I am a magician and am putting together a stage show. This stage show would feature an original story line written by myself, however, I plan on using copyrighted characters. This is just a local show, but I don't know if I need to seriously worry about copyright laws concerning music and characters that are not owned by me. I have some friends in the theater who told me that they have to pay a certain amount every time they have a run of a show. For example, let's say they do an eight week run of Evil Dead: The Musical; they have to pay a certain fee for using the material. If anyone could help me with some information I would appreciate it. Thank you.

