Word: stigwood
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Dates: during 1971-1971
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British Producer Robert Stigwood is cheerfully predicting that the show, in all its numerous concert and stage guises and disguises, will gross $20 million by this time next year. Whether the crowds who come get their money's worth or not, they are likely to be at least as stirred to pleasure or rage as the first-night audience was. They can hardly be more divided than the New York critics, whose judgment ranged from "flat, pallid and actually pointless" (Post) to "stunningly effective" (Daily News...
Fortunately, critics did not have to review Stigwood's opening-night party for 1,000, which took place at The Tavern on the Green. Like an army of extras for a Fellini movie, the guests turned out to nibble at hams decorated to resemble Indonesian masks, and to dance until 4 a.m. to live rock. Transvestites right out of The Damned, complete with dark red lipstick and 1930s feather boas, shouldered their way slinkily past matrons from Westchester. One unidentified chap wore a beige net jumpsuit with nothing on underneath, and a woman in gray velvet knickers pulled...
...incredible skein of dramatic rights, record rights, concert rights, managers' cuts, royalties, subsidiaries and merchandisers' rights (buttons, T shirts) holds Superstar together. But infringement suits and restraining orders, just to keep people from pirating words and music, have cost MCA and Producer-Manager Stigwood $125,000 in lawyers' fees already this year. Their record to date: 15 court actions, dozens of unauthorized shows closed down. With the success of the original LP, Stigwood moved toward developing a stage version and launching touring concerts less than a year ago, only to find that he had been beaten to the punch...
Such infringements were mostly overlooked, especially at first. But as real pirate shows proliferated, MCA and Stigwood swung into action. Even an order of nuns in Sydney, Australia, were smitten like false prophets for planning their own staged production. "Like all Christians, these nuns believe Jesus Christ is theirs," explained Sydney Impresario Harry M. Miller, sternly adding, "What they are forgetting is that there is such a thing as copyright...
Beyond, or below, the reach of Stigwood and MCA, the cash and carrying on over Jesus as an exploitable product continues briskly. Declaring that romantic films are through for now, Italian Director Franco Zeffirelli (Romeo and Juliet] has just announced that he is planning what he calls a "factual" film, to be called The Assassination of Christ. "This decade should be one of spiritual awakening," continues Zeffirelli, "not even a movie director should ignore it." Among those not ignoring it are the Pop and head shops offering Jesus Christ jockey shorts. And for the ladies: Jesus Christ bikinis. A radio...