[Jolly128]

How do y'all feel about the appropriateness of tommy for a high school to put on? there is some drug reference and some sex but i think it would be ok. how bout y'all?

[rock_musicals]

Most schools would cut "Fiddle About" and perhaps "Acid Queen".

[MzGalinda]

Yeah...I believe MTI offers a version that allows the schools to cut those two out without any problems from legal enforcement.

[mozurkz]

My high school did tommy with fiddle about and acid queen.....

[Patrick]

acid queen might need to be cut....maybe not

as for fiddle about, it could be easily tweaked thru staging to make it simply physically abusive without sexually abusive

it is after all, one of the best songs in the show

[jcstar]

I really dislike how people find the material in TOMMY offensive. It's high school. Get over it and do the bloody songs.

If you want to cut Acid Queen and Uncle Ernie, why not cut Cousin Kevin? Then, no abuse happens to Tommy and we have a real happy go lucky opera for the blue-haired old ladies to enjoy while watching their gradchildren onstage!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!

Cripes! There should be a rule that says: If you're not going to do it right, DON'T DO IT AT ALL!

I wish people would stoip being so frigging sensitive!

Andy.

[Fantine]

I agree, however you wouldn't want the actors to walk around with bare boobs now would you?

[jcstar]

Um... I don't know.

Andy.

[Fantine]

What, young bare teenagers?

(Well of course, all guys want some)

That's inappropriate, although I don't believe the official American production allowed that to happen during Gypsy Queen anyway. (To my knowledge this has only occured in the UK and European Tour versions). And it was kind of shocking even for me, while I was an 17 year old at the time and grew up in Holland. (A country known for its tolerance in those areas). And the actors were all adults.

[jcstar]

Where are you people getting the idea that there is potential for nudity or whatever you want to call it in TOMMY? If you stick to the libretto written by McAnnuff and Townshend, no one should be offended. Sure some of the material is edgy but so what?

If you're afraid of material that might be edgy, why not do something like THE SOUND OD MUSIC?

Some people can such idiots!

Andy.

[Fantine]

Because nudity is what I saw when I saw the show. I've never said that you can't do without.

[jcstar]

Well, the libretto doesn't call for any type of nudity. Things are implied, but that's it.

In "Acid Queen" Walker takes Tommy away from the Gypsy and the Hawker refuses to give her money.
In "Fiddle About" nothing happens... just like Townshend originally told Entwistle.

I can't really see any scene of the opera where nudity could be. I mean, this isn't "Hair" for crying out loud.

Andy.

[Fantine]

Fine by me if you don' t see it, but I have seen the European Tour which had nudity during Acid Queen. The dancers were naked except for their private parts.

[jcstar]

Well, um... hm...

I think the director had a bad idea there. It simply doesn't work for the scene.

Oh well.

Andy.

[Noodlewoman]

This is the show our school is using for a Marching Band Show. It is very cool!

[Beagle On Stage]

[jcstar]

Yes I know. But the chances of a company getting caught/sued aren't very good (in my experience).

Andy.

[rock_musicals]

[RTTugger1977]

When I was 14, we did this show at summer camp. This was back in '91, so it was 2 years before the show opened on Broadway (we had a director who really used his imagination on this one, with amazing results). For the 'inappropriate material' during "Acid Queen" and "Fiddle About", we had people behind a sheet that acted out the proceedings, so all the audience saw were the silhouettes. It was a pretty cool effect.

[Y0UCANTST0PTHEBEAT]

[Fantine]

[Brother Marvin Hinten, S.]

Or just use the version MTI licenses to high schools that cuts the Uncle Ernie and Acid Queen numbers?

[jcstar]

[Brother Marvin Hinten, S.]

The point of doing the show is that the opera is still successful and proves its point even without the Acid Queen and Uncle Ernie: Tommy had harmful experiences (his father the murderer, his cousin the abuser) in his childhood, and he rose above them (and the resulting deafness, dumbness, and blindness) to become the new Messiah in the eyes of many, only to tell them (in the Broadway version) that he wanted to have what the followers already had, and he didn't have anything new to teach them.

[jcstar]

Still, without Ernie's song (written by Entwistle), TOMMY loses it's edge. Thoe molesting and drug abuse are in the show for a reason.

Also, the things that happen to Tommy as a child, are relevent to high school kids, because they will learn (or experience) those very things anyway.

Leave the show the way it is. TOMMY is perfect for high schools the way it was written.

Andy.

[ponine_singer]

Well, I'm not one for saying "Oooh-- that's inappropriate!" but I think that a lot of people would find the drugs, sadism, and cults a bit much. I don't think anyone would stop you, but you might get a few Concerned Parents calls. It might be good to cut "Acid Queen" (which is a pity, but...) and the "do you think it's all right..." number (with the cousin and uncle.)

[jcstar]

If you're so concerned about getting phone calls from "concerned parents," then DON'T DO THE SHOW!!

Andy.