New York City Theater

I was under the impression that today's Welcome Back Broadway concert would be something like the annual Broadway in Times Square concert each September, where cast members from each Broadway musical perform a number from their show in order to plug that show's financial prospects and publicity. To my surprise, that's not exactly what happened here today.

I almost didn't even bother attending today's event. But what made me intrigued was the promise of seeing Angela Lansbury and Bernadette Peters perform. So I went, rather than go to some random lunch thing at my law school.

The entire center orchestra was taken up by press and folk with so-called pink VIP tix. In other words, the Broadway community. The general public was let into the theater at around 11:45, and the event started at around 12:30pm.

It began with a 5-minute monologue by Bob Martin, in the dark, just like how DROWSY CHAPERONE always begins. It was a very humorous commentary delivered in the Man in Chair style over the events of the past couple weeks. Instead of opening with "I hate theater," he did "I hate the business of theater," reminding us that Sophacles probably never had to worry about load-in costs.

Eventually, he moved to his refrigerator. Noting that he couldn't open it himself, he got help from two Local One stagehands, both of whom received a nice round of applause. And who came out but Bernadette Peters, to sing "There's No Business Like Show Business." After, Bob complained that he had hoped she'd sing "Anything You Can Do."

After, folk from each Broadway musical, one random guy from THE SEAFARER, took the stage. Bob carried on a few conversations, like with the SEAFARER guy in order to promote all the plays now opening, and with George Wendt in his Edna costume. A cameo was also made by Bob Saget, also in his Man in Chair outfit.

Eventually, Angela Lansbury joined them, who sang (most of) "We Need a Little Christmas." She had the lyrics in front of her, but still flubbed about half the lyrics. But who cares. It was Angela Lansbury, in great voice, singing "We Need a Little Christmas"! It was incredible.

And then the thing just ended. After less than a half hour. And it became clear that the event was hardly a concert at all. It was a publicity stunt. As we walked out of the theater, I could see dozens of producers hugging themselves in self-admiration at having scored yet another video-op for the NY1 evening news. Let's see if they feel that proud of themselves once they get a grip on how dire the effects of the strike will be on attendance in the near future.

Last night, in celebration of the fact that the strike was over, I really wanted to see something on Broadway. But what? It had to be a show with a solid fanbase that might also be going that night to celebrate the strike demise. That gave me essentially 2 choices: RENT or SPRING AWAKENING. I chose the latter, gave the press office a call, and booked 2 press tix for that night.

This marked the first time I had seen SPRING AWAKENING in the past six months where there was not a single understudy. Sure, two original cast members have been replaced, but Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, and John Gallagher are still in it. And I must say: this was probably the best performance I've seen of the show vocally. Why? Cause the kids had not been performing 8 shows a week for 3 weeks, and have not been wearing out their vocal chords like usual singing rock anthems. And I suppose there had to be a new intensity and emotionality due to the fact that they had not performed these roles for so damn long.

Oh - and I also attended Seth's Broadway Chatterbox on Thursday afternoon. It was relocated to a different part of Don't Tell Mama due to ongoing renovations where the Chatterbox is usually hold. His guest was mega-casting director Bernard Telsey, who first gained prominence for casting RENT and later HAIRSPRAY. Seth really grilled him about what he looks for in auditions, why actors get rejected, and why he has a reputation for requiring dozens of callbacks for any given role.

Now what?

The specific details of the agreement reached between the producers and stagehands have yet to be released. But you've really got to wonder - was this really worth it? for either side?

Did either side "win"? Perhaps the stagehands. For just as the musicians were able to hold on to their minimums system five years ago, though in a somewhat weakened form, it looks as though the stagehands have not been forced to substantially reduce their ranks.

But what's the real loser? We all are. Why? Because Broadway betrayed its audience. And I blame both sides, producers and stagehands, for the strike. Let's remember that a month before the stagehands striked, the producers contemplated locking them out. Instead, they uniterally enforced their proposed contract, a move they must have known would result in this strike.

So what now? How long will it take for the audience to come back? Will WICKED and JERSEY BOYS immediately return to their sold out status? I hear that at Thursday night's performance of CHICAGO, all remaining tickets will be sold for $26.50 in an effort to get people back into the theater.

And what of the four plays and the Disney mega-musical that now need to reschedule their openings? Will all of those happen one on top of the other prior to Christmas? Chances are that those plays will have an even harder time remaining open than anything else. Imagine how much the producers of THE SEAFARER or AIN'T HE DEAD? or AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY have already lost due to the strike. How much more can they afford to lose?

What of the musicals that are not at sell-out status: DROWSY CHAPERONE, LEGALLY BLONDE, HAIRSPRAY, and RENT. All of those were already rumored to be on the verge of shutting down even before the strike occurred.

And here is a scary thought: WILL THIS HAPPEN AGAIN? The actors union will be renegotiating their contract with the producers this summer. You can bet that this strike will substantially affect whatever happens there. Will this make the actors more aggressive? Or maybe the opposite will occur. Who knows.

Let me conclude by reiterating that I totally understand that each side, the producers and stagehands, had valid arguments. And the stagehands had the right to go on strike. But come on.... I cannot honestly believe that both sides could not have arrived at some kind of compromise earlier on.

Broadway is not at the pinnacle of American popular culture. This is not 1955. MY FAIR LADY and CALL ME MADAME are not playing on the radio. We have enough problems to deal with as it is from the outside. Therefore, Broadway should never, ever be the cause if its own demise. As far as I'm concerned, Broadway self-deconstructed over the past 19 days. And why? Because a handful of producers and union leaders took themselves and their pride too seriously.

So what can we, the audience, do to prevent this from ever happening again? Make yourselves heard! Let everyone - producers, stagehands, actors, musicians, everyone - know that you will not tolerate this kind of behavior ever again.

We expect better next time! Anyone who works on Broadway knows how precarious and shaky our existence is. Broadway seriously is a fiddler on the roof, trying to hold on to our traditions while enduring increasingly shaky ground. The folk on Broadway cannot be so selfish ever again.

I remember when I saw my first Broadway show. It was JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING, TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT and I was ten. I saw it in mid-November. What if that day, upon getting to the Minskoff Theater, I found that the stagehands, or the actors, or the musicians, or whomever was striking. Would I ever return to Broadway? Why would I? After all, how could I depend on Broadway ever again?

And while we've heard reports of how much money has been lost in the strike, can someone tell me how many audience members have been lost? How many kids from Nebraska, or Israel, or France, or New Jersey, or wherever? What of the girl that supposed to see WICKED, who would have been inspired to listen to that cast album every day for a solid year, just as I did with JOSEPH? What of the kid who was supposed to see GREASE, who would then have been inspired to try out for his middle school production of GREASE, just as I was when I was 12.

But for now, I say - COME ON ALONG AND LISTEN TO THE LULLABY OF BROADWAY...THE HIP HOORAY AND BALLYHOO, THE LULLABY OF BROADWAY...

Let's be optimistic and presume that news breaks out at 10pm tonight that the strike has been resolved, and that performances will start again on Tuesday. What then?

Will the Nederlanders still sue the stagehands for $35 million? Will Jujamcyn follow through on its appeal to close down THE GRINCH?

And what of all those plays that need to reschedule their openings? Do we have time for all that prior to New Years? CYMBELINE opens Sunday night of next week, so I imagine that SEAFARER and maybe also FARNSWORTH could try to pencil in their openings later this week. Or maybe they shouldn't have openings at all. Just play a few practice performances so everyone can get back into the groove, then invite the critics and have their reviews roll out one by one.

And what of our audience? What of those little kids who got burned when they found out THE LITTLE MERMAID was not running? Will they come back?

But first things first....Let's solve this labor dispute and get all of Broadway up and running. For if we don't do that, what difference will the rest make?

Oh well. Looks like the strike situation keeps getting worse...and weirder. Has the media totally forgotten the big picture? Are we so fascinated by the stuff happening to THE GRINCH? What about WICKED? JERSEY BOYS? LITTLE MERMAID? SPRING AWAKENING? What ever happened to those shows?

Well, let's take a brief break from talking about the strike stuff to go over some recent other stuff I've seen:

Barbara Cook's 80th B-Day Celebration at the Philharmonic - how totally amazing to see Cook, always a masterclass in how to act a song, alongside a super-sized orchestra? We typically see her only with piano, bass and drums. And I will admit that seeing her in a small setting like the Mitzi Newhouse Theater or a nightclub allows an intimacy that one didn't find at Avery Fisher Hall. But this was quite an occasion, apparently the first time she performed with the Philharmonic since the 1985 Follies concert. Saw Frank Rich in the row in front of me. Couldn't help but wonder whether he caught Cook in SHE LOVES ME, THE GAY LIFE or even CANDIDE.

1776 at St. Bart's Players - I haven't seen a show done by this community theater troupe in three years since they did FIORELLO!, which was not too great. I was surprised to learn that 1776 was being performed not in the small auditorium where they do most of their shows, but in the huge St. Bart's Church itself. Unfortunately, since 1776 needs a very techical set design, they had to add a kind of small dome over the church pulpit, rather than utilize the entire space, which would have been really cool. The cast was pretty great overall, but one thing I'd mention - the wigs. Their costumes looked perfect (could they have been the ones used in the revival, in fact?), but the wigs were extraordinarily cheap looking in comparison. Why not just go without them? The orchestra of 6 players (program credited 8, but I saw the last performance, so maybe the rest were gone) were all individually great, adding to a very rich sound.

Broadway Unplugged - I usually sit in the orchestra on the aisle at these Scott Siegel-Broadway By the Year events. Yet I was surprised to learn that I had been placed in the first row of the mezz for Broadway Unplugged. (Was it some kind of mistake? Not only that, my seats weren't even together...) But in the end, I'm glad. The sound is somewhat richer atop. And what a perfect show to be there. What really is the difference between singing off-mic here than say at a small off-Broadway theater like the York? In a bigger house, they truly need to belt and be on their best vocal behavior.

Here is the song list:

ACT I
"Something's Comin'" – Aaron Lazar
"Everybody Says Don't" – Andrea McArdle
"Were Thine That Special Face" – Paul Schoeffler
"Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat" – Bill Daugherty
"Anthem" – Michael Winther
"Patterns" – Barbara Walsh
"Winning" – Marc Kudisch
"Somewhere" – Sarah Uriarte Berry
"This Nearly Was Mine" – Martin Vidnovic
"Tonight" – Sarah Jane McMahon and Max von Essen

ACT II
"Heaven on their Minds" – Darius DeHaas
"Magic Moment" – Sarah Jane McMahon
"Free at Last" – Michael McElroy
"Surabaya Johnny" – Lorinda Lisitza
"Bring Him Home" – Willy Falk
"Nobody Breaks My Heart" – Beth Leavel
"If Ever I Would Leave You" – William Michals
"Who Will Love Me As I Am?" – David Burnham and Max von Essen
"More Than You Know" – Emily Skinner
"I Was Here" – Marc Kudisch
Finale: "With a Song in My Heart" - Company

'GRINCH' PRODUCERS RESPOND TO RECENT ACTIONS

(New York, NY) November 19, 2007 - Last night, Local One NYC Stagehands lifted the strike on Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical allowing its members to go back to work on the show. For the past 10 days, the producers of The Grinch have stood on the sidelines and have been unfortunately been caught in the cross fire of the labor dispute. Although the strike has been lifted, Jujamcyn, the St. James theatre owners, has implemented a lock-out.



The Grinch Executive Producer, James Sanna, says "We appreciate that Local One has recognized our pre-existing agreement and has lifted the strike on The Grinch in spite of their differences with the League. We are going to court tomorrow to seek an injunction to require Jujamcyn to open the doors to families and children planning on coming to the theatre this week. We need someone who believes in the spirit of Christmas to enable the show to re-open for the holidays."



The Producers of The Grinch have a special agreement, which was co-signed by both the Theatre and Local One and was crafted to contemplate the unique performance schedule that enables The Grinch to perform 12+ shows per week. The show is not affected by any of the discussions currently taking place with The League of American Theatres and Producers and Local one and there are no specific issues in dispute which would prevent The Grinch from continuing this engagement. The Grinch is the only show on Broadway that has a separate agreement with Local One and is not currently running. There are 8 other Broadway shows and The Grinch should be one of them.



James J. Claffey Jr., Local One President states "Because of the unique nature of this limited engagement, particularly its inability to extend beyonf the holiday season, Local One supports The Grinch in it efforts to open its doors to families. Our members are ready and willing to go back to work at the St. James Theatre."



Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical will resume its previously published schedule as as possible.

This is a disaster... Seriously. Where do they go from here? Is it a "who's the first to give in" contest?

LINK TO NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE

LINK TO NEW YORK POST ARTICLE

This is a disaster... Seriously. Where do they go from here? Is it a "who's the first to give in" contest?

LINK TO NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE

LINK TO NEW YORK POST ARTICLE

WE FOUND THIS TOPICAL PARODY, VERY PRO UNION PARODY OF THE STAGEHAND SITUATION TO THE TUNE OF "TOTALLY F--CKED" ON ALL THAT CHAT.

Spring Awakening ‘Totally Struck’ Lyrics

[MELCHIOR]
There's a moment you know
You're Struck
Every Stage doors locked
They all are shut
No more shows are on
The Broadway zone
So you Tourists can
Just all go home

[OTTO]
But the thing that makes you really Mad
Is when they treat these Local One guys bad
You can ask yourself, "Hey what can I do?"
You can support these guys because they’ll support you

[GEORG]
Man you're Struck so you just freeze up
Can't do that thing, that ya love to do

[HANSCHEN]
But you're Struck so you speak your mind

[BOYS]
And you know, uh-huh, you will

[ALL]
Yeah you're Struck all right
And not for spite
You can kiss your Stagehands all goodbye
Totally Struck
Will they mess you up?
Well you know they've gotta fight

< All the League hears is....>

[MELCHIOR]
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

[ALL]
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

[MELCHIOR]
Negotiate yeah well, they wanna try
Gotta bundle up, its so cold outside
And you know they all can’t just quit
There’s a fare contract for them to get out of it

[ALL]
Yeah you're Struck all right
And not for spite
You can kiss your Stagehands all goodbye
Totally Struck
Will they mess you up?
Well you know they've gotta Strike

Yeah you're Struck all right
And not for spite
You can kiss your Stagehands all goodbye
Totally Struck
Will they mess you up?
Well you know they've gotta strike

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
Blah blah blah blah blah
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
Blah blah blah blah blah
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
Blah blah blah blah blah

Totally Struck!

UPDATE FROM CHARLOTTE ST. MARTIN REGARDING STRIKE BY LOCAL ONE, IATSE STAGEHANDS

"Local One, IATSE, the stagehands union, has shut down Broadway. They left the negotiating table and abruptly went on the picket line. They refused to budge on nearly every issue, protecting wasteful, costly and indefensible rules that are embedded like dead weights in contracts so obscure and old that no one truly remembers how, when or why they were introduced. The union wants you to believe they are the victims, the little guys.

We have the highest regard and respect for our stagehands. But, they are not, as the Union leadership characterizes them, the typical "little guys" as far as compensation is concerned. Their "average annual earnings," in salary and benefits, is more than $150,000, with many stagehands earning more than $200,000.

*They are professionals and should be well paid, and will remain the best paid in this industry in the world. We simply don't want to be compelled to hire more workers than needed and pay them when there is no work for them to do.

For example:

It takes a few minutes to move a piano, but we are forced to pay stagehands for four hours of work. As a result, over the course of a year, many stagehands add another $50,000 dollars to their six figure salaries from moving pianos or mopping floors.
Head Electricians earn a six figure salary, but their contract only permits them to work a total of 80 minutes a week.
A flyman making $160,000 annually in salary and benefits is required for all productions, even when there is no fly cue in the production and no flyman is needed.
We are required to keep the same number of workers loading in a show as hired on day one for the entire load-in process regardless of how many workers are subsequently needed.
We have offered a significant raise in wages, but the union says there will be a cut in wages. The only explanation is that this would be the result of fewer people being paid for not working.

These issues can only be resolved at the bargaining table, not on the picket line. We remain prepared to meet 24/7 until we reach an acceptable agreement."

Charlotte St. Martin
Executive Director
The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc.

What's playing now on Broadway? SELFISHNESS

A lot of people have been asking me whether I side with the League of American Theaters (i.e. the producers) or with Local One (i.e. the stagehands).

What's my answer? Neither. I think both are irresponsible, selfish, and equally deserve the blame for the strike that's now upon us.

Why do I say irresponsible and selfish? They KNEW something like this would happen, whether it be a lockout by the producers or a strike by the stagehands. Each side has amassed a warchest of money in preparation for the event. And instead of COMPROMISING, they have decided to embrace an adversarial attitude and duke it out on the sidewalk.

And who suffers? The audience. I admit, I see Broadway shows every week - at some points it seems like everyday. But I remember when I was ten years old in 1994, going to see my first Broadway matinee. What if I got out of the car with my mother and brother, and we found out it was cancelled due to a strike? What would my first impresison of Broadway have been like? Would I ever bother coming back?

Alas, that is why the stagehands and producers MUST act like adults and come up with a compromise. Does one side really think the other will just roll over? There's too much pride eminating from both sides for something like that to just magically happen.

Frankly, the future of Broadway has more than enough problems on its plate from the outside. When the people who make up Broadway shows deconstruct into chaos, what right do they have to complain of their industry's demise?

IN OTHER WORDS: TODAY, I WATCHED THE PEOPLE ON BROADWAY HELPED SPUR THE DEATH OF BROADWAY. So if you're like me, and you care about Broadway, I say GET ANGRY. But don't point it at one side over the other. Direct it at both sides, till they finally get together and work this s*&t out.

# August: Osage County
# Avenue Q
# A Bronx Tale
# Chicago
# A Chorus Line
# The Color Purple
# Curtains
# Cyrano de Bergerac
# How the Grinch Stole Christmas
# Drowsy Chaperone
# The Farnsworth Invention
# Grease
# Hairspray
# Is He Dead?
# Jersey Boys
# Legally Blonde
# Les Miserables
# The Lion King
# The Little Mermaid
# Mamma Mia
# Spamalot
# Phantom of the Opera
# Rent
# Rock n' Roll
# The Seafarer
# Wicked

Here is the latest New York Times article

Am I surprised? Yes. I really am. But then again, I didn't think there would be a Writers Guild strike either. Maybe I'm just an optimistic guy.

What Broadway shows am I supposed to see next week? I think THE SEAFARER, FARNSWORTH and AUGUST COUNTY.

Well, maybe I will be able to write full reviews of THE GLORIOUS ONES, FUERZABRUTA and MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS after all, in place of the Broadway stuff.

The antagonisms in both the (supposedly going to start tomorrow) stagehand strike and (now happening) writers guild strike are intense.

The producers of both stage and the screen have the same message: costs are out of control. We can't give you (i.e. writers, stagehands) more money.

The writers have a far better argument: their work is being exploited on the internet and in other forms of new media. Therefore, they deserve more money for the increased distribution.

The stagehands have a weak argument: we've always been overpaid. Therefore, we're going to stay overpaid.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE NEW YORK TIMES FORECAST

My weekend in theatergoing began with ROCK 'N' ROLL on Friday night. I don't need to go into great detail here, as my review runs Monday in AMNY. (It's in the print edition, but I haven't seen an online edition of it yet.) I must confess that attending nearly any Stoppard play is tough - and if you're not in for the work, of attempting to grasp his philosophical concepts and wit - you will be lost. And there were definitely points throughout Act One when I felt that way. But by Act Two, when I had the play's structure and language within my comfort zone, I truly began to admire and enjoy it. And rereading the text of Act One on the subway home also helped to put everything into context.

URINETOWN AT CAP21 - This was quite probably the best Cap21 production I've ever seen over the past two years. All Cap productions, populated by NYU musical theater undergrads, are performed in a small blackbox at the Cap Studio on 18th Street and 5th Avenue. URINETOWN is a show that fits easily into a small blackbox space, and it needs no more than five musicians. As such, Cap's 5-person pit performed the score to total perfection. EVITA, which I attended at Cap last year, was also quite good, but URINETOWN was an easier show for the students to pull off gracefully. It was also a far stronger production of URINETOWN than the Steinhardt one I saw last year, though that hosted a really spectacular set design.

THE GLORIOUS ONES - I can't really go into this one in much detail. At the time of this blogging, it hasn't officially opened yet. But may i just say how glad I am that Lincoln Center produced it following its Philadelphia run last year. Tom Stoppard and Ahrens & Flaherty are great examples of artists whose new works are deservingly nurtured by Lincoln Center.

EVIL EYE PRODUCTIONS HALLOWEEN PARADE PLAYWRIGHTING CONTEST THING - I don't remember the exact title. Here's the gist. I got an email about a week ago from the artistic director of Evil Eye Productions, who I apparently met at one opening night party or another. He asked whether I would be interested in contributing a ten-minute play to their event, to take place Saturday night at midnight at the 45th Street Theatre, where I've seen a handful of Off-Off-Bway shows.

The gimmick was that each play would be based on participants in the Halloween parade. We'd get emailed a few pics of people in costume, and we'd have 3 days to write a short play. After receiving a second email from the artistic director, I agreed to do it. After all, why not take advantage of the opportunity? So, I had little if no time to really do a great job. I wrote the play (about siamese twins and a pimp) on Saturday morning over the course of maybe two hours. Was it a great play? Of course not, but I tried to contribute something. I went to the theater at 10pm and watched as their randomly recruited director deleted more than half of the play's text, leaving nearly nothing left. (In all honesty, it consisted of a thin plot and some theater criticism, so I don't really blame her.)

At 12:40am, about halfway through the second of the seven short plays, I left. I didn't know anyone at the event (half the half-filled audience was there to see a heavy metal band performing later in the evening) and, quite frankly, was embarassed by what I had submitted - and somewhat upset by the way it had been treated by the director and everyone else. It was kind of depressing - here I had been given this pretty cool opportunity, and I didn't have the time to really take advantage of it....

Sunday night - OHIO STATE MURDERS at Theater for a New Audience - The only contact I've had with Adrienne Kennedy has been studying SLEEP DEPRIVATION CHAMBER and FUNNY HOUSE OF A NEGRO three years ago at NYU in Bob Vorlicky's American Drama class. The play, an hour-long lecture mostly based on Kennedy's life as a student in 1950 at Ohio State, turned out to be extremely well-performed. I could see Village Voice critic Michael Feingold, who works for the group as their dramaturg, almost in tears by the end. I think I also appreciated the fact that the show was not done in Kennedy's fragmentary, lyrical style, making it far more easier to digest. I highly recommend the play.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK