Don't forget that Fosse and Kiss Me Kate were both filmed or Great Performances too (but wasn't KmK the West End production with Amerian leads?). And almost every show is taped for the Lincoln Center Archives.
I do wonder if this is going to backfire on Legally Blonde. Some people will be inspired to come see the show, the way they do with the musical-movies, but there will also be others with the mindset 'meh, I'm not paying to see this.' Broadcasting a show after or near the end of its run seems safer IMHO.
IF it works, it can help the show's slipping box office. Look how well the stage version of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL is doing after it has been seen umpteen times on TV. If it inspires people to see it live so much the better.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks." Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
I hope that it does increase sales so that it'll encourage taping of Broadway shows.
"[Gore] was widely perceived as arrogant. If you know something, you're not smart. You're a smarty-pants. It's annoying. People get annoyed with your knowledge. It goes back to high school, to not doing your homework ... 'There's something I should know, I don't know why I should know it but someone knows it and I don't. So I'm going to have to make fun of him now.'"
-Sarah Vowell, The Partly-Cloudy Patriot
My question is how did those MTV kids fit that huge camera crane under their jackets and not have any ushers realize when they snuck it into the theatre?
"It was an agreement between the producers and MTV, so yes, that's legal. As for other shows, I don't know. I do know that yesterday I saw SEVERAL people respond something along the lines of "I'm like DVRing it now! Why would I PAY to see it?" when a girl in fromt of the Palace tried to give them a flyer about the show. So me thinks it might backfire on them."
I dont know. Something tells me that person was never planning on going or would only go on a discount anyway.
Seeing something live is still gonna have a more "magical" feeling than watching it taped.
The LB taping was perfectly legal. While AEA did observe the contract negotiations, they did not control that contract. I believe it was done under a telvesion union contract. MTV had to pay the actors and stage managers a standard taping fee and for that MTV gets to air the "film" up to 6 times in the next few months.
There is also a early closing clause set into the contract. If the show were to close within a certain time period of the airing, then extra money would have to be paid.
This is the first show to my knowledge to be broadcast while it was still playing on Broadway. Light in the Piazza, Contact, etc. were shot in their last weeks, and broadcast at the end of the run. Peter Pan with Mary Martin was shot after its run. It was a limited engagement that was always intended to be televised at the end. Into The woods, etc. were all televised after their tours and runs ended
The contract was between the producers of LB and AEA. AFTRA and MTV were involved, but since the production contract is between the producer and AEA, that is who the taping rider has to be between. The only AEA contract that forbids filming and/or taping is the Showcase code (or 99-seat waiver in LA), otherwise the contracts say "There shall be no televising, broadcasting, visual and/or sound recording, motion picture filming, or video taping, ...without the express permission of Equity and under termsand conditions established by it".
As for the other issue, this is the first time a production has been broadcast in its entirety while it was still in an open-ended run. Everything else before now had either closed or posted a closing notice. AEA Production Rulebook
To say this showing of Legally Blonde: The Musical is rare is a gross understatement. I seriously doubt it will inspire producer's to make this a regular thing. Keep in mind that all these shows have different producers. One hand does not shake the other.