time. (Shorter version: I liked this when I was 9, and then I stopped liking it! Therefore anyone who likes it has the tastes of a 9-year-old!)
Part of being a critic, I believe, is engaging with popular works of performance art you don't like, and finding a way to talk about it without accusing its entire audience of being idiots.
Post a Comment
<< Home