I went to a high school production of "Legally Blonde: The Musical" this weekend. The kids in it were good and it was a well done show. But there are parts of it that are still sticking with me, even three days later.
I was horrified by the costumes: "sorority girls" in shorts so short their bottoms were hanging out the back, "Brooke Wyndham's" jumprope workout DVD that was set to a song about "whipping it" and the girls dancing to it in teeny little black spandex shorts and tight tank tops, and, of course, what I was concerned about from the beginning, the PlayBoy bunny outfit: not a leotard (which, if done correctly, could have almost passed as acceptable), but a light pink satin baby doll piece of lingerie with white feathers that was so short, when "Elle" walked, we saw her underwear (
not black spandex underneath her costume, like dancers wear sometimes; it was underwear, and it wasn't boyshorts).
The costuming would have been bad enough by itself, but then put sexually suggestive dance moves to it, and it was terrifying. The opening number was a bunch of sorority girls gyrating and shaking their boobs. The workout song had the girls in the spandex sticking their butts out and snapping their jump ropes like whips. The "Bend and Snap" song was just disgusting. I don't know how to describe it beyond that without sounding like I'm talking about an "R-rated" movie. The "bend and snap" scene in the "Legally Blonde" movie was silly (and everyone was wearing clothes--I believe Reese Witherspoon was in pants or capris and a shirt that covered her shoulders); in the musical, that scene (and song) was sexual: it started out with a girl in a cheerleading outfit saying to "Paulette," "You have the goods, you just need to learn to use them," while she leaned forward and shook her boobs at the audience. It just went downhill from there.
I felt uncomfortable watching underage high school girls acting like sexual deviants. If this had been a college production, I probably still would have felt uncomfortable, but I wouldn't have gotten angry. Some of the girls in this show wearing the least amount of clothing weren't 18 yet. And you could tell that a few of them were
loving the chance to shake their newly-gotten boobs and dance like all they needed was a pole in front of them.
After the show one of the cast members said, "High school is changing; this was tamed from the original version. We're just acting; we're doing the play justice." Now, I've only been graduated from high school for six years and I'm not proud of it, but I tried my damnedest back then to dress the way those girls in the musical did. So, while I understand that high school girls
like dressing provocatively, is it right for a high school to provide them with an opportunity to be scantily clad and dance around on a stage in front of hundreds of people? Apparently, the principal only had one call from a parent expressing concern; he told her to "lighten up." Wow.
I have my music education degree, which means that if I were teaching, I would almost certainly be involved in producing a musical. I would not have supported "Legally Blonde." It's not just because of the moral and ethical issues: the vocal demand is beyond what most high schoolers can do. This production was very lucky to have an incredible male lead to keep it together. The educational component of "doing a musical" wasn't there. You can tell if kids understand musical concepts during a performance. Most of the students were desperately relying on cues from the pit. Some of the singers were nowhere close to their melodies. Doing two shows in a day and four shows over three days was too much for the vocalists and the brass players in the pit.
There are a
lot of musicals out there that are not full of pop music and too-sexy costumes. What happened to integrity, both as a professional and a parent? As a teacher, I never would have had that play cross my desk. As a parent, I would have gone to the school board if my daughter had been in that play. As an administrator, it would be my job to keep the potential lawsuits to a minimum; this play would never have happened. As a former student who was in musicals, I hope I would have had the sense to say something if my teacher, parents, or administration didn't say anything.
I understand that times are changing. I also understand that you have to sell tickets to a high school musical, and making the show accessible and exciting is important. But is it worth exploiting underage students to do so? If this is where the "times" are going, is changing with the times worth it?
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi
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