A community theater FOLLIES....- Page 7

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 3:17am

A director at my college made some line changes and cut a number from "Company", and it was reported to MTI. There was no legal action- it was a student-directed black box theatre production, which I guess doesn't count high on MTI's list of priorities (even though it was NYU, so it is slightly more reputable than community theatre)

Was this the all-male student production two or three years ago?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 8:10am

Yup.

I can spot (smell) a sock at 150 paces.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 10:23am

Personally, I don't like them cracking down on what they don't like and giving a pass (tacit or otherwise) to stuff they do like, or don't disapprove of. Especially since the alleged ending change never surfaced. If the Loveland speech bothered him that much, I invite him to go after the 1995 Seattle production with Judy Kaye and the 1977 production with Dorothy Collins. Both professional productions. Both companies should have ostensibly known better.

Seriously, either you care that the copyright was violated or you don't. By suggesting there are different degrees of violation is confusing and doesn't seem to be compliant with any sort of law.

Just my thoughts, as they say.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 10:58am

As I said in my post to DrDemento, copyright law establishes different levels of infringement, ranging from a minimum of a $500 fine for "innocent" infringement to a maximum of a $100,000 fine for "willful" infringement.

But, since the inception of copyright law, policing every instance of copyright infringement was difficult. The Internet makes it completely impossible.

But it also makes it possible to act swiftly: an email to a lawyer, a quick glance at the offending material, a cease-and-desist pulldown email to the offending party and the hosting website. Material pulled.

When the director (or sock puppet claiming to be the director) said in this thread that he altered the material (and didn't he say that he HATED it too?) elevated the situation from the level of the little girls singing "Popular" and the bad singers singing "Send in the Clowns" (neither of which would ever be prosecuted, but if they were it would clearly be "innocent" infringement) to the level of willful infringement.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/6/10 at 11:09am

I getcha. But it still seems mucky to me. I would think divining what's willful and what's not is the tricky part. I always see "No copyright infringement intended" posted with a lot of YouTube stuff and to me that's as willful as you can be. You KNOW there's an issue if you're saying that and just saying you don't intend it doesn't make it right. And - and I DO realize there is a difference, but it's still food for thought, in my opinion - since virtually every major revival (and non-major revival) of virtually every show goes through drastic changes, it's hard for me to feel too much concern for the sanctity of material a lot of the time. The difference is yes, generally, it's all being done with the approval of the powers that be, but I think it blurs the indignation behind causes like having Sondheim shaming people into writing apology letters to MTI.

I'm not trying to be argumentative (well, at least not spitefully so), because I do get what you mean. But the willful infringement here (at least as far as I understand it) is all hearsay, is it not?

[Starlight5]

Posted: 10/8/10 at 9:23am

I sit here and ponder with the back of my hand to my forehead, will they, could they, should they, why don’t they, when will they, if they do? Will it cost them, how much, how little, who will pay, who gets away with it? Is Dr. Demento and crichardross asked to leave or do they stay to screw up another play? Questions and no answers that is the problem. Will we ever know just how far MTI takes this? I wonder.

Updated On: 10/8/10 at 09:23 AM

[Director =)]

Posted: 10/8/10 at 8:32pm

>>> Dear So-and-so, In the future, please reconsider before taking artistic license with the work of an author. If we had meant for the show to be done that way, it would have been written that way. Sincerely, Stephen Sondheim"


Damn! I wish that could be sent to every "director" who does the same thing.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/8/10 at 10:32pm

Yeah. Starting with this one:

[Starlight5]

Posted: 10/9/10 at 7:44am

That's it? It's like the ending of a bad comedy. Rewrite, rewrite I say!!!!!!

[Starlight5]

Posted: 10/11/10 at 9:44am

Now wait a minute. This is the pot calling the kettle black. The person signing his name as Stephen Sondheim is telling Mr. So and So not to take artistic license with the work of an author and yet if you look closely on the picture of the director and check out his boi, it says he is male and the picture is the head of one woman and the body of another. Hmmmmmmm, just how serious do you take this person if he has made changes? I ask you.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/11/10 at 9:53am

Seriously. Let it go.

[Starlight5]

Posted: 10/13/10 at 8:05pm

Oh now Phiyllis, if I were to let it go there would be no reason for you to come back to this website again. And you know you will because you’ll answer this. Besides, I like to have the last word

[MikeySingz88]

Posted: 10/22/10 at 11:16am

I also saw Follies. Yes this show was terrible in almost every aspect except some female leads (sometimes). Everyone is criticizing this production as it is a great community theater. Let me enlighten you. It is a church basement theater group where they put on shows for fun and to raise money for the church. This is not a professional organization and the quality should not be taken seriously at all. You sit on folding chairs in an auditorium with sub par lighting and sound systems (like a school assembly) and the local PTA sells brownies and candy at intermission. Aside from the licensing issues (which is not our place to deal with), let them be and do their shows as its nothing to give second thoughts about.

PS: I also saw RENT at a more professional Community theater on the island and the casting was terrible, 100% miscast, they did nothing but sing, there was no acting in songs just "hey look I can belt" and the staging was sooo amateur. There is a reason its community theater so don't expect much going into these things its hit or miss with theaters out there.

Updated On: 8/31/11 at 11:16 AM