SOMETHING HAPPENS ON BROADWAY by Jana Kokavcova

What is happening in last few days on Broadway? They called it 2 black days. It is something like a protest against upper class - producers and managers. They stopped all shows and on the streets that are normally full of people and where are long crowds were only a few pedestrians. Theaters around Time Square were empty. Some people have tickets for some performances, but they waited for nothing. On Sunday there were no performances at all. Twenty seven shows remained to close on Sunday. Such beautiful and famous performances like "Wicked", "The Phantom of the Opera", "Hairspray", "Jersey boys"… All these were closed. They protested. James J. Claffey Jr., president of Local One, said : "The League of American Theatres and Producers needs to make a "constructive" adjustment to its counter offers." That is the problem of all the theatres in New York. And maybe not only in "Big Apple". But there were some theaters that were not closed on Sunday. Eight theaters have separate contracts with the union and stay open on Saturday and Sunday. There were playing performances like "Young Frankenstein", "Mary Poppins" … as well as four shows that were playing at nonprofit theaters. They were "Pygmalion", The Ritz", "Mauritius" and "Cymbeline". What is the reason why league protests? Maybe money. They want pay for workers and work that is actually performed. They want respect and constructive adjustment between Theatres and Producers. The producers want more flexibility in hiring. The head of Actors' Equity Association John Connolly said: "We regret these theatres are closed. We are sorry we are not where we want to be: on stage, entertaining our audiences. That is what we do, that's what we live for…" All we could say in conclusion is that this situation will not stay such horrible long time, because people love theatre and actors love audience.

by Jana Kokavcova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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