There have been many rumors surrounding the reasons HHS’ spring musical has been changed to Grease, when Cinderella was originally scheduled to be presented.

It has been suggested that the change was due to multiple schools planning to perform the same show, and that Haverford’s production would lose originality. Another suspicion was that the school Drama Club did not have the money for extravagant props that were planned to be used. However, the true reason for the swap was that they simply could not get copyrights from the company that owns Cinderella.

Cinderella is currently being performed on Broadway, and therefore all other copyright uses for theatrical purposes are suspended. This means that for however long the copyright was paid for, Broadway now owns the musical of Cinderella and as such it is protected by copyright laws. No other production company has the right to produce the play, leaving many schools, Haverford included, left to find other musicals to perform.

After the play leaves Broadway the school board and Haverford’s Drama Board have already expressed interest in performing the musical. For now, though, Grease is a more-than-suitable replacement.