A side-by-side survey of the theater industry’s three dominant licensing houses — Music Theatre International, Theatrical Rights Worldwide, and Concord Theatricals — produces a clear ranking, and Concord, despite controlling the largest catalog of the three, comes in last. Now that BMG’s roughly $14 billion acquisition folds Concord into a ... Read More »

Overview Concord Theatricals has emerged as the dominant force in theatrical licensing through aggressive acquisitions, but its rapid growth has come with significant service quality concerns from theater directors, educators, and community theater practitioners. Industry feedback consistently points to slower response times, higher licensing fees, and customer service friction compared ... Read More »

Sony’s late? 2025 move to take majority control of the Peanuts franchise gave it a powerful new family brand — and a complicated theatrical legacy. Alongside familiar holiday specials and comic-strip nostalgia, Sony inherited a long-running dispute over Snoopy!!! The Musical, its production history, its licensing treatment, and its relationship ... 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, this conglomerate has failed at its most basic function: serving the creators ... Read More »

In the age before cheap jet fares and mega?ships, there was another way to cross the Pacific from California to the Far East—quiet, deliberate, and limited to just twelve souls on board. American President Lines’ luxury cargoliners of the 1950s and 1960s turned the workaday business of hauling freight between ... Read More »

26 Miles of Pride: Hot Men, Catalina Nights, and Beach Boys Dreams This Pride video cruises off the California coast to Avalon, set to the sunny, nostalgic vibe of a classic Beach Boys–style “26 Miles (Santa Catalina)” track as gorgeous men turn Catalina Island into their playground. The camera drifts ... Read More »

Concord Theatricals Is Run Mostly by Women. Its Legacy Catalog Was Written Mostly by Men. A department-by-department analysis of Concord Theatricals’ publicly listed UK and USA management and senior staff — 107 people in total — reveals a striking gender pattern: women hold nearly two-thirds of listed roles, and dominate ... Read More »

J. Pierpont Morgan Jr. could never imagine his yacht Corsair IV would be turned into a deluxe cruise ship just after World War 2  whose short career with voyages from California would end in tragedy, but it happened. J.P. Morgan Jr. and his legendary business tycoon father, J. Pierpont Morgan, ... Read More »

The Acapulco, a 24,400-ton cruise ship formerly sailed between New York and the Caribbean under the name S.S. Nassau. The ship was renovated in Glasgow, Scotland. Advertising pitch in the San Francisco Examiner: Sailing on the blue Pacific! You’ll love the SS Acapulco and the all-one-class shipboard life. Latin music ... Read More »

West Hollywood’s Chasen’s was a glamorous world – “Celebrity chefs” will never replace stylish hosts and personalities like Dave Chasen, Vincent Sardi or Mike Romanoff. I had dinner at Chasen’s many times. First, with my parents and then later on when I became a writer/producer. Dinner with Groucho Marx, who ... Read More »

Social History: ROXY THEATRE “The Cathedral of the Motion Picture” If a picture is worth a thousand words, then one look at photos of this palatial movie palace is worth about a million. Often cited as the most impressive movie palace ever built, the Roxy Theatre was called “The Cathedral ... Read More »

The Best Years of Our Lives opened in the first fragile calm after the Second World War, at a moment when millions of Americans were trying to remember what ordinary life even looked like. It is not a film about battles or strategy. It is about the uneasy return home, ... Read More »