The Shows Goes On: Broadway Comes Back to Life

The theater district came back to life today as Broadway-starved fans lined up in the cold for tickets and theaters reopened their doors following a 19-day stagehands strike that took a big toll on the local economy.The mood was ecstatic all around the theater district. Tourists, actors, stagehands, restaurants, musicians, hot dog vendors — basically anyone remotely affected by Broadway — were all thrilled about the return of shows.“I never thought I’d have the opportunity to see a Broadway show! And the price is right,” a Canadian tourist, Susie Biamonte, said as she waited for steeply discounted $26.50 tickets to “Chicago” — reopening today with a new cast that included two stars from “The Sopranos.”The strike inflicted serious harm on Broadway during one of the best times of the year, when the city is teeming with tourists and Christmas shoppers. Officials estimated that the city lost $2 million a day because of the strike.Popular shows such as “Wicked,” “Jersey Boys,” “Mamma Mia!” and “The Lion King” were among the more than two dozen shows that were shut down during the lucrative Thanksgiving holiday week. These big hits regularly gross more than $1 million each week this time of year.Most plays and musicals that were shut during the walkout were expected to be up and running this evening, even if the cast and crew were a little rusty after a nearly three-week layoff. “Chicago” held a last-minute afternoon rehearsal to work out some kinks before going back on with a new cast that included “Sopranos” actors Aida Turturo and Vincent Pastore.Michael Van Praagh, a stagehand for 34 years, said the settlement was a sign “that we’re finally getting the respect we deserve on Broadway.” He flashed a big smile as he looked across West 45th Street at the Imperial Theatre, where actor Jeff Perry was even more relieved the strike was over.He would finally appear in “August: Osage County,” the critically acclaimed Tracy Letts play that was to have opened on November 20 with New York previews after its Chicago run.Mr. Perry said the walkout allowed him to spend a lot of “hand-holding” time with family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday. But he added: “There was that dead pit of your stomach feeling of, ‘Don’t tell me this play will never be seen by a wider audience.'”Rosemarie DeForest was standing outside the box office of the Eugene O’Neill Theater, where “Spring Awakening” was playing. She had purchased two tickets a long time ago for the November 29 performance and wanted to make sure that the play would be performed this evening.“I’m ecstatic because it was a birthday gift for a friend and I’m so glad I get to give it to her,” she said. When she heard the news last night that the strike was settled, “I was jumping up and down.”While most businesses suffered during the strike, the Broadway NY gift shop on the ground floor of the Marriott Hotel registered a little phenomenon: T-shirts for the striking “Wicked” show “almost sold out,” manager Alex Dudgeon said. “People said, ‘Well, we can’t see the show, but at least we’ll have this.'”Otherwise, he added, business got worse and worse as the strike wore on. “People were here at first, but then, they said, ‘Why bother to even come into the city?'”“Business was very bad for everybody,” a cart vendor in Times Square who sold less than half the hot dogs and pretzels usually snatched up by crowds on their way to nearby theaters, Mohamoud Ali, said. He lost more than $1,000 during the strike.Today, the crowds returned — especially in front of the Ambassador Theatre, where promotional tickets for “Chicago” were going for a hard-to-believe $26.50. By midday, the show was sold out and the offer was extended to the Sunday matinee.The stagehands and theater producers reached a tentative agreement late yesterday, on the third day of marathon sessions between Local 1 and the League of American Theatres and Producers.Right up to the last day, both sides struggled with what apparently was the final hang-up: the issue of wages. It concerned how much to pay stagehands in return for a reduction in what the producers say were onerous work rules that required them to hire more stagehands than are needed.Until then, the talks had focused on how many stagehands are required to open a Broadway show and keep it running. That means moving scenery, lights, sound systems, and props into the theater; installing the set and making sure it works; and keeping everything functioning well for the life of the production.The end of the walkout means a scramble for new opening nights for several shows that were in previews when the strike hit. They include Aaron Sorkin’s “The Farnsworth Invention,” “August: Osage County” from Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and an adaptation of a long-lost Mark Twain comedy, “Is He Dead?”Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” already has announced it would push back its scheduled December 6 opening — with a new date still to be set.

The Shows Goes On: Broadway Comes Back to Life

The Shows Goes On: Broadway Comes Back to Life

More from the New York Sun

Trump Says He Told Ramaswamy To Run Ad Featuring Opponent’s Estranged Mother Excoriating Sexually Abused Daughter

Exclusive: Elon Musk’s Employees Lose Enthusiasm for Democrats, Company Donations Disclose

Eyes Turn to Mississippi Senate Races Where Both Parties Are Now Investing Millions, as Trump, Harris Travel to State

Wealth-Tax Advocate Gabriel Zucman Coaxes California Closer to French Fiscal Folly

Stakes Are High as Supreme Court Weighs Whether To Let Trump Deport Mahmoud Khalil

Apple’s HomeView Is the Best Smart Display Yet — but You Still May Not Need It

Bill Irwin Serves Up a Comic Master Class in ‘The Imaginary Invalid’

Why Amazon’s A-List Stars Are Giving its Studio Bad Reviews

More from the New York Sun

Trump Says He Told Ramaswamy To Run Ad Featuring Opponent’s Estranged Mother Excoriating Sexually Abused Daughter

Exclusive: Elon Musk’s Employees Lose Enthusiasm for Democrats, Company Donations Disclose

Eyes Turn to Mississippi Senate Races Where Both Parties Are Now Investing Millions, as Trump, Harris Travel to State

Wealth-Tax Advocate Gabriel Zucman Coaxes California Closer to French Fiscal Folly

Stakes Are High as Supreme Court Weighs Whether To Let Trump Deport Mahmoud Khalil

Apple’s HomeView Is the Best Smart Display Yet — but You Still May Not Need It

Bill Irwin Serves Up a Comic Master Class in ‘The Imaginary Invalid’

Why Amazon’s A-List Stars Are Giving its Studio Bad Reviews