May 9, 2006
All that Musical Rights Jazz
It's high school musical time (and not just the Disney kind) but one Bronx high school has to put its production of Chicago on ice. Why? The school didn't bother to get the rights to the show, not to mention a clause that says the musical cannot be performed 75 miles within Broadway. You know, lest tourists find their way to the Bronx and want to buy tickets for a high school production. The company that represents the authors (John Kander and Fred Ebb), the Samuel French Inc., issued a "severe" cease-and-desist to the Herbert H. Lehman High School, disappointing the students who had been working on the show for months. The Daily News spoke to students who said they and teachers were crying. Principal Robert Leder said, "I'm partly guilty in that I never, ever thought of asking for permission - never ever." Hmm, let's hope the Samuel French officials don't look at Lehman high's previous musicals - what if they've been performing other musicals without permissions?
One student said, "I'm angry. I'm devastated, because we worked so hard to build this play up from nothing and it was taken away from us." Has the Bronx high school considered the "old flim flam flummox"? Or a "fake and a finagle" and holding the show underground?
Update: It looks like the kids will get to strut their stuff (we wonder if the choreography will be Fosse-esque) as a producer called the school to say there was a "misunderstanding." And by misunderstanding, they mean, "Crap, this is making us look bad to ruin a bunch of high school kids' musical dreams, even if they didn't ask for permission."
Update: Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chanceller Joel Klein issued a press release:
"We are delighted that the producers of Chicago have agreed to our requests and will allow the student-run production of this spectacular show to go forward - as scheduled and without charge - at Lehman High School. On behalf of the Lehman students and their families, we would like to thank Chicago's producers Fran and Barry Weissler, Shubert Foundation Chairman Gerald Schoenfeld, Jed Bernstein of The League of American Theatres and Producers, Brad Lohrenz of Samuel French, Inc., and Pete Sanders who represents Chicago's producers for their help getting the required copyright approval. To our aspiring Velma Kellys, Roxie Harts, Billy Flynns, and all the others, we say 'break a leg' - just not literally."That's intriguing, given what commenter #10 says...
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Nobody thought to ask for permission? Yea right. More like, they thought they could get away with it. Still, Samuel French could try to not be a bitch for once and cut the school a deal, so all those poor kids didn't work for nothing.
I agree with the news story - "Everyone knows you have to get permissions first. It's done that way the world over." I feel very bad for the kids b/c it's in no way their fault, but if there's anyone to blame it's the principal and teachers involved. Who is that dumb?
When I read the words "one Bronx high school has to put its production of Chicago on ice" my first thought was they were going to be performing it on ice skates.
That aside, you would expect them to know about getting permissions, as it is one of the most basic things that you would expect anyone who would be arranging such things to know.
As for tourists going to the Bronx, they may got to Yankee Stadium and that's it.
How refreshing, in this era of plagiarism and lies about WMDs, is it to find a principal who acknowledges responsibility. This is a tragic lesson for the kids involved, but how could this guy have goofed big time? I don't think there's a drama club in a high school in this country who is ignorant of the need to obtain rights to perform a play.
A major-league screwup, and its the grown-ups fault.
As I recall from my high school days, oh, those many years ago, you got your scripts from Samuel French and embossed in gold letters on the red covers was something along the lines of "YOU CAN'T DO THIS SHOW WITHOUT PERMISSION." So that's an awful lot of "Oops"'s. It's also fairly well know that the rights of shows currently on Broadway are very prohibitive, if not outright unavailable. I mean, I knew this when I was sixteen. To do a play that's currently on Broadway in your high school was impossible, not to say outrageous.
My guess is they tried to get away with something and got caught. So be it. The kids suffer, but they should turn the blame on the grown-ups around them, not the Sam French folks.
Another former high-school drama geek here. The copies of the play totally say "permission required" on the cover or title page. Kinda hard to miss.
I wonder if a similar 75-mile rule exists Disney Shows. When I was in high school, around the time The Lion King opened on Broadway, my high school obtained permission to perform several songs from the musical as part of our annual concert (which was kind of a hybrid of several musicals), but then at the last minute, Disney put some strange restrictions on the performance: there couldn't be dance numbers during the songs and the songs couldn't be integrated into our show, so all the songs were sang at the very end of the show, and the choir members had to just stand there and sing without moving much. It was very weird.
thank goodness this production was halted. think of the damage it would have done! we all owe samuel french's underwriters a vote of thanks for protecting our city against such flagrant and cavalier criminal behavior.
I agree with Tim N.: That's an "awful lot of oops." Having put on and been in too many elementary, jhs and hs school productions in the day, I have to tell you...don't believe for a second that the "adults" in charge didn't know they were skirting the royalty issue. Why do you think there is the constant annual rotation of OKLAHOMA, OLIVER, BRIGADOON and ANNIE GET YOUR GUN at most schools??? The Tamms-Wittmark royalties are within the school budget. What the principal and teachers are guilty most of is of being terminally dumb. Chicago...10 miles away from the B'way production??? Yup. Nobody is going to notice that. Next time, kids, pick "Woman in White." At least they could use the exposure. One more thing: I am facinated to know how an administration gets off approving "I shot 42 warning shots...into his chest" as high school age appropriate dialogue. Then again, it IS a Bronx school...
I teach at Lehman. The people running the show thought they could get away with putting on the show, and absolutely knew about the rights issues and 75 mile rule. I know because one of my colleagues tried to tell them it wasn't such a good idea.
Bloomberg and Klein got involved in this????!!!
What, they didn't have any cell phones to take away or cigarettes to put out? Unbelieveable! I can't believe they jumped in here to back up a bunch of teachers and administrators who knew they were breaking the rules and tried to get away with something. Great example to set... just break the rules loud enough and the world will beat a path to your door.
Disgusting.
"You know, lest tourists find there way to the Bronx[...]"
THEIR not THERE!
For all those councilmen who lobbied for the school, I'd like to see thier reaction to if someone started building an apartment complex in their district without obtaining all the permits. Something tells me they'd want to play by the book then.
We're teaching these kids the wrong lesson.
Good thing the "powers that be" had a change of heart. I was going to recommend that the Lehman High School artists stage a not so flattering parody of the show.