Huh?

Is there a more foolish group of people than high school drama teachers (I'd probably lump librarians in there too).

Scene: A log raft floats down the Mississippi. Huckleberry Finn and the runaway slave Jim are journeying toward freedom -- and friendship, in an unlikely time. Together, they sing about the muddy waters of the mighty river.

In reality, this scene from the musical "Big River" took place in the auditorium of Glenelg Country School in Howard County, more than a century after Mark Twain penned the classic tale. In this retelling, Huck was played by senior Jay Frisby, who is black, and his classmate Nick Lehan, who is white, played Jim.

That untraditional reverse casting has provoked the ire of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, which licenses the rights to the musical created by Roger Miller. It forbade the teenagers to perform the song "Muddy Water" from the musical that was broadcast last night on C-SPAN. And it will prevent them from singing it at the annual gala for the Critics and Awards Program for High School Theater, known as the Cappies, scheduled for tomorrow night at the Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore.