Sunday, September 16, 2007

My letter to the Poop people...

"To whom it may concern:

My husband and I had the opportunity to attend all three summer plays this year at the Woodminster theater. They were so much fun, entertaining and professionally done. The music and dancing was always top-notch and we loved being able to come and enjoy these performances. We even brought two of our four children to the "Wizard of Oz" and they loved it!

Friday night (Sept. 14th, 2007), we attended "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". This has always been a favorite play of mine personally, and I have to say that Pierce Peter Brandt and Andrea Daniel were amazing!! Their singing was beautiful. The dancing and choreography was extremely well done. However, the part with Potiphar's wife was absolutely disgusting, appalling and humiliating.

The simulated sex on stage was defaming. It was akin to pornography. It was obvious, by the actions of the characters on stage, that this was meant to be FUNNY. I want to tell you that it was NOT, and 98% of the audience was not amused. The tension in the air was palpable. I was grateful that my children were not present, and absolutely horrified that some children were in the audience. I was even more horrified by the presence of the Children's Chorus on stage, witnessing this smut.

What made it worse, was the changing of the plot. Joseph RAN AWAY. He got himself out. This depiction of him and Potiphar's wife made it seem that he succumbed. How could we possibly root for the character --a Man of God --after changing the facts to make it look like he gave in to sexual desire with a married woman? The story in Genesis 39 clearly states that Joseph was not a weak man. After the scene on Friday night, I wanted to throw him in the jail myself.

I feel that we were deceived. The audience, as introduced in the beginning, was almost entirely made up of Christian Churches (including mine, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). We weren't expecting such filth.

Please know that we really love the outdoor theater and we love musicals. We want to be able to attend again in the future, but if scenes like this one will be in future productions, we will have no choice but to take our money somewhere else.

Thank you"

This is the letter I wrote. My friend wrote something similar and HERE is the response she got. I'm expecting something similar. I'll let you know if and when I get a response...

UPDATE:
Here is their Response:

The wonderful thing about a Democracy is that each of us can express our
opinions. You have expressed yours and I have read it with interest.
I disagree but will consider the source. Joseph did not succumb,
perhaps you misread the choreography, he was fighting temptaition all the way
and Andrew Lloyed Weber chose to have the husband interrupt. Joseph,
however, was punished briefly with a jail stint but that changed the direction
of his life and he was rewarded. 98% of the audience is not only amused
but we have to date, received over 300 positive responses and 5 negative.
You have a right to your opinion, everyone else has the same right. Not one
parent of the 48 children expressed concern about the scene. I hope they
took the opportunity to explain to their children what forms temptation can take
and how you can resist it. HJS

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good Job! I can't believe it. I am curious as to how bad it was. Sounds pretty disgusting. How sad, that even in a musical originally created for SUNDAY SCHOOL was made into such trash. I read Janelle's letter and the director sounds like an idiot. Can't even right a respectable response. I love that he got the scripture wrong!

Rochelleht said...

That is a GREAT letter!!

Kelly said...

What a smug response! Consider the source indeed.

Great letter from you though, good for you for taking the time to let them know how you felt.

Rochelleht said...

Wow, what arrogance!

D-dawg said...

I am shocked about this whole thing too but so glad you wrote letters. It is so sad to hear such a great musical was changed in such an awful way. I wish more people would stand up for what they felt!!!

flip flop mama said...

What a great letter. I can't believe their response was so rude though. They could have said thank you for your comments, we disagree but appreciate your feedback. I wouldn't go back to that theater with the way that guy responded. Whoa...

Anonymous said...

I just can't get over this "consider the source" thing. What the heck is that supposed to mean anyway? I would say that you are a very reliable source. I would consider your source any day. What I would like to know is what source the director had?

Scrapbooks by Amanda said...

So awesome that you wrote this letter. And you did it so well. I am annoyed at the smug response. Will you go back?