R & H halts high school production of ALW's Phantom

Good for MTI (sorry, R & H)!

My favorite part:
The 35 students involved wanted to perform the musical version. So, for the past few weeks, the teens practiced.

They advertised their semiannual production on the school's Web site, which is how the New York City licensing company learned of it. Clipping services and Web search engines check daily to ensure no one violates the copyright, Spiegel said.


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Updated On: 11/15/05 at 01:06 PM

You'd think that the adults involved would have known better. Not the kind of lesson you want to be teaching kids -- if you're not allowed to do what you want to legally, then just steal it.

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And it's being whined about all over the local news (it's my part of the world..about ten miles from me).

If you don't have the rights to it yet...don't start practicing and, goodness, don't start promoting it.

And..if they did their homework, they would have known they had no chance of getting the right.

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Updated On: 11/15/05 at 01:20 PM

The article says Rodgers and Hammerstein Theatricals, not MTI.

I'm amazed how many people don't know you have to pay for the rights of a show, and that not all shows have rights available. Even my very smart boyfriend didn't know this, much to my horror.

Well, I'm glad to learn that RNH Theatricals actively searches the web for violations... that's awesome. also, I don't see why, if they really want to do a musical phantom, they don't just do one that they can get the rights to like Yeston's perhaps or one of the other musical versions... some will argue that they're better or not as good, but at least they're legal... and I don't believe for a second that no one knew what they were doing was illegal. someone at the top, obviously having directed/produced high school musicals prior had to have known, but probably was hoping not to get caught. bad form.

It's clear they didn't want to do the one they had the rights to because it isn't the famous one.

Interesting....Mohonasen is just down the road from here I live, but I hadn't heard about it cause I'm at college. They alwys do amazing shows, and believe me, the director KNEW it was illegal. This woman has been directing for decades. She knows the ins and outs.

Also, last year they were rehearsing Les Mis (legally), and enough people didn't get the parts they wanted, so kids went to the administration and said that it wasn' appropriate for high school kids to perform. After a huge debacle, they ended up doing Beauty and the Beast.

These are the kids who grow up and sue McDonald's for coffee burns, aren't they?

There's also a group going around announcing they're showing the POTO movie on the big screen again. Using a DVD, mind you. HELLO!

Would that happen to be the group in California?

I have no idea about the dvd part, but they are charging $15 admission and there's no school that I know of involved.

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I have been mightily tempted to call MTI about a school down the road that is breaking contractual terms with their Les Miz advertisements. As a designer I make a lot of artistic sacrifices to ensure that I accurately represent the writers and rights holders on my posters, so I get pissed when schools hammer out a poster or banner that doesn't follow protocol.

This particular poster: 1)doesn't bill their Les Miz as being the "high school version," 2)uses the explicitly forbidden "Cosette" logo, 3)makes no mention of their arrangement with MTI, and 4)fails to list the composer, lyricist, and librettist at all. Each of the above is a violation of their licensing contract, and the Les Miz contract is particularly explicit about these things (only Disney pushes it more clearly, in my opinion). Yet none of their posters or banners around town is in compliance.

They close on Saturday -- do you think I ought to turn them in?

Just to clarify, I have every reason to believe that this high school Les Miz production is being staged legally. My concern is the complete disregard for the terms of the contract, which state that all promotional materials, programs, etc. list the authors of the work (at 50% the font size of the title, usually) and MTI as the rights holders. In addition, the contract ir makes quite clear that the production must be billed as the "school edition" and may not use the "Cosette" logo.

Small productions do this sort of thing all the time, and I'm torn over how serious an issue I think it is. I don't know what kind of fine they would face; surely, it would just be a small fine and slap on the wrist rather than an injunction, but maybe it's worth reporting. I don't know.