Utah School in Tizzy Over Play's Risque Elvis Lyrics

A Utah parent almost got the local high school's performance of the Elvis Presley-themed musical All Shook Up canceled ... but the school got around the problem by changing such wildly controversial lyrics as, "Her lips are like a volcano that's hot." The initial decision to cancel the musical was reversed yesterday by administrators at Herriman High School, south of Salt Lake City, the AP reports. The about-face came after they received the OK from All Shook Up's copyright owners to edit some of Presley's songs and adjust a scene in the musical, which puts a modern twist on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

"We wanted to make some changes to keep the play within community values," says a school district spokesperson. Some of Presley's song lyrics together with a scene suggesting cross-dressing—Twelfth Night, of course, involves a female castaway dressing as a male in ancient Europe—were deemed offensive by the unnamed parent. But others believe school administrators folded too easily at the start. "I'm at a loss," one told the Salt Lake Tribune. "They're singing Elvis songs. A girl dresses up as a boy and kisses a boy. ... It's not promoting homosexuality. It was supposed to be a farce." (More Elvis Presley stories.)