Robert DuSold

Who doesn’t like a good mystery? I know I do. You know, we try to figure out whodunnit and why… and tie it all up in an hour(tops) like a lovely episode of “Murder She Wrote”.

I’m still trying to figure out this mystery…..

Why did the producers and creative team of “Hamilton” let a “non-denominational” Christian church do an unlicensed, um “reimagined” second performance of their show?

After the illegal first one

The church complied, “and she gave us the OK to continue” on Sunday, the pastor said.

“We are very grateful for the ‘Hamilton’ team,” he said. “Thank you so much for entrusting us with such an amazing, amazing play, amen.”

Amen.

So, to set this episode … one of those crazy, fundamentalist churches in McCallen TX, near the Mexican border, decided to do their very own, souped-up baby Jesus performance of “Hamilton” … sell it and stream it on Eventbrite.. with staging and choreography and sound and lights and sets and shit..

And felt they didn’t need to get permission to actually do that.

Now, to split the baby Jesus.. there are two levels of crazy wrong here. Like really wrong. It’s a violation of federal law to present unlicensed material…. and you can’t alter someone else’s copyrighted work for whatever reason. Whether it’s God or you just think you’re a genius.

The team behind “Hamilton” were sent video of the Jesuschanges apparently, and were aware of the fact that this production went on in the first place… and gave the Jesus people permission to do it again.

After the church responded to the cease-and-desist letter, the “Hamilton” team said it could move forward with another performance on the condition that it not be live-streamed or recorded, that videos and photos of the production would not be posted and that the church would not “mount any further productions,” Mr. Brown said. He added that “this limited permission” had been offered “without prejudice.”

Here’s the truth… there are productions across this country that are routinely shut down.. immediately.. due to unauthorized licensing and not strictly adhering to the licensed copy.

Several years ago, I was directing a middle school production of “Bye Bye Birdie!” at a swanky school out here in the Jerz and I decided to cut the number “Spanish Rose” and all the Hispanic jokes because I found them pretty racist actually. And plus the character wasn’t being played by an Hispanic girl.

I was quaking in my boots that the rights would be pulled.. they weren’t but even in educational theater you can’t really fuck with the material.

But Jesus…

I’m more protective of my troll doll collection.. ok I have one..than the producers of “Hamilton” are with their gigunda hit show it seems.

Why is that?

The upshot of all the beautiful Jesuschanges were blatantly homophobic additions comparing being gay to being an alcoholic and sinner… blahdety blah.. shit I’ve heard my entire life.

“The ‘Hamilton’ family stands for tolerance, compassion, inclusivity and certainly L.G.B.T.Q.+ rights,” Mr. Brown said. “We are in the process of reviewing the unauthorized changes made to the script to determine further action.”

Which would be lovely if the composer felt that way. Unfortunately he doesn’t. He put his John Hancock on this theatrical screed.

The Door McAllen did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. Roman Gutierrez, the church’s senior pastor, said in a statement to The Dallas Morning News that his church is not anti-L.G.B.T.Q. and that “everyone is always welcome.”

Both of those statements are oddly similar to me, at least in their intention, and I feel about as welcome as a fart in church not only in church but theater at the moment.

Anyway, the crazy homophobia aside, if you’ve ever written something, or licensed something, or created something.. doing an unauthorized performance of your work is quite egregious.

My question is why didn’t the Dramatists Guild condemn the producers for granting permission for another performance of “Hamilton” when the rights haven’t even been released? That certainly affects the writers as well. It’s about more than words.

Fucking weird.

Anyway, evidently there’s a bigger picture according to an opinion piece from CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/09/opinions/hamilton-texas-church-production-uproar-filipovic/index.html

The sosh is chewing on the bone.. and from what I’ve seen somewhat dismissing the ownership dilemma. I’ve seen a couple of comments that the producers were being “nice” to grant that sweet little church a second performance.

These false narratives about America’s founding and the reality of slavery have been widely adopted and disseminated by the Republican Party, Christian conservatives and the American right more broadly. They continue to pervert our politics, fuel discord and encourage extremism — not to mention creating a historically ignorant but sharply ideological populace.

A country that does not agree on the basic facts of its own history is tough to hold together

If any statement perfectly sums up the craziness of the arts in this country it’s that. Well, not only the arts I guess.

“A country that does not agree on the basic facts of its own history is tough to hold together”… discussing a show that presents history in an obviously revisionist way.. as will the all female, non binary and trans production of “1776” opening this Fall on Broadway.

Not that there’s a thing wrong with that. There isn’t. Ya gotta have a gimmick.

But, it sure is trendy to admonish peeps for not embracing history and doing their very best to erase it at the same time in the old artistic arena.

But this seemingly small story — a Texas church perverting a musical that became a progressive classic — speaks to a larger dynamic of the American right, and particularly Christian conservatives, repeatedly rewriting US history to serve their ends and confirm their biases.

I’ll just leave this there…

If you watch the little video embedded in the CNN link .. the cast for this illegal Jesusproduction was mostly Hispanic by the looks of it. Is that why the producers were being nice?

Who knows? But in the crazy world of optics we live in.. maybe. Or maybe they didn’t really mind the old message of God will strike you dead if you’re a homo thing… especially in comparison to other hot button identity issues of the day.. let’s face it like an all white cast..that might have triggered a tsunami of blowing it up and shutting it down.

Obviously the racial makeup of the cast is inherent to “Hamilton”… and I’m sure must be a part of the licensing in the future… and that’s how it should be. I wish spreading hate would be reason enough to shut down this illegal, unlicensed and unauthorized Jesusfest.

Tis a mystery… or maybe not.