Talks Set To Resume in Broadway Standoff

Striking stagehands and theater producers agreed to return to the bargaining table almost a week after negotiations collapsed and kept most of Broadway dark during the lucrative Thanksgiving week — the second full week of no performances.The plans to resume talks on Sunday were announced by the executive director of the League of American Theatres and Producers on Saturday, Charlotte St. Martin, and were confirmed by the stagehands union.“We are glad they accepted our invitation to negotiate,” a spokesman for Local 1 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Bruce Cohen, said.More than two dozen plays and musicals have been closed since November 10, when the stagehands walked off the job.A settlement was believed to have been in the works last Sunday after a marathon weekend of negotiating, but the talks ended abruptly with producers walking out. No negotiations were held during Thanksgiving week, traditionally one of the best weeks for Broadway business.The complicated contract dispute has 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 producers want a flexible number; the union wants a set number and ample compensation for any concessions made.The negotiations have been protracted. They began last summer, with each side preparing for the worst.The producers set up a $20 million strike emergency fund, taking a couple of cents out of each ticket sold over the past several years to pay for it. The money was to help struck shows struggling with the costs of a shutdown.The union, too, has its own fund — benefits of more than $4.1 million for its members, as well as another $1 million allotted for members of other unions affected by the walkout.Meanwhile, one shut musical — “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” — came back to life Friday after its reopening was ordered by state Supreme Court Justice Helen Freedman.The judge said she believed the show’s production company would be irreparably harmed if the $6 million holiday musical wasn’t permitted to resume its limited run, which ends January 6.Eight other shows, whose theaters have separate contracts with the league, remain unaffected by the walkout: “Pygmalion,” “The Ritz,” “Cymbeline,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Mary Poppins,” “Xanadu,” “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” and “Mauritius,” which closes Sunday as scheduled. All off-Broadway productions are open, too.

Talks Set To Resume in Broadway Standoff

Talks Set To Resume in Broadway Standoff

More from the New York Sun

The College Degree Is Less a Must and More a Financial Calculation

Moscow Declares Plague Lab Death Case ‘Closed’ — but Nobody Is Saying What Killed Darya Shipilova

A Michigan Man Sat in Jail 10 Days Before Feds Revealed He Was an Alleged Saddam Spy

Ozempic-Style Drugs for 8-Year-Olds? Prescriptions to Young Kids Explode 310-Fold

‘Sickening’ Allegations Against Meghan Markle’s Father Threaten To Complicate Harry’s Bid for Royal Reconciliation

Is Ukraine Winning or Losing Its Fight Against Corruption?

Risk of Blue Wave Ebbing as Tumultuous Midterm Campaign Season Draws to a Close

After American Intervention in Nigeria, Little Progress Is Notched in Effort To End Christian, Civilian Murders

More from the New York Sun

The College Degree Is Less a Must and More a Financial Calculation

Moscow Declares Plague Lab Death Case ‘Closed’ — but Nobody Is Saying What Killed Darya Shipilova

A Michigan Man Sat in Jail 10 Days Before Feds Revealed He Was an Alleged Saddam Spy

Ozempic-Style Drugs for 8-Year-Olds? Prescriptions to Young Kids Explode 310-Fold

‘Sickening’ Allegations Against Meghan Markle’s Father Threaten To Complicate Harry’s Bid for Royal Reconciliation

Is Ukraine Winning or Losing Its Fight Against Corruption?

Risk of Blue Wave Ebbing as Tumultuous Midterm Campaign Season Draws to a Close

After American Intervention in Nigeria, Little Progress Is Notched in Effort To End Christian, Civilian Murders