Steve On Broadway (SOB)

Add August To The List?

Add August To The List?

According to NY1, Tracy Letts' August: Osage County may join Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention and Conor McPherson's The Seafarer in needing to reschedule opening nights due to the ongoing Broadway stagehands strike. Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (I.A.T.S.E.) has been striking against The League of American Theatres and Producers since Saturday.

Yesterday, the announcement came that The Farnsworth Invention's opening, originally slated for this evening at the Music Box Theatre, would be indefinitely postponed. I understand that the announced postponement for the opening of The Seafarer is imminent since it was scheduled to open tomorrow evening at the Booth Theatre, directly across the street from the Music Box. UPDATE (November 14, 12:45 pm): All theatres currently being struck by Local One will be dark on Thursday, including the Booth, home to The Seafarer.

And talk about a cluster you-know-what for shows that may not open as planned. Right next door to the Music Box is the Imperial Theatre, where August: Osage County is currently scheduled to open on Tuesday.

The primary reason why opening nights are being postponed, of course, is because there is no end in sight for the strike. After all, if the theatres remain dark, they have no choice.

But another reason is that most critics attend preview performances, and if there are no preview performances to attend, well heaven forbid a critic would actually have to attend an opening night performance itself to review a show.

Here is a list of the only Broadway shows not impacted by the strike. These shows remain open and will perform this afternoon and evening:

Cymbeline at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre (in previews at Lincoln Center, no review posted)
Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam Theatre (click here for The SOB Review)
Mauritius at the Biltmore Theatre (click here for The SOB Review)
Pygmalion at the American Airlines TheatreStudio 54 (click here for The SOB Review)
The Ritz at Studio 54 (click here for The SOB Review)
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at the Circle In The Square Theatre (Click here for The SOB Review of the Chicago production)
Xanadu at the Helen Hayes Theatre (click here for The SOB Review)
Young Frankenstein at the Hilton Theatre (click here for The SOB Preview from Seattle.

There's also an enormously wide selection of Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway shows from which to select, as well as the 75th Radio City Christmas Spectacular and cabaret acts ranging from the sublime Broadway legend Chita Rivera at Feinstein's at the Regency to the ridiculously hard-working men and women at Don't Tell Mama.

Now, if only The League would get Local One back to the bargaining table.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Labels: August Osage County, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, League of American Theatres and Producers, Local One, Lockout, Stagehands, Strike, The Farnsworth Invention, The Seafarer

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Wednesday, November 14, 2007