Steve On Broadway (SOB)

Cold Opening Possible For August: Osage County?

Cold Opening Possible For August: Osage County?

The scheduled opening nights for Broadway's The Farnsworth Invention (Music Box Theatre) and The Seafarer (Booth Theatre) were jettisoned this week due to the stagehands strike.

But Variety reported on Wednesday that there still may be hope for Tuesday's scheduled opening for Tracy Letts' August: Osage County if Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (I.A.T.S.E.) can hammer out some sort of settlement or an interim agreement with The League of American Theatres and Producers by Sunday evening.

The two sides are slated to finally meet again on Saturday morning at 10 a.m., this time at an undisclosed location.

Gordon Cox reports:

Jeffrey Richards, producer of Chicago transfer August: Osage County, said that if the labor dispute were resolved by Sunday night, he would contemplate opening August cold on its originally skedded date, Nov. 20.

Over at Broadway World, in a Michael J. Roberts interview posted Wednesday, August cast member Francis Guinan states rather hopefully:

We have all pretty much decided to wait-out the strike for now. We are fairly hopeful that it will not continue for much longer. In fact, we are still hoping that we can keep our official opening night of Tuesday, November 20.

Now wouldn't that be something? An opening night that the press would be compelled to attend for a change. David Merrick couldn't have hoped for more.

Let's hope that both sides of the labor dispute come prepared on Saturday to negotiate in good faith so the hardworking stagehands may once again turn on all the lights that make up the Great White Way.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Related Stories:
Finally, Back To The Table (November 14, 2007)
Add August To The List? (November 14, 2007)
Strike Fallout, Part Two? Opening Nights In Question (November 12, 2007)

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) @ Friday, November 16, 2007