Fleetwood Mac Sound Engineer Sues ‘Stereophonic,’ Saying Play Used Copyrighted Material From Book
A former sound engineer who wrote a memoir about working on the Fleetwood Mac album Rumors is suing the creators of the Broadway play Stereophonic for allegedly stealing copyrighted material from the book.
In the suit, filed in the Southern District Court of New York this week, Kenneth Caillat, the former sound engineer, and his co-author Steven Stiefel, allege that playwright David Adjmi stole copyrighted material from their 2012 book Making Rumours to create the play, which won the 2024 Tony Award for best play. They allege scenes in the play are “substantially similar” to passages from the book and say the premise of setting the play in the recording studio, with the audience having the point of view of the sound engineer, replicates the trajectory of the book.
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“Utilizing the set in the recording studio, Stereophonic then presents a nearly identical story arc as Making Rumours, which Mr. Caillat described as “Ken’s Wild Ride.” Making Rumours depicts Mr. Caillat’s career and relationship with Fleetwood Mac during the making of the Rumours album, by introducing songs and key events in the order that Mr. Caillat experienced during the making of the album. Stereophonic uncannily duplicates this precise arc,” the suit alleges.
The plaintiffs are seeking to recover actual damages, to be determined as part of a jury trial, profits earned from the infringement, attorney fees and costs, and “if necessary, an injunction enjoining the performance of Stereophonic or any other exploitation of Plaintiffs’ book.” The suit is against Adjmi as well as the commercial Broadway producers, the theater owner and nonprofit developers of the play.
The play follows the tumultuous process of a band trying to create a hit album, with the band members composed of a drummer and two sets of couples — with one pair British and one pair American. As they create the album, the sound engineer, Grover, is depicted as one of the play’s main characters. Since opening on Broadway in April 2024, the suit estimates the play has grossed more than $20 million.
Adjmi earlier told The Hollywood Reporter that Fleetwood Mac, which had a similar band makeup and experience writing Rumours, was just one reference used for the play, among others, and that parts of the play were similar to his own artistic experience. He recently told the New Yorker, when asked about the similarities to Making Rumours, that “Any similarities to Ken Caillat’s excellent book are unintentional.”
In addition to having a similar premise, the suit claims that several scenes in the play mirror passages in the book, including a scene showing Grover how becomes a producer on the album, after being told by band member Holly to listen more closely to the tempos and keys during the recording session, to which they say is similar to Caillat’s promotion from sound engineer to producer on Rumours, as well as discussions on houseboat wars, which were present in the book, and Grover’s use of the catch phrase “Wheel’s Up” to start recording, which Caillat also used throughout the recording process, among other references.
The play features a scene showing Peter growing violent and angry towards Grover after Grover erases a track. Though Peter had asked Grover to erase the track, he later backtracks and says he wants to keep it, forgetting that he had made the request to delete it. He then storms out of the recording studio and grows physically violent toward Grover. This mirrors a scene in the book with Caillat and Lindsay Buckingham, in which Caillat says Buckingham tried to choke him, the suit alleges.
A spokesperson for Stereophonic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit further alleges that the success of Stereophonic has harmed the prospects for Caillat to adapt his book into a film, a process which he had been pursuing before learning of Stereophonic. In May, Adjmi said he’d been having “lots and lots of conversations” about plans for other productions of Stereophonic, as well as possible other adaptations, including a film version.
As it stands, Stereophonic is scheduled to run on Broadway through January 12, 2025.
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