Tituss Burgess is The Witch in Into the Woods.- Page 2

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 1/7/15 at 11:03am

In middle and (sometimes) high school productions, wherein a drama group/club might not have enough boys, it is fairly common to have girls play male roles - but not vice versa. I can assure you that no group would get in trouble by a licensing agency if they had a girl appear as a man because it necessitates as much.

This is a similar situation. As long as Titus is playing it in drag and no text is changed, it is not in breach of their licensing agreement. Might the author(s) and/or their estate(s) disapprove of the decision? Sure. But Michael Bennett is incorrect: as long as the text isn't altered and the overall intention remains truthful, no licensing agency will claim a breach of contract. I can assure you of that from my experience in that arena.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 1/7/15 at 11:18am

Liza, you also have to take into account the 'visibility' of the production. Because licensing houses don't necessarily monitor the semantics of the countless middle-school and high school productions they license every year, I assure you they routinely get away with things that are at odds with the fine line details of their license agreements.

But I promise you - on a higher visibility AEA level -- licensing houses are a lot more strict. This is actually the blanket rule on the subject posted on the MTI Website:

During rehearsals, the director or producer may find that some changes are required to make the show work in their theatre. Or they may feel making "minor adjustments" to a show (such as changing the gender of a character or changing the name of a town to give it local significance) is inconsequential to its integrity, or believe they have the right to"experiment" with the authors’ intentions as an expression of their artistic vision.

This is not the case.

When you are granted a performance license, by law the show you license must be performed "as is." You have no right to make any changes at all unless you have obtained prior written permission from us to do so. Otherwise, any changes violate the authors’ rights under federal copyright law. Without prior permission from MTI, your actions may subject you to liability - not only to the authors, but also to us - for breaching the terms of your license agreement, which clearly forbids you to make any changes or deletions.

Casting a leading role in drag would be an immediate red flag for a licensing house to investigate. The producers at DreamHouse Theatre wisely understood that and specifically wrote a letter to Mssrs. Sondheim and Lapine via MTI to gain their permission to cast Titus Burgess as the Witch in advance of announcing the cast. That is the proper protocol...


Updated On: 1/7/15 at 11:18 AM

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 1/7/15 at 11:52am

I can assure you, from my intimate experience and long history working in the licensing world, that it would not raise any 'red flags.' I am not condoning that type of behavior. I am just speaking honestly. Either way, good for DreamCatcher Theatre to receive prior approval. They would not have breached their contract without the approval, though.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 1/7/15 at 1:45pm

Having a female play a male is not quite the same as changing the character's gender. I have see more than one production of The Fantasticks done with two mothers instead of fathers. That is not OK. It completely changes the characters, if they ace-bandage down the breasts and put a mustache on them, and play them as men then the character's gender was never changed, and the company would not be in breach of contract.

[Visceral_Fella]

Posted: 1/7/15 at 2:21pm

^ That's how I thought the rule worked too.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 1/7/15 at 2:28pm

And you are correct, Jimmy and Visceral. Regardless of what the website states, which is just boilerplate language to keep it all as protected as possible. I share this as a person with firsthand knowledge that MTI - or any other licensing agency - would not go after a professional theatre company for having a man play a woman's role as a woman. Changing the character's gender, however, is a different story.

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 1/7/15 at 8:28pm

With regaurds to the all-male NYU company, we should remember that Sondheim did allow Billy Porter to direct a production where Marta became Marty.

[PattyO'Furniture]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 6:27pm

Unfortunately it's only about 60 seconds, but at least it's something:

 

"Stay with Me"

He sounds really nice here:

end of "Stay with Me" (concert)