they made Hamilton H0M0PH0BIC?! | thoughts on the Door McAllen Church Illegal Hamilton controversy
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ส.ค. 2022
- OHMYGOD HEY!
A church in Texas made stagey headlines this week after footage surfaced on social media of an illegal, unlicensed production of the Pullitzer prize winning musical Hamilton that was rewritten to contain religious, homophobic messaging.
Since news broke of this production, both the Broadway production of Hamilton and creator and original star Lin Manuel Miranda have shared statements to address the situation.
Check out today's new video for my full, unfiltered reaction to this controversial production, explanation of the news and statements so far and some insight into why this is so dangerous...
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“they made hamilton homophobic” “im at my boyfriends house” slay
he ate
✌🏽
Yaaaassss slay
✨✨✨
Based. Not that they made Hamilton homophobic, because that would be insane.
The fact that Hamilton was literally and historically BISEXUAL is the cherry on top of this whole mess
They left in the line "Laurens, I like you a lot," which was an allusion to the very close and possibly romantic nature of their relationship.
A small part of one of Alexander's letters to John:
Cold in my professions - warm in my friendships - I wish, my Dear Laurens, it were in my power, by actions rather than words, to convince you that I love you. I shall only tell you that 'till you bade us Adieu, I hardly knew the value you had taught my heart to set upon you. Indeed, my friend, it was not well done.
@@Andreaa_-_ Well said ⭐
@@Andreaa_-_ historians: they were very good friends
@@spoons7649 such nice roomies
And Hamilton himself had a pretty complicated relationship with the church. As a kid, he wasn't allowed to go to the local school, which was run by the local church, because the mere presence of an illegitimate child might put bad ideas in the other kids' heads or something. He went to a small school that a Jewish woman held in her house for a few Jewish kids, and so he learned a bit of Hebrew along with English and Dutch. (He could recite the Ten Commandments in Hebrew, which he seemed to think of as a sort of fun party trick as an adult, but some of his opponents used it as "evidence" that he was secretly Jewish.) As an adult, he wasn't a regular church-goer, though Eliza was.
A lot of these churches like to picture American history as, "We were founded by good Christian men, and things all went to hell when we abandoned that," but that's a myth that was really first propagated during the Second Great Awakening period, when a lot of earlier history was reformulated to suit that narrative, and then again in late Victorian times as a reaction against immigrants seen as un-American for being really anything other than Protestant Christians.
(One extreme (and bizarre) example of this is the Elsie Dinsmore books, a series of books for kids that were published for decades, starting in the 1860s. They started out have actual (horrifyingly overwrought) plot, but after a while, they got to a point where it was just the characters telling each other about American history and worrying about how all the immigrants were going to ruin our proud traditions. The one exception was Scottish immigrants -- Elsie and her family thought they were OK, because they were Protestant, and because the Scottish, like the Americans, had fought against English tyranny. That whole "true Americans fight against English tyranny" narrative was so strong that, when WWI started, the US government had a whole propaganda campaign to tell people that the English were now our allies and the good guys.)
This is important history to know!
This is very interesting. Did you get this information from the Chernow biography?
@@mikaylaeager7942 I think it was mentioned in the Chernow book, and I've also seen it discussed a few other places.
@@callalily3994 I think it was also mentioned in the show itself
In Hurricane, he mentioned, “When my prayers to God is met with indifference/ I picked up a pen and wrote my own deliverance”. His relationship with God isn’t that great when you consider the tragedies in his life.
In It’s Quiet Uptown, he also mentioned that he started to go to church.
If Disney plus/Lin Manuel/whoever sued this church and donated the funds to LGBTQIA+ organizations they would have my respect for all eternity
Doubt very much that Disney will go against any church...
They’ll sue alright, but they don’t give a shit about queer struggles, just ask any showrunner working with them who wanted to include queer characters
@@Rebecca-bk9bd I thought lmm was a pretty great guy and uses his voice well. He always takes a side in societal issues instead of staying quiet. I don't get how he's performative
Disney filmed a movie beside a concentration camp and then thanked the government for letting them film there. They couldn't care less about homophobia.
@@Rebecca-bk9bd well Lin is very supportive, he thinks Alexander was bisexual and likes John Laurens so yeah
Hamilton sent love letters to a man and they made him homophobic? That's peak comedy.
It’s so ironic that they made Hamilton homophobic. Lin Manuel Miranda is a huge ally.
LMFAO EXACTLY! Plus Alexander Hamilton is historically a huge bisexual, he was ofc in love with his wife (and other women..) and also wrote a LOT of love letters to John Laurens (who was most likely gay, as he didnt ever fell in love with any women, not even the woman he married, and is suspected one of the reasons he joined the military/revolution was to die because he couldnt "cure" his homosexuality, many men at the time did this)
Sorry if you already knew this but i just rlly like this stuff
@@irlshintsukimi I knew that he was bisexual but I didn’t know about the soldiers joining to die since they couldn’t be “cured”. That’s really sad.
How Ironic
as someone from McAllen I can’t wait for Lin/ Disney to sue tf out of this church. as a community, the valley has been trying so hard to make theatre happen more and to be taken as serious as the high school football teams here and not be made fun of when we mention participating in theatre, and this just honestly feels like a step backwards. for the most part the valley has been in a chokehold with all these churches and people with more conservative mentalities, i hope they get sued and realize that just bc they’re a church they can get away with doing illegal things. thank you for covering this and spreading the news
The first step would be to not call them a „church“. Those bunches of evangelist zealots deserve to be called cults.
ditto
It would be great if the two sides had a rap battle in court
@@lilbitoveverything9255 😂
I agree with you !! Even I live in McAllen, Texas as well. I go to that church (well not anymore 😂😂)and just hearing all this news from about how they did copy infringement, going against their own rules, the pastor at the end making an unnecessary comment about "struggling homophobia" and making Hamilton homophobic....all of this crap, just makes me realize how I thought well of not going to see the play.
Even i, myself, as a Christian and LGBTQIA+ community 💓, I feel appalled by the churches actions
This especially sucks for the teenagers involved in the show, who are now being roasted all over social media. It's NOT their fault. It's the adults who assumed they were entitled to the show and twisted it for their agenda. Just gross.
Surely they knew that the rewritten lyrics were homophobic before singing them?
Don't go making excuses for them.
@@joeyglass6323 yeah I have to think at least SOME of these teens and young adults knew this was wrong. I would have had no part in something like this at that age…or ever!
I feel bad for them but i dont think they were not guilty
@@conductenor I get that but it was also put on by a church. A lot of kids a forced to go to youth group and their parents make them be involved in everything the church does
I'd really like to see their 'churchified' version of "say no to this"
I KNOW RIGHT
@@MickeyJoTheatre I found it! th-cam.com/video/l6Q6Qgb0xAQ/w-d-xo.html
From the small clip I saw, Maria just grabs Hamilton’s hand and they walk off stage while singing “no, NO!”
@@lizzard3434 AND NEVER ONCE HIT THE NOTE.
they replaced the skoodilypooping with hand-holding.
As if it's not enough (and a literal crime) to stage the show without a license, they just had to go and shove their agenda into it too. Here's hoping the legal fight gets somewhere at least. I don't understand why people think they can get away with stuff like this.
Just a note, technically, it's not a crime in a legal sense. It's a violation of civil law. It may be a crime of artistry.
@Kimberly Sparkles No, it’s actually illegal. Copyright infringement. Paying up to $150,000 dollars and/or up to 5 years in prison as punishment. They didn’t have the rights or licensing to perform it, and even if they somehow did (Hamilton doesn’t give out licensing right yet) they cannot change the plot or lyrics, they must keep it as is. This church is liable and subject to criminal punishment, it is a very serious thing. Look at Music Theatre International’s licensing information page if you want more info.
@@avettcore that’s a huge change in the law in the last few years. Was this something recently passed? are they applying it to the social media videos?
That sounds like the penalty associated with pirating dvds and selling them. I’m a writer and I’ve attended conferences on this area of the law. I’ve never heard it or seen it applied to a live performance before or even to social media posts.
Copyright infringement is a civil matter that involves damages. If it were criminal, then every time companies made things that could be infringement someone from the company would be jailed.
@@Kimberly_Sparkles You are thinking of civil infringement which is different from "willful" infringement which can be punished at the minimum with $150,000 USD and at the maximum $250,000 USD and up to 5 years in prison.
What the church did was willful infringement.
Edit: The church also apparently sold fake Hamilton merchandise and did concessions so they earned profit on a production they didn't have the rights to so I would be surprised if the Hamilton team took this as far as the can.
@@darkapophis4906 ahhh, yeah. Generally, those charges are targeted at folks who are making or selling fake © (ex. Disney) merchandise to sell to stores in the US. We’re talking thousands of units with the intent of commercial sales. In fact, I thought that scale was a part of that law, but maybe it’s just a part of decision making on what to file.
This ripped off production is an incredibly offensive act, but it’s relatively small scale. I don’t know that the DOJ is going to file charges and pursue it given the ultimately limited impact of the act. Making merch to sell on site is different from making merch for wide distribution. It’s why filesharing doesn’t end in infringement charges for every individual who engages in it.
This is one of the things about the law. Even if something is illegal, someone has to be willing to pay the price for prosecution and imprisonment. Neither act is free. I wouldn’t bother calling something like this criminal because I cannot see a federal or local agency filing charges against a church.
Eta: I worked in legal education while pursuing an arts career in NYC. Cases that I’ve heard discussed that were prosecuted for infringement often involved sophisticated gangs who were engaged in moving other illicit substances through our borders and sometimes engaged in human trafficking as well. These are not just prosecutions because copyright or trademark infringement is bad. It’s because it is associated with other serious illegal activities.
As a Christian, this breaks my heart. That's so messed up. I understand wanting to inspire kids to turn to Jesus. But don't go changing a whole musical, and making it homophobic.
Me too. Makes me cringe. This is just awful. Not all christians are homophobic and so bigoted. Love you Mickey Joe
Same. There's too much hate and its unnecessary :(
Same. Other Christians are so terrible and they make the rest of us look bad :(
"love thie neighbor as thie self" and "thou shall not steal, thou shall not bare false witness". Straight from Jesus's mouth.
I agree, it makes me so upset that these "churches" claim to be working for the love of God and then spew hatred towards anyone who doesn't conform to their way of thinking. Jesus said "love thy neighbour". He did not mention sexuality anywhere in the New Testament.
This whole situation really upsets me. I’m a Christian who’s also queer and in a performing arts ministry with my church where we do a lot of parody shows. (BTW, we do it all LEGALLY, and all of the parody songs we do fall under fair use.)
I believe that using something that is child appealing and using it to spread the word of God is a great thing (ONLY if it is advertised as being a religious affair.) But taking someone’s hard work and putting your own messaging in it is just terrible imo, especially putting anti-LGBTQ messaging in it. As said in the video, theatre is for everyone and has been a safe space for queer folks and minorities. And also, as said in the video, you can literally just do a show with religious messaging that has amateur rights available such as Godspell, JCS, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, etc. or make LEGAL and FAIR USE parody of something.
My heart goes out to all of the youth who put their heart and soul into this production and who are currently being slandered over something that is not their fault and the people who went to see the show thinking they were seeing Hamilton, but instead saw a wannabe production of Veggietales the musical.
+
u cant be christian and queer
@@jazzy6280yes, they can
I am a devout religious person, as well as incredibly gay. I am lucky enough to belong to a Church that is so very accepting. I've even brought my boyfriend to Church.
Seeing Churches do this really makes me angry. When God said to love everyone, that did not come with conditions, this is just disgustingly hateful and they have no place in the Christian world.
What's goofy/funny is that the actual show references the bible throughout the show, directly mentions prayer and heaven, and also arguably has lessons about the dangers of lust, pride, and envy, but they decided to just ignore all of that and rewrite the show.
EXACTLY! If _I_ had the boldness and audacity to put on a production of Hamilton at my church (and I wouldn't; not only is it too much effort, there are literally other Christian and Biblical musicals), well for one thing I'd have some help because there are theatre-lovers in the congregation, but also, I would keep everything the same except: (EDIT for spacing errors)
1. (this one is the most important) call it a MODIFIED, ALTERNATE Hamilton so I could claim it's basically a fanfic, not unlike the rewrites of many works you can find on ao3; also, people interested in it would not be misled into thinking it was the normal show
2a. remove swearing; we can put other words that don't sound as good but are fine for church
2b. maaaybe tweak racy phrases such as "there are so many to deflower" and/or "let her legs spread"? depends on how easy it would be to make substituted lines sound not clunky
3. meet with the other theatre-lovers in the congregation to discuss whether parts such as Eliza's scream when Philip dies would be too upsetting for any younger attendees and whether we should change them (maybe if Eliza's wail was more of a soft, muffled cry into Philip's corpse? she still should shove Alex's hand away)
4. turn Maria sitting in Alex's lap toward the end of Say No to This to them, like, doing that "side step swaying" dance that newlyweds tend to do at their first dance, so they could still sing "yes" but it's less awkward to watch when sitting next to the nice old lady at church who's basically your bonus grandmother 😂
Ignoring the insertion of the “religious” content - the adults in the production know FULL WELL they are allowing this to go on illegally. I feel slightly bad for the teenagers involved in this as it is now across social media and they will be forever linked with it.
“Thou shalt not steal” comes to mind…
Especially if any of the teenagers involved are themselves LGBTQ.
clappin back
Don't cut them any slack.
You'd be surprised at how many adults in the US actually don't know this. They also might have thought of it as educational or parody and believed they were in fair use. They weren't, and frankly I think this is crap on their end, but I would be willing to bet less than half the US adults have any idea about copyright laws.
@@sevensongs I agree that a lot of people don't know, but the amount of technical skill on display in those videos (sets, lighting, costumes) shows that there were definitely people with theatre experience involved. It wasn't just random people who don't know anything about how this works.
I'm in the US and I'm an artist:
Even if you don't charge for tickets, you still need to obtain the rights to perform a show. There are tiers to the cost based on the things you mentioned, BUT just because a show is free or educational, doesn't mean you can produce it. It's a widespread myth in the US that you can do it for free. People think this is fair use and it is not.
All of this 👆🏽
The only really fair use is parody…
@@punkwrestle the use of short snippets in a educational context is honestly okay. It can’t be a significant part of anyone’s work. It’s a judgement call. But that said, as someone who handled clearances for educational materials, it’s never worth the possibility of being sued for recorded materials.
As someone who does comedy, even when it’s parody, people are stilled sued. Even when it’s clearly a parody and the copyright © owner will lose.
There’s also transformative works. There has been a dedicated attempt to shift the laws there. Some of it has worked.
Anytime you base something on someone else’s work, you’re choosing to risk litigation. It’s best to ask permission rather than pay for forgiveness.
They may not charge for admission, but you can bet your bottom dollar that afterward the baskets were passed for a "love" donation.
@@charmainepowell6066 no there wasn’t.
As someone from McAllen, I’m embarrassed but also not surprised. This is where church and culture blend together sadly. Also the Valley is a blue region in Texas and I hope this church knows that the people they are backing up DO NOT like or accept us.
I'm so glad you're talking about licensing! I've seen so many people saying, "Why is this wrong?" Or "Copyright should be removed altogether." I'm an aspiring playwright and I can't stress enough why licensing is important.
It's why, every time you see Little Mermaid or Mamma Mia! - all shows and all productions end the same way.
I completely agree about the importance of licensing and copyright. Artists must be compensated for their work and content should not be changed without permission and possible payment. On a unrelated note to this situation, as a Hamilton license is not even available in any capacity, educational theater is inaccessibly expensive for many schools. As a theater educator in the school system I do think there should be a scale for the cost of rights that make theater more accessible for young artists and under privileged communities. To do two performances of our middle school’s spring musical was $3000+ including rehearsal tracks. We are lucky to afford that but most schools cannot and will barely earn that much back selling out their full audience, particularly in the most rural and conversely the most urban parts of the US where theater is so desperately needed. Again, just putting that out there as food for thought and THIS situation obviously does not fall under what I just said as a license is fully unavailable.
I agree with both of these thoughts. Thanks Julia for the note of how underprivileged groups can be overlooked in this system, as another aspiring playwright I'll keep that in mind.
@@juliacicchino2376 I absolutely agree with this as well! I live rurally. My HS shows never sold out and we barely stayed afloat. My senior year show we barely had enough money to do the show.
The nearest professional shows are 2+ hours away. It took several years to build up the theatre programs we have. (HS, community college, middle school, and a summer 3rd-9th grade show.) And we couldn't have done that without support from our community. Fine arts in rural communities are so hard to start and maintain. And a lot of that is because theatre can be incredibly inaccessible. I wish there was a way to make theatre more accessible to rural theatres.
Lin Manuel Miranda shared the process of writing Hamilton through his Tweets for years before it was released. He put so much of his energy into it for so long. For anyone to then come along and change it to suit their agenda and then perform it is so cheap and offensive. I also feel sorry for the kids who performed though. They don't really know any better yet.
easy solution for the church: stage harry potter and the cursed child instead, i bet jk rowling would love to insert some queerphobic messaging into her play considering everything she's been up to for two+ years
_Roasted_ 💀
God damn 💀💀
Love your channel! Also, I'm a Methodist pastor and my church has a theater group, but all of the productions we have ever done are ones that have been licensed for community theater groups for eons (mainly Rogers & Hammerstein musicals). And yet we have never considered, let alone would attempt, to change a production from its original context; I think the biggest "change" we ever did was changing the word "bastard" to "louse" in a production of Kiss Me, Kate. Utterly ridiculous, what they did (and that's putting it politely)
them: "we're homophobic so lets make the lyrics homophobic!"
the real alexander hamilton: *literally sent love letters to a man and had rumors going around that he had a boyfriend*
As a lifelong Texan and broadway fanatic, I am sick, angry, and frustrated. It is a dangerous message and just a stupid move. Hopefully, they get their butts sued to no end.
*sigh* having lived in Texas for 9 years when younger, as a teen, this is absolutely not surprising. Not in the least, especially in Texas with the heavy anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and the heavy presence of evangelical churches.
Religion should have absolutely no place in the law! And churches such as this should be held accountable. This is one of the many reasons I don't follow organised religion
I am a gay man, and truly appreciate you sharing this, to me it is so outrageous! One thing is that there is no one “church” in America. There are bigger ones, of course, but they are more likely to follow legal rules. There are a lot more smaller and more radical nuts that feel they are entitled to do whatever they want! Thank you again. Keep up the great work!! Dave
Yes, I wanted to echo this. Since they refer to themselves as ‘non-denominational’ they’re likely a single independent entity and not part of The Chuch (any of the mainstream and networked churches that may exist across America and internationally). I’m not sure if this makes it easier or more difficult to take legal action, but it’s something worth noting.
Here’s the thing about the church. When you say “the church” I think you are imagining a large, powerful institution like the Catholic Church or CofE. Nondenominational churches like this are independent. They have as much money as the congregation gives. So in this instance, Disney may be able to outspend them in legal fees.
Granted, there are organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom that are all too ready to step in, but churches like this are a dime a dozen and stand alone without the financial backing of a whole denomination.
These “productions” are like what would happen if Doug Walker got religion
Help 💀
Thanks for drawing attention to this despicable case, and explaining it so well. I am always blown away by the fact that people can call themselves Christians and yet ignore the fundamental teaching of "love thy neighbour". Disgusting.
I find it interesting that this church has done this before, likely because no company wants to be seen as striking the church HOWEVER the bible says you’re not allowed to steal, and churches act like corporations anyway. If they break the law they should pay the price.
Look up the kids crusades and this church won't surprise you ever again.
As an American Christian who is openly gay, I was horrified and mortified by this blatant disregard for the legality of the production, and I was embarrassed on behalf of Christianity as a whole because it’s bullshit like this that makes the Church a slimy mess and makes the world hate Christianity. I wholeheartedly agreed with everything you said and I am so sorry that so-called Christians have demonstrated a lack of understanding and love toward people like me and all queer people in this way. Very un-Christlike, and I assure you that I am appalled by and do not stand for this.
As a person who is a member of the church in America and a lover of theatre, I find this behavior incredibly disgusting and disappointing. Now let me clarify what makes me disgusted and what makes me disappointed. I am deeply disappointed that anyone much less a church of supposedly devout believers decided that the best way to convey their message was to take someone else’s work of art illegally and change it to fit their message. I am also increasingly disgusted by the message they decided to send. As a self-claimed “open and loving community” they sure did a great job of going against everything they stand for by actively discriminating against people of the LGBTQ+ community and ignoring their rights. It doesn’t matter what their sexual orientation, or their gender identity, or any beliefs any person may have. They are a person and we should love and support them as such.
Here I may refer you to ‘Love thy Neighbor’ from the Prom.
Thank you for reading. If you made it this far.
Well put. This is how I feel too.
Love thy neighbor should be in the hymnal
Idk if you haven't read the Bible or what, here but uhhh. There's about 20 times where the Bible makes the Christian position on homosexuality very official. Blatantly and painfully clear for many of us. Buy it or don't believe, but don't be nïeve.
@@joeyglass6323 there's also the parts about not wearing mixed fabrics and not eating pork or shellfish. The number of denominations that exist make it pretty clear that being a Christian doesn't have to mean the same thing to everyone.
@@OstrichOwner you're thinking about faith or spirituality or something, that's where you can do your own thing. The belief system of Christianity is well documented and clearly homophobic. Buy the book, or don't believe. But don't be nïeve.
Mickey Jo, you know, you and I don't always see eye to eye (hello, Six!), but I couldn't agree with you more about this situation with Hamilton. I love your passion, your commitment and the fearless way you support and speak your truth! Looking forward to hearing more. Thank you. ♥️
Have you seen Jenny Nicholson's Church Play youtube video? It's bizarre that there are multiple churches taking popular IP and making them intensely religious.
I haven't, but I'm a huge fan of hers so I will go find that right now!
@@MickeyJoTheatre Luckily their productions are just kinda silly rather than bigoted. It's a very fun watch.
There’s also just a huge history about putting on crazy Christian/Catholic plays. They’re called Passion Plays and they’re pretty dominant in Canada, the US, and apparently the UK as well.
@@MickeyJoTheatre Most of the productions from that church are far enough from the source material that they'd probably be covered under parody (though I think that church is Canadian, and I'm not sure what the law is there). I've seen a couple people trying to claim that the changes made to this Hamilton production make it parody, but no court will ever rule that way -- it was just changing a couple lines while reproducing essentially the entire production.
I feel like you read my mind about the topics to discuss in your videos. I was waiting to hear your thoughts on this one
As if that’s not strange enough, while trying to search for clips of the McAllen play to show my friend on TH-cam, I came across ANOTHER Hamilton church musical!
They can’t keep getting AWAY WITH THIS 😭
Update: I looked up the church that put on the production and they're located NEAR ME! You can't make this stuff up!
Some company probably produces the adaptations for purchase, like churches can buy VBS kits. Which could be a whole other legal snarl.
@@maurinet2291 I don't even think we're that lucky. I went to a Catholic high school and at least the head of the drama club would make sure to purchase the rights to the music we would run that year.
I think in regards to churches, like the one mentioned in Jenny Nicholson's video called "The Church Play Cinematic Universe", they just pick whatever themed passion play they want to put on that will put butts into seats (esp. of there's families with young children).
I think it also happened because, before the wide use of the internet, churches didn't have to worry about copyright when only their immediate community was going to see these plays. Now churches have to be careful because people love to do research into random rabbit holes (like Jenny Nicholson or the person who found the illegal Hamilton did), stumble across these weird things, and decided to share them with the rest of the internet. Now that it's a hot topic, I'm sure more theatre people are going to go on the lookout.
You can be a good Christian and engage in gun duels (that might, and do, result in death) seems incredibly on-brand for the wider Christian community in the US.
oh my gosh you're so right lol
I only got to 1:53 "They have re-written" and it was like an old time SCREEEEEECH across a record on a record player. THEY DID WHAT NOW? As a writer, those words strike fear in my heart. But I haven't written (yet) a PULITZER PRIZE, TONY AWARD WINNING PLAY. And they did WHAT to it??? Okay I'll keep watching now, I just had to get that out of my system.
From your explanation of the changes the only one that I could support...is the swearing being changed, and i dont doubt that when licensing is available they will have a swear free version for family friendly/school productions - those changes will be made and approved by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
I am wondering if (I'm a lesbian living in the U.S. for whatever that information is worth here) the reason the show and Miranda's statements weren't as explicitly condemning the homophobia is *because* they're planning on going after them hard for this, and they want to make the focus of any lawsuit the unauthorized production to strengthen their legal argument. In a lot of cases here, especially in the roughly half the states where there aren't explicit laws protecting LGBT+ people, preaching homophobic rhetoric, be it in a church or a school or what have you, it's been ruled that that's freedom of speech or freedom of religion. So if Hamilton sues and has put too much of a focus on the homophobia online, the lawyers for the church will use that to weaken their argument ("this is what they're REALLY mad about"). But if they primarily focus on the copyright law, that's federal law and is much more explicit, so that gives them a better chance of getting consequences for the church. I always want to see people come out and defend LGBT+ people, but IF Hamilton ultimately goes after this church for doing this, I can see in this case why they aren't touching the homophobia part of it too much.
I agree, Nicole...but, it is smarter to put aside the actual LGBTQ+ part and simply sue for producing a copyrighted piece of work and altering that work from its original form. The lawyers will know for sure what can be added to the law suit and actually make it through, based on the region. However, if I am not mistaken, they would be sued in the State of New York where the work was created (? or NJ?) where the laws will definitely be on Hamilton's side.
So the messed up thing is the separation of church and state “technically” giving the church “legal immunity” so it’s very likely (even more so in Texas) that the church will win. But the separation of church and state really only applies to Church services. It’s clear this was far from a church service so hopefully the Hamilton team can pull together the clearly overwhelming evidence of copyright infringement.
The exception for churches is specifically for music used in church services -- they don't need to get permission for each song they sing in church, the way that a bar with live music would need to be licensed for the songs performed there. It's not separation of church and state that's at play there -- it's just an exception (reasonable, in my mind) written into the law.
Ran a drama team in a church. This is wrong. We have to pay for rights even if we use a play in service. There is actually a company called Christian Publishers that acts like Samuel French with Christian themed plays of variable lengths and cast size/breakdown.
This has nothing to do with separation of church and state. This is a violation of copyright and is a civil case. If the church doesn't have written permission to do it they lose. Even schools and community theaters have to get permission and Hamilton isn't giving permission to anyone.
churches definitely dont just have legal immunity and a lot of churches privileges like tax exempt status come with quite a few rules im far from religious but people definitely misunderstand how much power or money a small community church has
No, the church will not win. This isn't about separation of church and state, it's about illegally appropriating and performing copyrighted intellectual property, which makes it a civil case. Churches don't have any special privileges in this regard.
I was one of the people who suggested this-can’t wait to watch!
Being from this town right now is…
It’s something else.
I don’t want to give the city a bad reputation, it’s fairly liberal and the first female progressive candidate was just nominated to run for congress in the district. Yet most of the news coming out about us in recent history is the bad stuff, like a man wielding a *chainsaw* at a BLM rally last year. There’s a lot of amazing things about this place, just bad people who ruin it for everyone. Our oranges are a delicacy of here and we have the most women’s health facilities in South Texas.
This is truly a great town with wonderful people doing what they can to make the world a better place. Don’t let us being the home of Scamilton ruin your image of us ❤️❤️
@ReginaRodriguez good for you for sticking up for your town. It's true that one bad apple doesn't spoil the whole bunch, and someone from the UK doesn't necessarily understand how it all works. (I tried to explain to him in a comment that there isn't just ONE church...he keeps saying "The Church" because in England they really do have just one church. I told him it's probably some little church that has only the money they pass on the bread plate each Sunday, and no, Hamilton is not "afraid" to "offend" some little hodunk church). I think this church needs to get sued so that they will never do this again and so that other places (schools, community centers, whatever) know that you can't just change the words and lyrics in a show without permission, and you can't even PERFORM a show without permission.. People act like the written word, or a song, isn't owned by anyone, and that attitude needs to CHANGE. It IS owned, just like a gold watch, and if you wouldn't steal a gold watch you can't steal a song or a show or a play or a book. Remember this (and tell your friends) the next time they try to download music they haven't paid for (or that hasn't been offered by the artist). Artists deserve to be paid for their work. Can you tell I'm a writer? Anyway, boy this was a long comment. I just wanted to say I understand and your town sounds lovely and I hope the good people in your town teach the bad ones a lesson.
we don't choose our family or the place where we are born. it is ok to grow apart from people or places that cause us harm. Just because you were born there doesne't mean you HAVE to love that place or defend it cause it's your hometown. Look deep into yourself and ask yourself: do you really love your hometown or you think you love it cause you're supposed to?
I’ve been waiting for your take on this since the story popped up.! 🙌🙌
I find your postings incredibly insightful and entertaining. You are timely and topical. I will continue to follow your efforts to bring to our attention the things that interest you and worth commenting about. Stay well. 👍🙏😎
I believe I know another reason why Hamilton producers still allowed them to continue their performances…
There is a specific licensing that Hamilton producers DO allow: “Hamiltunes”. It’s a special contract for small amateur groups to perform the show as a concert or a karaoke style performance. In the contract it states specifically that there can be no changes to the original lyrics/songs must be performed as written, no costumes, no choreography, and absolutely no video recordings of the performances. Essentially, it’s really just a way for people to sort of perform the show without a full production license. Lin-Manuel Miranda allowed it as a way for people to still enjoy the show when tickets were so high and only in New York, so “Hamiltunes” has been around for a quite a few years now. Also, you can only charge a mission for these amateur shows if the venue being used needs to be rented out. Any other money that’s made over that cap, has to be donated to The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History(LMM’s chosen recipient). If the venue is free, then admission to the performances are also supposed to be free.
There are Hamiltunes groups all over the country and I personally have formed one as well and we had a license agreement for 3 years. Of course during the pandemic, all licenses were put on hold in light of Covid protocol. This was also before Hamilton was available to stream on Disney+ so I’m not sure if they opened licensing agreements for Hamiltunes again. But definitely makes sense if that was part of the reason Hamilton let this production continue.
Although I absolutely agree the statement should have mentioned the discouraging of homophobic propaganda being tied to their brand. And yes, the church institutions in the US have a LOT of money and power attached with the government, ironically going against what our country was supposed to be founded on 🙄
You don't need to be gay or a Christian to be incensed at this horrible production for so many reasons - ...so many. I am shocked at the sheer audacity to do such an illegal infringement of copyright as a start. Of course the homophobic message is terrible too, goes without saying (at least to me...And I'm straight). Yep, sue the hell out of these people! I don't blame you for being extremely angry, good on you for waiting until you were calmed down to discuss this. I enjoy all,of your videos -- informative, well thought out, interesting -- keep up the good work.
The content of the video aside, can I just say that your skin is absolutely glowing in this video? You always look fab but in this vid you are just ✨sparkling!
Literally found out about this this afternoon and fell down a rabbit hole… is this like another Bridgeton musical related scandal?
Yes
Yes, except insane musicals and adaptions of pop-songs West-Baptist-Buro style have been going on much longer than the Bridgeton scandal.
For those who want to find out more about church-adapted works, Jenny Nicholson has done an excellent video on the topic: th-cam.com/video/ZK4gM7RC1M0/w-d-xo.html
Yeah I was thinking of this, adds another layer to their behaviour when you consider this is being replicated and encouraged in their communities
Having watched this video and that one you shared, it makes it seem as if the Church's untouchableness in regards to see makes you think they are encouraged to do this in their communities
Thanks for the link!
random question but will we be seeing you at musical con?
They've just said money from damages will be donated to an LGBTQIA+ association in Texas. We love to see it
This is such an interesting discourse because it tracks so clearly with my own experience growing up as part of community theater in the US. A lot of times church groups seemed to be the only ones with resources putting these shows on so lots of kids (regardless of their religious beliefs) would participate & of course invite family/friends. So the legal issue seems like kind of a humor, but the casual indoctrination through local theater seems really baked in the culture and idk how to really fix that deeper issue.
It's deeply, deeply gross that Lin-Manuel Miranda didn't immediately denounce the homophobic messaging. It's probably because he has ties with Disney now, and Disney still cares what Bible thumping Neanderthals from flyover think. He is a garbage ally. He's happy to talk about how great queer people are, unless he has something to lose. To be a good ally you can't just wave a flag, you also have to denounce homophobia when you see it. I understand why Hamilton the show can't necessarily say anything, because that's far more complex, but he certainly could have and made a deliberate choice not to. Absolutely disgusting.
As always hitting the nail firmly on the head. Well said
Thank you, Mickey Jo, for explanation of legal background to this. I abhor how they co-opted Hamilton
Wait this was happening?! Cant wait to see this vid!!
It's a common trend. You should look up Jenny Nicholson’s video on one Church’s history of adapting the Easter story with different properties (mostly Disney - there’s even an Avengers musical) where they’ll take a famous character and put them on the cross to be crucified.
video request- dos and donts when putting on a musical? i feel like it’d be helpful for most younger performers :)) so like how to obtain rights etc x
I’ve been following this since the beginning & was looking forward to a video from you! As an American, I say sue the pants off these thieves. I’ve managed theatre companies before & know all about rights & licenses. But, if you think, after seeing/listening to Hamilton that adding Christian zealotry will fit in, then you never actually understood or liked the show. Because if you did, you’d understand what it was not about any of that. And they had to know it was illegal. How stupid do you have to be to stream it on line? I don’t care if they made money or not. It sets a precedent. You can’t pick & choose who gets sued & who gets a pass. Screw that it’s a church! These mega churches have way too much money as it is.
Yeah, they had to know it was illegal -- just looking at the quality of the costumes and sets and lighting, this was done by people with theatre training and/or experience. It wasn't, "Hey, let's put on a show in the barn!" People with that amount of technical theatre knowledge really can't claim ignorance.
And do we even know if it was a mega church? I know Mickey kept saying Hamilton was "afraid" of "The church" but I think he was confusing church in England and the USA. They have only one church in England and it is indeed a mega church (The Church of England with different parishes). We have no problem suing churches here LOL, and there isn't just one, there's a million of them. Either way, I think they should be sued to set the precedent and to scare the pants of anybody else who thinks of putting up a show without a license. "Sorry you don't understand that the written word is OWNED, but it is, and you're about to find out what happens when you STEAL those words and then CHANGE them, and it ain't gonna be pretty."
As though this situation was not bad enough, the real life Alexander Hamilton was bisexual. He exchanged love letters between himself and John Laurens, some of which were so explicit that the American archives keeping the letters censored his more explicit language with ink blots, although context clues made it obvious he was referring to his “anatomy.”
My point, making a homophobic musical production about a bisexuals life just seems over the top in terms of homophobia.
Let Mickey Jo just go on one holiday without the Theatre World imploding, please. 😂
Pretty words. That’s all the Hamilton legal team did. They did no “advocating” for LGBTQ+ fans. They released a bland, non committal statement. To say they didn’t know about the changes is a cop-out. They had to have known. The fact that so many companies and companies are scared to piss off the church is ridiculous.
I mean what else were they supposed to do, they're apparently working something out with their lawyers, not much more to be done at this point other than release this kind of statement
@@Phelie315 they could’ve not allowed the second show. They could’ve definitively denounced what the church did. They could’ve made a donation to an LGBTQ+ organization in Texas, they could’ve said concretely that they would pursue legal action… I mean there’s a TON of things they could’ve done to be better advocates and allies. I just named a few.
@@imthegabrielleg I don't think they are obligated to do anything. But that is just me.
I am so glad you covered this. I hope this is not dropped and they go after the church. Because if they do not other groups will try. It is so gross what this “church” did!!
Very excited for the Edinburgh fringe content 😍
Was equally surprised about homophobic Hamilton
You can bet there's probably someone who's LGBT in that church's community and to be living within that enclosed echo chamber must be so awful. Part of the problem in the US is that there's so much anxiety over not impeding on someone's 'religious freedom' and yet these people are given the platform to influence and impact on other people's rights and lives.
As someone who is a Christian this just makes me mad. There are enough Broadway musicals with a Biblical theme that they could have done they didn't need to do this and shoe horn in a message that was never intended. I've searched online and I can't find anything, but I have a sneaky suspicion they may have purchased this version from a place that "Christianizes" popular musicals which may have made them think they had the license to perform it. It looks to be a small church with no worship arts ministry to speak of, so while it's possible someone in the church could rework a whole Broadway musical, I find it highly unlikely. And yes I know I'm being generous with this scenario. It still doesn't make it right what they did. I am not a fan of "Christianizing" things to make it either more palatable or to fit with a viewpoint that wasn't originally intended. I shudder to think what they would do with a musical like Les Mis which, already, has strong Christian undertones to begin with.
So disappointed and disgusted with the way they twisted something beautiful into something harmful. Also concerned about what this means for the future of pro shots, since I'm assuming that's where they got a lot of the script/staging from. Hamilton has really paved the way for theatre in the past few years and with the upcoming releases of many pro shots I'm concerned that this will happen again with more shows/make producers even more wary of releasing them to the public.
It's just a disgusting abuse of art that's harmful in so many ways. Fingers crossed Lin/Disney/Hamilton sue them, but I'm worried that it being the church will scare them away from doing that. Awful situation.
Yikes... What a thoroughly unpleasant situation! Not meaning to trivialise it in any way, but the way you said "poisonous icing on an illegal cake" sounded very Disney villain-esque, and I want it to become a song lyric.
This is a really interesting story which made me think of my own experiences with churches using theater to evangelize. For context, I am a Christian theater fan (we do exist; shocking I know) so I've had a bit of experience with this, though I've never encountered a situation quite like what happened in Texas. Below are two very rambly examples that came to mind while I watched Mickey's video, read at your own risk.
First example, when I was in college I was visiting family on the east coast they brought me to a production of Jesus Christ Superstar being staged by a local church. Now this church had got a license and the cast was very talented. I remember the guy who played Pilot was a particular standout so I was unsurprised to learn after the performance that he had a number of theater credits to his name (both national tours and Broadway). The show was ran as written except for the ending. Now it's been years since I've seen a production of JCS, but if memory serves me correctly, the last major action is Christ's death on the cross and then Judas sings Superstar. Let me know below in the comments if I've got that wrong. Anyhow, this church added in Christ's resurrection just before Superstar was performed. As both a theater fan and a Christian, this was a welcome change. Judas's whole arc in the show is that he does not get Jesus's mission on earth. He believed Jesus was there to raise an army and defeat the Romans which, spoiler alert, he wasn't. So having finally seen why Jesus came to earth and the reason behind all of his unconventional actions and choices, Judas still not getting it was more impactful. Also, as a believer, it always felt a bit odd that the show left out the big finish. For all the Who Framed Roger Rabbit fans out there, the ending was very much "Shave and a haircut" without the two bits. Anyhow, after the performance ended, the pastor did come up on stage and do what is colloquially referred to as an "altar call." This is where he asks if anyone in the audience would like to come up and accept Jesus as their savior. A common practice in church services, but to the uninitiated, it would seem very odd (I remember my aunt and uncle being weirded out by it).
My second experience is not one I had personally, but one I experienced at a distance via social media. Now, I don't want to get this particular church in trouble so I'm going to keep my description vague. Why? Well, while I don't attend this particular church, it does feel wrong to be batting against the home team and as a theater fan who has watched many a bootleg, my hands are far from clean in this copyright business. And people in glass houses, well you know the rest. Anyhow, last year a large church here in the states put on an original musical. At least, that's how it was billed. The story and lyrics certainly seemed to be original. But when videos of the performances made their way online, I quickly realized that they had taken songs from a very popular show, and written their own lyrics. Now judging by the comments below the videos and what I knew about the performers involved in the production, I believe most of these people had no idea where these catchy tunes had come from. The creatives behind the show certainly did, but what they did isn't really new. Christians have a habit of taking popular things and making "Christian" versions. If you want a prime example, google the band Apologetix. Anyhow, I believe my second example is pretty common place, but I've never encountered a church straight up taking an entire popular show, without a license, and adding in bits to fit their narrative. That's probably why I was so surprised by this story. Did they honestly think no one would notice? That they wouldn't get sued?
JCS does not show the resurrection. Some productions might hint at it with lighting or set choices, but to actually show it explicitly is changing what the writer intended from that ending.
@@callalily3994 That's what I thought; thanks for the confirmation!
Ok, but can we talk about how they also did this with Beauty and the Beast?? Like...I need to see that nightmare.
They cut over 1/2 the song Say No to this , leaving out Maria Reynolds’ husband blackmailing Hamilton & offering to pimp her out to him. Without that scene, I don’t know how it sets up We Know, Hurricane , Reynolds Pamphlet and Burn. All major plot points of the second act
The church has admitted they didn't have permission to stage the play or make changes. They will pay a fine which the Hamilton producers are donating to an LBGT group in the McAllen area. I know I left off initials.
Sorry to be superficial but you look incandescent in this video, the pink is so pretty and you're basically glowing. Great video also glad people are speaking up about this :)
on a related note The Door also did The Greatest Conman (The Greatest showman) got a feeling they bite off more then they could chew going up against LMM and the house of mouse.
As a Christian this is absolutely insane. How dare they rewrite it to promote their bigotry. I am disgusted. I hope that this doesn’t affect the chances of Hamilton being licensed for amateur production because I’d hate for these bigots to ruin it for everybody else. Great video.
I don't know how I fell upon this video but I have to say great video. Sub initiated and like added :)
There's a fragment on YT where the Pastor states really clearly that they got the rights. So not only they set up the musical illegally and altered the script, but also lied as easy as they breathed.
They should have shut it down. period. Stealing by the church should especially be condemned. I’m sick of their hateful messaging. K from California.
Yeah... even in the US, churches are not exempt from following copyright law. There is a small exemption where religious institutions are allowed to use copyrighted works that fit a very specific framework (ie: music or literature of a religious nature, like hymns), but this is only during times of worship and even then, i don't think that applies to live streaming church services. So certainly Hamilton does not fit that exemption and even if it did, they still live streamed their first performance.
When (some) churches started doing streaming services when Covid started, I remember a few discussions about whether they had the rights to stream the music, but the general feeling then seemed to be that no one was really going to sue over it in those circumstances. But Hamilton is far outside even the gray areas of the law on that one.
true!! even as someone who does performing arts in the church we still have to get rights to use material. my church is pretty left leaning and most of the people in the performing arts ministry are LGBT. from what ive found, churches that lean more right wing are more privileged in terms of law than left leaning churches.
@@callalily3994 bro fr 💀
i was going to make the comparison of “what if they put the founding fathers in hymns?” but then i realized that the national anthem and many other american songs are in the hymnal
i'd love to see a follow up to this video in the future if anything happens. broadway and musical theatre in general has always felt like such a safe place as a member of the queer community. pretty much everyon hamilton fan i've met is lgbtq+ (including myself), the fact this happened is just horrible
I can't believe this is still happening in this day and age. When did progress stop and regression began again?
I said the minute Orange Hitler got elected that we would have to re-fight every battle for Women's Equality, LGBTQ rights and the vote for people of colour. I said it and I was right.
It's heartbreaking. Progress is always a struggle. History has more trends and counter-trends, movements and counter-movements, than we give it credit for.
I have a feeling that Lin Manuel is going to be owning a property in Texas very soon. How this church has gotten away with this in the past amazes me. Esp. since Disney is very zealous in guarding their property rights.
I had forgotten Disney would be involved. Your right poking the Disney bear does not sound wise. Ever see a SNL sketch where they are putting on a knock off of Snow White (not called Snow White) with Gena Davis? They have changed everything enough to avoid copyright then Gena sings "Somewhere my prince will come" when she was supposed to say my Duke. Behind the scenes evverybody is screaming and having a melt down. Oh NO it's DISNEY, DISNEY !!!! and Lovitz is saying "Wait maybe she said PRINTS she took some pictures and someday my prints will come." It's a cute sketch.
Disney isnt involved here I think because they only have the streaming rights, not the stage rights afaik.
It's really cringe on so many levels. It bums me out that it was a church because there are churches that get the rights for things, follow all the rules, and then there's this. 🤦🏽♀️ Like I don't get why you would do this and think you wouldn't get caught.
I just watched their Say No To This and I'm WHEEZING
Where can I find it?
@@mirandabee2323 just search illegal hamilton
Making a homophobic play is just as wrong and uncomfortable as a bathroom made of glass. I have acted in school playes and done tech work and it's the only place where fruity leaning kids can be themselves, so it's really upsetting to see what they did.
How ironic the church did a production of Beauty and the Beast which has lyrics by the gay Howard Ashman.
Along arguably-similar lines, sometimes I wish homophobic people would stop using computers because of Alan Turing. But that's not how the world works.
They've done unauthorized productions of Despicable Me and other big movies. Surprising they haven't been shut down so far -- but no one wants to be the big, mean corporation that picked on a (mega-) church.
I honestly think that no one really noticed before because they didn't do anything as big and as current as Hamilton. People search for Hamilton videos all the time so this one was much more visible and public.
is this actually a megachurch i heard it was some small church?
@@donb7519 I can't find anything on their webpage saying how many members they have, but they've got six pastors listed, so it's at least not tiny. And the sets and costumes in those videos definitely required a lot of people and money.
@@callalily3994 i mean the church in my hometown was a big building and had plenty of members and pastors but still went under. As for the costumes thats a better point they arent the most poor but i still doubt they wouldnt just be able to declare bankruptcy if hamilton co actually went after them for straight up money its probably just easier to send a cease and desist and make them stop
being from this town, and having driven by this church a couple of times, no it is not a mega church. it is one of the bigger ones, but nowhere near mega. not trying to justify what they did or taking their side in anyway. it sucked and they should be sued. just pointing out that the “mega” part isn’t accurate
Was Hamilton implicitly religious, in a way. Take Les Mis for example. That had many Christian values without it explicitly discussing God and Jesus every few minutes.
It was about love, sacrifice, devotion, standing up for yourself and others, etc., good Christian values. These showed up in Harry Potter even though it was not explicitly stated as such.
Hamilton had values like this too. It was about standing up to justice and fighting for people who are outcasts or exploited. There were themes of loyalty and devotion along with the legacy theme. These are Christian values.
Christianity is supposed to be about humanity and not the stupid ethics and values that some followers spread like the homophobia.
Yes I know music and theatre can be interpreted in many ways, but I like seeing all the different ways of telling a Christian story meshed with other things just by following the original intent: human morality.
that’s actually so interesting, i also love looking at religious implications of media, i.e. neon genesis evangelion. anything can be interpreted in any way but your interpretation is never an excuse for altering material to fix a fantasized interpretation.
@@havvy8494 totally agree. Did not mean to sound like I was ok with that.
I'm getting the impression this church doesn't think people can learn Christian values unless you mention Jesus Christ in every other sentence of your lesson.
@@mirandabee2323 that seems to be with a lot of Christian media, sadly.
@@gabrielleduplessis7388 i wasnt trying to make you sound like you were ok with that either 😭i really liked ur sentiment and thought it was a rly fascinating take
just north of McAllen TX is Edinburg TX, no, not Edinburgh and yes as someone who grew up there, we miss the bloody h and are unsure as to why we stopped using it. as for the Door Church, if they aren't a Spirit Halloween shop in the next 2 weeks I'm going to count it as a missed opportunity as it's the only spirit that should reside there.
Say No To This had some changes to its lyrics and blocking then just cut off halfway. Maria led Hamilton offstage after the first verse and the song kinda cuts off. Hamilton comes back out and sings “nobody needs to know.”
I haven't even watched the video yet, but the title just made me laugh so hard I think I cried a little
They should be a harsh on them as they are to theatres that do this.
As an American, it’s just typical “Christian” entitlement. I hope the producers sue this church out of existence.
100%. As an American Christian myself, I'm disturbed by my conservative evangelical siblings' (and I say "siblings" the same way someone may speak of an estranged relative) sense of entitlement and persecution complexes.
Like. You guys. We aren't persecuted anymore. We haven't been for over a thousand years, thereabouts, at least not in the Americas or Europe. We are the majority. Remember the empire mentioned throughout the gospels? Remember the mentions of Caesar? WE are the empire now! We are the local Pharisee authorities, too! We are dividing ourselves with weapons of hatred, fear, hostility, and sometimes literal modern guns as well. Can we... can we please not do that?
@@mirandabee2323 Not 100% what you're saying here, but I still think the church should be held accountable for their illegal and unethical act. They are free to hate as much as they want I suppose.
I feel like the church could’ve offered to pay a heft licensing fee once Hamilton’s team reached out and weren’t aware of the changes yet.
For people that don’t know churches can make BANK in the US. The don’t pay taxes or get some sort of tax benefits so they have money to splurge. Mega churches and televangelist will have acres of land, private jets and other luxuries that aren’t taxed (or taxed that heavily) cause of laws. John Oliver covers televangelist in a segment of his show that’s available to watch on TH-cam. It’s really crazy the luxury.
There’s even an Insta page that posts pastors (that really from large churches) with their designer items (cars, Gucci belts, etc). Jennie Nicholson (another TH-camr) covered a church (not sure if’s the same one in this story) that has these crazy Easter musicals/plays that are based on well known IPs like Star Wars, Avengers, Toy Story and so on. The Pirates of the Caribbean had a moving ship, like one that turned 360 (I think). The production value was way higher than I was expecting.
Spot on (as usual)! Also it's a huge shame that people use the name of Christianity (or any religion) as a vehicle for their own insecurities and prejudices. Where is the love?
Ok as a Christian myself I don’t understand why so many churches do plays/musicals based off non Christian stories than make them Christian. Why not do something like paradise lost or paradise found. There’s so many public domain Christian stories that are great.
I did jesus christ superstar in my local church, I was judas
Hamilton committed adultery what sort of person sat down and thought I know that is just like Jesus. Teaching children that homophobia is ok leads to suffering of LGBTQI+ children. I know as I was bullied at school for being gay back in the 80s. and the Games teacher use to sanction a lot of the bullying. I have to say I did giggle at the thought of Belle teaching the Beast about Jesus.
Agreee with you 1000%. On the vile message they put out. And as a writer, on illegally producing and changing Lin’s work.
I agree with you 3000%, but realize people are always re-writing re-imagining and retelling the Bible so it sound like they just did this to get even or make a point. Nothing is sacred apparently.
Yes, and the first ones to "rewrite, reimagine and retell" the Bible as they like are the churches, they have been doing it since forever to manipulate people, gain power and further the personal agenda of their leaders.
Hell it's not even mentioned in the bible, Eve wasn't the first woman, the virgin Mary isn't "forever virgin" as she actually has a child with Joseph (so Jesus has a little brother), the reason why God destroyed Sodom wasn't homosexuality, it was greed, arrogance and people disobeying a very specific command from God and the list goes on and on...
I mean, if a pope can invent hell as an excuse to swindle believers into buying tickets to heaven, surely an artist can also take liberties with the christian mithology while creating a piece. It's pretty obvious that not even churches have ever really seen "sacred books" as sacred anyway.
Licensing is not cheap in any way, but that doesn't mean that you can just not use it. My youth group recently performed Grease, and it was great. We had more budget because we couldn't perform over Covid, and most of that (I think it was about 36,000 overall) was spent on the licensing. And even then, if licensing was available yet, in most cases what they did would still be not allowed, what with the amount of the show they changed and putting it up online.