“The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told” opened in early December at the Oklahoma City Civic Center; and lasted until Dec. 22. When it opened in the East Village in New York in 1998, Donohue said, “it sounds like a routine homosexual play: full-frontal male nudity, filthy language, discussions of body parts, butch lesbians, effeminate gay men, ranting about nature, damning God for AIDS, etc.” The play was a flop, never making it to Broadway. In December, the taxpayers, both nationally and in Oklahoma, paid for it.
The play is a gay rendition of the Bible, focusing mostly on the Old Testament. It opens with two men in jockstraps (of course) in the Garden of Eden, one of whom identifies himself as a Jew. They run into a self-described bull dyke and her lesbian lover. This masterpiece is the work of Paul Rudnick, a homosexual “Jew from New Jersey.” His goal, he said, was to mock religion: he was angry at God for allowing AIDS. Naturally.
The play was being performed at a city-owned venue, and was being presented by the Oklahoma City Theatre Company. The latter receives funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Oklahoma Arts Council; the Arts Council refused to fund this play, but contributed $18,000 to other productions during the 2013-2014 season.
It is against federal and state laws to fund religion, making absurd the notion that the public must pay for attacks on it. Civic Center officials said the play did not contain full-frontal male nudity. However, it did include simulated sex acts, and the Arts Council is explicitly prohibited by state law from funding such fare (money being fungible, it is).
Rachel Irick, the director of the Theatre Company, says “We need to build our diverse audience and offer a different Christmas story.” Well, Rachel, anti-Semitic bigots have some great ideas on how to write a play that trashes Jews. Any interest in a “different Hanukkah story”?
