Posted: 2/26/16 at 5:38pm
Anyone buy DVDs of shows from Film Collector's Society of America? Some of these seem a little too good to be true. http://www.thefilmcsa.com/playsbroadway.html
Posted: 2/26/16 at 5:53pm
It seems like they're selling bootlegs.
Posted: 2/26/16 at 5:56pm
Here's a quote from the description of The Lion King: "This is the first capture of The Lion King that is fit for a king. There are a few heads during the first two minutes of the show; however, after that, there are no heads and a beautiful combination of full and close-up shots. This is by far the best capture there is out there of this show." Definitely bootlegs.
Posted: 2/26/16 at 6:04pm
Thanks. Sounds about right. The Lincoln Center A Chorus Line from 1975 sounds a little different:
"Professionally filmed using multiple cameras for the Lincoln Center Archives. Newly surfaced video which is a HUGE improvement over the previous version which has been in circulation for a while.
This is also complete and includes the opening announcement alerting the audience that the show is being filmed. Amazing quality, but still has a little generational loss. In black and white.
The DVD has been enhanced with chapter stops for all of the musical numbers."
Posted: 2/27/16 at 9:41am
It's not unusual for a bootleg collector to have a professionally filmed recording of a show, as many regional productions (and a few Broadway shows/tours) have archive recordings that have leaked out. Sometimes a recording is made of the show for whatever reason, and these recordings have "leaked" and been made available via bootleg. So it's not surprising that you'd find the Lincoln Center recording of A Chorus Line on someone's list since it's known to have been leaked. Many of the NTLive streams have been captured and are now on lists. So don't mistake seeing these as an indication of legitimacy.
Posted: 2/27/16 at 1:41pm
These are all easily available bootleg videos/DVDs. Virtually every trader has these titles and none of these are "rare." Whoever pays for these is their own doing.
Posted: 2/27/16 at 4:24pm
Tying into what Fosse76 is saying, a lot of archival footage comes from front-of-house cams, which are the cameras that send a live video feed to the monitors outside the auditorium in some theaters so you don't miss anything while you're taking an unscheduled bathroom break.
