What's wrong with the Duck scene? I'm confused...

My high school just finished up Pippin last night. They changed some of the language (ex. since we had actual nine-year-olds playing Theo, they alternated, they said other names instead of "a-hole" the second weekend), and the scene with Catherine and Pippin they edited (basically they had them try to kiss each other instead).

My mom was appalled that my high school performed it at first, but she slightly changed her mind, but not much. The whole cast was fantastic, though!!

Our high school did it a few years ago and my grandmother wrote a nasty letter to the headmaster about how it was inappropriate for kids to perform. He responded by telling her that she was an uncultured idiotic old lady with no understanding of musical theatre.

One of my favorite comments was during "With You", when my grandpa turned to my grandma and said, "some of those kids look like they know what they're doing." Best day of my life.

Anyway, I don't think it's inappropriate.

I am getting ready to direct this at the high school where I teach. While I think some things may be cut, the overall message of Pippin, to find your "Corner of the Sky" is very appropriate. Like most 70's musicals, the sexual scenes fit the time period and can be toned down or cut.
Not sure what I'm going to do about "sex presented pastorally". I'm new in the community so not sure how that will go over.
Their past shows have been Seussical, Bye Bye Birdie, Wizard of Oz and Little Shop, so that may tell me something!
The other point I wanted to make is that, as a parent of a freshman, I have to think how "I" would feel if my kid were doing/talking/singing about these sexual themes. I am the most vocal of all parents, so even though I love some of these shows, I might raise a stink.

I think it's a great show for a high school. It's entertaining, silly, and there are great role oppurtunities as well as a need for an ensemble. The content could easily be toned down. I know some people say that if you tone the show down that it muddles up the story and the meaning too much, but as long as you get the idea across, it's fine. For example, I've seen "With You" not be as sexual as originally intended, and it's just as effective. Same thing with the orgy scene that takes place directly after. I saw a teen group's production and when they performed that scene, it was just Pippin and the girls dancing a bit suggestively with each other (not too much, though), and he begins to look like its getting to be too much for him. It gave off the exact same meaning as the Broadway production -- you get the idea.

I've just finished doing Pippin at a Catholic high school, and for obvious reasons, we had to imply most of the sex in the 'With You' scene. Not so pastoral, maybe, but far more effective than any amount of teenage girls gyrating their hips at the audience would have been.

We played the orgy scene entirely for laughs: two players unrolled a large banner, and then Pippin and girls dressed in feather boas snuck behind it. What happened next is rather hard to describe, but it did work.

Funnily enough, apart from that, we made no cuts!

Anyhow, I had a fantastic time doing Pippin, and the audience we had went crazy watching it. I think it's high school appropriate, and most of the subject matter is incredibly relevant to high school students. Any people who try ot deny this by using censorship as a means of 'protection' are deluded.

The rival high school in my city did Pippin. Their production was really good, but they didn't really try to make it family friendly. THey left in all the obvious innuendos and most of the swear words. Plus they showed Catherine and Pippin getting into bed together, then talking about how they should "try again", as well as showing Pippin and some girl rolling around in a bed in an artistic interpretive way...I enjoyed the production and the audience I was with was mostly adults, so it wasn't bad, but I could see some kids being a little confused or squeamish about it.