Texas Church To Pay Unspecified Damages For Altered ‘Hamilton’

deadline.com:

The Texas church that staged two performances of a highly altered and “Christianized” version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton has apologized for the unauthorized productions and will pay unspecified damages.In a statement posted today on its Instagram page, the Door Christian Fellowship Ministries in McAllen, Texas — commonly known as the Door McAllen Church and headed by Pastor Roman Gutierrez — acknowledges that it “did not ask for, or receive, a license from the producers or creators of Hamilton to produce, stage, replicate or alter any part of Hamilton; nor did we seek prior permission to alter Lin-Manuel Miranda’s work by changing the music, the lyrics, deleting songs, and adding dialogue.”Read the full statement below.“I recognize as the Pastor of the church that I have an obligation and responsibility to follow the law and educate our community about these protocols,” the statement, also posted on the church’s website, continued. “Our ministry will use this moment as a learning opportunity about protected artistic works and intellectual property.”In the statement, the church agrees to never stage the performances again, to destroy and and all video, sound recordings and images of the performances and rehearsals, and to “pay damages for our actions.”The altered productions made national headlines earlier this month when footage of the performances, staged by RGV Productions, which operates the church, went viral on social media.

The show, performed on August 5-6, altered lyrics to make specific reference to Christianity, including the line “Stop running from God, Alexander…His word says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and [wants] just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us.”In a sermon that