Live orchestra deemed legally necessary

[morosco]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 9:27pm

From TimesOnline UK Edition

Last week, Manchester County Court was the scene of an extraordinary victory. A man called Adrian Bradbury had taken his family to see a professional staging of The Wizard of Oz at the Lowry Theatre in Salford. ...But The Wizard didn?t enchant Mr Bradbury for one simple reason. It had no live band.

All the songs and dance routines were performed to pre-recorded backing tracks. Mr Bradbury felt that if you had paid to see what was billed as a ?magical family musical? you were entitled to expect live musicians. So he sued under the Trade Descriptions Act. And, astonishingly, he won.
Bring Back Bands

[The Last Midnight]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 9:28pm

Awesome!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 10:12pm

That makes sense that he would get a refund. Though, I don't feel like the company truly mislead the pubic by advertising the show as a "magical family musical". Nowhere does it say "including a live band". Though, the company may have been in breach of contract as I believe Tams-Witmark stipulates in their contracts that you must have either a live band or at the least a single piano. Other companies like MTI have computer programs that allow you to enhance your live orchestra so they may be fine with companies using recorded tracks though I'm sure there's some kind of rights violation in there somewhere if a private company is recording orchestral tracks of music that they don't own and allowing it to be used for public performance.

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 10:14pm

Can I sue the Rockettes's touring company, then?

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 7/10/09 at 10:14pm

Can I sue the Rockettes touring company, then?

[Jon]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 9:30am

Can I sue all the dance companies that use recorded music?

Can I sue Lincoln Center for CONTACT?

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 9:59am

cats-
Tams only handles US (and maybe Canadian) productions. In the UK it's a different liscencing house completely, so they could have an entirely different set of rules.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 12:40pm

husk_charmer,

TAMS does handle Canada. They were mentioned in programs I have of their shows done by musical companies around my area.

I would like to sue CONTACT lol

[gypsy4]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 1:37pm

I'm a person who always looks forward to hearing a Live orchestra. but come on where was their a claim that a Live orchestra would be presented it's just he expected to much out of the production whats next? sueing a high school production?

[PitPro2004]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 3:15pm

Someone get that guys number, I want to ask him to marry me!

So nice that someone still appreciates our efforts. Makes the work worthwhile...

[morosco]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 6:49pm

I'm a person who always looks forward to hearing a Live orchestra. but come on where was their a claim that a Live orchestra would be presented it's just he expected to much out of the production whats next? sueing a high school production?

Most Broadway musicals do not advertise that they have a live orchestra. Would it be okay for them to replace live with pre-recorded because they don't advertise a live orchestra?
Updated On: 7/11/09 at 06:49 PM

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 8:33pm

This was at the theatre in my city (a theatre one of my plays transfered to) and this show was supposed to be a big deal. A lot of my mates who watched it said it was let down by the fact that they used pre reorded music.

Though as much as i agree orchestras are needed for live musicals, the 1st thing i would complain about is how many of the UK touring shows are using click tracks for the ensemble at the moment grrr

[bwayguy22089]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 1:37am

The Wizard of Oz (and countless other shows) has too great of a score to be using pre-recorded/canned music. Good for him

[LuPonatic]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 2:07am

I can understand the expectation of live music at a high dollar professional production. Now, if I was going to a high school or community theatre, especially one just starting out, I would be understanding of recorded accompaniment. Sometimes you have to cut money somewhere, and good instrumentalists can be expensive and sometimes hard to come by.

[PitPro2004]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 9:36am

" Sometimes you have to cut money somewhere, and good instrumentalists can be expensive and sometimes hard to come by. "

Actually good musicians are everywhere and yes, it can be costly. But sadly it's always the musicians that producers go after first, regardless.

[roadmixer]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 9:40pm

It's not JUST the musicians who are victims of financial downsizing in productions really... yes, it's easier to replace players with recordings than to replace live actors with animations... or robots...

Stagehands have seen massive cuts in personnel over the years due to automation especially in scenery and lighting... experienced actors are increasingly replaced by cheaper, younger actors recently out of theatre school. Sadly, the drive for greater profits and the increasing cost of production leads to cuts. It sucks.

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/13/09 at 12:51am

I can certainly understand about the musicians being live creating a better dimension to the theater.

But can one say that automation of sets and equipment is bad? Does that particular facet being automated take away from the experience in the same way that canned music would, or does it merely make the industry a smaller one?

[roadmixer]

Posted: 7/13/09 at 6:36pm

I get the point about automation of scenery and lighting not necessarily "taking away" from the production... in many ways this allows the addition of things that couldn't be accomplished without reliable, repeatable cueing. That said, the introduction of automation is often something that is decided upon based on costs.

As far as "canned" versus live music is concerned, it is not necessarily a reduction in quality to record the orchestra (let it be known that I am FOR live musicians when I say this). On Phantom Las Vegas for instance, recorded symphonic orchestra tracks are used which easily better the strings achievable in a pit.