| Irish Play Suffers on Broadway
THE opening night of Irish playwright Conor McPherson's latest Broadway play The Seafarer, which was scheduled for Thursday, November 15, has been postponed until further notice because of the Broadway stagehands strike.
The Seafarer, which was already in previews before the strike hit, features well known Irish actors Ciaran Hinds, Conleth Hill and Jim Norton and is considered the season's highest profile play. Observers are now predicting that Broadway may be in for a long and costly dispute before McPherson's show gets back on the boards.
Over two dozen Broadway shows went dark last weekend as the stagehands, who are engaged in a long running and bitter contract dispute with producers, went on strike. The dispute is over long-established work rules, which the producers claim are out of date and expensive.
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.
Stagehands' strike renders Broadway dark
NEW YORK | Much of Broadway went dark Saturday, as a long-threatened strike by stagehands became a reality and thousands of theater-goers were left holding tickets to shows that shut down. It was the second strike to hit the Great White Way in five years and came as a shock to many people who had expected that talks between producers and the union representing stagehands would continue through the weekend. The work stoppage, which threatens to cast a shadow on New York's busy and lucrative holiday season, has thrown yet another branch of the American entertainment world into turmoil. Earlier this week, members of the Writers Guild of America went on strike, bringing movie and television show production to a halt. Twenty-six Broadway shows were affected by Saturday's walkout, including hits like "Wicked," "Mamma Mia!" "Jersey Boys" "The Lion King," "Chicago" and "Avenue Q" plus new shows in previews, including "The Little Mermaid" and "The Farnsworth Invention." Talks between Local One, which include stagehands, and the League of American Theaters and Producers, had been going on for three months, since the current contract expired on July 31.
November 12, 2007
If you read the New York papers, you know that most of Broadway has been shut down by a stagehands' strike. Eight shows remain open, two of which, Pygmalion and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, were praised by me in my Wall Street Journal drama column. (Lincoln Center Theater's production of Shakespeare's Cymbeline is still in previews--I won't see it for another couple of weeks.) Shows playing off Broadway are unaffected by the strike, though The Fantasticks is the only one to which I've given a favorable notice. I plan to see two new off-Broadway shows later this week and review them in Friday's Journal. On Saturday I'll be flying out to Chicago to look at a pair of interesting-sounding productions, a revival of Joe Orton's What the Butler Saw and a new play by Nilo Cruz called A Park in Our House, about which I'll be reporting next week.
Little Mermaid Postpones Broadway Opening
Due to the ongoing stagehands strike that has temporarily shuttered 27 Broadway shows, the new Disney musical The Little Mermaid has postponed its Broadway opening. The musical, which began previews Nov. 3, was scheduled to officially open at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Dec. 6. That date has been postponed; a new opening date has yet to be announced. The news of the postponement was announced Nov. 20 in a press statement that reads, "As a result of the current labor dispute, the new Broadway production of Disney's The Little Mermaid has postponed its previously announced Opening Night performance on December 6th. Previews will resume when the dispute is resolved and a revised plan for opening night will be announced at that time." Sierra Boggess heads the cast in the title role of Ariel, who longs "to be where the people are" (as the lyric goes), above the water's surface.
Broadway's 'Annie' will grace paramount stage
The classic musical Annie was first produced on Broadway in 1977. Thirty years later, this charming tale about never giving up hope is still being seen by thousands of people and still being enjoyed as if the show opened yesterday. Lynn Andrews, who plays Miss Hannigan in the current touring production of Annie, which makes a stop at the Paramount Theatre on Friday and Saturday, has a simple explanation for the show's appeal. "There are dogs and kids on stage," Andrews said with a chuckle. "How can you not love dogs and kids? But seriously, it is a good, solid show. It has been a hit for 30 years because it all works. The show is funny." .
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