My son Doug participates every year in the school play. In middle school this is invariably a musical of some sort, and usually one of the “classics.” This year, they are doing “The King and I.” Per the request of the director, I put up a small sitelet for student rehearsal. There they can play the music and rehearse the songs they need to learn.

The other evening, I was putting up the music and lyrics for “The Small House of Uncle Thomas,” and I was struck with a rather disquieting thought. As I listened to the music, trying to scribe the lyrics down, I was challenged by the broken English and the odd accents used to try and give the feeling that these are Siamese characters. I began to try and picture a bunch of middle-class Anglo 7th and 8th graders talking funny like this, and couldn’t help but wonder if that was racist. These characters talk like caricatures of Asians. Would we tolerate a performance of Porgy & Bess by an all white cast where they all attempted rural southern black accents and speech patterns? I doubt it.

Further, I’m inclined to wonder if “The King and I” would even get stage time if it were written today. Or would Rodgers and Hammerstein be roundly criticized for their racial insensitivity?

In fairness, I don’t know how the director will have this play out. It may well be that the acting inability of the young cast may make the dialog style indistinguishable from the language found in the classroom anyway. But it does sort of make you go, “Hmmmmm…”