New York, NY (December 4, 2024)—Legendary producer/engineer Ken Caillat has tentatively settled a lawsuit filed against the producers and playwright of the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit, Stereophonic.
The play follows two engineers and a 1970s rock band resembling Fleetwood Mac as they record an album, and for Caillat, much of the story hit a little too close to home. The lawsuit, filed in October this year, accused the production and playwright David Adjmi of plagiarizing multiple plot points, scenarios, places and incidents from Caillat’s 2012 memoir, Making Rumours, which recounted how he recorded Fleetwood Mac’s 45-million-selling Rumours album.
On Monday, December 3, however, Caillat and his collaborator on the book, Steven Stiefel, filed, along with the defendants, a joint motion for adjournment of the case, signaling that a settlement is imminent. The motion noted that “the parties have resolved the dispute in principle as to all claims and defendants, and are working to commit their agreement to writing.” With the lawsuit’s initial conference between parties and the court due to take place Thursday, December 5, the tentative agreement appears to have been reached under the wire; the motion went on to say the final written settlement would be submitted before the end of the year.
Caillat and Stiefel’s Stereophonic lawsuit sought unspecified damages, and estimated that the play had grossed more than $20 million during its Broadway run up to the time of filing. Indeed, Stereophonic has been a hit ever since it opened Off-Broadway a year ago; at the time, Mix reviewed the Off-Broadway production, calling it “an ambitious undertaking, bringing an epic-length story…to the stage in a way that feels inviting to both those who know the recording world well and those who have never set foot in a studio.” Since moving to Broadway in April, 2024, the show has garnered numerous accolades, winning five Tony Awards including “Best Play.”
