Howdy do. So yesterday was a bit of a wind-down day for me, thankfully…and good thing, too. I needed it. After running from panel to panel, then doing the obligatory schmoozefest at the end of the evening, only to return to my room and write for an hour or two, was getting a little exhausting, and I was really starting to feel it. (I know, I probably lessened the amount of sympathy I might otherwise have gotten by referencing the schmoozefest aspect of my day, but at least I was honest.)
The day started with a trio of Disney Channel panels: “The Wizards of Waverly Place,” “High School Musical: The Music in You,” and the long-awaited-by-just-about-every-kid-you-know “High School Musical 2.” “The Wizards of Waverly Place” seems cute enough, a standard Disney sitcom about two teenagers who are training to be wizards; not really my cup of tea, but if I was a kid, I’d imagine that the blending of teen comedy and “Harry Potter” – because, c’mon, who are we kidding, that’s what inspired this – would be something I’d want to check out. As far as “High School Musical 2,” I admit it: I’ve never seen the first one. That said, though, the songs they played from the sequel were immediately endearing and catchy, and the choreography was fantastic, so, God help me, maybe I should go check out the original before this new one premieres. Ultimately, though, the far more interesting program was “High School Musical: The Music in You,” a documentary by Academy Award winning documentarian Barbara Kopple (“Harlan County USA,” “American Dream”) which details two rival high schools who are putting on their own renditions of “High Schol Musical.” As a music geek, I was most fascinated / depressed by the information about how expensive it is to stage one of these productions, simply as far as paying the publishing royalties. I never thought about that before…but, geez, you can see that these people certainly do…
Julia Worthington, one of the teachers putting on the musical, explained that “it depends on, first of all, how many performances you’re going to do, the size of your venue.” Worthington’s school’s production usually only has an audience of about 100, and, based on that average, she says that “the licensing and the royalties and everything was about $2,300.” Apparently, the amount started at around $500, and it varies wildly depending on the number of seats, the number of performances, and so forth…but, of course, that’s only for “High School Musical.”
“When we did ‘Grease,’ it was considerably less,” explained Worthington. “So when you get a newer venue, you pay a little more. But we had kind of budgeted to make this happen, and so we were ready. But we weren’t ready to move into the large auditorium, which they helped us do, because we could have never afforded it otherwise. We were originally set to go in a small black-box theater that seats about a hundred. And we were naive, I guess. We thought that would be great because we can sell out every night. Then Disney came back, and at first we said, ‘We can’t do it, because if you want us to move to a bigger space, we cannot afford it.’ And we gracefully declined. And then they came back two days later and said, ‘But what if we helped you?’ And then we said, “What?” And it went from there. With NAMM’s help and everyone pitching in, they turned our old auditorium into basically a Broadway stage. It was fantastic.”
Wow. Call me naive, but, somehow, it just never occurred to me that they’d have to pay someone to perform a musical; I just figured, hey, the kids wanna sing, let ’em sing. If Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney had to fork out the dough every time they put on a show, I don’t think those old movies would’ve been nearly as inspirational.
“Let’s do a show and save the orphanage!”
“Right, okay, we’re gonna need a check written to the estate of Cole Porter first.”
“Sorry, kids, hope you find a nice warm vent to sleep on! Remember: the Sunday ‘Times’ will keep you warm all week!”
Anyway, in closing, let me just say that I’m thoroughly impressed that Disney has opted to do this as a proper documentary rather than a reality series; that strikes me as an attempt to produce a quality product rather than, say, capture the magic of “Grease is the Word.” Oh, wait, there was no magic in “Grease is the Word.” Maybe that explains it…
Next up were the ESPN panels, but I gotta be honest with you: I’m not a sports guy. As such, I’ve passed the buck of preparing that coverage to Bullz-Eye’s senior editor, David Medsker, who is reportedly working his arse off at this very moment to get it ready for you. So stay tuned for that, coming soon…
From there, it was on to the Sundance Channel, who – unsurprisingly, for the network that airs “The Green” – provided environmentally-friendly press kits. They’ve got two new series coming up: “Sin City Law,” which tackles the legal system in Las Vegas, Nevada, and “Nimrod Nation,” which explores the Nimrods, the high school basketball team in Watersmeet, Michigan. I’m not really going to spend a lot of time on those, though, just because, well, they’re kind of self-explanatory, I think. They’re on Sundance, so you know they’ll be really well done and, therefore, at least worth checking out. I know reality shows are a dime a dozen, but, to my mind (and, I feel certain, to the minds of most), Sundance knows documentaries, so there’s not going to be any unabashed sensationalism or, more importantly, just plain old lame-ass crapola.
Showtime details will be forthcoming, rest assured, but not quite yet. Sorry, I know I’m running a little farther behind today, and, honestly, you can count on that getting worse as the tour continues, but I’m still going to be presenting details as I’m able, and, as you’ve probably seen, I’m trying to sneak in breaking news when I can rather than wait for total coverage of a particular panel.
