Klarinet Archive - Posting 000434.txt from 2003/03

From: Richard Bush <rbushidioglot@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] New York Theater Strike
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 13:38:31 -0500

What I posted WAS directly from CNN. No, I didn't write it.

On Monday, March 10, 2003, at 09:29 AM, Karona Poindexter wrote:

> Wow Richard,
>
> You email looks just like how a news program would sound if they aired
> the same story. Good email.
>
> Karona
>
>
> On Friday, March 7, 2003, at 08:41 PM, Richard Bush wrote:
>
>> Here's what CNN wrote:
>>
>> The League of American Theatres and Producers said all musical shows
>> for this weekend had been canceled. "This is a sad night for Broadway
>> and for New York," said League President Jed Bernstein.
>>
>> Theater ticketholders at 17 Broadway musicals were left stranded
>> after the musicals said they would not make their traditional 8 p.m.
>> opening curtain.
>>
>> Musicians, striking since midnight on Thursday, are in a dispute with
>> producers over the minimum size of orchestras.
>>
>> The League of American Theatres and Producers was prepared to replace
>> live music with prerecorded, computer-generated "virtual music"
>> beginning with Friday's shows.
>>
>> But the job action by the 652 unionized actors added considerable
>> weight to the musicians' battle to save their numbers from being cut.
>>
>> "Our members have made it clear that they do not wish to perform to
>> virtual orchestras," said Patrick Quinn, president of the Actors'
>> Equity Association.
>>
>> Unionized stagehands with the International Alliance of Theatrical
>> Stage Employees told the actors' union they would honor the picket
>> lines as well, Quinn said.
>>
>> Actors, who could lose $1.3 million in weekly salary if shows fail to
>> open, were set to join musicians' picket lines around the city's
>> Theater District.
>>
>> "Virtual orchestras are not live music -- it's a computer program
>> that sounds like a roller rink," said Harvey Fierstein, who is
>> appearing in "Hairspray," at the union's news conference. "A machine
>> is a dead thing, and that is not why people go to live theater."
>>
>> The two sides were still negotiating, they said.
>>
>> Broadway producers complained at an earlier news conference that many
>> shows do not need the 26-musician orchestras required in the current
>> contract, leaving them with "walkers," or hired musicians who sit on
>> the sidelines collecting salary.
>>
>> "We love live music, but know of no other industry where workers are
>> paid, but not needed," said League representative Barry Weissler,
>> producer of the hit musical "Chicago."
>>
>> Producers called the current system an "archaic" one that unfairly
>> limits their creative control.
>>
>> Musicians, who currently make a base salary of $1,350 per week, said
>> the producers' demand is about saving money and would put musicians
>> out of work.
>>
>> "This is my full-time job and a good chunk of my income," said Ray
>> Kilday, a bassist picketing the Marquis Theater, where he plays in
>> the orchestra for "Thoroughly Modern Millie."
>>
>> Kilday, who has played on Broadway for 22 years, added that "beefed
>> up synthesizers" will sap performances' human quality.
>>
>> Julia Kim, 23, waiting to buy tickets in Times Square, agreed. She
>> decided to go to a show with live music after hearing about the >
>> strike.
>>
>> "That's the whole point of going to the theater," she said.
>> "Otherwise you can just listen to this stuff at home."
>>
>> But Shirley Aninias, a 27-year-old New Yorker hoping to see the
>> musical "Mama Mia," had no objection to recorded music. "I can't tell
>> if they are playing live or not anyway."
>>
>> The dispute between the League and the American Federation of
>> Musicians Local 802 centers on New York's largest theaters, where
>> owners want to cut orchestras to 14 musicians.
>>
>> The producers said the union was unwilling to cut minimum orchestra
>> sizes by more than six players.
>>
>> Local 802 called its last Broadway strike in September 1975 and nine
>> musicals were shuttered for 25 days.
>>
>> Richard Bush
>> Maker of 'BasSonic' bassoon reeds
>> 760 Robins Avenue
>> Ogden, UT 84404
>> (801) 393-7265
>> IDRS member
>> ICA member
>> rbushidioglot@-----.com

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