Right-Wing Catholics Will Protest a Dallas Production of a Gay-Themed Bible Satire
The conceit behind The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told is easy to grasp. Instead of Adam and Eve frolicking naked in the Garden of Eden, it's Adam and Steve who are the primordial couple. When they meet up with an equally primordial lesbian couple and decide to start a civilization, hilarity ensues.
The sacrilege was deliberate and gleeful, but what reviewers homed in on when the play debuted off Broadway in 1998 was the compassionate spirit that was layered underneath. As The New York Times' Ben Brantley put it at the time, "there's reverence in [playwright Paul] Rudnick's irreverence, an earnest warmth beneath the frivolity."
Religious conservatives, particularly in the south, however, prefer their "earnest warmth" to be Biblically accurate and free of homosexuality, which is why they have protested the play in the past and continue to do so as it makes its way through the nation's heartland.
In Oklahoma City, dozens of pastors have objected to the presentation of the play, calling it "obscene" and "an affront to Oklahoma City community standards." Here in Dallas, the Uptown Players' scheduled production at the Kalita Humphreys Theater will be picketed this weekend by America Needs Fatima, which describes itself as a "nonprofit campaign made up of Catholic citzens united in a common goal: To win the heart and soul of America for Mary, our Blessed Mother."
More at http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/12/america_needs_fatima_gay_fabulous_story.php .
Cross-posted at LGBT Group.
