THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 23, 1995 TAG: 9504210019
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 37 lines
Recently, our family purchased tickets for ``Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.'' It was to be the first professional play our 12-year-old daughter had attended, and we looked forward to the event. However, I would no more have taken my child to a topless go-go bar than to that play, had I known the contents.
During the scene of Joseph's seduction, the women were costumed in such a way as to appear either topless or completely nude. In fact, we were quite convinced that they were in fact naked until we borrowed binoculars.
I have no doubt that females probably dressed that way 2,000 years ago, but nudity was no more necessary to depicting that historical seduction than explicitly recreating the actual sex that also took place. Even I can think of dozens of ways the scene could have been dramatically depicted without resorting to porn.
We are struggling to raise a decent family in a country that insists on constantly slapping us in the face with sexual references. Our society mourns the increase of teenage pregnancies, illegitimate births, abortions, divorces, etc., yet continues to stand around, stupidly scratching its head and wondering ``Why?''
Someone had the audacity to bill this show as a ``Family'' play. I will never be able to erase the memory in my daughter's head of seeing nude girls dance around on stage in front of hundreds of people. Frankly, I feel like suing Chrysler Hall!
D. H. TARBUTTON
Virginia Beach, April 10, 1995 by CNB