For instance, Pirates played around three months in its first production here, but it was here as a limited engagement of the D'Oyley Carte. It was such a sensation that ads warned buyers against ticket speculators. Then it toured, but the company also had to get back to London. Pirates was in demand everywhere, but there were copyright issues. I think perhaps D'Oyley Carte did not want to allow American productions. Perhaps someone who knows more can chime in.
Pinafore was so incredibly popular that the first productions in the U.S. were being pirated (pun intended) without permission from D'Oyly Carte - so they tried to make sure that wouldn't happen with Pirates - they got here first, did the first authorized U.S. production and controlled the rights. (Now, of course, it's all public domain, so we don't have to worry about that.) |
