A question about dramaturgs

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A question about dramaturgs

Posted: 2/1/11 at 1:00am

My brother, who is in his third and final year of Georgetown Law mentioned to me that he was reading a copyright case that was theatre related. Knowing that I love theatre he mentioned it to me. The case was about how the dramaturg of Rent, attempted to sue the Larson estate for joined authorship of Rent. Of course, the end result was that it was ruled that her work, although significant, was not significant enough to give her the title that she wanted.

This got me wondering, has there been any similar thing like this to happen with other shows? I do know that the role of a dramaturg is a very fickle one. One that I would akin to a surrogate mother. Their role is to help shape and give critiques to a show. Yet, when all is said and done, it is time to hand it over to the author.

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A question about dramaturgs

Posted: 2/1/11 at 2:44am

The role of the dramaturg is quite diverse (and I'm sure varies from job to job). I huge part is research, particularly when in the developement stages. They might work with the author, or even the director and cast.

But yes, they serve as a resource for the most part so they shouldn't be expecting any more credit than that. I suppose if a dramaturg felt their input was becoming waay more than support, they need to seek the "upgrade" legally while working on the show. (But I have never heard of it happening.)

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A question about dramaturgs

Posted: 2/1/11 at 1:41pm

Lynn Thomson's contribution to Rent was more substantial than simple dramaturge (that's the proper spelling) work. There was no way with all the publicity about Larson's great post-mortem achievement that she was going to win the case, but she put up a good fight. Anyone who knows the show will tell you it changed substantially with her input as a co-author both before and after Jon died.

"There is no problem so big that it cannot be run away from." ~ Charles M. Schulz

A question about dramaturgs

Posted: 2/1/11 at 1:52pm

Elaine Stritch and John Lahr were battling over his rights regarding his contributions to At Liberty. I don't recall the outcome.

"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." -- Thomas Jefferson

A question about dramaturgs

Posted: 2/1/11 at 1:57pm

The original Rent was something like five hours long. I think part of the dramaturg's input on that was to pare it down to something watchable. Larsen never would have gotten it produced at its original length.

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A question about dramaturgs

Posted: 2/1/11 at 2:00pm

By 1994, RENT was down to roughly its current runtime, maybe 15 min. longer. Thomson didn't come on until after that, and while she undoubtedly helped get the show into its final form, most of the structure and about 2/3 of the songs were sorted by the time she came on.

A question about dramaturgs

Posted: 2/1/11 at 4:13pm

I remember reading that Amy Powers (a Dramaturg for Sunset Boulevard) had filed suit against ALW, which was settled out of court.

A question about dramaturgs

Posted: 2/1/11 at 9:12pm

Gothampc and exedore, you're both partly right. Length was a big part of what a dramaturge was needed for, because Jon was incredibly prolific. In the big black book on Rent, Jim Nicola talks about receiving pages (notes, dialogue, lyrical revisions, etc.) from Jon at least once every day during the '94 workshop process. Part of the problem was getting him to freeze on one specific version of the show for a moment, and then separating the wheat from the chaff or convincing him to write a better song for this or that slot.

After '94, before Lynn came in, Jon had prepared a new-ish version that was essentially a blend of the two and some material that has never been seen since, which restructured the show as a flashback from Angel's funeral (said version of the show opened with "Seasons of Love"). It was this version with which they entered rehearsals for the Off-Broadway run which became the Broadway transfer after Jon's death, and during rehearsals, it was in a state of constant revision with Lynn's substantial help. It only really froze in the weeks leading up to that final dress rehearsal.

"There is no problem so big that it cannot be run away from." ~ Charles M. Schulz

Updated On: 2/1/11 at 09:12 PM

A question about dramaturgs

Posted: 2/1/11 at 9:17pm

Fosse76: Amy Powers wrote the first draft of lyrics for Sunset, which (in my opinion) was largely terrible, and scrapped after the initial mounting (I don't think it was at Sydmonton, but a festival of similar size, structure, approach, etc.). Apparently after totally rewriting it, they'd somehow managed to include enough of her ideas that she was able to sue, which is why some songs in the program now bear the lyrical credit "with contributions by Amy Powers."

"There is no problem so big that it cannot be run away from." ~ Charles M. Schulz

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