| Striking Broadway stagehands and producers resume talks 1 week into walkout
NEW YORK - Broadway's stagehands and theatre producers resumed talking Saturday, a week after a walkout by Local 1 shut down more than two dozen plays and musicals. The two sides met at an undisclosed location, their first meeting since Nov. 8 when Thomas C. Short, president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, gave the local authority to strike. The walkout two days later forced 27 productions to cancel shows during the run-up to one of the most lucrative times of the year for Broadway, Thanksgiving week. Local 1 and the League of American Theatres and Producers would not comment on the resumption of talks. Pressure to settle the contract dispute is increasing as the holiday approaches and losses mount for the shows, which include some of Broadway's biggest hits such as "Wicked," "Jersey Boys," "The Phantom of the Opera," "The Lion King" and "Mamma Mia!" Ticket sales for Thanksgiving week could easily top US$1 million for several of those shows.
The Big Apple Gets Spanked
Austin musical collective Asylum Street Spankers is readying a two-week run of its first musical revue in a New York City theatre.
The group has a bunch of dates on its schedule before and after its Off-Broadway run, including tonight at the Cultural Center in Minneapolis, November 30 at Sons Of Hermann Hall in Dallas, December 28 at the Saxon Pub in Austin, January 23 World Caf� Live in Philadelphia, January 26 at the Diesel Club Lounge in Pittsburgh, February 2 at The Kentucky Center in Louisville and May 10 at the College Of Santa Fe in New Mexico.
Asylum Street Spankers' revue, "What? And Give Up Show Biz?," previews at the Barrow Street Theater January 9-10, opens with two shows January 12 and runs through January 20.
Tickets for the New York show will be available through Telecharge.com.
While the Great White Way is dark, catch up on 10 off-Broadway smashes
NEW YORK -- Most of Broadway may be shuttered tonight due to the ongoing stagehands' strike -- and will stay dark for who knows how much longer -- but off-Broadway (and that includes you, New Jersey) is in full swing. A few tickets may still be available for the adorable "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" and to seven other Broadway shows lucky enough to be booked into independent theaters that ducked the strike. (Meanwhile, the rock band Duran Duran moved its "Red Carpet Massacre" concert to Roseland Ballroom yesterday to finish its limited engagement tonight.) Let's sidestep the battle of Broadway and direct your attention instead to a recommended Top 10 list of enjoyable attractions off-Broadway and in New Jersey: "Altar Boyz." Now in its third year, this funny, fast-paced musical presents a Christian rock band doing its one-night-only New York concert.
Strike Stealing `Grinch' Christmas
NEW YORK (AP) -- Even the Grinch wants to get back on the boards. When talks between striking stagehands and theater producers resume this weekend, James Sanna, like everyone else on Broadway, will be watching the negotiations closely. Sanna is the producer of "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical." Of the 27 shows shut by Local 1's dispute with the League of American Theatres and Producers, "Grinch" is the only holiday show and has a limited run. "It's been really difficult for our show," Sanna said Thursday. "Most of the people who buy tickets for our show are families. They plan in advance. "So even the looming threat of a strike was hurting our sales. And obviously, the strike itself is devastating when we had seven shows that were sold out just disappear." And this week hasn't been any better - with the prospect of 12 more canceled performances for an engagement scheduled to end Jan.
Off-Broadway offers alternatives
About two dozen high-ticket Broadway shows are dark due to the stagehands' strike, but there is no need for hysteria by theater fans. Eight Broadway shows are still up and running — because of separate union contracts — including the sleeper hit "Xanadu," the new Mel Brooks musical "Young Frankenstein," and the well-received revival of "Pygmalion" featuring film star Claire Danes. In Connecticut, a Broadway caliber revival of Arthur Miller's "The Price" opened recently at New Haven's Long Wharf Theatre, a venue which has sent many of its productions into New York in past seasons, including the Pulitzer Prize winners, "Wit" and "The Gin Game". Now would be the perfect time for area theatergoers who head to New York for their stage fixes to discover the exciting — and much cheaper — alternatives available off-Broadway.
STAGE COACH
WITH all the wailing and gnashing of teeth that's been going on since the beginning of the Broadway strike, you'd think that there was no other theater in this town. Well, think again. There are hundreds of off- and off-off-Broadway shows still going strong. We mean it - literally hundreds of productions in every genre you can think of. The tricky part is figuring out which of them are actually worth seeing. That's where we come in: The Post's highly selective guide to New York's non-Broadway theater. POST VIDEO: Can Disney Help End B'Way Strike? Musicals Off-Broadway can't offer the production values of a "Wicked" or "The Lion King," but then you don't have to shell out the big bucks, either. Where "Young Frankenstein" (which is still playing, by the way) can cost up to $450 per ticket, a typical off- ticket is $TK.
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