Home 2011-2012 SEASON 2011-2012 CONTENT ADVISORY
Content Advisory Overview for the 2011-2012 Season
Season Ticket Holder Exchanges for Content
| Next to Normal | Find and Sign | Man of La Mancha |
| The Tempest | Emma | |
| Annie | Laughing Stock |
Next to Normal
SYNOPSIS: The Goodmans seem like the perfect family: mother Diana is smart and funny; husband Dan is hard-working and devoted to his wife and family; eighteen-year-old son Gabe is a charismatic perfect son; and sixteen-year-old Natalie is an over-achieving perfectionist. Unfortunately, the family finds itself in crisis as Diana struggles with bi-polar depression in the wake of a terrible tragedy which struck the family many years ago. Years of counseling and prescription medication have kept Diana going, but as the play begins cracks are beginning to appear in the perfect family.
LANGUAGE: There is a considerable amount of conversational strong language in the play. Natalie and her boyfriend employ the kind of language typical of many teenagers, and under stress Diana and Dan do as well.
Specifically, this language includes the use of the words “twat,” “shit” and “bullshit” (several times), “fuck” (a number of times), “damn,” “goddamn” and “Christ” (several times).
SMOKING/DRINKING/DRUG USE: Under the care of a physician, Diana has for many years been prescribed various types of anti-depressants, and during the play her daughter Natalie steals them from her mother’s medicine cabinet and begins to use them. Natalie and her boyfriend Henry smoke pot in several scenes, and several of the characters, including the under-aged Natalie, drink in scenes. While these scenes will obviously be simulated, they will be unmistakable.
SEX: There is no sexual activity in the play. There are passing discussions of Diana and Dan’s sex life.
VIOLENCE: While there are no scenes of physical violence in the play, Diana undergoes electroshock therapy and is revealed to have suicidal tendencies. These scenes will be extremely intense.
FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Despite its subject matter, Next to Normal is an extremely moving, and even uplifting and life-affirming, musical. Teenaged children should attend at a parent’s discretion, and the show is inappropriate for pre-teens. Conservative adult audience members may be discomfited by the play’s language and subject matter as well.
RATING: Because of its strong language and subject matter, Next to Normal would be rated “R” if it were a movie.
The Tempest
SYNOPSIS: Prospero, the right Duke of Milan, has been banished by his usurping brother Antonio to a deserted island, where he watches over his daughter Miranda and rules with powerful magic over an assortment of island sprites, spirits and monsters. When a band of shipwrecked sailors washes up on the shore, Miranda is love-struck by the handsome young Ferdinand, and Prospero must decide between revenge and forgiveness.
LANGUAGE: None.
SMOKING AND DRINKING: Trinculo, a jester, and Stephano, a butler, are comic figures of drunkenness.
SEX: None.
VIOLENCE: None.
FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: The Tempest is Shakespeare’s last great romance and is one of his more accessible plays. It is suitable for general audiences and children aged 13 and up. It might be over the head of pre-teens.
RATING: If it were a movie,The Tempest would be rated “PG” or “PG-13.”
Annie
SYNOPSIS: Annie is the musical re-telling of the story of Little Orphan Annie of comic book fame, her dog Sandy, the wicked Miss Hannigan and Daddy Warbucks one Christmas during the height of the Great Depression.
LANGUAGE: None to speak of—a few mild oaths.
SMOKING AND DRINKING: Miss Hannigan, the wicked manager of the orphanage, drinks.
SEX: None.
VIOLENCE: None.
FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Annie is suitable for all audiences, including children aged 5 and older.
RATING: Annie would be rated “G.”
Find and Sign
SYNOPSIS: Julia is pretty, smart, funny and a dedicated public high school teacher in the Bronx. She is trying to get Mac, one of her brightest students, into Columbia. Iago is an on-the-rise and on-the-make music executive on the lookout for young hip-hop artists. They meet at a party and begin somewhat cautiously to date, but the road to love is mined with dangers as they consider the price of emotional commitment, their pursuit of career goals, and the perils and pitfalls of dating in modern-day New York.
LANGUAGE: There is a considerable amount of conversational strong language in the play.
Specifically, the language includes the use of the words “dick” (several times), “ass” and “assholes,” “piss” and “shit,” “pussy” (used as an insult), “fuck” (several times, used mostly as an exclamatory oath) and “motherfucker,” “orgasm,” “breast,” “nipples,” “damn” and “Jesus.”
SMOKING AND DRINKING: Several of the characters take drinks, and several may smoke, in several scenes.
SEX: Julia and Iago become a couple during the play, and while there is no explicit sexual activity in the play, we do see them kissing and embracing passionately, and there are discussions about the sexual aspect of their relationship. Julia is seen trying on and discussing lingerie (over her underwear) in the dressing room of a New York clothing store with her best friend Mona.
VIOLENCE: None.
FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Find and Sign would be of interest to teenagers, but parents should be strongly cautioned about the language. The play is not appropriate for pre-teens or conservative audience members.
RATING: Find and Sign would be rated “R” for strong language.
Emma
SYNOPSIS: Young, headstrong Emma Woodhouse believes she has a talent for matchmaking, but where the affections of others and her own heart are concerned she is exasperatingly but charmingly clueless. She is so busy trying to arrange marriages for other people that she pays little attention to her own feelings for her long-time friend George Knightly—until one of her matchmaking schemes goes comically awry and she is forced to confront her own feelings.
LANGUAGE: None.
SMOKING AND DRINKING: There are several party scenes in which characters may be seen to take a drink.
SEX: None.
VIOLENCE: None.
FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Emma is suitable for all general audiences, including children aged ten and older. Children under ten might be bored by it.
RATING: If it were a movie, Emma would be rated “PG.”
Laughing Stock
SYNOPSIS: When Gordon Page, the Artistic Director of The Playhouse, a rustic New England summer theatre, schedules a repertory season of Dracula, Hamlet and Charley’s Aunt, he doesn’t anticipate the comic disasters that befall his company of actors as they try to mount three plays with little rehearsal time and less money. We see the company as they move through outrageous auditions, ego-driven rehearsals and disastrous opening nights to the quiet elation of a great play well-told.
LANGUAGE: There is a small amount of strong language, including one or two profanities and several vulgar expressions.
Specifically, the language includes the use of “damn” and “goddamn” (several times), “bullshit” and “shit,” and “son-of-a-bitch” (several times).
SMOKING AND DRINKING: Sarah, the stage manager, has a drinking problem. Other characters take drinks during party scenes. Several characters may smoke.
SEX: None.
VIOLENCE: None.
FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Laughing Stock is suitable for all general audience and children aged 13 and older. Pre-teens should attend at a parent’s discretion.
RATING: If it were a movie, Laughing Stock would be rated “PG-13.”
Man of La Mancha
SYNOPSIS: Man of La Mancha is the musical re-telling of Cervantes’ Don Quixote, the story of an aging country squire who sets out on his impossible quest with his friend and sidekick Sancho, while those around him question his sanity.
LANGUAGE: None.
SMOKING AND DRINKING: There is some drinking in the play.
SEX: None.
VIOLENCE: Aldonza, the prostitute Don Quixote renames Dulcinea, is attacked by the muleteers.
FOR WHICH AUDIENCES?: Man of La Mancha is suitable for all general audiences, including children aged 10 and older. Children aged 5 to 10 should attend at their parent’s discretion.
RATING: If it were a movie, Man of La Mancha would be rated “PG” or “PG-13.”
"You need three things in the theater - the play, the actors, and the audience, - and each must give something."
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