Amateur rights to Wicked now available in Australia

[StephieElise]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 7:29pm

It seems we lucky Aussies are getting everything this week...My Fair Lady directed by Julie Andrews, a tweet from Taylor Swift and now...the amateur rights to Wicked! Every amateur company in the country is going to be doing this...I'm a little scared...

http://www.theatrepeople.com.au/aus-gains-exclusive-amateur-rights-to-oz/

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 7:35pm

Get ready for the next headline to come out of Australia 

"Hundreds of amateur actors get painted green and break their backs falling off of ladders!"

[ggersten]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 8:08pm

More amazing will be those theatre companies claiming to be in Australia.  Hmm, if I got an Australian address with forwarding instructions....naah.  

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 8:20pm

Seeing the Australian professional production was bad enough, count me out! 

[missthemountains]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 3:00am

Interesting that MTI has made this choice. Even more interesting, Wicked isn't even publicly listed as one of their properties on the website. Guess they really don't want the US to touch it. 

[SweetLips]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 4:13am

How awful.

I compered a talent show and I was deaf by the end of it with the number of girls screeching songs from Wicked all afternoon--no thanks.

 

But then--this is how new talent is discovered---you just never know,do you.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 9:44am

Well, at least we know that MTI is licensing the show. I thought it would be R&H. Does this mean that we're going to get licensing soon in the US?

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 9:59am

Attention amateur presenters in Australia:

Don't break your back attempting to defy gravity! Contact either myself or darquegk for a fully sketched out "minimalist" production plan that will allow you to do the show on a budget of just under $70 AUD, not counting the price of hiring performance materials from the licensor. In exchange for program credit (for darquegk; the idea is his baby), you can have the solution to staging Wicked on a shoestring!

[TheGingerBreadMan]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 10:50am

"Well, at least we know that MTI is licensing the show. I thought it would be R&H. Does this mean that we're going to get licensing soon in the US?"

 I doubt it, as the show is still running strong both on Broadway and on tour. It'll probably be a long time before rights are released in the states. 

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 1:52pm

I thought it would be R&H.

Why? It's a Schwartz show and MTI already has all of his other shows. With the rare exception of one or two titles, it's standard for authors to remain "loyal" to a particular licensing agency. 

Does this mean that we're going to get licensing soon in the US?

No. Absolutely no plans to even prepare this for North American licensing. You're looking at 5 - 8 years, if even. 

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 3:00pm

I just wish they would bite the bullet and release the rights for wicked everywhere.  People will still see wicked. 

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 5:49pm

Take it up with Stone, Platt and Universal.

In short? It ain't gonna happen. For a very, very long time... 

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 1:22am

Let's put it this way: Phantom's been around since 1986, and they just released the rights to perform the show a mere few years ago. If Wicked goes the same route in popularity (and we have every reason to believe it will), then I wouldn't expect amateur rights in the U.S. for probably ten years.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 1:41am

Having seen their marginally bizarre Spring Awakening, I wonder how Sydney Theatre Company would tackle this. 

[binau]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 1:47am

I enjoyed the STC Spring Awakening! We've just had two tours of Wicked though here, would any professional theatre company really tackle this any time soon? It's going to go to the bottom of the barrel first.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 4:20pm

With non-Equity tours a growing new issue, and concern (Bullets Over Broadway, apparently, and amazingly enough, sending out a first class tour with non-unions actors), "amateur" productions may become a slippery slope.  Union performers used to be the absolute guarantee -- proof -- that a venue was "professional," a word with ever complicated, nuanced meaning these days. Why would these producers want an "amateur" production of Wicked anywhere, but especially in commutation of B'way or a touring production?  

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 8:22pm

You're not understanding what "amateur" means in the licensing world. With the exception of first class tours & productions, which are licensed not through the agency but through the rights holders, "amateur" is defined only by productions featuring unpaid actors; whether it be adult community theatre or student educational theatre. It is not professional licensing which, by the way, makes no distinction between Union and Non-Union professional theatre. 

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 8:29pm

Australia was the first country to receive amateur rights to Les Miz, back in the early (mid?) 90s. It was a huge deal and it seemed to go really well. I'm sure that set a positive precedent.

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 12/14/15 at 4:34pm

Anyone know if any amateur productions have sprung up yet?

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 12/14/15 at 5:47pm

I'm seeing a lot of cast lists being posted for the show but none have been performed yet.

[StephieElise]

Posted: 12/16/15 at 12:54am

CLOC is doing it in May next year. Their productions are always a very high standard, so I might go see it.

[c0113g3b0y]

Posted: 12/16/15 at 9:57am

I think a blackbox production with Elphaba painted in bright neon green face paint would be AWESOME.