Texas Church Illegally Performs 'Hamilton' with Anti-LGBTQ Messaging
by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder
Thou shalt not steal?
A church in Texas is coming under fire today performing ‘Hamilton’ without obtaining rights to the show as well as changing the text and adding an anti-LGBTQ sermon at the end of the show.
RGV Productions, which operates with The Door Christian Fellowship Ministries of McAllen, performed and live streamed their unauthorized production of ‘Hamilton’ on Aug 5. An ad for the performance can be seen below.
According to writer Howard Sherman, the church also decided to add and change text throughout the show.
For instance, they added a scene after (SPOILER: Someone dies in a duel), where Hamilton is “saved” right before “It’s Quiet Uptown.
At the conclusion of the show, a pastor delivers a sermon that includes anti-LGBTQ messaging. The pastor states, “Maybe you struggle with alcohol, with drugs, with homosexuality, maybe you struggle with other things in life, your finances, whatever, God can help you tonight. He wants to forgive you for your sins.”
So, there is no doubt that the Friday performance and everything up to that point, was a violation of copyright. Not only did RGV Productions and The Door Christian Fellowship Ministries of McAllen not obtain rights to perform the show in its entirety, but also didn’t receive permission to change the text. (UPDATE: They were given permission, under strict guidelines, to perform the show on Saturday).
But the bigger question is, did they have to?
Ministries receive a very limited exemption from copyright law. During worship services, churches usually are permitted to play or perform any song or reading. Churches are typically permitted to play and perform copyrighted songs during worship services and the law generally only extends to live, in-person performances.
Because there was a sermon at the conclusion of the performance, it’s possible ‘The Door McAllen’ thought they were free and open to do what they did.
They were wrong. This exemption doesn’t cover dramatic secular works like operas or plays.
It also doesn’t matter if they didn’t charge money for tickets either.
I also don’t see a live pit. If they used backing tracks, that’s another issue as well. Backing tracks are often copyrighted: using without permission is also against the law.
The fact they live-streamed and posted the production on YouTube (which they have since taken down) is another issue as well. A license is often required to play, perform, or otherwise use any copyrighted material in a recording or broadcast. That not only will get them into hot water with ‘Hamilton’ producers, but also Disney as well, since they paid $75 million for that.
Interestingly enough, for their ad for their illegal production, RGV Productions used the same music cut from Disney+’s trailer for ‘Hamilton’.
If the producers of Hamilton wanted to take action, ‘The Door McAllen’ could be looking at fines in the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars.
I’m not even going to get into the choice to add text into the show to fit anti-LGBTQ bigotry because that’s just simply disgusting and against what the Bible really teaches about love.
Would it be different if they performed a couple of select numbers in a concert format? Possibly. But this was a full-on production with sets and costumes (both are protected by copyright) and the entire score, just like the illegal production that happened in Indonesia back in 2018.
Do I feel sorry for the youth involved in this production?
Yes and no.
I feel bad that their faces are going to be broadly publicized for being part of an unauthorized production of ‘Hamilton’. I feel bad that they were probably just excited to be a quasi-production of their favorite show. But I don’t feel bad for them since they’re apparently 100% okay with attending a church dealing in bigotry rather than love, in addition to theft.
I’m sure this is going to be a developing story and more information will come out. I’m also willing to bet this isn’t the first time ‘The Door McAllen’ has done this.
In fact…it’s not.
They also did the same to ‘Disney’s Beauty & the Beast’ in 2018.
UPDATE: The team at Hamilton have released a statement regarding this production. It should be noted that at no time did the church have a license to perform the show, nor make any edits to the script. They were given permission to perform the show on Saturday, with strict guidelines. It also appears this issue isn’t over yet. Click here to read more.