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Content Advisory 2015-2016

Content Advisory for the 2015-2016 Season

We provide this information as a service and do our best to inform our patrons as to content. Please bear in mind that the question of what is or isn’t offensive is an extremely subjective one, particularly when it comes to determining the appropriateness of plays for children. If you have any concerns about a play’s appropriateness, we strongly encourage you to read this guide carefully, view our website guide and/or read the script before purchasing.

What follows is a detailed list of items that have been found offensive by some in the past. If you have concerns about content, feel free to look over this page. As you do so, please keep in mind that the words listed, taken out of context, may seem more offensive than they would in the context of the play.

In order to exchange such tickets, patrons MUST REQUEST THE EXCHANGE AT LEAST 48 HOURS BEFORE THEIR SCHEDULED PERFORMANCE.

Fiddler on the Roof

SYNPOSIS: Tevya the milkman is trying to raise five daughters in the Russian village of Anatekva while holding on to his traditions, but the winds of change are blowing. This classic musical features a score of wonderful songs (“Tradition,” “Matchmaker,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” and “Sunrise, Sunset”) and is suitable for the whole family.

LANGUAGE: None.

SMOKING/DRINKING/DRUG USE: The village celebrates one of Tevya’s daughter’s weddings with food and drink, and of course those wine bottles wind up famously on the dancer’s heads.

SEX: None.

VIOLENCE: The Cossacks do come to Anatevka, but the violence of this scene is more emotional than physical.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Fiddler on the Roof is suitable for all audiences, including children aged five and up.

RATING: The movie version was rated “PG.”

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The Rocky Horror Show (concert)

SYNPOSIS: The movie version of The Rocky Horror Show, starring a very young Susan Sarandon, Tim Curry and Barry Bostwick, has been a cult classic on college campuses and late night movie houses all over the country for the last 40 years. The show is a send-up of classic horror movie conventions, in which a young and naïve couple who have car trouble on a dark and stormy country road stumble into a scary mansion and meet up with a very different type of Dr. Frankenstein, his monster, and his minions.

LANGUAGE: There is a small amount of strong language, but it is strong enough, in tandem with other elements, to warrant an “R” rating.

The language includes “dammit,” “Piss Off,” “shit,” “mind-fuck,” “bitch,” and orgasmic.”

SMOKING/DRINKING/DRUG USE: None.

SEX: The Dr. Frankenstein character, Frank-n-Furter, is a transvestite bi-sexual from “transsexual Transylvania” who seduces both Janet and Brad; while the concert version will not fully enact these scenes, their intent will be clear. The songs of Frank-n-Furter and his minions Riff Raff, Magenta, the Phantoms, and Rocky are in the gay camp style.

VIOLENCE: As befits a horror movie, there is a gruesome murder and a fair amount of blood, all played to comic excess. Again, the concert version may not fully enact these elements, but they are part of the spirit of the piece.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: The Rocky Horror Show is not for conservative audiences or pre-teen children. High school students have been embracing the movie for 40 years, but children should attend only at a parent’s discretion. Audience members are welcome to “participate” in the traditions of the show by dressing up and talking back to the cast.

RATING: “R”

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Outside Mullingar

SYNOPSIS: In a tiny rural village in contemporary Ireland, two families have lived on adjoining farms for years. Anthony and Rosemary have known each other since they were children, when Anthony pushed Rosemary into a ditch (an incident he has long forgotten but she has been stewing over ever since). Rosemary is now a fiery-tempered Irish beauty who has turned away every suitor, and Anthony has become a slave to the land and cows he tends. Is there any hope for them? A romantic comedy filtered through the soulful sensibility of John Patrick Shanley, the author of the Pulitzer prize-winning play Doubt and the Oscar-winning movie Moonstruck, Outside Mullingar is filled with Irish humor and a heartwarming belief in the heart’s capacity for love.

LANGUAGE: The characters are Irish; the Irish do love to invoke the name of Jesus, and these characters are no different. Beyond the frequent use of “Jesus” and one or two “damns” and “hells,” there is no strong language.

This language includes the frequent use of “Jesus,” one use of “Jesus Christ,” and three or four uses each of “damn” and “hell.”

SMOKING AND DRINKING: Rosemary smokes, both a pipe and cigarettes, although she has a secret reason for doing so and quits by play’s end. Smoking is depicted on stage, with e-smoking products (electronic).

SEX: None.

VIOLENCE: None.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Outside Mullingar is suitable for general adult audiences and children over age ten. Conservative audience members for whom the invocation of Jesus’ name is discomfiting might be put off by its usage in the play, and children under the age of ten will probably be bored by it.

RATING: If it were a movie, Outside Mullingar would be rated “PG” or “PG-13.”

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It Happened On Christmas

SYNOPSIS: Created just for PTC audiences, this family-friendly, razzle dazzle holiday entertainment will include your favorite songs, some theatre magic, good old fashioned singing and dancing, and maybe even a visit from the Man in the Red Suit.

LANGUAGE: None.

SMOKING AND DRINKING: None.

SEX: None.

VIOLENCE: None.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: It Happened One Christmas will be suitable for all audiences, including children aged five and up.

RATING: If it were a movie, It Happened One Christmas would be rated “G.”

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Two Dollar Bill

SYNOPSIS: This world premiere is set at an elite American university, where a distinguished professor of history has just been nominated for a prestigious award. But the attention over that nomination has cast a confusing light on his academic credentials, with career-changing consequences for the professor, his wife, his graduate assistant and the students he teaches. A riveting examination of personal and professional ethics, as well as of the proper mission of higher education in America, Two Dollar Bill has the kind of ripped-from-the headlines timeliness that is sure to inspire social media discussions and dinner table debates among the audiences who see it.

LANGUAGE: The current draft of Two Dollar Bill, which is still being worked on by the playwright, contains the occasional use of strong language, although nothing that would result in a rating stronger than PG-13.

This language includes the frequent use of “damn” or “dammit,” several uses of “shit” or “bullshit,” and several uses of “Jesus” and “hell.”

SMOKING AND DRINKING: None.

SEX: None.

VIOLENCE: None.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Two Dollar Bill is suitable for most general audiences, and for teenaged children. The ethical questions raised by the play will certainly be of interest to, and instructive for, student audiences, although children under the age of ten might not understand the issues the play raises. The small amount of language should not be discomfiting except to very conservative audience members.

RATING: If it were a movie, Two Dollar Bill would be rated “PG-13.”

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An Inspector Calls

SYNOPSIS: In turn-of-the-twentieth-century Great Britain, a prosperous family is gathered to celebrate the engagement of the families’ daughter to a well-to-do gentleman when the festivities are interrupted by the arrival of an enigmatic inspector who claims he is investigating the death by suicide of a young woman from the nearby town. While none of the family members believe they know the victim, over the course of the evening the Inspector’s investigation reveals to each of them that they may be connected to the young woman’s life, and death, in ways they never imagined.

LANGUAGE: Little to speak of, beyond a few “damn,” “My God,” and “For God’s sake” exclamations.

SMOKING AND DRINKING: At the family celebration, the family enjoys a few drinks, and the gentlemen smoke cigars.

SEX: None. At a certain point, the discussion turns to the subject of men who keep mistresses, but there is no sexual activity in the play.

VIOLENCE: None, beyond the off-stage suicide of the young woman, whose death comes to haunt the family.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: An Inspector Calls is taught to most British schoolchildren (much the way The Crucible is taught in America) and is generally regarded as a major work of British theatre. It is suitable for general audiences and children aged 13 and over. It would likely be above the heads of children under the age of ten.

RATING: If it were a movie, An Inspector Calls would be rated “PG.”

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Cowgirls

SYNOPSIS: Jo, the proprietress of a country western saloon, thinks she has just booked a country music trio into her hall, but there’s been a little misunderstanding—the trio she’s booked is actually a classical music trio. Can they teach themselves country music in 48 hours, in time to put on a show and save Hiram Hall from foreclosure?

LANGUAGE: Little to speak of, beyond a small amount of harsh language.

The language includes the frequent use of “hell,” several uses of “damn” and “God,” and two uses of “son-of-a-bitch.”

SMOKING AND DRINKING: None.

SEX: None. One of the characters is gay and bemoans her bad luck in romance, and several of the other women talk about the men in their lives, but that’s it.

VIOLENCE: None.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Cowgirls is suitable for all general audiences, including children aged ten and older. Younger children should attend at a parent’s discretion.

RATING: If it were a movie, Cowgirls would be rated “PG.”

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The Count of Monte Cristo

SYNPOSIS: On the very day of his wedding to the beautiful Mercedes, young Edmund Dantes is framed by three men, arrested and thrown into the notorious prison Chateau d’If. Befriended there by a fellow prisoner, he plots a daring escape, unearths a secret fortune and returns to Marseilles and Paris disguised as the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo, determined to seek vengeance on the men who framed him.

LANGUAGE: A very small amount of language, including one profanity and one vulgarity, along with several exclamatory oaths.

This language includes one use of “Goddamn,” one use of “shit,” and several uses of “Mon Dieu” and its English equivalent, “My God.”

Patrons should be aware that the creators of the show are still working on the script. The script used in the BYU student production differs from the current script, and there may be further changes.

SMOKING AND DRINKING: There are scenes in which various characters drink.

SEX: None. Dantes is rescued at sea by a crew of women pirates led by the Pirate Queen Louisa Vampa, and Louisa and her female crew sing several songs containing some bawdy sexual innuendo, but there is no explicit sexual activity in the play.

VIOLENCE: Major swordfights and other staged theatrical violence, but nothing that would frighten even young children.

FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: The Count of Monte Cristo is a classic adventure story which has been turned into a musical by composer Frank Wildhorn, the composer of Jekyll & Hyde, Bonnie and Clyde, and other musicals. It is suitable for all general audiences and children over the age of ten. The bawdiness of the Pirate Queen may be unsuitable for younger children, and the general story of imprisonment and revenge may be too intense for them.

RATING: If it were a movie, The Count of Monte Cristo would be rated “PG.”

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