Texas church apologises after unauthorised Hamilton musical goes viral

Lyrics and dialogue were rewritten to include ‘Christian themes’

A church in Texas has apologised to Hamilton writer Lin-Manuel Miranda after staging an unauthorised version of the hit musical, featuring rewritten lyrics to include Christian themes.

Clips of The Door Christian Fellowship McAllen Church’s alternative rendition of the production began spreading across the internet on 5 August after it was livestreamed for the first time.

In the church’s version of the show, all about US founding father Alexander Hamilton, lyric substitutions included the line “Lock up your daughters and horses” becoming “Lock up your secrets and horses”; and “It’s hard to have intercourse over four sets of corsets” changing to “It’s hard to keep them from me when I’m coming for your sources.”

The production also included an ending sermon that offered help for people “struggling with homosexuality”.

Legal staff for Hamilton contacted the church with a cease-and-desist letter after clips began circulating on social media.

On Tuesday (23 August), Roman Gutierrez, a pastor for Door McAllen, shared a message on Instagram, apologising for their production and promising to never perform it again.

“The Door Christian Fellowship McAllen Church did not ask for, or receive, a license from the producers or creators of Hamilton to produce, stage, replicate or alter any part of Hamilton; nor did we seek prior permission to alter Lin-Manuel Miranda’s work by changing the music, the lyrics, deleting songs, and adding dialogue,” the statement reads.

“And it is never permissible to alter an artistic work such as Hamilton without legal permission. Our ministry will use this moment as a learning opportunity about protected artistic works and intellectual property.”

The message also confirmed that the church would destroy their copies and will pay damages for their actions.

In a further statement to Dallas News, the church clarified it was not anti-LGBT+, saying “everyone is welcome”.