This is a hard one for me...
Performance rights to musicals, even for a community theatre, can be HORRIBLY expensive (Rodgers & Hammerstein or Andrew Lloyd Webber anyone?). If the group wants to do musicals, they should first take into consideration how much the performance will cost from the start - how much is the music & script rental, how much the performance rights will be. Sometimes groups get stars in their eyes(lol) about a particular show and realize after everything's decided that it will cost a lot of $$$$$ just to get the rights and to rent all the scripts and scores. Could the group do a talent show/review/small cast show strictly as a fund-raiser?
In every community theatre musical production around here, even if no-one else gets *anything* (like the actors or the director), the musicians always get paid. One reason might be because there are a lot of professionals and experienced amateurs in this area, so the good ones can afford to be picky. If possible, I think the musicians *should* get paid. That being said, if the choice was either pay the musicians or don't do the show... I suppose I'd ask the musicians what they would like to do (sounds like maybe that's what's happened with you?).
Here's something happens around here all the time. Local groups have a show all picked out (and the early stuff paid-for), but the performance rights will get yanked out from underneath them because a national tour will be in the area during the community theatre's run of the show. Now *that's* fun, scrambling-around to find a show at the last-minute.
agnes!
