IL Park Censors Ragtime, Finding It Too Racy
Playbill.com reports that a free outdoor production of the 1997 Broadway muscial RAGTIME in Wilmette, IL was cancelled by local officials over concerns about the script's racy language.
"We had grave concerns that people would take the language they heard over the amplified sound system out of context from a performance that was being held in the bowl," officials told the Pioneer Press. "This is something we very honestly should have known about and hopefully we could have acted on this sooner, but we did as soon as we found out what was there."
"I find this sad and also hilarious," Ragtime lyricist Lynn Ahrens told Playbill.com. "It seems to sum up the blind ignorance of people who sit busily cherry-picking bad words, while not even bothering to read the script they are producing to understand its ideas or the context in which these words are spoken. We authors have always said that if people were uncomfortable producing the show, they shouldn't produce it. We feel the language is accurate and honest in the context of the era, and important to preserve. That hasn't stopped Ragtime from being produced in numerous theatres, high schools and colleges, where the heads of these institutions don't underestimate the intelligence of their audiences, whether comprised of children or adults, nor feel the need to censor and protect them from their own national history."
