Broadway Too PC for 'Bye, Bye, Birdie' 'Rape' Scene?

I bet that headline got your attention! But, as you’ll see a little later in this post, the scene in question is not really a “rape” at all. But that didn’t keep the NY Daily News from running this headline yesterday:

‘Bye Bye Birdie’ revival on Broadway drops scene for ‘gang rape’ concern

“Just a copy editor trying to get attention by over-exaggerating a story,” you think? That’s what I thought, too. But here is the story with Gina Gershon’s quote:

According to Gina Gershon, who stars as Rose in the upcoming revival, the production has said bye bye to a frisky dance sequence that has been in the show since its debut in 1960. In the scene, Rose, originated on stage by Chita Rivera and on film by Janet Leigh, crashes a Shriners banquet, flirts and cavorts on, around and underneath a table with the fez-heads. As written, it’s a funny dance showcase. So why is it too hot to handle in 2009? Gershon told The News’ theater critic Joe Dziemianowicz, “It seemed a little too gang rape-y.”

The Daily News takes the words right out of my mouth when it says:

That should come as interesting news to countless high schools, parochial academies and theater camps where this number has been performed for nearly 50 years.

Before I give you my guess as to what is really going on here, I will let you judge for yourself. Here is Chita Rivera performing Gower Champion’s original Broadway choreography:

[youtube 3ZldWwNZMmc nolink]

It’s not my favorite scene from a 60’s musical, but I don’t think it could be objectively described as a “Gang Rape”… unless you mean that the character of Rose is raping the gang of Shriners!!!

So, what is this REALLY all about? Here is my hunch:

Whenever a Hollywood star is cast to do a Broadway musical, the first question everyone asks is: “Can he/she sing?” In the cases of Glenn Close and Hugh Jackman, the answer was “YES!” In the case of Faye Dunaway, the answer was “Oh God, NO!”

But, in the case of Rose in “Bye, Bye Birdie,” the relevant question is not whether Gershon can sing, because Rose’s songs are not very challenging… no, what defines the role of Rose is following in the footsteps of Chita Rivera and living up to the distant memory of her dancing. Rivera is a Broadway legend who enjoys a reputation of holding an audience captivated with her body and how she moved it. So, the big question in relation to Gershon being announced as Rose in this revival was not “Can she sing?”; it was “Can she dance?”

Now, I try my best not to be too snarky or catty in my posts. And I’ve already noted this revival as something I am personally looking forward to… but, based on this little kerfuffle over cutting this dance sequence and the really lame excuse (“gang rape-y”? come on!), I think it is fair to say that the answer is, “No, she can’t dance.. at least not well enough to hold the stage for a dance sequence like this.”

As we’ve all seen on “Dancing With the Stars,” if you are paired with a great dancer, you can learn enough and practice enough to be a good enough partner to look like you can dance. But when you are alone on stage dancing without a partner as Rose is in this number… well, that is something you can’t fake. And to me, this sounds like a good director and a good choreographer protecting their star and coming up with a press agent’s excuse for cutting a number.

Further evidence of this? The show is set to begin previews on September 15. This means the show has been in rehearsal for a couple of weeks. If the producers and director of this show wanted to cut this number for the reason they are stating now, the decision would have been made a while ago. You have to believe that they tried it out, and it wasn’t working. (Unless you believe that they only now have realized that the scene is “Gang Rape-y” after spending the time creating the scene, rehearsing the scene, costuming the scene… etc…)

By the way, revivals have recently been subject to political correct revisions. The most common is the song “I’m an Indian Too” being excised from Irving Berlin’s “Annie Get Your Gun.” The Native American community (how PC am I???) have found these lyrics from the 1946 play offensive:

Like the Chippewa,

Iroquois,

Omaha…

Like those Indians

I’m an Indian too

A Sioux

A Sioux

Just like Rising Moon

Falling Pants

Running Nose

Like those Indians

I’m an Indian too

A Sioux

A Sioux

Some Indian drummers they’re without a care

I may run away

With Big Chief Sun-of-A-Bear

And I’ll have totem poles

Tomahawk

Small papoose

Which will go to prove

I’m an Indian too

A sioux

A sioux

A sioux

Oh, I’m an indian

I’m an Indian

I’m an honest Injun Indian

I’m an Indian, too.

What has always bugged me about this song being removed is the CONTEXT of the song in the show (context still means SOMETHING, doesn’t it?). Annie sings it right after Chief Sitting Bull adopts her into the Sioux tribe. She is honored, proud and happy to be adopted.

Here is rare footage of Mary Martin in the original 1946 production:

[dailymotion xmiw9_mary-martin-im-an-indian-too_events nolink]

Now, obviously this scene is not meant as a historically accurate depiction of a traditional Sioux ceremony, but is it mean-spirited, insulting, derisive? Not in my politically incorrect opinion.

So, I guess I’m saying… Gina, if you can dance it, BRING ON THE GANG RAPE SCENE!

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