Here's the letter written to a local Missoula, Montana paper:
Missoula Children’s Theater: Inserting line was unprofessional
Open letter to MCT director Curt Olds:
First I would like to compliment you and the entire staff of "The Mikado" on the beautiful sets, costuming and professional performance we experienced on Sunday, Jan. 23.
However, I must call you on something that was inserted into the play which I am almost positive was not in the original book.
The comments made in such a cavalier and oh-so-humorous way were uncalled for. Now, I realize you play to a mostly liberal audience in Missoula and so, I am sure, felt comfortable in your calling for the beheading of Sarah Palin. I am painfully aware that most in the audience tittered with laughter and clapped because "no one would miss her" but there were some in your audience who took great offense to this "uncivil tone" about another human being.
We are in the midst of a crisis that took place in Tucson where many started pointing fingers at that horrible right wing with all their hatred and targeting and standing for the second amendment and on and on and on. So, here we are in a lovely play with beautiful voices serenading us and we have to hear that it is okay to call for the killing of Sarah Palin because we don't like her and no one would miss her. Unbelievable.
As a professional you should be ashamed of yourself, the audience should be ashamed of themselves and I am ashamed of myself for not standing up and leaving at that very moment. I would like to see an apology from you not because I want to hinder free-speech but for the hypocrisy this so clearly shows.
Rory Page, Clinton
This is just beyond despicable. What were the adult staff and those in the audience that laughed thinking?
The entire staff of the Missoula Children's Theatre should be fired. There is no way that this should have been included in any kind of play much less a play geared towards children.
Flashback: Governor Palin went to Missoula last September. She was there to help raise money for Teen Challenge Montana, a local teen shelter and houses women who are trying to kick habits like drugs and alcohol. Not everyone was happy to see her there:
But not everyone was happy to see the former Alaska governor visit the Garden City as more than a dozen protesters lined North Reserve Street as well as the road leading to the hotel where Palin spoke. They held signs that said things such as, "real women don't quit" and "stupidity isn't cute." One protester said he supports the cause, but doesn't think Sarah Palin should be speaking at it.
Is a beheading how they repay her for helping to raise money for the Teen House Montana?
H/T to GretaWire and James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal.
The Mikado is not a children's play it is an operetta by the English pair Gilbert (writer) and Sullivan (composer), 19th C and the libretto were written often in a satirical style about the social attitudes then prevalent. And the habit in performance of changing references to current-day ones is not new. The piece is huge fun, usually done by local amateur opera groups, and you guys are just making Mount Everest out of a very small molehill. Now guys from the perspective of the neo-cons are much more likely to support real executions, even on people who committed crimes as minors. As for what they dream up and say about Obama, is this for real? No one jumping up and down about that, including calls to kill him which far outnumber this episode which they are pumping up out of all proportion. My advice to them: Go and drink some tea, don't have a Party, calm down.
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe a person could ever excuse this. Gilbert & Sullivan or not, this was done by the children's theater! It was inappropriate and uncalled for no matter what political affiliation you have. I think expecting an apology is completely reasonable, especially in light of the Tucson tragedy...I'm still kind of shocked that people would be this insensitive to violence no matter who it's towards.
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