Utah school recasts musical with sexy Elvis songs
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A parent who was "All Shook Up" about Elvis Presley songs in a high-school drama prompted educators to cancel the musical, deeming it too sexual. But, the decision was reversed Thursday by administrators at the high school south of Salt Lake City.
The administrators at Herriman High School received permission from the copyright owners of "All Shook Up" to edit some of Presley's songs and make scene changes in the American jukebox musical that borrows from William Shakespeare.
"The show will go on," said Sandy Riesgraf, a spokeswoman for the Jordan School District. "Our biggest concern early on, we wanted to make some changes to keep the play within community values. It's a win-win for all of us."
Presley warbles about a sweetheart whose "lips are like a volcano that's hot" in his song from 1957. "I'm proud to say she's my buttercup. I'm in love. I'm all shook up."
His song lyrics together with a scene suggesting cross-dressing were deemed offensive by a person the school is refusing to identify.
Some think school administrators folded too easily at the start.
"I'm at a loss," Jill Fishback, whose daughter worked on the production, told The Salt Lake Tribune. "They're singing Elvis songs. A girl dresses up as a boy and kisses a boy. ... It's not promoting homosexuality. It was supposed to be a farce."
"All Shook Up" brings a modern twist to Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," which portrays a female castaway who dresses as a boy to evade detection in ancient southern Europe, said Martine Green-Rogers, a theater fellow at the University of Utah.
"There's a misunderstanding about the plot of the play," Green-Rogers said. "It happens a lot in theater. Artists push boundaries."
The female castaway dresses as a boy as cover to wander about, but reveals herself as she falls in love with a young man. "By that time, the genders have been righted," Green-Rogers said. "The audience knows it's not a homosexual relationship."
Nonetheless, Herriman High School, about 20 miles from Salt Lake City, will make some scene changes to the musical version of the Shakespeare play that Riesgraf couldn't immediately specify on Thursday.
"We weren't asking for a lot. It will not change the intent of the play. They gave us their blessing," she said of the musical's producers.
Rehearsals for "All Shook Up" had been briefly canceled. The production is back on for a February run.
It wasn't the first time some Utah parents balked at a school drama. In August, the family values group Eagle Forum got Jordan School District administrators to cancel "Dead Man Walking," a play about a Catholic nun who counsels a death-row inmate in Louisiana.
"Dead Man Walking" was scratched even though much of its profanity had been removed from the script. The backlash prompted policy changes that allowed administrators to swiftly suspend "All Shook Up" before the reversal.
Jordan officials gave parents a greater role over student plays. They required actors to secure a parent's permission and drama teachers to seek clearance for plays not on an approved list.
It wasn't immediately clear Thursday how "All Shook Up" got off the ground. It had been in rehearsal for months.
The administrators at Herriman High School received permission from the copyright owners of "All Shook Up" to edit some of Presley's songs and make scene changes in the American jukebox musical that borrows from William Shakespeare.
"The show will go on," said Sandy Riesgraf, a spokeswoman for the Jordan School District. "Our biggest concern early on, we wanted to make some changes to keep the play within community values. It's a win-win for all of us."
Presley warbles about a sweetheart whose "lips are like a volcano that's hot" in his song from 1957. "I'm proud to say she's my buttercup. I'm in love. I'm all shook up."
His song lyrics together with a scene suggesting cross-dressing were deemed offensive by a person the school is refusing to identify.
Some think school administrators folded too easily at the start.
"I'm at a loss," Jill Fishback, whose daughter worked on the production, told The Salt Lake Tribune. "They're singing Elvis songs. A girl dresses up as a boy and kisses a boy. ... It's not promoting homosexuality. It was supposed to be a farce."
"All Shook Up" brings a modern twist to Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," which portrays a female castaway who dresses as a boy to evade detection in ancient southern Europe, said Martine Green-Rogers, a theater fellow at the University of Utah.
"There's a misunderstanding about the plot of the play," Green-Rogers said. "It happens a lot in theater. Artists push boundaries."
The female castaway dresses as a boy as cover to wander about, but reveals herself as she falls in love with a young man. "By that time, the genders have been righted," Green-Rogers said. "The audience knows it's not a homosexual relationship."
Nonetheless, Herriman High School, about 20 miles from Salt Lake City, will make some scene changes to the musical version of the Shakespeare play that Riesgraf couldn't immediately specify on Thursday.
"We weren't asking for a lot. It will not change the intent of the play. They gave us their blessing," she said of the musical's producers.
Rehearsals for "All Shook Up" had been briefly canceled. The production is back on for a February run.
It wasn't the first time some Utah parents balked at a school drama. In August, the family values group Eagle Forum got Jordan School District administrators to cancel "Dead Man Walking," a play about a Catholic nun who counsels a death-row inmate in Louisiana.
"Dead Man Walking" was scratched even though much of its profanity had been removed from the script. The backlash prompted policy changes that allowed administrators to swiftly suspend "All Shook Up" before the reversal.
Jordan officials gave parents a greater role over student plays. They required actors to secure a parent's permission and drama teachers to seek clearance for plays not on an approved list.
It wasn't immediately clear Thursday how "All Shook Up" got off the ground. It had been in rehearsal for months.
Will they at least serve a buffet in his honor?
I'm Shocked!!! How can there possibly be a sentence with both of the words "Utah" and "sexy" in it??????
 @WendyTeagarden ...not surprising when you google state with most online subscriptions to porn.
I love sexual plays personally...
The irony is that Elvis was one of the most decent individuals in the entertainment industry. Even his critics agree that he was an all-around "nice guy". And his love of his mother, and his respect for traditional American values of family and community, is legendary. The people of Utah simply do not deserve entertainers on a caliber with Elvis Presley.
correction: "are" legendary.
Doesn't bother me. Never liked his singing anyway.
 @Mikey You may not have "liked his singing", but like it or not, you HAVE been affected by his presence. Elvis changed the way Americans view themselves and their world. He had a tremendous cultural influence on America, and this influence continues today.
 @felines99 ...he got Jimmy Page interested in the guitar...so I guess I can be thankful for that.
 @str1ngb3nd3r Jimmy Page and Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash and John Lennon, etc., etc., etc.
Wow.. Â I remember that Elvis was considered somewhat "ahead of his time" back in the '50s (my mom was kind of shocked at first, but she got over it pretty fast - she was a really cool mom)... but if these Utah parents think that "All Shook Up" is "sexually explicit", they haven't listened to very much of the "music" for about the last 20 years... Â
...and plays like this one are not intended to reflect real life... they're fantasy... they're supposed to just be fun...
Each to their own taste, I guess, but I feel sorry for people who go through life with such narrow, restricted views of things... Don't those people ever do anything just for fun..?   Â
@margay1 - Yeah, but I think cancelling school plays is it.
And less than a week before The King's birthday. Ain't that a shame.
Just when you think Utahans were possibly unclenching thier cheeks a little - this yahoo shows up.
"The unidentified parent who got all hot and bothered over "All Shook Up" alerted officials to parts of the script that were deemed offensive."
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Sounds like she needs a hunka-hunka burning love.