Beauty & the Beast: Is It Even LEGAL?- Page 3

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 11:04am

my school did beauty and the beast about 2 years ago. we were the first production of it in NH.

[ILoveMyDictionary]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 11:08am

There are rules other then here are the rights go put the show on. If you live within a certain mile radius or Broadway you can't perform the show, and if you live ithin a certain mile radius of a tour stop you can't perform the show too close to when the tour will be ariving.

[Dover]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 12:03pm

When I did a stock production of Beauty last year, we used this set from ZFX (http://www.zfxflying.com/bbrentals.html). If you look at it, especially at the castle, you will see that it looks very much like the Broadway set. Before going off to do the show, I spent a day with the Broadway company to pick up some pointers, and I specifically spent a lot of time walking on the castle. The ZFX castle is a little bit smaller (there's no room for the dungeon and the tunnel to be separate entrances), but otherwise to my eye it's exactly the same, with a slightly different paint job, but the same basic color scheme. We used some of their costumes, too and those looked pretty much like the Broadway ones, too.

I don't get into the legalities of rights and that kind of thing, but I can't imagine if it was illegal that they could be so high-profile about it. I'm not saying every community theatre production has paid for the rights to all the designs, but maybe there's an additional fee for that.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 12:06pm

ZFX is a great company.

When my high school did PETER PAN, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, we would always fly the ZFX people in from Vegas and put them up in a hotel while they rigged everything for the flying effects.. It was always very fun. They're a great company.

[dancinfan]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 12:15pm

Disney's two official national tours were 1995-1999 and 2000-2003. I am certain the that the first tour played the Dallas Summer Music Hall within its first two years, and I am pretty sure the second, smaller tour also played Texas at some point. Disney and MTI licensed the show very quickly after the second tour closed. Believe it or not, ticket sales at the Broadway production seemed to get better immediately after the licensing, perhaps because people who were producing or considering producing it wanted to see it. It has been done in hundreds and hundreds of professional, semi-pro, amateur, high school, community, and children's theatres across the country and around the world since. I have seen it a couple of different arena ("in the round") theatres, with varying degrees of success. I have seen it done professionally with lavish costumes and at a high school with costumes you could probably buy at any Halloween shop, and both were valid (occasionally troubled, occasionally brilliant) theatrical experiences. That's the joy of putting on a show, huh?

[Dancin Thru Life]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 12:29pm

I still love ya SLEETH, but....just to note...

We also rented very authentic looking costume for our production 3 years ago. They were identical to the ones used on Broadway.
Heck, you can even rent music CD's to supplement your smaller live ensemble.

Combine all these things with the ZFX sets and some pretty damn good local talent and it can easily rival the waning Broadway production in many ways...and for a quarter of the price!!!

If people want to buy something, Disney is more than happy sell it to them!

P.S. It's toured through Buffalo at LEAST twice now, and lots of high schools have presented it over the past 4-5 years too!

[Kringas]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 12:35pm

Is my original question THAT stupid?

Yes.

[JulianHookbucks]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 12:54pm

three theatre companies, six higshchools, and two regional companies near Syracuse have done this show. It's legal.

another way to check facts, and see if most of the BWW message board crew is really lying or not would be to go on MTI.com and look at the shows offered...

or just believing us...

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 12:57pm

My Highschool doing it:
http://www.shutterfly.com/progal/album.jsp?aid=768a5498cf4b02b5a5b3

[dfwtheatreguy]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:23pm

B&tB has been on tour for a LONG time - it was at the Music Hall in Dallas twice, once as the State Fair show. Casa Manana did their own version of it 2 years ago and high schools all around Dallas have been doing it. DUH!

[sondhead]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 2:21pm

Husk, I think he's talking about Garland Civic Theatre... and there's no defending them. They blow. I mean, Blaine Community Players if there ever was one.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 2:41pm

I'm BUMPING this because IT PROVIDED so MUCH entertainment FOR ME last NIGHT!

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 2:43pm

They are doing an illegaly production...omg i am on the phone with MTI now....wah wah.

this reminds me of the time when a high school did "Titanic" near me and we had heard a rumor that "My Heart Will Go On" was added....we were going to call MTI at intermission...but it was not.

whoever put the link to the pics of their high school...that looks pretty good.

Updated On: 5/26/07 at 02:43 PM

[blaxx]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 2:59pm

Any more of these posts? They are the best! Funnier than anything on TV, hands down.

I love the part where he claims "BUT NOT IN TEXASSS, AGHHH"
when the first production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast first saw the light of the universe in...

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 3:21pm

theaterdude, it was really good!

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 3:25pm

Must EVERY reply contain an insult? Is my original question THAT stupid? Forgive me. I had no idea that I would just come on here and be ridiculed to pieces! No offense, though. None taken. I got pretty familiar with all THAT the last time I was in New York!

Must EVERY reply contain an insult?
Yes.

Is my original question THAT stupid?
Yes.

I had no idea that I would just come on here and be ridiculed to pieces!
Ha!

[Sondheim Geek]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 3:33pm

DUDE we're a BROADWAY board. BITTER queens CONSTANTLY come HERE to MAKE fun OF ignorant PEOPLE, and YOUR question NEEDED to BE mocked. THINK before YOU post.

(I wanted to see how many unnecessary capitalized words I could put in one post)

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 3:42pm

"whoever put the link to the pics of their high school...that looks pretty good."


That's nothing I would be proud of....

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 3:47pm

that is you.

i give people credit for costumes etc. for the show.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 3:51pm

Yea, but I only do it for a living.

Obviously rented and the wigs are nasty...

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 4:00pm

um, im sure its a lot better than what most high schools would do.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 4:06pm

Some, not most.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 4:09pm

Sondhead-
No, he was talking about Artisan, he told me in a PM>

Dallas Summer Musicals has had both the first and second national tours, and I think the second national came again last year or the year before. And I want to say Jodi Benson was playing Belle in the first national...or at least she was in town around that time for something.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 4:12pm

Oh yes, belittling a high school production because it's so beneath what you do for a living... truly, very professional.

:: insert eye roll here ::

[SDav 10495]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 4:20pm

That's nothing I would be proud of....

Come on...it's one thing to ridicule a sh!twit who starts a thread like this, but there's no need to be a queen about someone's high school production (really, what on earth could be the point of taking jabs at a show that the kids obviously took pride in?). At least making fun of idiots is funny.

BroadwayEnthusiast2, I think your production looks great, and as someone who has seen quite a few HS productions here in the NY area I do think it easily looks better than what most schools would do (heck, your costumes are more interesting to look at than the ones at the BatB show in Disney World).

Updated On: 5/26/07 at 04:20 PM