Broadway Negotiations Strike A Chord
Broadway show producers and striking musicians reached an agreement early Tuesday morning to settle their dispute.
"We have great news," said New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. "Broadway is no longer dark."
The two sides had been bargaining for nearly 12 hours through the night at the mayoral mansion in New York City, reports WCBS-AM Reporter Sean Adams.
The strike shut down 18 musicals since last week.
Both sides said that after four days without the shows, the theaters would reopen Tuesday night. "We went out together, and we're going back together," said union head Bill Moriarity.
After a weekend of lights out on Broadway, Bloomberg called musicians and producers back to negotiations Monday.
"I pointed out to them the severe economic impact on a city still recovering from the terrible tragedy of the September 11th attack, the financial hardships being experienced by those employed in this and related industries and the disappointment of theatergoers from around the world that the strike was causing," Bloomberg said Monday.
The dispute was over minimums, the smallest number of musicians required for a Broadway orchestra. That figure is set by the size of the theater, with the largest houses currently requiring 24 to 26 musicians.
The new minimum size for an orchestra will be 18-19 musicians in the larger theaters, reports Adams.
"This was an extremely difficult negotiation," said Jed Bernstein, speaking for the theater owners. "Neither side got everything it wanted."
The producers initially demanded no minimums, then offered seven. They raised that on Friday to 15 for the biggest theaters, but the musicians' union refused the proposal.
Hundreds of visitors to New York waited in lines Monday to get their money back, since the musicians strike has shut down Broadway musicals.
This was not what Drew and Kalli Ziegler of North Carolina came to see, CBS News reports.
"We wanted to see 3 shows; We wanted to see the "Phantom," "The Producers" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie," they told CBS News.
Instead they spent the day trying to get a rain check or in this case, a strike check.
The battle was being waged on already shaky economic ground, said Jonathan Tisch, chairman of the city's agency for tourism. Tisch warned of "significant job losses" if the strike is not resolved.
Broadway's total economic contribution to the city is estimated at more than $4 billion yearly, tourism and theater officials say.
Restaurants, hotels, taxis and others who depend on theatergoers lost more than $7 million over the weekend, and their losses could snowball to $50 million in a week if the strike goes unresolved, according to the city tourism agency and the theater producers.
In lost box office revenue alone, they said, canceling the musicals cost $4.8 million over the weekend.
Pickets went up at all musical houses except Studio 54 where "Cabaret," which operates under a separate contract, was the only Broadway musical playing.
Seven dramatic plays, including "Take Me Out," "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" and "Vincent in Brixton," remained opened, as did all off-Broadway productions, both plays and musicals.
It was the decision by the actors and stagehands not to cross picket lines that forced producers to shut down their shows. Until then, they had planned to use computer-generated, virtual orchestras to replace the striking musicians.