The British production was to use the playwright Christopher Sergel’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s book, a version that has long been popular in schools.
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Broadway ‘Mockingbird’ Precludes British ‘Mockingbird’
The British production was to use the playwright Christopher Sergel’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s book, a version that has long been popular in schools.
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This is not about art, this is purely about money. The likelihood that a small British tour would severely affect the monetary amount a big star studded Broadway production is very slight. The fact that a company that finally grasped the rights to a beloved story is being tight fisted and greedy is really not that surprising in the larger picture, but I thought something like that really ought to be in the public domain out of respect to its cultural importance. It would be like if no one could ever adapt the Wizard of Oz ever, even one independent of the film. It is frankly very infuriating. If it was an off-Broadway production, or even a touring production in the US, it would be very different, but it just seems so gratuitous. Is it possible that the other version is better, or more faithful, and therefore would be more pleasing to a less snooty theatre audience? Who knows but the one we have now is certainly high falutin enough to please a certain crowd, even if I will never get over Scout being an adult.
I’m really curious why this whole debacle happened in the first place. I’m also a more than a little confused about how a London Tour can occur for “To Kill a Mockingbird,” that is operating under a different company than that of the Broadway production. Does a singular production company not control all tours for a show? Was it a partnership with Scott Rudin’s Company and the International companies? Also, why was Scott Rudin’s company so late in telling other companies that they have the worldwide rights for professional stagings of the book? I’m very confused how all of this could occur in the first place. The reason why the threatened legal action is because Scott Rubin’s company wants to do a worldwide tour, so a different company is not allowed? Are there ever partnerships with international/non-US companies for worldwide tours? I know so little about how obtaining rights for shows works.
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