Mamma mia! – the shows may go on tomorrow. Broadway theater owners and striking stagehands returned to the bargaining table last night – with sources saying they expected to reach a settlement in the wee hours today.
An agreement would end the stagehands’ 17-day walkout that has darkened 26 theaters and cost the city some $34 million.
Sources said the two sides had made big concessions and were close to a deal after a 20-hour marathon negotiating session that ended at 6:30 a.m. yesterday. After a 12-hour break, the talks resumed last night.
“Progress was made,” said Bruce Cohen, a spokesman for Local One, which represents the stagehands. “Each side is being very creative and imaginative.”
For example, the owners dropped a demand to eliminate the flyman, a stagehand who earns $160,000 a year and is in charge of things that fly in a production.
Musicals are required to hire a flyman whether or not the show has elements that take to the air.
If both sides reach a deal, it will probably be too late for the theaters to reopen tonight. But the shows could go on for tomorrow’s matinees, sources said.
Theaters are expected to sell some tickets at bargain-basement prices to get the Great White Way running again.
The stagehands, who can earn $120,000 a year, walked out Nov. 10 in a dispute that pitted them against theater owners trying to change long-established hiring rules in an era of computerized stagecraft.
One of the key issues is the load-in, in which sets are loaded into a theater for a new production. The rules currently require that any stagehand hired for a part of the load-in be paid for its duration.
The sources said both parties had made big concessions on the load-in and other issues, with neither compromising more than the other.
City Comptroller William Thompson says the strike is costing the Big Apple $2 million a day.
The theaters, represented by the League of American Theaters and Producers, lost an estimated $25 million to $30 million over the Thanksgiving holiday, Broadway’s second most lucrative period.
On the Great White Way, tourists eagerly awaited the strike’s end.
Mike and Doodle Cinotti, along with 15 children, grandchildren and other relatives, flew to the Apple from Jacksonville, Fla., for Thanksgiving. Luckily, they had tickets to “The Grinch,” which reopened Friday because the show’s producers had negotiated a separate contract with the stagehands.
Denise McGucken and her daughter, Sarah, who live in North Queensland in Australia, said they arrived three weeks ago, planning to see a show every night. They are leaving tonight.
“It’s so ironic,” said Denise. “We thought we could wait the strike out.”