Source: New York Daily News

Lull of Broadway

Musicals stay shut; no talks planned

By BEAGAN WILCOX, KERRY BURKE and PAUL H.B. SHIN DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Those Marching Feet: Broadway musicians and supporters rally through Times Square yesterday as a strike by theater unions continued into a second day.

Kevin Richardson of the Backstreet Boys shows his support for striking musicians.

Broadway musicals remained dark for a second day yesterday as producers continued a tense standoff with striking musicians. But live music filled the Theater District when hundreds of orchestra members and their supporters marched through the streets, buoyed by an unexpectedly strong show of solidarity among key unions.

The impromptu performance did little, however, to ease a day of confusion and dashed hopes for theatergoers, who found themselves in the middle of the most bitter labor dispute on Broadway in nearly three decades.

"I come all the way from Georgia, and there's no show. I can't believe it," said Paul Coplin, 57, a physician who had tickets for "Movin' Out" and "Hairspray" this weekend.

"It's the patrons that ultimately suffer," said Tony Whetstone, 17, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., who had to ditch plans to see "Aida." Like thousands of other ticketholders, Coplin had to scramble to get refunds and find substitute straight plays or Off-Broadway shows, which were unaffected by the strike.

Eighteen musicals were canceled through today, with actors and stagehands honoring picket lines set up Friday by the American Federation of Musicians Local 802.

It was unclear when performances would resume. No talks between the union and the League of American Theatres and Producers were scheduled by last evening.

The two sides have failed to hammer out a deal over the minimum size of orchestras employed by Broadway musicals - currently three to 26 musicians, depending on the size of the theater.

A little movement

Producers wanted to abolish orchestra minimums altogether, but softened their position through the week. Their latest offer was for a minimum of 15 at the largest theaters, where the current minimum is 24 to 26.

The loss of revenue from shutting down the 18 musicals was $1.2 million per performance, said Jed Bernstein, president of the League of American Theatres and Producers. That means each show will lose a total of $4.8 million from four canceled performances this weekend alone. The last time musicians went on strike was 1975, when nine shows went dark for three weeks.

Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday he was worried about the economic impact of a prolonged strike and urged both sides to settle as quickly as possible.

Broadway shows sold 11.4 million tickets last year. Producers estimated that Broadway as a whole generated $4.4 billion in economic activity for the city.

Theater District restaurants took a huge hit yesterday.

"In a word: terrible," sighed Craig Dawson, manager of Barrymore's on W. 45th St. "We're down 60%, 70%. ...Most of the business has been strikers coming for cocktails."

Sardi's, which usually caters to about 1,100 customers a night, saw just 200 last evening.

"We hope cooler heads will prevail by Monday or Tuesday," said Sardi's general manager, Max Klimavicius. "We've already had drags on the economy with the terrorist threats, Wall Street, the imminent war. I can't begin to think [the impact of] what an extended strike might have on business."

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