Business (1) - Task A - The Really Useful Group

• Name:   The Really Useful Group Ltd (RUG)
• Established:   1997 // Andrew Lloyd Webber // The company was set up when Lloyd Webber became frustrated with the terms of his contract with an impresario, so he took more control of the management side. In 1990, Lloyd Webber took his company in to complete private ownership.
• Notable productions:   Cats // Evita // Jesus Christ Superstar // Love Never Dies // The Phantom of the Opera // School of Rock // Starlight Express // Sunset Boulevard // Tell me on a Sunday
• UK Theatres:    Adelphi // Cambridge // Her Majesty's // London Palladium // New London // Theatre Royal 
• How it is organised:    The group has many divisions: Really Useful Theatre Company, Really Useful films, Really Useful Records, Really Useful Theatres, and Really Useful Magazines. // Max Alexander (former managing director of TalkTalk) is managing director, in charge of the corporate side // Jessica Koravos (formerly RUG vice president) is president, in charge of overseeing productions and professional licencing // Executive chairman is Mark Wordsworth.
• How it is funded:    It is a private company, with 100% of the composer's work belonging to the company alone. RUG "floated on the stock market", and was later bought by Seagram (a Canadian beverages company) and finally ended up as a private company.
• How it programmes it's productions:   The company has many shows running at any one time in a variety of different theatres around the world, therefore casts are different // The only thing that is consistent across shows is the composer // They advise through social media, media and merchandise.
• Work outside of their performances:    Lloyd Webber's shows have been produced as films // Licences for many of Lloyd Webber's shows are available for amateur groups to purchase // Really Useful records produce cast recordings of shows // Many of his musicals are either West End or Broadway, but do tour as well
• http://www.reallyuseful.com/about-us/the-really-useful-group/ 
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Really_Useful_Group 
• https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2016/really-useful-group-restructure-splits-creatives-and-corporate-arms/