The Enid Blyton Society

Rob Houghton wrote:I think Miss Saigon was also recently filmed live on stage and is now out on DVD.

You're right about Miss Saigon. It was shown in cinemas before being released on DVD. Tony mentioned it in a recent post, along with several other musicals that were also filmed:

Tony Summerfield wrote:I actually saw Evita in London with the original cast (Elaine Paige and David Essex), and there certainly isn't a DVD of it, it is only much more recently that stage productions of musicals in the UK have been released on DVD (From Here to Eternity, Billy Elliot, Gypsy and Miss Saigon)...

I think newer musicals or newer productions are pretty easy to get hold of because virtually everyone now has some sort of recording device and even the basic cheap ones give fairly good quality. Whereas typically, the ones I like and want are the old ones where there is unlikely to be any decent footage if any at all!

I think it is disgusting that people film these musicals, they are specifically asked not to and it is illegal anyway. As for them being sold I am surprised that there are people who are prepared to buy them, they are undoubtedly very poor quality and I guess that these people are also breaking the law as they are knowingly buying what are effectively 'stolen goods'. Shame on them!

I agree - as a member of an amateur musical society, we have to jump through hoops just to film a video of our productions for our own keepsakes. We have to have an official video-taker and we have to pay a fee to the copyright holders, even though we only sell it amongst our members and never make a profit. Because its copyrighted we have to tell a white lie and say its for 'training purposes'. Now there are phones that take video, there are always people sitting in the audience filming and taking photos - even if they are told not to. Its just plain rude, as well as illegal. In fact, our company can be found liable if a member of the public videos our show illegally.

Tony Summerfield wrote:I think it is disgusting that people film these musicals, they are specifically asked not to and it is illegal anyway. As for them being sold I am surprised that there are people who are prepared to buy them, they are undoubtedly very poor quality and I guess that these people are also breaking the law as they are knowingly buying what are effectively 'stolen goods'. Shame on them!

Totally agree. Most amateur films of stage shows are pretty awful anyway — I would only ever buy a DVD that had been filmed professionally and legitimately.

Anita Bensoussane wrote: Yes, I've got Love Never Dies as a filmed stage version. It was filmed in Australia in 2011, at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne

Now that's cool. I love the Regent Theatre, which is one of the best in Melbourne — I'll never forget seeing The Lion King on stage there with my family nearly 11 years ago (where does the time go??). Love Never Dies isn't one that would grab me (bit too creepy), but I do love seeing musicals live on stage.

The only musical I ever saw, if it could be called a musical, was Jeff Wayne's The War Of The Worlds. This was back in 2007. I loved it.

Tony Summerfield wrote:I think it is disgusting that people film these musicals, they are specifically asked not to and it is illegal anyway.

I am surprised that this happens as I would have thought the person would be spotted by staff. If it does happen, I would think sales wouldn't warrant the trouble involved. As Tony said, the quality would be poor. I am sure no Blyton reader would stoop so low.

Bannerman65 wrote:The only musical I ever saw, if it could be called a musical, was Jeff Wayne's The War Of The Worlds. This was back in 2007. I loved it.

I'm always pulled up short when I realise some people have never seen any musicals, lol! They are such a big part of my life, I can't imagine life without them!! It's sometimes easy to forget we all have different tastes.

Courtenay wrote:

Anita Bensoussane wrote: Yes, I've got Love Never Dies as a filmed stage version. It was filmed in Australia in 2011, at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne

Now that's cool. I love the Regent Theatre, which is one of the best in Melbourne — I'll never forget seeing The Lion King on stage there with my family nearly 11 years ago (where does the time go??). Love Never Dies isn't one that would grab me (bit too creepy), but I do love seeing musicals live on stage.

I think Love Never Dies is one of the best films of a live stage musical that I have seen. After it flopped in London, Andrew Lloyd Webber himself took it to Australia and worked on it for several weeks and completely revamped it. The acting is superb, the sets are magnificent and ALW was so pleased with the result that he insisted on it being filmed and released on DVD. Anybody who likes 'Phantom' would love this new version of its sequel.

As I posted on another thread, I am borrowing a copy of a school production of the Pirates of Penzance that I was in 30 years ago. At the time I believe there was the option to purchase a video copy of the show, but it was too expensive for us, however we did purchase an audio copy of it. I've no idea of copyright procedure, I assume the school would have looked into that. I am now in the process of making a copy of the video. I know it was filmed by the father of 2 of the children in the play, but I don't know if it was the 'official' copy, or one that he made. Back in the 1980s, it wouldn't have been cheap to own a camcorder, and I do feel a little bit guilty that I'm going to get a copy for next to nothing, but as I have no idea how to get hold of the original owner, I don't know what I could do. Hopefully he would be pleased that I'm getting so much pleasure from seeing the show after all these years.

Copyright of Gilbert and Sullivan shows ran out many years ago - which is why we can now do pretty much anything to their productions! So there is no copyright on Pirates of Penzance (unless it is the newer 'Broadway Version' which is more of a pop version.

Moonraker wrote:I am surprised that this happens as I would have thought the person would be spotted by staff.

I'd have thought so too. Even if staff didn't spot that someone was recording the show, surely other members of the audience sitting nearby would notice - and perhaps even the actors!

Spitty no-one ever recorded Enid Blyton Society days....

The day when there was the introduction of the Enid Blyton film, Oscar Spain (I think) started to take photos and was immediately asked to stop this.

There is about 10 minutes of an EB day here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is0IITPNFFo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The person directly in front of the person recording this is Dick Kirrin. (Blue shirt)