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#Post#: 13000--------------------------------------------------
22 May 2019 - Theater School
By: Jack Date: May 22, 2019, 5:24 pm
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This has come up in chat (and elsewhere) a couple of times
lately, so I thought I'd just take a moment and mention it here.
I was approached not too long ago by the choir teacher at BHS
(the public high school). One of the big problems he has each
year, in putting on the school musical, is that there are drama
students and choir students. Ideally, someone appearing in a
musical should be able to sing, act, and dance at least a few
steps.
'Ideally' is rare, in case you weren't sure.
He does have some students who are big musical theater fans (and
he has at least three students who make time for drama and
choir, and one of those also takes dance lessons). Some of
those musical theater fans have suggested a number of shows
they'd like to do. The problem is that many of those shows have
require actual dancing.
What he did was to organize basically a summer camp for
interested students, where they can all gain some background in
singing, dancing, and acting, and those who show a flair for one
or another will have a chance to develop that. The problem is,
things like this require money. While many of the students were
able to handle those expenses, some weren't, which is how we
came together. While I've mostly been tied up extending the
Huff Foundation to Camp Percy, we were able to drum up some
grants, scholarships, and donations to help the students who
weren't able to go.
This doesn't effect me too directly right now. Devon and Kaden
are more athletic than performers, Van and Leif are more band
geeks than choir/drama, and Parker prefers behind the camera.
Kenny still loves to sing, and he was in this years middle
school performance (he played Jack in Into the Woods), and he
actually will be attending the camp (it's set up so they can
attend by week, so as not to interfere with vacations, etc).
I mostly bring this up now, because I got tied up in a legal
aspect. Generally, school choirs are only required to by sheet
music to perform a song, not to pay for licenses. In order to
preform a musical, they have to get what's called 'grand
rights'. Small rights are what's required to perform songs
outside of the context of the musical. We're hoping to do a
fund raiser at the end of the summer, to help build a fund for
future costs/summers, but trying to get those rights issues
straightened out is a bit confusing. It looks like no rights
are required to do just one or two songs from different
composers (as long as they aren't staged to look like excerpts
from their show), and we don't see a fundraiser as being any
different from a cabaret-style performance on that point, but
we're working to make sure, so nothing comes back to bite us on
the butt later on.
Anyway, at this point, the drama and choir teachers are bouncing
around, trying to set a schedule for next year that will put all
this to good use. Because of UIL competitions (University
Interscholastic League), there are certain restrictions already
built in, and then there are other things (like performances at
BCA and surrounding school districts). At this point, there's a
good chance the spring musical will be Newsies, and that they're
going to perform White Christmas in early December. The drama
department has their own plays to do, but they're working to try
to fit in a Fall Musical next year. Of course, themes influence
what we can perform here in conservative Texas, but they're
trying to work in A Chorus Line, but he's willing to accept
Bandstand or The Drowsy Chaperone.
#Post#: 13006--------------------------------------------------
Re: 22 May 2019 - Theater School
By: kalico Date: May 22, 2019, 7:44 pm
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Sounds pretty nice happy you it sounds like it all worked out
and I hope all goes as planned.....
Hugs kal
#Post#: 13013--------------------------------------------------
Re: 22 May 2019 - Theater School
By: Jack Date: May 23, 2019, 6:05 am
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I don't really have any plans for this, except that Kenny has a
good time, and that maybe they put on an extra special musical
or two next year. I'm not very involved in this, and it's not
taking up a lot of my time - just one more thing going on, about
which I thought a few people might enjoy hearing.
#Post#: 13018--------------------------------------------------
Re: 22 May 2019 - Theater School
By: Zyngaru Date: May 23, 2019, 4:05 pm
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Very interesting Jack. When it comes to musical rights (legal
sense) it would be a good thing to talk with a theatrical
licensing lawyer. The legal issues can be complicated. When I
was still driving tour buses. I used to take a
Elementary/Junior/High School Choir on all of their tours.
Three choirs from one small school district, housed all on one
property. I remember one of our tours was to Disney and the
choirs were all singing Disney tunes with all the appropriate
costumes and props. Basically a condensed Disney show. They had
to get special permission to sing Disney songs at Disney,
because Disney doesn't allow anyone to sing their songs except
for them.
I believe (but don't hold me to this, because I am not a
lawyer), they can get away with singing a mix of individual
songs in one production as long as they do not make the
production look like any already established production and as
long as they mix the songs up from many different shows. Like
you said something like a Cabaret Production, but even that you
have to be careful, because their are already established
cabarets that you do not want to copy.
I also think that schools can get special permits on certain
copywrited shows. Because I know this school system did, Rent,
Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat, and many other Broadway type shows. The drama
department should know who in the educational system to get in
touch with to get those permits.
#Post#: 13019--------------------------------------------------
Re: 22 May 2019 - Theater School
By: Jack Date: May 23, 2019, 4:52 pm
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Zyngaru, what you're talking about with the actual shows is
called 'grand rights' - short for 'grand performance rights'.
Those are pretty easy and straightforward.
In this case, what they're hoping to do is something that avoids
having to prepare an entire show, so they can concentrate on the
singing and dancing. Something like you describe with the
Disney songs (performances and props) transcends the small
rights it takes for cabaret style performances.
We have figured our answer now (rather, the drama and choir
teachers did, and they let me know, since I'd been discussing it
with them). The problem is that someplace like MTI, from where
one would license a show, doesn't do small rights. The answer
is that the school already pays a small licensing fee for the
small rights, and most songs are already covered by that. It's
just a case of making sure this is a school function, and that
the songs are ran by the choir director ahead of time.
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