Broadway goes dark: Actors back striking musicians

[Big-O Mark]

Broadway goes dark: Actors back striking musicians

Friday, March 7, 2003

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Theaters along the Great White Way went dark on Friday after Broadway actors and stagehands said they would not cross picket lines set up by striking musicians.

The League of American Theatres and Producers said all musical shows for this weekend had been canceled. "This is a sad night for Broadway and for New York," said League President Jed Bernstein.

Theater ticketholders at 17 Broadway musicals were left stranded after the musicals said they would not make their traditional 8 p.m. opening curtain.

Musicians, striking since midnight on Thursday, are in a dispute with producers over the minimum size of orchestras.

The League of American Theatres and Producers was prepared to replace live music with prerecorded, computer-generated "virtual music" beginning with Friday's shows.

But the job action by the 652 unionized actors added considerable weight to the musicians' battle to save their numbers from being cut.

"Our members have made it clear that they do not wish to perform to virtual orchestras," said Patrick Quinn, president of the Actors' Equity Association.

Unionized stagehands with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees told the actors' union they would honor the picket lines as well, Quinn said.

Actors, who could lose $1.3 million in weekly salary if shows fail to open, were set to join musicians' picket lines around the city's Theater District.

"Virtual orchestras are not live music -- it's a computer program that sounds like a roller rink," said Harvey Fierstein, who is appearing in "Hairspray," at the union's news conference. "A machine is a dead thing, and that is not why people go to live theater."

The two sides were still negotiating, they said.

Broadway producers complained at an earlier news conference that many shows do not need the 26-musician orchestras required in the current contract, leaving them with "walkers," or hired musicians who sit on the sidelines collecting salary.

"We love live music, but know of no other industry where workers are paid, but not needed," said League representative Barry Weissler, producer of the hit musical "Chicago."

Producers called the current system an "archaic" one that unfairly limits their creative control.

Musicians, who currently make a base salary of $1,350 per week, said the producers' demand is about saving money and would put musicians out of work.

"This is my full-time job and a good chunk of my income," said Ray Kilday, a bassist picketing the Marquis Theater, where he plays in the orchestra for "Thoroughly Modern Millie."

Kilday, who has played on Broadway for 22 years, added that "beefed up synthesizers" will sap performances' human quality.

Julia Kim, 23, waiting to buy tickets in Times Square, agreed. She decided to go to a show with live music after hearing about the strike.

"That's the whole point of going to the theater," she said. "Otherwise you can just listen to this stuff at home."

But Shirley Aninias, a 27-year-old New Yorker hoping to see the musical "Mama Mia," had no objection to recorded music. "I can't tell if they are playing live or not anyway."

The dispute between the League and the American Federation of Musicians Local 802 centers on New York's largest theaters, where owners want to cut orchestras to 14 musicians.

The producers said the union was unwilling to cut minimum orchestra sizes by more than six players.

Local 802 called its last Broadway strike in September 1975 and nine musicals were shuttered for 25 days.

[DADINK13]

That's not gonna be good at all. Les Miz closes next Saturday--what's gonna happen if the strike is still going on?

[fuuucckkers]

I heard about this earlier when my parents were watching the Fox News Channel. Apparently all Broadway is coming to a standstill until this gets resolved.