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The Doom that Came to A Shoggoth on the Roof Dear Friends, Lovecraftians and musical theatre fans, Many of you may have followed the strange saga of A Shoggoth on the Roof, the Lovecraftian mega-musical that has tormented my collaborator Andrew Leman and I for some years now. This fall, for the first time since the1979 production ended so terribly, ASOTR was to have been performed on stage. Sadly, Shoggoth seems doomed to remain the musical which cannot and must not be performed. This spring we were contacted by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, the creators of the beloved classic of musical theatre, Fiddler on the Roof. They voiced their displeasure at being the victim of a parody, and claimed the show infringed upon their copyrights. They threatened legal action and our lawyers wrangled with their lawyers. Harnick & Bock were particularly upset by that Chicago's Defiant Theatre was planning to put ASOTR on stage. Fiddler is being revived on Broadway this fall and they threatened to take whatever measures were necessary to ensure the Defiant production did not go forward. Parodies enjoy special protection as a "fair use" of copyrighted material, and the courts have repeatedly sided with parodists, particularly in parodies of music, noting that one cannot parody a song without using the music. However, Defiant lacked the financial wherewithal to defend itself against a possibile lawsuit by Harnick & Bock. And so, they have opted to abandon ASOTR in favor of projects without legal baggage. Harnick and Bock got their way because of their substantial financial resources, not because the law was on their side. For the time being, the HPLHS Cast Album of ASOTR remains available on our website along with the libretto and our documentary film. As you know, shoggoths don't die easily, and we wouldn't at all be surprised if another group of deranged thespians takes up the shoggoth gauntlet and puts it on stage. A Shoggoth on the Roof has been rearing its ugly psuedopods for nearly 25 years. One of these days the stars will be right. Best to all Sean -- |
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