Cruising The Past Cruise News

A New Corporate Giant BMG’s completed combination with Concord has created a major new force across music publishing, recordings, theatrical rights, film, television and digital distribution. The combined business now operates under the BMG name, bringing Concord’s vast theatrical licensing operation into a larger global company controlled primarily by Bertelsmann. ... Read More »

An Olivier-nominated West End success with a long London run has been marketed as if it were merely an elementary-school property, diminishing its artistic stature, weakening its market, and distorting Charles Schulz’s legacy. In the history of Peanuts on stage, two titles dominate the conversation: You’re a Good Man, Charlie ... Read More »

The Cap Arcona was considered one of the most beautiful ships of the time, launched in 1927, was the largest German ship on the South American run. In 1940, the Cap Arcona was taken over by the Kriegsmarine (the German Navy), painted overall gray, and used in the Baltic Sea as ... Read More »

A Monopoly Built on Neglect BMG Concord Theatricals has assembled an unprecedented monopoly in theatrical licensing, absorbing Samuel French, Dramatists Play Service, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Tams-Witmark, and Broadway Licensing Global. Yet under Chief Theatricals Executive Sean Patrick Flahaven — part-time NYU professor, part-time Broadway producer, part-time cast-recordings producer, and part-time ... Read More »

Mid-Century elegance on a 13-day Cruise to the Caribbean and South America from New York. Top-drawer with first-class accommodations, cuisine, and entertainment aboard a stylish American-built ship, one of the last ships flying the American flag. Romance in a different travel climate compared to today’s super cruise ships. Intimacy and ... Read More »

A Fiduciary Failure Concord Theatricals is the world’s most significant theatrical licensing company, representing thousands of plays and musicals. They are the paid trustees for a vast catalogue that includes classics like Our Town, The Sound of Music, The Phantom of the Opera, Arsenic and Old Lace, Twelve Angry Men, ... Read More »

After the WW II war, the MS BATORY returned to the Transatlantic trade following a refit in Antwerp in 1947. Beginning in May 1949 and lasting through January 1951, the BATORY of the Polish Ocean Lines was the subject of a series of political incidents relating to the Cold War ... Read More »

Sean Patrick Flahaven stands near the center of a theatrical empire that now controls or administers some of the most commercially valuable musical and dramatic properties in the English-speaking theater. Concord Theatricals combines the Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Tams-Witmark, Samuel French, and additional major imprints under one ... Read More »

Poland’s Gdynia America Line (GAL), two 14,000-tons passenger ships, the BATORY, and PILSUDSKI were the pride of the fleet. They began their trans-Atlantic run from Europe to America in the mid-1930s. Built-in Cantieri Riuniti del’ Adriatico Shipyard, Triest-Monfalcone (Italy), the twin liners were 526 feet (160,3 m) long and could ... Read More »

From Samuel French to Dramatists Play Service: Concord’s Musical Marketing Machine Leaves Classic Plays Like Life With Father Dead When Life With Father opened at the Empire Theatre on November 8, 1939, nobody could have predicted what was coming. The play, adapted by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse from Clarence ... Read More »

San Francisco as a cruise sales advantage Princess Cruises’ use of San Francisco as a homeport for Ruby Princess helps turn the city into more than just a departure point. The Port of San Francisco identifies the city as a homeport for Princess Cruises, and Princess’s own San Francisco cruise ... Read More »

“Elvis who?” On the threshold of fame, Elvis took the train. Photographer Alfred Wertheimer recalls uttering that very question in early 1956. A publicist from RCA Victor Records had contacted him, asking if he was available to photograph a young singer named Elvis Presley. “I’d never heard of the man,” ... Read More »