Posted on 01/30/2011 8:37:56 PM PST by fantail 1952
Below is a "Letter to the Editor" of the Missoulian of Missoula, MT regarding a performance presented on Jan. 23, 2011:
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.
Well, no ... maybe that's too much trouble.
How much easier, simply to wail and gnash teeth....
Indeed it is.... ironic, really, that FReepers who pride themselves on responding to facts rather than emotion, seem so readily to believe the worst about a story -- in utter absence of facts -- when it meets their preconceived notions.
One of the best things I ever learned, was right here at FR: to be skeptical -- even cynical -- about any article; and especially so about articles that feed my preconceptions.
Let me clear up my post: the most recent production that I saw in London also attacked New Labour. I didn’t mean to say they ONLY attacked Conservatives. Now, if the community theatre production mentioned no one but conservatives that would be extremely rude and not very community-oriented. But I have no idea. In any case, the song is and always will be political satire.
“I am probably one of the biggest supporters of the Divine Sarah on FR. But I also know my theatre history.”
True, local productions always “update” the executioners list, and it’s good fun. However The two productions I have seen, and others on YouTube, cite both left and right figures. To cite Palin alone shows bias, and believe me, there’s plenty of lefty loons here in Montana.
A fairer version...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULo08dw1Ub4
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