A stagehand strike which started today shut down most of the Broadway shows. The union members of Local One, belonging to the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, began picketing in the rain at 10 AM. News reports say 27 Broadway shows, including Wicked, Jersey Boys, The Lion King and Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical were shuttered going in to the holiday season when most of these shows enjoy their best attendance. (Tourists accounted for about 65% of the 12.3 million tickets bought for NYC shows in the 2006-07 season, the largest % in the two decades.) The walkout over work rules took place after negotiations broke down with the League of American Theaters And Producers.
There's Another Strike: On Broadway


Hey, Ellen – Broadway shut down — collectively it has far more people than you who’ve traveled to see the shows
(as you allege your audience did)
Wow — wonder how all those pissed off IATSE Hollywood people feel about this.
Highlight of this so far has been an angry mother bitching about how the stagehands should have taken the feelings of the poor children into account before going on strike.
Nothing about the producers though.
Is Mel Brooks’ YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN shut down as well? If so, irony is at work, as the NY Times site displayed an advertisement for the show prior to letting me see the article.
Well. I see Strike season is in full force this year.
“Young Frankenstein”, “Xanadu”, “Mary Poppins”, “Cymbeline”, “The Ritz”, “Pygmalion”, “Mauritius”, and “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” all remain open during the strike because they are playing in non-League Houses. The Local One strike is against Jujamcyn and the Shuberts (who own about 60% of the Broadway theaters). The Nederlanders (who own about 30%) have a separate contract with Local One, but they have locked out their stagehands to show solidarity with the League of American Theaters and Producers. The 10% of remaining Broadway houses are independently owned or are not-for-profit LORT Theaters and they all have separate contracts with Local One.
Welcome to our world, GC. Here it’s the greedy writers — never the companies.
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is covered by another union.
I believe “Young Frankenstein,” or, more accurately and absurdly, “The New Mel Brooks Musical: Young Frankenstein”is not shut down.
Several Broadway shows are on a different contract, such as one run by not-for-profits such as Manhattan Theater Club’s American Airlines.
For some reason, I’m not sure why, the Hilton Theater — where Y.F. is playing, is also on a separate contract.
Probably should’ve read the complete article before posting.
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is one of the shows unaffected. Good for Mel.
GC — no, Young Frankenstein is not affected, nor is Xanadu, Pygmalion and a few others according to Playbill.
Wonder if the tourists will consider going to an Off-Broadway show and give them their best year ever…
WGA Writer,
To answer your question as one “pissed off” IA person (whose not pissed off at the WGA by the way, I’m on your side) We stand with them. For the most part, I think the IA stands with you too. The IA stagehands have also been working without a contract since JULY. What’s interesting (to me anyway) is that it was stated by an IA official that out of work stagehands could get work in the fil and television world, an entirely different animal than stagework, and a world that is quickly shutting down.
Young Frankenstein plays at the Hilton, which is somehow unaffected by the strike. Fortunate for them since the show (which is actually really good) opened to mostly poor reviews and they just lost about 31 different competitors for a while.
Hey dollygrip (I love you guys by the way — why is it that the Dolly Grips always seem to be a big part of the soul of a shooting crew?), I was addressing the extremely angry IATSE members (who identify themselves as such) who have posted in the last few days.
ROCK ON IATSE brothers and sisters in NY!
With regards to angry “IATSE members”"greedy writers” et al. Beware of accepting a person’s definition of who they are at face value. This is the web where old men pretend to be hot chicks etc. How easy would it be for some sleazy execs to foment this phony above-the-line vs below-the-line battle to divide and conquer us? And if you think that’s paranoid, look into how WHOLE FOODS took over WILD OATS. Their CEO pretended to be a consumer and posted online to all the blogs he could find about how inferior the service at WILD OATS was until the PTB believed the hype. So don’t believe the hype, ya’ll. We’re all workers duking it out with the man.
ROCK ON IATSE NYC! ROCK ON WGA! Fight the power.