ONE STRIKE AND THEY'RE OUT: Victims of the Equity Strike...

Word is that if Equity does go on strike Tuesday (VERY likely) that the following shows will NOT re-open their doors on Broadway:

42nd Street
Aida
Caroline, or Change
Frozen
Little Shop
Wonderful Town

Several sources also report that RENT is on the above list as well...

Recent banter --
These may be done as well:
FIDDLER
MOVIN' OUT

Here it is.


NY Post article

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Oh this breaks my heart...I don't know if I could deal with all of these closing!

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Are you kidding me? Are you honestly calling Michael Reidel's column in the tabloid otherwise known as the New York Post a reasonable source?

Reidel is known for his exaggeration...that's all I'll say about that.

Boy From Oz is not closing anytime prior to their September closing date...it sells out pretty much every performance.

Almost all the other shows listed have either already posted closing notices or have been in danger of closing since before they opened. Rent posted a closing notice back on 9/11, and the box office receipts have hardly been impressive since then.

If producers close any one of these shows, they will quickly blame Equity for their actions. In fact, some say, Producers are keeping some of these shows open just in case there IS a strike and they have some ammunition to fire at Equity for causing them to close. Wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised.

Of course they will blame Equity if it goes down this way. And no, I am not calling Michael Reidel's column anything, I am merely sharing what I have heard. And not from the Post. (Always a reliable source, ask VP Edwards)

I doubt all of it will go down, it would give the city a huge financial tumor.

And on a bitter note, Assassins has sold out almost every show, and they're closing...

"And no, I am not calling Michael Reidel's column anything, I am merely sharing what I have heard. And not from the Post."

Then where, may I ask, did you hear your information?

Assassins is closing because it sold out on rather low average ticket prices. And now I have to rush out and see Caroline, too...

omg this is so not cool! Why fiddler? it like just opened, well almost. i just have a question. If the strike does occur, does this mean that the rest of the shows will be on strike for the rest of the summer, or just until the strike ends?

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Updated On: 7/11/04 at 01:43 PM

Shows would close until the strike is over, when they would re-open again as usual. Much like the recent musicians strike. They usually (and hopefully) don't last long.

>> Are you honestly calling Michael Reidel's column in the tabloid otherwise known as the New York Post a reasonable source?

Nope, but anyone can access the box office receipts on Variety and see how marginally these shows are doing. No, it's not all Equity's fault: you have stump casting, exploding costs for production values, a whole raft of factors. But I'd posit that AEA is symptomatic of the problem, not the cause.

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I don't know much about the business part of theatre, but this all seems far fetched to me. The equity strike will be so publicized that they won't need to do any sort of massive reopening ad campaigns. There's lost possibility of profit with a strike, but it's not like they have to pay the cost of running a show that night either, so the losses wouldn't be that much. It would be a problem if they had the cost of the lights, musicians, effects, and actors to pay with no audience. I really think they're trying to scare us into siding with the producers and not giving Equity public support. Kind of reminds me of Cladwell in Urinetown. Let's hope that while Cladwell ended up being right, the producers on Bway are not.

There is no way producers would leave shows open JUST to blame Equity for closing them in the event of a strike. People, be realistic. Producers are running BUSINESSES. They can't put their own business at risk by losing hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars just for spite. And of course they'll blame Equity if shows close due to the strike. As Equity will blame the producers.

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