We did Grease in 2016 - so I was able to grab my file to see what we did to use these songs - here's some info:
Samuel French only holds the stage rights to GREASE - so to license the additional songs, you need to contact Warner/Chapell - and that contact information was in the licensing contract. Warner/Chapell, however, does not send you the sheet music. Samuel French can send copies of You're The One That I Want, and Hopelessly Devoted - for us it was an extra $200.
I received a questionnaire prior to our licensing application being fully accepted -and I had to submit a seating chart of our space (because they charge by the seat, not average sales history). One of the questions was: Will you be requesting permission to perform the movie songs - They are "Grease", "Sandy", "Hopelessly Devoted to You", and "You're the One That I Want"
One of the other documents in th efolder isa "Theatrical License Request Form" for the movie songs - and it says to allow 3-4 weeks for clearance of requests.
Hope this helps a bit! I will say that Grease was the most expensive show we ever produced for licensing costs and rental materials, etc (not production costs like costumes, lumber). Contract costs were over $9000 - we did 5 performances, and we have an 1100 seat house, tickets were $6-9. But we had to rent additional chorus books for $10 per person. Buy the script books for dialogue from SF. License additional songs through Warner/Chapell. It felt like a lot of nickel-and-diming because there are so many factors to take into consideration.
For years, I said that we'd never to do Grease - and that if we ever did, it would be because we either needed more community support for our program, or more money. At the time, we needed both. When everyone asks WHY? - I bring up the themes of the storyline - smoking, drinking, Rizzo's situation, Sandy changing to please a guy... it has toe-tapping music, but the messages are mixed at best. We did cover our costs - but we didn't sell out the place.
But if your audience members are like mine - they will want what they see on stage to closely resemble the movie - so we felt we needed to add those songs.
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Melissa Mintzer
Willow Street PA
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2020 21:48
From: Michael Busani
Subject: Grease Movie Song Licensing
Hello all!
I am directing a production of "Grease" and am wondering if anyone knows about the process of obtaining performance rights for the songs from the film version (You're the One that I Want, Sandy, Hopelessly Devoted to You, the title song). From what I understand, this is not something that the licensing company (Samuel French/Concord) is in charge of. If so, who is then? I really can't find any pathways online that lead me towards obtaining these rights.
Hopefully someone who has done this in the past can shed a little light!
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Michael Busani
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