Marc Shaiman and Company Talk About Prop 8: The Musical

Marc Shaiman, Jack Black and John C. Reilly appeared on Countdown with Keith Olbermann to discuss the Prop 8: The Musical web sensation, how and why it was conceived, and how they all came to participate.

Shaiman also spoke with the NYT about the web video, his Prop 8 activism, and said he felt "burdened" by the resignation of the California Musical Theatre's musical director Scott Eckern, who he slammed in a public letter for his contributions to the passage of Proposition 8. Said Shaiman: "I did not ask for his resignation, nor would it be my place to ask for someone’s resignation. But I was a part of that, and that is a very heavy weight, and I don’t take it lightly."

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Neil Patrick Harris and Jack Black in Prop 8: The Musical

Hairspray composer Marc Shaiman (whose boycott lead to the resignation of Sacramento's California Musical Theatre creative director Scott Eckern following his donation to Prop 8) wrote and conceived this hysterical short piece (presented with a wink and a nod by the 'Sacramento Community College Players'), which was directed and staged by Hairspray director and choreographer Adam Shankman and features plenty of folks you will recognize.

Shaiman plays the piano. Jordan Ballard, Margaret Cho, Barrett Foa, J.B. Ghuman, John Hill, Andy Richter, Maya Rudolph, Rashad Naylor, Nicole Parker star as 'California Gays and The People That Love Them'. John C Reilly as a Prop 8 leader, and Alison Janney as his wife. Kathy Najimy as his second wife. Jenifer Lewis as a riffing Prop 8'er. Craig Robinson as a preacher. Rashida Jones, Lake Bell, Sarah Chalke as Scary Catholic School Girls from Hell. Katharine "Kooks" Leonard, Seth Morris, Denise "Esi!" Piane, Lucian Piane, Richard Read, Seth Redford, Quinton Strack, and Tate Taylor as The Frightened Villagers.

Jack Black stars as Jesus Christ, and Neil Patrick Harris is billed as 'A Very Smart Fellow'.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Musical Theatre Under Fire for Artistic Director's Prop 8 Support

California Musical Theatre is Sacramento's "oldest professional performing arts organization and California's largest nonprofit musical theater company" according to the Sacramento Bee and its artistic director Scott Eckern, who has been with the theatre for 25 years, has placed it in turmoil following revelations that he donated $1,000 to the campaign to pass Prop 8.

Hairspray director Marc Shaiman is leading the charge to boycott the theatre. Shaiman reportedly 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."

Some of Shaiman's peers, including Avenue Q writer Jeff Whitty, contacted Eckern with their concerns.

According to the Bee, the theatre is contemplating what to do: "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."

Additionally, an Anti-Gay Blacklist has sprung up online highlighting business owners and prominent supporters of Proposition 8.

Prop. 8 gift gets theater's leader in a ruckus [sacramento bee]
Dra-ma [good as you]