Nov 29 — The Local One stagehand’s strike, begun the morning of November 10th, ended last night with a tentative agreement that could have some shows opening as early as today. The strike shuttered 27 of Broadway’s biggest shows, costing heartache to tourists and performers and lost revenues to the tune of $2 million per day for New York. Only ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical’, with its limited run, was able to charm the unions and the courts into an opening last week. Read the NY Times coverage here.
With all deals done, the stagedoors will swing open, the marquees light up, and Broadway producers will wait anxiously for audiences to return. How did those legions of shut-out theatregoers fare? We have a personal view of the strike’s first weekend when Joel Markowitz and members of his Ushers’ group turned cancelled shows into theatre gold. Read it here.
For those of you hungering for a fresh Top 10 list from David Letterman, however, that strike is still on.
