Uh Oh, Drama! Witch Hunt Time!

Left: I saw this sign in a car window, but it finds its best use as an all-purpose incendiary device.


Things were all hunky-dory in Musical Theater land, and "The Impossible Dream" was echoing inside my head, and then I saw this in this morning's paper:

Gay and lesbian artists called Monday for an artistic and audience boycott of California Musical Theatre after learning that its artistic director donated $1,000 to a campaign that backed banning gay marriage in California.

Scott Eckern was not available for comment Monday as the revelation has gained stunning momentum on the blogosphere. The California Musical Theatre produces the Music Circus, presents Broadway Sacramento, and recently opened "Forever Plaid" at the capital's newest performing venue, the Cosmopolitan Cabaret.

Richard Lewis, the organization's executive producer, said the board of directors will conduct an emergency meeting on the matter this afternoon. He said it was too early to tell how this would affect Eckern's 25-year employment with California Musical Theatre.

In a statement released Monday, Lewis said: "Any political action or the opinion of Scott Eckern is not shared by California Musical Theatre. We have a long history of appreciation for the LGBT community and are truly grateful for their longstanding support."

...Local openly gay composer Gregg Coffin, who has written nationally produced musicals "Convenience" and "Five Course Love," found it initially difficult to express his feelings about the situation.

"I feel so sad that someone from within my field and someone from within my community, who actually knows me, would contribute to an initiative that reduces me to second-class citizenship," Coffin said.

"I feel so sorry that he chose to support divisiveness and hatred rather than equality and inclusion; especially a man of the theater who works with gay actors, dancers, directors, designers and staff at CMT. The duplicity of it makes me so incredibly sad."

..."Hairspray" composer Marc Shaiman called Eckern Thursday to discuss his donation. "Hairspray" closed this summer's Music Circus season.

In a post on one Web site, Shaiman relayed what he told Eckern: "The idea that your donation came from a salary that for a short amount of time was drawn from profits from a show I wrote upsets me terribly and I would never allow anything I write to play there and will encourage my colleagues to consider doing the same."

Shaiman has contacted colleagues in the theater, including Jeff Whitty, whose show "Avenue Q" comes to Broadway Sacramento next spring. Whitty's Web site, www.whitless.com, details a telephone conversation he had with Eckern on Friday.

"There's a great degree of hue and cry over getting Mr. Eckern fired," Whitty wrote. "I've searched my soul about this. I'm instinctively not comfortable with the idea of his dismissal, though my activist side still whispers, 'Punish!'

"I fear for what Mr. Eckern's dismissal would say about theater: that there's only room for the pro-gay crowd. In a way, if we only allow people we agree with, if we only allow people who share a broad sympathy for the human condition, then we become one of those dreaded fantasy 'elites.' "

OK, so what do I think?

My first instinct is please don't take your anger out on California Musical Theatre! Theater is a collective effort, much larger than a single person (even if that person is the artistic director and chief operating officer). Too many blameless people will get stung by the lash of revenge!

Still, I can't help but wonder "what was Eckern thinking?" Political donations are public information (as they should be). Large political donations can have inordinate power, particularly when they come from influential people (as Mr. Eckern is). He was certainly aware how the LGBT community felt about Prop. 8 and just how hurtful his actions would appear. Was he driven by a conflict with his faith, or by something else? Was he somehow not aware that CMT would fall under a cloud of suspicion as well?

Interesting comments over at whitless.com. And Susan Egan's letter.

Since this controversy is partly about money, the appropriate response is not to fire Mr. Eckern, but to punish him, by withholding salary for a specified time - perhaps a month. If the controversy persists (as it very well might) and materially interferes with CMT's ability to secure performance rights or conduct business, then he will have to be let go.