TV and Movies

[chrystaltree]

I do not but I think people should do some research before they take children to see plays and musicals anywhere.  Why would someone take young kids to see Waitress anyway?  It's obviously not a kid friendly or family play.  I haven't seen it, I read about it and just from that, I wouldn't take a 10 year old to see it.   

[lulu1]

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@granddi wrote:

I have seen many Broadway Show performances. I never thought about a "rating system" like movies until seeing "Waitress". 

We attended this performance recently and was a little taken back with the adult type discussions and acting out of s* ex. There were a few in attendance with pre-teens that left within 10 minutes of the show. 

We knew Jersey Boys would be naughty and there was salty language and implied s*ex content. 

Just got me thinking if Broadway shows should have content alerts as to language or content? 

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@granddi

ABSOLUTELY!

[VaBelle35]

A sign at the door to the theater after you have already bought your tickets is kind of pointless.

[software]

Broadway has always had the reputation of being edgy & over-the-top.

[TenderMercies]

The ratings system for movies is not mandatory.  Films can be released with no rating, but mainstream producers know that a film with an MPA rating will have a better chance of being shown in theaters and selling.  You will often see how DVD releases of films sometimes include unrated versions on the DVD, so that the purchaser can enjoy the uncensored version of the film that the director intended.  

The closest you’ll get to the MPA with theatre is The Broadway League, and that organization is largely composed of producers who most likely would be against censorship of any kind.  It would also be a conflict of interest for competing producers to be voting on rating each other’s shows.  

When considering the rating of theatre in general, Broadway represents a very small fraction of what is produced in the world every day.  When a film is rated, there is just one film, and it’s shown in its original form all over the world.  Right now, there could be hundreds of productions of “Hamlet” and “Godspell” happening simultaneously, and each one of them is different than the other.  While the actors are required to speak or sing the same lines, the details of the set, costumes, and stage directions will be different, and one production might be a lot more risqué than another.  So, should it be the script, not the production that receives the rating, because no ratings organization would be able to run around the world watching the final dress rehearsal of every single play being produced to determine a rating before opening night.  Sounds sensible, right?  However, what happens when the script for “Our Town” receives a G rating, and a mom decides to take her two young kids only to discover that the play is being performed in the nude?  So, rating the script doesn’t work, either, because of the flexibility that is inherent to how plays are interpreted and produced.  

The bottom line is that parents are responsible for the situations in which they put their children, so they should do some research beforehand.  Had the parents who had to leave “Waitress” with their young children Googled “Is Waitress appropriate for children,” they would have immediately seen a link to a thread on the Broadway World Forum which would answer the question.  If more people started taking responsibility, then less people would have to tell them what to do.  Less, not more censorship is always better when it comes to freedom and autonomy.

[granddi]

Censorship: the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable or a threat to security.

My question was Should patrons of Broadway Shows be informed as to content that would or could be offensive to some or perhaps age appropriate? I never suggested that any Show be censored. 

Just like informing consumers that a product was made in China, or cosmetics tested on amimals, or food contains peanuts, or a video game is rated M for mature, or the news program states that it will contain graphic content. 

I don't have any issues regarding artistic freedoms. I felt badly for the those in attendance that were surprised by the acting out of adult content. The synopsis of the show describes it as a waitress trying to make her life better through her pie baking. She never entered a pie baking contest. She instead had an affair with her doctor. 

Jersey Boys has a scene featuring the song "Oh What a Night" which implies naughty. But they never showed two people acting out. It was filled with the F word. I will see it again. 

After the show it got me thinking about whether or not Broadway Shows should inform patrons as to language, adult content or other. 

[Lisa now in AZ]

They do have warnings on ads (for things like Avenue Q which people think is child-friendly because of the Muppet-like stars!). Any time I have bought tickets for shows, they have notices saying things like explicit sex, language, violence, etc. And yes, it is up to the parents to be informed. I remember when Hair first came out and there was the infamous nude scene, my parents saw the show first and then decided it would be OK to take my brother and me. There are a lot of shows out now that may appear to be child-friendly (specifically, the Disney ones), but not even those are suitable for very young children. It is a lot of money to have to leave during the show because your too-young-to-understand child is acting up and someone needs to take him out of the theater.

I LOVE seeing children at B'way shows, but they have to be old enough to underdstand what it happening, as well as have the capacity to sit still for that long. The Lion King is actually quite scary for young children (the hyenas seem more "real" since they are physically right there and not on a TV screen). The last time I saw that, there were some parents who brought a child, no older than 2, who talked and cried almost until intermission when several people complained to the ushers that the parents needed to take him out.  And since everyone had to pay for a seat, it was not fair to the rest of the audience.

As with movie ratings, it is up to the parents to be informed and up to the theaters to enfore the ratings.