Legal issues over the authorship of directorial, design, and choreographic aspects of a theatrical production have been gaining considerable attention in past years, but recent developments in the ongoing saga between the original Broadway team of Urinetown and The Mercury Theatre and Carousel Dinner Theatre productions of the show have raised the volume of the discussion to a deafening blare. (Full disclosure: I performed at the Carousel Dinner Theatre in Roger’s and Hammerstein’s Carousel in 2003).
On November 15, 2006, “The creators and designers of the Broadway production of Urinetown, along with their unions, [accused] two 2006 regional productions of the show of plagiarizing their direction, choreography and design,” according to playbill.com.
