A high school teacher told me today that their school has the rights to.......

[fiyero8132]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 5:21pm

Phantom Of The Opera. I thought this was odd because its still on B'way. Also, R&H lisences Webber's shows and it is not listed. Plus Webber takes forever to release his shows anyway.... If anything it would be for regional theatres/operas... Please clarify. Thanks.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 5:23pm

They're lying if they mean ALW's musical version. Perhaps there is another musical or a play?

[fiyero8132]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 5:24pm

I thought they were mistaking it for Phantom by Yeston too. But they were pretty adamant about it being ALWs version. hmmm

[Gingersnap]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 5:25pm

She may have rights to a different version of Phantom, but certainly not Webber's.

There was a thread here about a month ago about a school up near me that tried to stage ALW's version without the rights...after getting the rights to a different version.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 5:31pm

Yeah. There is no way that is possible.

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 5:34pm

Not possible at all.

[DramaDork925]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 5:47pm

Ya, that's pretty impossible.

[stylinbohemian]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 6:26pm

Its possible Hershey High School is doing Phantom of the Opera next school year for their spring musical. The rights are out there

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 7:07pm

no they are not, several directors from my area have contacted Andrew Lloyd Webber directly and asked him if the rights are avaliable and he said "i must deny your request for the rights but if it makes you feel any better we arent releasing them to anyone" the only way it COULD be done is if it is illegal *GASP*

[CJR]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 7:11pm

The rights arent out.

If a school or theatre company is doing the show, they're doing it illegally.

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 7:15pm

yay for CJR!

[grizzabella]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 7:21pm

I've seen a book of choral arrangements of ALW Phantom selections. These are legal, but don't include all the numbers from the show. Nor do they imply any rights beyond the choral arrangements. It's possible this teacher is using these as a basis for some sort of staging, which would, as CJR pointed out, definitely be illegal.

[ALWrules]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 10:16pm

I can't imagine very many high schools being able to put on POTO? The voices required are very mature, and what kind of school can build that set or afford to hire that kind of orchestra. Even if they did have the money and the talent, you would be hard-pressed to find a high school theater that could support such a production

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 10:20pm

Did you miss that article a few months ago in the NYTimes? Some high school drama departments have budgets into the hundreds of thousands of dollars these days.

[Playbill9117]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 10:23pm

I want to teach at one of those schools!!

[ALWrules]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 10:24pm

Just because they have that much money doesn't mean they have the mature voices required to do the show, nor does it mean they're going to invest it all in one show. I would imagine it would be a lot to produce, and I think any high school drama department would fear it would be too risky to throw all of your eggs in one basket.

[CJR]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 10:29pm

You'd be surprised how much money goes into HS productions these days.... My old HS had over 100,000 yearly for the shows. A fall show and a spring show. Insane, I know, but one year we did go over budget.

[ALWrules]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 10:31pm

But do you guys know of any high school that has a Carlotta or a Phantom voice?

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 10:32pm

Actually, the one school the NYTimes covered spent $165,000 on their spring musical production of Beauty and the Beast.
The Supersizing of the School Play

Updated On: 12/10/05 at 10:32 PM

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 10:37pm

I read an article once that said that a school in England attempted to do The Lion King, and they spent about $500,000 on it. The kids worked hard for about six months--but were caught.

[LilMiZBroADwaY23]

Posted: 12/10/05 at 11:39pm

A director for a college near to me told me there was a student version of Webber's Phantom out. I told him that it was possibly Yeston's, but he said it was Webbers.

[dotvmike]

Posted: 12/11/05 at 12:05am

I graduated from the before mentioned high school, Hershey High School, and I know our teacher has been DYING to do Phantom of the Opera (He loves the technicality of shows...he really just wants to do it for the falling Chandelier) but he obviously can't. We just did Les Miserables, w/ a motorized turntable and swiveling barricades this past year for about $50,000...and now this year they are going to do Cats. I am not sure where you heard that rumor, Stylinbohemian but I know for sure that they would never do an illegal production of it.

[JSousa]

Posted: 12/11/05 at 12:06am

Believe it or not, it could be posible. My Friends school was given the rights to Cats. They were what they called a trial cast. It was the first all high school cast to do cats anywhere in the world. Not, granted, there a performance art school...but still, its posible.

[dotvmike]

Posted: 12/11/05 at 12:23am

Yeah Cats rights are going to be released Jan. 2006, my high school made arrangements to make sure they would be able to get material before Jan. because they like to start rehearsals before Christmas break.

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 12/11/05 at 12:25am

Wait. People have actually "contacted" Lloyd Webber himself? Like, on the "phone"?

Hello hello!!