Beauty & the Beast: Is It Even LEGAL?

[Sleeth1]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:21am

A SMALL local theatre in a suburb of Dallas has decided that starting August 17th they are producing DISNEY'S Beauty & the BEAST! Has the DISNEY version even gone on TOUR yet? I don't THINK so... otherwise it would have played at one of our BIG venues (Dallas Music Hall, the Majestic, etc). I've BEEN to the theatre in question, and it's "in the round" (actually "in the square"), only seats about 120... and has usually staged "simple" productions (such as Godspell... which I saw.. and was quite good). STILL, though.... how can THEY be putting on Disney's Beauty & the Beast?? My thinking is... even the costumes ALONE are out of their budget... and BESIDES.... how did they even get RIGHTS to something like that???? I emailed them tonight to ask "What's up?" How in the WORLD can a SMALL, local theatre company put on Disney's Beauty & the Beast??? It's an insult... no doubt about it! I can't even figure out how it's LEGAL!??? It's the equivalant to me taking the lead in TARZAN and putting it on in my back YARD!

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:22am

because u can get the rights from MTI.

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:24am

Seriously sir, did you have a nice nap underneath your rock?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:28am

If they can pay for the rights
They can do it.
Hell DISNEY needs to pay off TARZAN somehow.

[Tom148502]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:32am

The Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, NY is also doing Disney's Beauty and the Beast as part of its 2007 summer season. And, if I'm not mistaken, it was done in an open-air theatre in Albany, NY last summer.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:34am

The production went on tour about ten years ago!
Where have you been? Updated On: 5/26/07 at 01:34 AM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:34am

WOW, you know what SHOULD be even MORE illegal? THAT MANY caps-locked WORDS in one POST!

[Sleeth1]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:40am

Wow! Really? So there's no integrity at all?? DISNEY can spend MILLIONS of dollars to put a musical on Broadway, and some dinky little theatre company can claim to be putting on the very same PLAY? You know what? I think you're wrong. Let me ask you this? WHY would anyone head off to Broadway (Or pay a hundred bucks a year from now to see it at a BIG venue on TOUR) if they've already seen some terrible LOCAL version of it? It just doesn't make any sense to me. I'm thinking about reporting it. If I WIN - I'll give 1/4 to anyone on here who helped me do the leg work! This aint Cinderella I'm talking about!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:40am

If that's you in that picture you totally have the right look to play Tarzan.

And Disney's Beauty and the Beast did tour. Several times, and it did play Dallas. The rights have been available for amature/community and professional theatre groups for some time via MTI along with Aida and a slew of other Disney oriented stage productions. Check it out. www.mtishows.com
Updated On: 5/26/07 at 01:40 AM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:41am

...and I now realize that this is the same person who asked if The Fantasticks was ever on Broadway.
HAHA!

[KQuill]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:42am

If you win, i'll give you my house.

[sondhead]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:45am

Beauty and the Beast has been to Dallas more than once at Fair Park.

The rights have been available for a while now. Casa Manana in Fort Worth did it a couple of summers ago along with a few High Schools even. It's perfectly legal whether you believe it or not. You should probably calm down.

[Kringas]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:45am

Did they email back? What did they say? Did they use words like "busybody" or "douche"?

[Sleeth1]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:48am

"The production went on tour about ten years ago!
Where have you been? "

Well it has NOT toured in TEXAS!
Okay, let me just ASK (because I got the whole TARZAN snarl early on). Is everyone that's replying to this just have a thing out for Disney? Would it even MATTER if I had said that this local theatre was putting on Mary Poppins? The Lion King?
You gotta be f***ing me! No WAY!
I'll get to the bottom of it. And besides.... SOMEONE on here will support my opinion (they always do).

[KQuill]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:49am

I actually feel kind of bad now taking part in making fun of someone as clearly unbalanced as you are...

[sondhead]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:50am

I'll say it once more... it has toured into Dallas, Texas MORE than once, because I saw it there. I'm sure it's been all over Texas in fact.

Lion King, Mary Poppins and Tarzan are not available for licensing. Beauty and the Beast, Aida etc. are. You should go to www.mtishows.com. There is no "bottom" of this to get to--it's perfectly legal no matter how ****ty the production might turn out to be.

[Sleeth1]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:53am

Okay... forget it. And PLUS, I've changed my mind that this was a friendly message board. I could almost swear that there has been no TOUR of Beauty in Dallas.... and besides.... even if there HAS been.... should a 120 seat theatre make some attempt at putting it on? You guys act like that it's just fine. Then why in the HELL should anyone go to NYC to pay $100 bucks to see a play if we can just wait and see it here for $15! Even if it SUCKS!

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:53am

I'm not sure I understand you're arguement - if there is one? People would pay to see a tour because it's the TOUR of the BROADWAY show. It's going to have better costumes, better talent, better sets and more "magic." People don't expect a community theater production to be as good as the Broadway show, but they know they like the show, so they go see it. That's exactly why Chicago is being done around the country, but yet, the Broadway version continues to make millions.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:58am

I could almost swear that there has been no TOUR of Beauty in Dallas....

That's awesome. I could almost swear too, but it's usually when I see your posts.

[sondhead]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:59am

Ya. I don't know how to respond to your messages because you seem to answer your own argument. Why would people go to New York and spend $100 to see the same show they could see in Texas for $15? Because when you go to New York it's not a little community theatre with little budget.

I don't think it's gonna like hurt the show or anything, so I'd stop freaking out about it. Crappy community theatre is crappy community theatre and if you can't separate that from Broadway then you need to have your brain checked.

And just to clarify... its definitely toured into Fair Park more than once. Twice for sure, wouldn't be surprised if there was another one beyond that even.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 1:59am

Not everyone can make it to New York, **** even the little Cairns theatre ( very top of Australia ) mounted a production of this end of last year.

Going by the pictures it was done with help of the mothers of the north home sewing club..

Have fun getting to the bottom of this!

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 2:00am

I've seen many regional and youth theaters put on pretty nice productions of this show. I mean this in the nicest way possible, do your research before making yourself look unknowledgeable about Broadway.

[DG]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 2:04am

Sleeth, darling, it's a good thing you're pretty.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 2:04am

I can agree that there are theatre companies that maybe should not produce the show as they may not be able to do it justice, but at the same time what is justice? Who says the Broadway production was/is the best presentation of the material? As long as they have paid all of the proper fees it is perfectly legal for them to do the show and charge however much they want despite the quality of the show -- just as producers on Broadway do.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 2:05am

I agree that some community theaters do beautiful work. I think there's an art to work with a budget, and some people can pull minimalism off well, but some can't. But that still doesn't mean someone's not going to see a Broadway touring show because they saw a local community production last year - unless of course they hated the show itself.