MetaChat - Broadway Strike Update

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18 November 2007

Broadway Strike Update The League of Theatres & Producers and the stagehands union were in negotiations all weekend, but they just fell apart. Performances of all but the 8 unaffected shows canceled through next Sunday, November 25th (aka through the huge Thanksgiving holdiay weekend). I expect we'll start to see closing notices in the next day or two. This sucks.

post by: ThePinkSuperhero at: 23:37 | 19 comments

NOOOOOO! I promised to take the girly to see The Lion King and the Natural History Museum for her birthday. They'd better clear this shit up by January!

posted by jrossi4r 18 November | 23:48

That does suck, for everybody involved. I've seen maybe four Broadway productions in my life, and enjoyed them all (except maybe for the Phantom of the Opera, which I slept through -- in my defense, I was severely jet lagged from flying back from India the day before). I was supposed to see Cyrano de Bergerac this past Friday, though, and I'm sad I didn't get to. I hope they work out their problems.

posted by Lassie 18 November | 23:53

It particularly sucks for all those caught in the crossfire- all those working on cancelled productions who find themselves suddenly without full paychecks (I know actors are getting a strike stipend; not sure about other production workers), and all those whose business depends on people going to the theatre (restaurants, bars, parking garage attendants, hotels, ticket brokers). The mayor has said, in the past, that Broadway is NYC's "biggest tourist attraction", and to not have that going on- gah. Bad for all of us.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 18 November | 23:59

I (very unwillingly) spent two days this weekend in Times Square. The restaurants and bars I went to (Tony's, Heartland, the Belgian place next to Heartland, and Jimmy's Corner) all seemed to be a little off, business-wise. I'd have thought that people would spend more time at the bars and restaurants now that their shows were canceled. Perhaps they all went to off- and off-off-Broadway shows instead?

posted by Lassie 19 November | 00:09

Off-Broadway is making a killing, that's for sure (if you watch the NYTimes slideshow on people affected by the strike, off-Broadway producer Ken Davenport can barely hide his glee), at least it was for the first few days when people were stuck in town, wondering what to do. Now that the word is out that Broadway is shut down for the next WEEK, I think things will only get worse, because people will rearrange their plans outside of the Times Square area, or simply cancel their trips all together.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 19 November | 00:16

I will probably do as the mayor suggested and try to take my restaurant business into the Times Square area.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 19 November | 00:19

I will probably do as the mayor suggested and try to take my restaurant business into the Times Square area.

Well, thanks to my out of town guests, apparently I was ahead of the curve this weekend (for a change!).

posted by Lassie 19 November | 00:23

How random- through one of the theatre chat boards I frequent, I just found out that the off-Broadway theatre producer I mentioned above has a blog.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 19 November | 00:39

I was supposed to see The Farnsworth Invention Tuesday...this makes the second show I'll have to reschedule, and I won't be able to do so until the strike is over; the box offices are closed for the duration.

posted by brujita 19 November | 01:35

Was it The Finglonger?

posted by TheDonF 19 November | 06:16

;-P Noooo, TV---which I rarely watch.

posted by brujita 19 November | 06:22

jrossi4r, you can still take her to the Natural History Museum....and here's Time Out NY Kids link for other stuff to do.

posted by brujita 19 November | 06:34

Is it conceivable that Bloomberg would order the Stagehands back to work and them impose some sort of arbitration?

It seems like the producers want very draconian changes and the stagehands want to maintain status quo, which means, in the face of it, over-staffing in some cases.

From my readings of it, I think I could come up with some sort of fair middle ground, and I am sure that some expert disinterested observer could arbitrate.

Seems like an economic emergency, doesn't it?

posted by danf 19 November | 11:11

The mayor has said, and I agree, that this is a private business matter and he will not intervene in any dramatic way. He offered to mediate the talks, at one point before the strike began, but his offer was turned down.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 19 November | 11:53

WRT binding or mandatory arbitration, my understanding is that such clauses in private employment are solely a matter of contracts -- in other words, if there is no binding arbitration clause in the employment contract, then one cannot be subsequently imposed by a third party (mayor, court, etc.). Obviously, with public employees in New York, the Taylor Law applies. I could be wrong about this, though I'd prefer not to be since I don't think the mayor should order them into arbitration.

posted by Lassie 19 November | 12:06

I could do that, brujita, but seeing the Lion King is The Present. Everything else is icing on the birthday cake. She's obsessed with the Lion King and falls asleep to either the Broadway or movie soundtrack just about every night.

Thanks a bunch for that link, though. When we finally do get there, we're going to want to cram as much into the weekend as possible.

posted by jrossi4r 19 November | 15:18

I really, really hope this thing doesn't go on into the new year, and I can't imagine both sides want to hold their breath for that long, so I think/hope Lion King will be safe come January!

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 19 November | 15:44

I hope so, too, TPS. It's killing me that I can't make plans, though. I'm a planner. I'd like to have everything sewn up by now.

Tangentially related anecdote: My best friend's four-year-old son is also totally obsessed with The Lion King. One day it occurred to him that he'd never met her mother, so he started asking questions. "I'm sorry, honey," she said, "my mother died before you were born." Then she got a little choked up and braced herself for the oncoming questions about death. But he just put his little hand on her arm and said tenderly, and with understanding, "Oh. Hyenas got her?"

posted by jrossi4r 19 November | 16:03

"Oh. Hyenas got her?"

*heart melts*

posted by deborah 19 November | 16:54

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