Dark, different and edgy: Lebanon County school board votes down musical

The Northern Lebanon School District board of directors voted against allowing the high school drama club to put on the Addams Family musical for the 2024 school year during their March 14 board meeting.

The proposed script was the school edition of the musical.

Board members Barry Naum, Nathan Erdman, Robert England, David Kline, Michael Marlowe, Staci Murray and Troy Williams all voted against the proposed production.

Michelle Bucks and Robb Faller voted for it.

Naum, the president of the board, told the Lebanon Daily News that the board fully intends to approve another script and is not cancelling the 2024 musical.

Board members who voted against the musical cited concerns over its themes of darkness, despair and death as well as suggestive content and language with references to killing, torture, self-harm, children smoking and allusions toward sex.

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Many members of the board complimented the drama club’s recent production of Little Mermaid, as well as previous successes, and agreed their production of The Addams Family musical would be spectacular, but inappropriate for the community’s audience.

“As I’m watching this remarkable performance take place with my 11-year-old daughter," Williams said, "it dawned on me, would I have the same kind of experience [and] appreciation, if it were this proposed musical? And would I bring my then 12-year-old daughter along with me to see that musical?”

“I don’t believe I would be able to do that.”

Erdman and Murray pointed out that during those Little Mermaid shows, a large portion of the audience were young children and did not believe that crowd would get the same enjoyment or experience out of this script.

Marlowe said that the script didn’t fit into the culture or climate that the district was trying to build, something that the district has been putting a lot of time into in the last few years.

“These are not themes that we as a school would permit,” he said. “We wouldn’t allow students to say these things in class, walking down the hallway, and so I don’t think we should put it out there from a public standpoint as well.”

England agreed with Marlowe’s point, saying that approving this musical would indicate that the district is not that serious about improving the culture of the district and that it could weaken the argument that parents should trust the district with their children’s education.

Bucks, who supported the play, pointed out that the Addams Family Musical has been one of the most popular plays for high schools to put on across the country for the last several years and that neighboring districts, like Cedar Crest and Hershey High School, among many others, have put it on without a hitch.

Bucks also said that she trusted the director to know the students, their talents as well as the community and audience. She also said that she believed any musical could be picked apart and found to be insensitive to someone.

She pulled an example from Grease, which the school had previously done, with a song about young people potentially making out that could possibly offend people.

Little Mermaid, a story about a daughter disobeying her father, risking both of their lives, and giving her voice to someone that she doesn’t know, could be offensive to others, she said.

“I fully believe that there is not a single musical where some school board member, somewhere, will speak out against and have a reason that is very convicting to them, why that certain musical should not be done."

Bucks agreed that certain things about the script needed to be changed, such as jokes made towards religious groups. But overall, she said, the musical has good themes, like love, honesty and working on oneself, mixed with humor and believed that the community would enjoy it.

“It is dark, it’s different, it’s edgy,” she said, “but I think that it’s not in a bad way that most of our community will take issue with.”

Daniel Larlham Jr. is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at DLarlham@LDNews.com or on Twitter @djlarlham

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Northern Lebanon School Board votes no Addams Family musical for 2024