rec.arts.theatre.musicals

On Feb 9, 6:58=A0pm, NewportsRe...@ (Steve Newport) wrote:
> And from what I hear ANYTHING GOES, an even older show with more topical
> references, is one of the most popular shows among high schools. I will
> confess that I've heard "Haig and Haig" changed to "Cutty Sark." BFS. Of
> course, the earlier part of the line "that hypethyroid I was with.." is
> also funny.

Yep, this brings us back to the FSD and AGYG debacles. If you want to
write new work, write new work. If you want to to revive an older
work, do a little research to ensure the audience GETS the jokes.* And
if that requires changing "Brenda Frasier" to "Shirley Temple," fine -
so long as you get permission from the rights holders.

But playwrights who pick the bones of old work in order to get work
are, well, vultures.

* - when I did BRIGADOON in 2004, about half of Jeff's jokes landed.
And that was because the actor didn't have a clue about what he was
saying and the director didn't take the time to either tell him, or
instuct him to do some research.