Producers beware! Theatregoer sues over canned music and wins!
We're definitely not in Kansas anymore!
A british theatregoer has prevailed in his lawsuit against a theatre that used recorded music in staging its production of “The Wizard of Oz”.
In a time of increasingly tight budgets, many theatre groups are opting for recorded musical accompaniment, in lieu of paying for an orchestra, conductor, and the additional audio requirements a large orchestra can impose on a production. The savings can be significant, but at what artistic cost? Critics complain that the ‘canned' music or “tracks” as they're sometimes called, drastically reduces the vibrancy of the performance given by the actors, singers and dancers on stage.
In England, the cost can be even greater. Adrian Bradbury sued the producers after attending a production of “The Wizard of Oz” that used tracks instead of live musicians. Continue Reading