History Bowdlerise / Theater

* Passages of three GilbertAndSullivan patter songs from ''TheMikado'' and ''Princess Ida'' were rewritten in the forties to get rid of that same word. As Psyche says to the girl students in ''Princess Ida'', "you will get them {{Bowdlerise}}d" in this manner:
-->"And the niggers they'll be bleaching" => "And they'll practise what they're preaching" (''Princess Ida'', "They Intend to Send a Wire to the Moon")\\
"There's the nigger serenader, and the others of his race" => "There's the banjo serenader, and the others of his race" (''The Mikado'', "I've Got a Little List")\\
"Is blacked like a nigger with permanent walnut juice" => "Is painted with vigour and permanent walnut juice" (''The Mikado'', "My Object All Sublime")
** The forties? Gilbert himself rewrote parts of ''The Mikado'' to that end at least, after American audiences pointed out that, while the word may have been innocent in Victorian Britain, across the pond it was rather closer to the modern implications.
** In ''Princess Ida'', InUniverse, the Lady Psyche suggests that her students should get the works of Creator/{{Juvenal}} bowdlerised. Given the content of Juvenal's writing and the Dworkin-esque nature of the school's morality, that would make for a skinny book.

** One of the most consistently censored expressions was "son of a bitch," three instances of which were removed from ''The Most Happy Fella'' (though two were inaudible whispers to begin with).
** In "Get Me to the Church On Time" from ''MyFairLady'', "For God's sake, get me to the church on time" became "Be sure and get me to the church on time."

* The original published version of the song "You Can Drive A Person Crazy" from ''{{Company}}'' altered the last word of "if a person was a fag" to "drag"; some singers use this. For the 1996 revival of the show, StephenSondheim rewrote the line and its complementary rhyme:

** It has since been restored to the original version.

* This trope actually makes sense for the school edition of ''OnceOnThisIsland,'' because the cast consists wholly of ButNotTooBlack wealthy folk and very dark-skinned peasants. Their racial divide is a major source of their conflict, but this typecasting isn't very common in the average school, so this divide is removed, leaving only the emphasis between the poor and the rich.

* Some sexual allusions in ''Theatre/TheRiseAndFallOfTheCityOfMahagonny'' were censored in the original German production: the "love" scene no longer depicted a busy brothel, and a duet for Jim and Jenny was interpolated to compensate for the scene's abridgment. The lyrics of the recurring chorus which helps introduce that scene were changed to avoid use of the word "Liebesakt".

** One of the most consistently censored expressions was "son of a bitch," three instances of which were removed from ''The Most Happy Fella''.

* In ''Theatre/{{Follies}}'', "heck" is sometimes substituted for "hell" in "Broadway Baby," probably because the consonant sound actually fits the song's meter better.

* The school edition of ''Theatre/AvenueQ'' completely rewrites "TheInternetIsForPorn" as "My Social Life is Online," a song about Facebook and other networking sites.

* Some school productions of Les Miserables leave in "send the slut away" and "I should have known the bitch could bite" but change "Damn their warnings, damn their lies" to "Blast their warnings, blast their lies." The "Lovely Ladies" song is also surprisingly uncensored, while Valjean hitting Javert over the head with a chair is removed.

* At least one High School production of ''A Chorus Line'' turned the song "Tits and Ass" into "This And That". Which, in a way, turned a song about stage titillation into a song about prostitution (!).

* The school edition of ''AvenueQ'' completely rewrites "TheInternetIsForPorn" as "My Social Life is Online," a song about Facebook and other networking sites.

* ''Theatre/{{Follies}}'' has an odd example: in "Broadway Baby," "heck" is sometimes substituted for "hell" because the consonant sound fits the song's meter better.

* This trope actually makes sense for the school edition of ''OnceOnThisIsland,'' because the cast consists wholly of ButNotTooBlack wealthy folk and very dark-skinned peasants. Their racial divide is a major source of their conflict, but this typecasting isn't very common in the average school, so this divide is removed, leaving only the emphasis between the poor and the rich.

** Also in ''Princess Ida'', the Lady Psyche suggests that her students should get the works of Creator/{{Juvenal}} bowdlerised. Given the content of Juvenal's writing and the Dworkin-esque nature of the school's morality I can't imagine there'd be much left to read...

* At least one High School production of ''AChorusLine'' turned the song "Tits and Ass" into "ThisAndThat". Which, in a way, turned a song about stage titillation into a song about prostitution (!).

* In TheFifties, Ira Gershwin replaced all uses of "nigger" in ''{{Porgy and Bess}}'': about twenty, by his count. It's fortunate that the earlier stage version of ''Porgy'' has succumbed to AdaptationDisplacement, as it used the word considerably more often.

* A modern example of Bowdlerisation is when ''TheTamingOfTheShrew'' is changed to make it more "feminist" especially the ending. The most ridiculous examples have Petruchio and Katharine end up with a happy marriage where all their verbal abuse has ended, even though this was what neither character wanted from the other in the first place.
** It's not the first time ''TheTamingOfTheShrew'' has been bowdlerized. Many high school versions of the play remove Petruchio's line "What? With my tongue in your tail?"

* In all twentieth-century versions of ''StarlightExpress'', Ashley carried a pack of cigarettes and frequently mimed smoking them. The second U.S. tour made her a smoking car InNameOnly and heavily implied that she'd turned to promiscuous sex instead, which would be fine if it hadn't been presented in the sleaziest manner possible.

** Also in ''Princess Ida'', the Lady Psyche suggests that her students should get the works of {{Juvenal}} bowdlerised. Given the content of Juvenal's writing and the Dworkin-esque nature of the school's morality I can't imagine there'd be much left to read...

* Some sexual allusions in ''{{The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny}}'' were censored in the original German production: the "Love" scene no longer depicted a busy brothel, and a duet for Jim and Jenny was interpolated to compensate for the scene's abridgment. the lyrics of the recurring chorus which helps introduce that scene were changed to avoid use of the word "Liebesakt".

* In the original Broadway version of ''SweeneyTodd'', there was the song Johanna sung by Judge Turpin, where he said how suddenly grown up Johanna seemed, and how beautiful she was, while he's watching her through a hole on the wall of her room that Turpin did himself. He starts flagellating himself as the song goes on, and climaxes (the stage direction says so) while screaming "God!!!" The Vocal Score says it was cut for reasons of time, but it was squicky enough to just let it out. True, [[spoiler:Turpin's crush on Johanna is showed in the play and is a plot point, but that song was more disturbing than just him saying that he wanted to marry her.]]

* At least one High School production of ''AChorusLine'' turned the song "Tits and Ass" into "ThisAndThat". Which, in a way, turned a song about stage tittilation into a song about prostitution (!).

** The 1992 London revamp excised the SerialKiller villain, who provided the catalyst for most of the conflict in act two. Ironically, the rewritten reversal was more violent than before.