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ATPAM: News: HL0303B

NEWS

March 7, 2003

Hitting the B'way bricks

Strike called; talks continued into early-morning

By Robert Hofler

NEW YORK -- Broadway's musicans called a strike at 12:01 a.m. today after a bid for an 11th-hour settlement with producers came up short.

The shows will go on, albeit with "virtual orchestras" of synthesized or recorded music, the producers maintain.

As of midnight, the American Federation of Musicians Local 802 and the League of American Theaters & Producers had not come to an agreement after weeks of negotiations. Their old contract expired Sunday. On Sunday, Local 802 extended the talks deadline to midnight Thursday.

Although the union called its strike, talks continued into the early-morning hours. If an agreement is reached prior to 8 p.m. today, the shows could go on as scheduled with live orchestras. In the event there is no settlement, however, the musicians will walk. It remains to be seen whether stagehands and actors will cross the musicians' picket lines.

The sticking point in the negotiations has been the hot-button issue of minimums, a requirement that specifies a set number of musicians to be hired for tuners housed at various Broadway theaters, which the producers see as feather-bedding. Depending on the size of the venue, the minimums range from three to 26 musicians.

In 1993, the two groups averted a strike by agreeing to so-called "special situations." Since then, seven musicals, including "Mamma Mia!" and "Urban Cowboy," have been granted union approval to use fewer musicians than the minimum number. In the case of Disney's "Aida," Local 802 refused to lower the number, causing the producers to take their case to an arbitration board, which ruled in Disney's favor.

In current negotiations, the league and the union had altered the language governing special situations to make it agreeable to both groups. However, the two sides remained far apart on the issue of minimums. Before Saturday, the league had refused even to put the issue on the table. Over the weekend, the org's lawyers proposed the minimums be dropped to seven musicians at the 11 largest theaters and eliminated at the others. The union made a counter offer that dropped the number by one or two at some venues.

Local 802 called its last Broadway strike on Sept. 17, 1975. Nine musicals were shuttered for 25 days. A 1968 strike lasted only three days. Plays remained unaffected in both strikes.

The New York City Ballet withstood a strike by Local 802 in November 2000 by using a tape for perfs of "The Nutcracker." The strike, which lasted only 13 performances, was considered a failure for the union.

Emboldened by NYCB's success, legit producers prepared for a possible Broadway strike by employing virtual orchestras, a new synthesizer-like technology that has been used on the road to enhance or supplement live orchestras. Its reported advantage over tape is that the music tempo can be altered without distorting the sound.

In rehearsals this week and last, however, the virtual orchestras received mixed to negative reviews. Actors, contractually required to attend rehearsals, balked at the reportedly "Nintendo" sound of the new technology.