How Long till phantom rights are released?

[brandonm2]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 9:01pm

How long do you think it'll be until the Phantom of The Opera performance rights are released?

[thejcm]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 11:06pm

Haven't they already workshopped an amateur/student version at a couple universities? I remember one being pretty great looking, and the other looking crappy.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 12/17/08 at 11:07pm

Yeah, Elon did it. Matt Shingledecker was the Phantom.

http://www.elon.edu/e-net/Note.aspx?id=928209

[TheaterBoy7777]

Posted: 12/18/08 at 12:07pm

Baldwin-Wallace did it in '07
http://www.bw.edu/news/phantom/photos/

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 12/18/08 at 3:35pm

.... But it's not possible to obtain the rights, say for a high school?

[Byron Abens]

Posted: 12/18/08 at 4:01pm

The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization did several pilot productions in the fall of 07 between a handful of colleges and high schools with varying budgets and facilities to see what problems and challenges the show presented and how they could be overcome, including the need for any possible cuts, re-writes, etc. The press releases at the time stated that they still did not plan on actually releasing the rights in the foreseeable future, but that these productions would help them prepare the show for when that time does happen.

With the show continuing to remain a tourist draw in New York, and the tour still able to book and sell multi-week sitdowns, I would not expect to see those rights released for quite some time still.