Texas Church claims it had permission from "Hamilton Team" to perform show
by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder
A church in McAllen, TX is claiming today that it had permission from the legal team at ‘Hamilton’ to perform Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning show along with additions into the script to illustrate the teachings of Jesus Christ and deliver an anti-LGBTQ sermon at the conclusion of the performance.
This claim was first sent directly to me via email and then later stated during the church’s Sunday services. However, no evidence to prove their claims have been provided. (SEE UPDATE BELOW)
In an effort to quell the controversy surrounding their seemingly unauthorized performance of ‘Hamilton’, The Door McAllen Stated that they received permission from a lawyer who represents Hamilton Uptown LLC and Hamilton IP LLC.
Senior Pastor Ramon Gutierrez repeated the claim this morning during service.
He went on to say that the Hamilton legal team only asked that they take down the live stream they posted to Youtube.
At no point does Senior Pastor Ramon Gutierrez or anyone from the church say what lawyer they spoke to. Nor did they include that information in the email they sent me.
It should be noted that if this is true, this would be an unprecedented permission to use the license for a show. Not only would permission be given to do the full version of a show whose license isn’t publicly available, but also make significant edits to the script, Normally, neither are permitted. When you take into account that the show is currently performing on Broadway, the church’s claim becomes more and more unbelievable.
However, I will be more than happy to afford church officials at Door McAllen the opportunity to provide proof of their claims. I have also reached out to representatives with ‘Hamilton’ and will update you with any response I receive.
In the meantime, until the Door McAllen backs up their claim that they had permission to perform ‘Hamilton’ and make extensive edits to the text, you’ll have to forgive us for being more than a bit skeptical
UPDATE: The team at Hamilton have released a statement regarding this production. It should be noted that at no time did the church have the license to perform the show, nor make any edits to the script. They were given permission to perform the show on Saturday, with strict guidelines. It also appears this issue isn’t over yet. Click here to read more.