Be careful what you produce
Warning this post, and related link may contain offensive language
This little item from Playbill would not have normally caught my attention, except that I am on an Listserv with one of the participants in the debacle. For those who don't read the article and want more explanation....
There is a certain out door free performance in the park in Illinois that was planning a production of the musical Ragtime based on the E. L. Doctorow book of the same name (there was also film version). The musical (and the book) interweaves several stories from the early 20th century. The three main stories involve: 1) Jewish immigrants being oppressed by factory owners, 2) A White liberal family dealing with what it actually means to try to see all the races as equal, 3) a Black couple who experience the violence of racism first hand -- and become radicalized because of their experience.
Powerful stuff for a musical.
The producing organization applied for (and were granted) the performance rights in January. Apparently, no one at that time read the script, which includes such unpleasant words as "nigger." In my opinion that word and most of the other words that generally try to avoid using, are used effectively as both a way to remind people of the problems of racism and as an accurate reflection of the time period.
About a week ago, the producers went to a rehearsal, and heard the script for the first time. They panicked. They insisted the director change the script. -- Nothing doing, that is against the contract, and he told them to contact the rights holders. Not only did the producers contact the MTI, the rights agency, (with replacement suggestions like "darkie"), several cast members informed the producers permission or not, the actors had no interest in doing a censored version of the show.
MTI contacted the authors (many rights organizations don't bother doing that). The authors said "no" MTI reminded the producers that, according to the contract, there is a very stiff fine per instance per performance of unauthorized changes (and you can bet MTI was going to fly someone out for the production -- one of the shows they handle their contract says they MUST fly someone out to make sure unauthorized changes are not made).
Producing a show is expensive. Rights run from $50-$200 per performance for amateurs, plus you have to rent the scores, scripts etc., all the production elements, plus the paid staff (in this production only the creative team, and not the actors). Still this is a huge expense. I wonder why an organization (that has been producing this stuff for apparently decades) would fail to read the script -- Why would you do a show just because it is famous? MTI is very willing to send perusal scripts to producers for a security deposit and shipping fee (which I think they deduct from your final bill if you decide to do the show -- the last time I got a perusal script it was like $20 -- and they have great deals if you order a whole bunch of perusal scripts at once -- the shipping is cheaper)
Anyway.. just griping about stupid producers
This little item from Playbill would not have normally caught my attention, except that I am on an Listserv with one of the participants in the debacle. For those who don't read the article and want more explanation....
There is a certain out door free performance in the park in Illinois that was planning a production of the musical Ragtime based on the E. L. Doctorow book of the same name (there was also film version). The musical (and the book) interweaves several stories from the early 20th century. The three main stories involve: 1) Jewish immigrants being oppressed by factory owners, 2) A White liberal family dealing with what it actually means to try to see all the races as equal, 3) a Black couple who experience the violence of racism first hand -- and become radicalized because of their experience.
Powerful stuff for a musical.
The producing organization applied for (and were granted) the performance rights in January. Apparently, no one at that time read the script, which includes such unpleasant words as "nigger." In my opinion that word and most of the other words that generally try to avoid using, are used effectively as both a way to remind people of the problems of racism and as an accurate reflection of the time period.
About a week ago, the producers went to a rehearsal, and heard the script for the first time. They panicked. They insisted the director change the script. -- Nothing doing, that is against the contract, and he told them to contact the rights holders. Not only did the producers contact the MTI, the rights agency, (with replacement suggestions like "darkie"), several cast members informed the producers permission or not, the actors had no interest in doing a censored version of the show.
MTI contacted the authors (many rights organizations don't bother doing that). The authors said "no" MTI reminded the producers that, according to the contract, there is a very stiff fine per instance per performance of unauthorized changes (and you can bet MTI was going to fly someone out for the production -- one of the shows they handle their contract says they MUST fly someone out to make sure unauthorized changes are not made).
Producing a show is expensive. Rights run from $50-$200 per performance for amateurs, plus you have to rent the scores, scripts etc., all the production elements, plus the paid staff (in this production only the creative team, and not the actors). Still this is a huge expense. I wonder why an organization (that has been producing this stuff for apparently decades) would fail to read the script -- Why would you do a show just because it is famous? MTI is very willing to send perusal scripts to producers for a security deposit and shipping fee (which I think they deduct from your final bill if you decide to do the show -- the last time I got a perusal script it was like $20 -- and they have great deals if you order a whole bunch of perusal scripts at once -- the shipping is cheaper)
Anyway.. just griping about stupid producers