Use of Disney songs in a panto

[georgiamh]

I have a friend who wants to use songs from "High School Musical" in a panto she is staging. I said I thought that as she would be making money from the production, there was probably some sort of copyright issue here (especially as it's Disney!) and she might have to get permission. Can anyone give me a definite answer on this please?

Thanks

[dundurn]

Yes you do need permission which they are under no obligation to grant. It can get quite difficult sometimes. I went to see a student production of 'Cabaret' a couple of years ago and several people commented that they couldn't understand why they had dropped 'Money, Money, Money' as it was one of the best songs in the show. The simple fact is that the song was written specially for the film and when you pay for the rights to the stage production of 'Cabaret' you don't get permission to use that song.