From Flavor Pill <http://www.flavorpill.net/mailer/issue182/index.html>, a short review of "A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant":

A philosophy dispatched from outer space and the religion it spawned are lauded in jubilant song and pageantry in this production at a relatively new midtown space. Set against a space-age backdrop with cascading pink astroturf, the Pageant chronicles the history of Scientology with child actors portraying such A-list Scientology subscribers as Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and their notorious guru L. Ron Hubbard. The lighthearted nature of pageantry is undercut with dark, irreverent pokes at the organization's questionable practices, provocatively juxtaposing weighty content and innocent revelry. Perhaps most impressive are the children themselves, who deliver a comic poignancy with an earnestness that would impress even the Church's most high-ranking Hollywood acolytes.

(Production site: http://www.lesfreres.org/pageant.htm) -- Hud Nordin <hud@pobox.com> Silicon Valley

From: arnie lerma - www.lermanet.com <alerma@nospam.bellatlantic.net>
Subject: Re: Review: A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant
Organization: Lermanet.com exposing the CON
Message-ID: <95p2tvgqim2ocecnooe8dcm9gfs557mu7u@4ax.com>
Date: Sat, 06 Dec 2003 05:17:28 GMT

On 5 Dec 2003 11:45:12 -0800, hud@pobox.com (Hud Nordin) wrote:

>
>From Flavor Pill <http://www.flavorpill.net/mailer/issue182/index.html>,
>a short review of "A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant":
>
> A philosophy dispatched from outer space and the religion it spawned
> are lauded in jubilant song and pageantry in this production at a
> relatively new midtown space. Set against a space-age backdrop with
> cascading pink astroturf, the Pageant chronicles the history of
> Scientology with child actors portraying such A-list Scientology
> subscribers as Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and their notorious guru L.
> Ron Hubbard. The lighthearted nature of pageantry is undercut with
> dark, irreverent pokes at the organization's questionable practices,
> provocatively juxtaposing weighty content and innocent revelry.
> Perhaps most impressive are the children themselves, who deliver
> a comic poignancy with an earnestness that would impress even the
> Church's most high-ranking Hollywood acolytes.
>
>(Production site: http://www.lesfreres.org/pageant.htm)

This movie was officially endorsed by Citizens Against Corruption

Citizens Against Corruption

12 November 2003

The Company
c/o The Tank
432 W 42nd St
NY, NY 10036-6812

Dear Heros,

Scientology stole the best years of my life in exchange for Hubbard's lies.

When I was interviewed for a Dateline segment years ago, they chose to run just 8 seconds of my interview... and used this one quote:

"All this litigation has been about is [the pursuit of ] silence.

I applaud your courage to do this play. And would like to say that this play as been ENDORSED by Citizens Against Corruption. Itl encourage others to tell their stories. And again, thank you, for having the courage to produce it.

Arnie Lerma
Ex-Financial Manager for what is now called "Scientology Bridge
Publications"
founder Citizens Against Corruption
dba Lermanet.com Exposing the CON
6045 N 26th Road, Arlington VA 22207,
703 241 1498

PS: If a gaunt, hypnotized, gentlemen using the name "Reverend' John Carmichael bothers you, please give him a copy of this letter, and tell him to call me...

I'd prefer to die speaking my mind than live fearing to speak. The only thing that always works in scientology are its lawyers The internet is the liberty tree of the new millennium Secrets are the mortar binding lies as bricks together into prisons for the mind Support http://www.lermanet.com - mentioned 4 January 2000 in The Washington Post's - 'Reliable Source' column re "Scientologist with no HEAD"

From: "Feisty" <sunny@skytoday.com>
Subject: NY Times-Review of Unauthorized $cientology Pageant
Message-ID: <GJvFb.14119$aw2.7860500@newssrv26.news.prodigy.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 05:57:58 GMT

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/22/arts/theater/22BRAN.html?ex=1072674000&en=de06f4d3be0a8f2d&ei =5062&partner=GOOGLE

THEATER REVIEW | 'UNAUTHORIZED CHILDREN'S SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT'
Crayon-Colored Excursion Into Positive Thinking
By BEN BRANTLEY

Published: December 22, 2003

The gutsiest gimmick in New York theater for 2003? There's really no contest. And no, it's not the producers Fran and Barry Weissler's casting the nonsinging, nondancing Melanie Griffith in the musical "Chicago." The honors this year go to Les Freres Corbusier, the archly named (and non-French) experimental troupe, which decided to tell the story of Scientology through the mouths of babes.

Well, almost babes. The ages of the cast members in "A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant," at the John Houseman Theater through Jan. 4, go from 8 to 12. And by virtue of their youth, these performers transform what would otherwise be a facile satire into a spooky, sharp-toothed smile of a show. Like the ever-enterprising Weisslers, this production's creators, Alex Timbers and Kyle Jarrow, know that when it comes to generating interest, casting is to showbiz what location is to real estate.

"Pageant" is a deadpan musical biography of the life of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology. As conceived and directed by Mr. Timbers, with text and music by Mr. Jarrow, this production does indeed have the authentically home-brewed flavor of the holiday religious pageants that sprout in church basements and school gyms. The set, with its cheerful crayon-colored backdrop and columns of balloons, brings to mind an elementary school art project, while the angel-robe costumes summon images of sewing machines in suburban rec rooms. (Jennifer Rogien is the production designer.)

It's the perfect environment for raising those lumps that adults discover in their throats when dressed-up tots perform tales of sacred mysteries. Not that anyone is likely to leave "Pageant" as a misty-eyed convert to Scientology, though the show offers little information that can't be gleaned from the organization's Web sites.

Mr. Jarrow's script traces the labyrinthine life of Hubbard (1911-1986), whose professions (as cast members observe in a gleeful repeated litany) ranged from science-fiction novelist and screenwriter to horticulturist and choreographer. He is of course best known as the father of the positive-thought philosophy now embraced by Hollywood acolytes like John Travolta and Tom Cruise.

In addition to following its hero through his quest for meaning in his early years, from the Midwest to the Far East, "Pageant" considers the science of Scientology and of Dianetics, its therapeutic methodology. So there are child-friendly explanations of Hubbard's notion of the divided mind (embodied by the lovely identical twins Emma and Sophie Whitfield in matching brain outfits) and a device called the e-meter (or electropsychometer), used to monitor the human psyche, which is demonstrated by stick puppets.

While L. Ron (portrayed by Jordan Wolfe) is challenged by sour skeptics - who question his church's finances and some of its means of, er, holding onto its members - he eventually overcomes all adversaries. His victory is presented amid perky anthems of uplift and optimism, performed with affecting ungainliness by the young cast. (Sample lyrics: "Now the sun will shine,/Now we'll be just fine./We have got the science of the mind.")

The shiny-eyed Jordan Wolfe, who is already polished enough for a career in sitcoms, is arguably a shade too skilled and self-aware in his portrayal of L. Ron. On the other hand, in terms of the show's keeping your attention, it's probably necessary to have a little professional smoothness mixed into the wide-eyed artlessness.

Previously presented at the tiny Tank Theater in a four-week run that ended earlier this month, "Pageant" has already acquired a halo of hipness and daring. (It doesn't hurt that the Rev. John Carmichael, the president of the famously litigious Church of Scientology in New York, has publicly expressed his objections to it.)

Given the deliberately crude, faux-naïf sensibility of "Pageant," it's hard to assess the breadth of its creators' talents. The show isn't much more than a stunt, but it's a very knowing one. Letting the gap between a subject and its presentation do all the talking, "Pageant" provides a cult-hit blueprint for a young generation that prefers its irony delivered with not a wink but a blank stare.

A VERY MERRY UNAUTHORIZED CHILDREN'S SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT

Conceived and directed by Alex Timbers; text and music by Kyle Jarrow; producer, Aaron Lemon-Strauss; stage manager, Bailie Slevin; production designer, Jennifer Rogien; lighting by, Samantha Trepel; production supervisor, Ronnie Tobia; assistant director, David Kilpatrick. Presented by Les Freres Corbusier, Mr. Lemon-Strauss, executive director; Ms. Rogien, executive producer; Mr. Timbers, artistic director. At the John Houseman Theater, 450 West 42nd Street, Clinton.

WITH: Seamus Boyle, Spenser Lee Carrion-O'Driscoll, Alison Stacy Klein, Joshua Marmer, Max Miner, Stephanie Favoreto Queiroz, Daren Watson, Emma Whitfield, Sophie Whitfield and Jordan Wolfe.

From: "Bat Child (Sue M.)" <batchild1@cox.net>
Subject: Toronto Globe and Mail: Mention of "Unauthorized Scn Xmas Pageant" (12/22/03)
Organization: Knights of Xemu
Message-ID: <cpifuv0c9rd8hih0f84c7ku0700m0j3uco@4ax.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 21:00:35 -0800

Found at:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20031222/DIARY22/Entertainment/Idx

====================

[snip]

There's a radically different high-kick line livening up the outer reaches of 42nd Street this season, in a hit show that cobbles a Christmas tradition onto a subversive fable: A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant.

As the name suggests, the hour-long show is the story of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Hollywood's favourite empowering pseudo-religion, enacted in a consciously amateurish and high-kitsch pageant style by a cast of 10 children aged 8 to 12.

Many of the kids are adorable, though it seems unlikely that they fully appreciate the ironic venture they're involved in. (A 10-year-old watching the show next to me was bored silly, while the adults around him hooted with laughter.) That's partly the point: The director of Very Merry Unauthorized has manipulated his young actors to do his bidding just as Scientology has been accused of manipulating its members. Still, watching it can creep you out. The famously litigious church sent a representative to see the show but has not given its feedback, which is to say it has not yet sued.

[snip]

====================

http://members.cox.net/batchild1 http://members.cox.net/scorseseinfo

From: "Jim Beebe" <jbeebe@centurytel.net>
Subject: Never mind the Dianetics
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 22:16:25 -0600
Message-ID: <3ff24d9e@news2.lightlink.com>

Never Mind the Dianetics, Here's the Kiddie Scientologists

Village Voice, December 3 - 9, 2003 By Daniel Mufson

Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant does to L. Ron Hubbard what The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui did to Adolf Hitler: It reduces him to ridiculous, contemptible proportions. By casting actors aged between eight and 12, writer Kyle Jarrow and director Alex Timbers (otherwise known as Les Freres Corbusier) accentuate the puerile absurdity of Scientology's tenets as well as the childlike naïveté of those who believe such nonsense. Learning of Hubbard's theory about Thetan spirits banished to earth by galactic ruler Xenu, we become ever more convinced that the subject matter is perfectly suited to the realms of pre-pubescent rationality. Just as Ui doesn't explain the complex phenomenon of the Third Reich, Scientology Pageant doesn't probe the psychology of cults; instead, both demystify subjects whose appeal stems in no small part from the mystique their acolytes have attributed to them. Transcending gimmickry, the use of a young cast doesn't make Scientology Pageant a one-gag play. Clocking in at just under an hour, the script-a musical satire version of a saint's play-punches its points home quickly. Timbers has wisely counseled the kids to avoid too much irony, aware that the material generates its own comic absurdity without nudges or winks. The children, garbed in the outer-space-alien equivalent of togas, generate a respectable ensemble chemistry. In the end, they even manage to hint at the reservoir of misery that leads people to seek solace in Scientology or other sects. Standing under umbrellas outside the theater on 42nd Street, the boys and girls, still in their togas, stare dead-eyed through a window at the audience as we hear a recording of them singing-"Just don't ask questions, and everything is clear."

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0349/mufson.php

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