Lin-Manuel Miranda Opposes Church’s Anti-Gay, Allegedly Unauthorised Hamilton Show
Hamilton, the groundbreaking musical theatre piece created by Lin-Manuel Miranda in 2015 is a cultural phenomenon. A Texas church has created an unauthorised rendition, which features anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric which Miranda has responded to in a statement, reports Advocate.
WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS? HOW DID THEY THINK THEY’D GET AWAY WITH IT?
The Door McAllen Church in Texas went viral online recently for their interesting rendition of the incredibly famous musical. In The Door’s version, lines are switched out for Christian verses and there is an inclusion of anti-LGBTQIA+ dialogue.
After the videos of the allegedly unauthorised play came to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s attention, he released a statement via his Twitter account. “Grateful to all of you who reached out about this illegal, unauthorised production. Now lawyers do their work,” he says. Miranda also included a photo of The Dramatists Guild’s statement condemning the rendition.
The problem is that The Door McAllen Church is claiming that they were given the rights to produce their own stage play and to change the words and lyrics to suit their needs. The pastor for The Door was videoed giving a sermon where he explicitly states that the Hamilton team gave them the license to produce their own play and that the trouble they encountered came from videos being posted online. According to the pastor, once contacted to remove the videos the church was told they could continue with their production.
Now, when it comes to musicals and plays being licensed there tend to be strict regulations regarding the performances and their faithfulness to the original script and intent. Hamilton is reportedly not up for commercial licensing and the performances shown by The Door McAllen Church take very large creative liberties by departing from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s original work, reports Advocate.
Apparently, this would not be the only occasion of The Door Church performing other works and changing the original text and meaning. In one other video, a performance is shown where Despicable Me is being reimagined to be Christian.
The Door McAllen Church is certainly not shy when it comes to their performances. If Lin-Manuel Miranda’s statement is anything to go by, they will certainly be held responsible for their alleged plagiarism in this case.
