Since a stagehand strike was finally implemented on Saturday morning, after several months of threats from both the theatre owners (to lock the stagehands out) and the workers (to withdraw their labour) unless they could come to an agreement on a new contract, 28 Broadway shows have been dark – while eight others are still able to play, either because they are in non-profit houses or other theatres that are covered by separate contracts with the stagehand union, Local One. But tonight the Great White Way will turn into the Great Dark Way, since none of those eight shows play on Mondays.
The public impact of the strike is already huge – proving, yet again, what an economic driver the theatre provides to the city. Estimates from the League of American Theatres and Producers, reported in The Stage, put the cost to the city of some $17m per day, taking into account box office losses with the ripple effect on surrounding local businesses that depend on theatregoer traffic.
Michael Bloomberg, New York mayor, issued a statement on Saturday saying, “While this is a private labor matter, the economic impact is very public and will be felt far beyond the theaters closed today.” And the impact may last long beyond the current closures: in the immediate instance, there are the individual stories of disappointment and dismay from those upon whose support the commercial theatre utterly depends; ticket buyers. The theatre loses their confidence at their peril. (Finally initiating the strike on Saturday morning, the union gave the theatres no opportunity for them to try to contact theatregoers who would be affected, and the union lost round one in the public relations stakes when the first show to be hit was a children’s show at 11am that day, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which meant that photographs of disappointed crying children became the first images to be associated with the strike).
But since the union is, at the moment, also refusing to resume negotiations, there may be no income left to protect even if and when they do finally decide to return to work: many shows may be in real trouble if it continues, and could close before the strike ends. Some, like Cyrano de Bergerac or Rock ‘n’ Roll that have come to Broadway on limited runs already will have their chances of recoupment entirely scuppered; and productions like it, that are risky to begin with, will simply stop happening. Then there are the shows that are currently previewing, like The Farnsworth Invention (due to officially open on Wednesday), the import from the National of Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer (due to open on Thursday) and August: Osage County, that may well have to postpone their openings, if they don’t close before they open, that is.
This is a precarious enough industry as it is; and everything must be done to end the dispute before more damage is done. Though the issues being fought over extend far beyond the individual circumstances of each show or theatre patron who attempts to see them, every show and every ticket sold (or lost) counts. But not every one is suffering losses: as Playbill.com reports today, “The little bit of good news seems to be that those Broadway shows that are open for business are benefiting from the lack of options. In fact, Xanadu sold out its matinee and evening performances Nov. 10, and only standing room was available for Spelling Bee’s 8 PM performance. Off-Broadway shows are also seeing more customers. Three Mo’ Tenors was completely sold out for its Saturday matinee, and a ticket seller at the TKTS booth said that although there are less people in line than normal, Off-Broadway shows are selling better than normal”.
The whole thing is a mess, and spin is going back and forth across the city and the net: the producers and owners are putting out press releases and news left and right, but the union by-laws are preventing Local One and its members from providing the detailed rebuttals necessary to win over the press and public. Amidst the issues of the strike, it's worth pointing out that Young Frankenstein, with its $450 tickets, is still open through the strike. Given that the rising cost of premium seats has been used as fuel for the stagehands' fire, it's ironic that the show they feel to be most detrimental hasn't been affected.
Also not mentioned in the press, but brought up by a poster at Broadway World is the ripple effect the strike is also having on Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, a charity which holds post-show donation drives much as "Acting for Others" (right name? This US transplant is still adjusting) does in London. The drive lasts six weeks, and has only been up for one or two to this point, meaning that the charity is likely to be down quite a few dollars this year.
Negativity aside, congratulations to Xanadu, continuing to prove itself as a little show that could.
Interestingly RZ, we saw eight shows in six days during the strike and were asked to contribute to Broadway Cares at just about every show *except* Young Frankenstein (both times). Don't know what that's all about.
Andrew: The shows still open ask, but the ones closed due to the strike are the 27 biggest shows in NYC, coming to some 30,000+ possible donations per performance. Multiply that by all the missed dates during the strike and it adds up to a lot of money.