This is what we have come to:
The show went on at Tappan Zee High School last weekend, minus the oversized Nazi flags. But there were still swastikas on stage in “The Producers” — both on armbands, and in a production number where the cast danced in the form of a giant swastika, a la Busby Berkeley. A controversy arose before Friday’s opening night after a student posted a photo on Facebook of oversized Nazi flags flying over the Tappan Zee stage. Concerned parents then met with administrators, saying they were offended that a symbol of hate would be seen at a high school. The administration ordered director Ed Clinton to remove the flags, which were to fly at the end of the production number, “Springtime for Hitler.” “The Producers,” based on Mel Brooks’ 1968 film, tells the story of two Broadway producers who search for a surefire Broadway flop, in the hopes of bilking little old ladies out of their nest eggs. The flop they settle on, “Springtime for Hitler,” is a valentine to the Nazi leader, written by a leiderhosen-wearing follower played by student Jarrett Morley. Morley’s father, Joe, saw the show last weekend and said Clinton read a long disclaimer before the performance. “It basically said that the play is about two producers producing a parody and that the students and the faculty don’t support any of the ideas or concepts of The Third Reich or Adolf Hitler and this is simply used for comic reasons.”
And today we celebrate...