What are some restrictions with MTI's DISNEY SHOWS?

[aces25]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 6:58pm

There are some special restrictions in the contract with the newly-released Disney shows. Anyone have any? Any examples of what people have done in their productions?

[Chote887]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 7:32pm

There is an issue with doing some of them close to new york. I believe a theater within 200(?) miles of nyc cannot do beauty and the beast. Not sure of the others.

[Phantom487]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 8:41pm

A theatre in my town applied for the rights to Beauty & the Beast, and they could not get them because we are just under 200 miles from NYC...

[bially082]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 12:32am

Belle's dress can't be gold.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 12:36am

i believe the original restriction (i'm thinking they got rid of it) was that no costume or set could even vaguely resemble either the movie or the stage show version

[DancerGirl16]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 8:57am

Musical Theatre International for most shows have a 100 miles from broadway limit. I do not think it has been changed to 200 but I think that the 200 miles rule can apply in special situations depending on how recently the show has closed.

The 100 miles from Broadway is in effect so that schools and regional shows do not take business from Broadway (obviously).

[trpguyy]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 9:30am

MTI's BatB restriction is 150 miles from NYC. MY school is exactly 148 miles from NYC, and we had to go through a few appeals to get the rights to do it. There are no other restrictions on the show.

[Di2]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 9:41am

I am in a regional, Equity production of Beauty and the Beast (I am the Belle first cover) and my dress is gold. So whoever said that, you are incorrect. It most certainly can be gold.

[Di2]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 9:43am

MTI reps and Disney reps flew in to see our production and they loved it.


(double post)

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 10:00am

There are some interesting notes in the contract about how the poster is to be worded (I'm a graphic designer, did a poster for a local production), such as that you must say the company presents "a production of" "Disney's Beauty and the Beast." In addition, you have to specify that the original production on Broadway was directed by Robert Jess Roth -- his name is even as big as Rice, Menken, and Woolverton's! I know that the Aida contract is similar in stating that you're doing a "a production of" Aida, but I don't think Robert Falls gets the same level of billing as Roth.

P.S.--I DARE someone to do Beauty and the Beast without a gold dress for the ballroom scene!

[Di2]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 10:28am

EXACTLY...the gold ball gown is a must and mine is absolutely stunning.

I went on for a month as Belle (plus I played belle at Disney) and the audience audibly sighs at the first sight of the gown. I used to tear up when I would make my entrance, not everyone gets to be a Disney Princess after all, but I have gotten over that now.
Updated On: 5/26/05 at 10:28 AM

[trpguyy]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 2:44pm

Di2,
Where's your show? I'd love to see it if it's close.

[jim]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 7:36pm

Music Theatre of Wichita did B&TB last summer. Belle's (Kim Huber) Act Two gown was gold.The sets and costumes could suggest the originals but could not be carbon copies. Also, the name Disney as used on the playbills and publicity had to be a certain size as specified in the contract. A group of Disney people went to Wichita to see the production.They loved it. The sets and costumes are now rented out by MTW to other regional theatres.

[jflynn]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 9:29pm

Fiddlehead Theatre Company (outside of Boston) opened this past season with B&TB. As I've heard, there were many restrictions placed upon the production, including (I think) a specification that the dress was to be gold. They're now renting out all of the costumes, sets, props, etc. to other theaters doing it.

[mikem]

Posted: 5/27/05 at 12:18am

Is the mileage restriction for BatB only temporary? The Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia is doing BatB for their holiday show in December, and Philly is only about 100 miles from NYC. (For those of you who don't know, the Walnut Street Theatre has the most subscribers of any theatre in the country, so they wouldn't be doing something sneaky or under the radar.)

[DreamFlyer22]

Posted: 5/27/05 at 8:16am

Having recently finished working tech on a high school production of "Beauty"... some of the stuff I remember...

The instructions ARE VERY SPECIFIC about posters, playbills, promo materials. Must use the Disney font. Must use their logo. Must make names such and such a size.

As for costuming? That was a bit of a gray area. This group had apparently heard the rumors about the dress thing, so Belle's ballroom gown was pink. The Beast's ballroom outfit was almost a carbon copy, however, so that made me scratch my head a little. Also something about not being able to use a monocle for Cogsworth... and that anything that wasn't specified in the script couldn't be copied from Broadway (the cartwheeling rug, for instance).

[suzycat]

Posted: 5/27/05 at 10:55am

My local theatre did Beauty & the Beast earlier this year, and they're doing Aida this summer.... they're only 90 miles out of NYC. I wonder how they pulled it off?

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 5/27/05 at 11:28am

You actually don't have to use the logo, but you can't make your own version of the Beast's silhouette, and they license the logo for $50 so pretty much everyone has used it.