Plagiarism

The other day in UGLY BABY rehearsal, I was in one of my rants - - one of several I seem to have every hour on the hour (Me? Need Zoloft? nah...) - - and I mentioned how disgusted I was with the fact that not only could a company come to Chicago and mount a production of URINETOWN: THE MUSICAL! that is an EXACT duplicate of the Broadway production, but that that production would then be AWARDED by the Jeff Committee and the like.

In any other art form, copying someone else's work would be called plagiarism. Plagiarism is definied as "the act of passing off as one's own the ideas or writings of another" or "the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work. " For some reason, certain theatre directors, choreographers and designers seem to think that blatantly stealing someone else's work is perfectly acceptable. Because it "gives the audience what they want."

Well guys, wake up and smell the lawsuit.

This is from today's Chicago Tribune:

Chicago copied `Urinetown,' N.Y. team says
Published November 15, 2006

In the latest salvo in the battle over the extent of copyright protection, five members of the creative team behind the 2002 Broadway hit "Urinetown: The Musical" are charging that productions of the show in Chicago and Akron, Ohio, have copied their work without permission.

The letters, drafted by a lawyer on behalf of the director, choreographer, and the set, lighting and costume designers of the Broadway production, were sent Monday to the team behind an award-winning production at the Mercury Theater in Chicago and to the team behind the Carousel Dinner Theatre production of the show in Akron.

The letters charge that in design and directorial aspects, the shows were replications of the Broadway production. The shows -- which have both closed -- had a license to use the script and music from "Urinetown," but, the letters assert, such permission did not extend to reproducing creative decisions from the Broadway production.

Karma DEFINITELY has her balls back...and I'm fucking LOVING IT!!!