The Stage

Theatregoer wins refund over musical without live music

Published Tuesday 14 July 2009 at 16:00 by Alistair Smith

Salford’s Lowry Theatre has been forced to refund tickets to an audience member, who sued the venue under the Trade Descriptions Act because its Christmas musical The Wizard of Oz did not feature live music.

The judgement, which saw theatregoer Adrian Bradbury refunded £134.50 and given £50 legal costs, has been hailed by the Musicians’ Union, which claims that the case will give new weight to its ongoing Honesty Code campaign to ensure that musicals feature musicians playing live.

While the judge trying the claim insisted that the verdict did not set a precedent, MU general secretary John Smith said that the union would be using the case to put pressure on other producers and venues who failed to employ musicians when staging musical theatre.

He told The Stage: “The judge has said that it’s not precedential, but it certainly lays down an incredible marker as far as we’re concerned and we’ll be using it as we go forward. They shouldn’t pretend that it’s a full musical because, as the Lowry case indicated, everybody - including the judge - thought that if it’s a musical, they should have live musicians.”

Smith added: “We understand in certain circumstances, recorded music is going to be used - in which case, you let the audience know on the posters or the programme. We think that is how the venue should deal with it, by being honest with the public. This has given a real fillip to our honesty campaign.”

Kathleen Hamilton, principal officer at the Theatrical Management Association, said that the ruling would give theatres across the country “food for thought”, especially when it came to how they marketed musicals which featured recorded soundtracks.

“The TMA’s position is that we have an agreement with the MU that says if you are a member of the TMA, you should be using live music unless you have come to an agreement with the MU,” she said. “There are many musicals touring out there that aren’t using live music, but they aren’t TMA members. I think it’s more to do with how you market the show. Perhaps people are going to have to look into how they market them.”

Neither the Lowry nor Pele Productions, the producer of the show, are TMA members.

The Lowry said that Bradbury was the only audience member to complain about the lack of live music in the show. A spokesperson added: “Whilst we respect the judge’s decision, we are disappointed with the outcome. The judge based his decision on whether he thought that Mr Bradbury’s individual expectations were met.

“As a receiving house, the Lowry, like many other regional theatres, stages musicals which contain live musicians, or pre-recorded backing tracks. This depends entirely on the circumstances of the show and producer involved. The bulk of the musicals at the Lowry also tour under the same circumstances to other major theatres.”