Lin-Manuel Miranda says he knows about a bizarre, unauthorized staging of his megahit musical “Hamilton” that took place at a Texas church — and it’s up to the lawyers to handle it.
“Grateful to all of you who reached out about this illegal, unauthorized production,” Miranda tweeted. “Now lawyers do their work.”
The staging of “Hamilton” performed at the Door Christian Fellowship church in McAllen, Texas, was tweaked to include biblical themes and a sermon at the end that compared homosexuality to addiction, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Broadway veteran Miranda is well-known for his pro-LGBT stance.
The paper obtained video footage of the Aug. 5 performance. It lasted approximately two hours and included the 15-minute sermon.
“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,” a church pastor said in the sermon. “He wants to forgive you for your sins.”
But pastor Roman Gutierrez told the outlet that said the church is not anti-LGBT and “everyone is always welcome.” Gutierrez said he obtained legal permission to produce the church’s show, but a Hamilton rep said that wasn’t true.
“’Hamilton’ does not grant amateur or professional licenses for any stage productions and did not grant one to The Door Church,” the spokesperson said. The spokesperson stated that a cease and desist letter had been sent to the church.
Miranda included a letter sent by the Dramatists Guild with his tweet. The group stated that they were condemning the church for altering lyrics, adding text without permission, and performing in public without a license.
“We hold up the Door McAllen Church’s brazen infringement to shine a light on the problematic pattern of some theatrical organizations performing authors’ work without a license and rewriting the text without authorial consent,” the Guild wrote. “No organization, professional, amateur, or religion, is exempt from these laws.”
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