Broadway Shows are Back On!

Broadway is Back! All Shows Will Be Back in Business Nov. 29

It's so nice to have you back where you belong, Broadway. For the first time in 19 days, all Broadway shows will be on tonight.

Playbill.com confirmed as of 10 AM Nov. 29 that every Broadway show that was stalled by the recent strike (as well as shows that were not affected, of course) will indeed be performing Thursday, Nov. 29, the first day after the 19-day strike ended. Broadway's current shows include:

Avenue Q at the Golden Theatre
A Bronx Tale at the Walter Kerr Theatre
A Chorus Line at the Schoenfeld Theatre
Cyrano de Bergerac at the Richard Rodgers Theatre
August: Osage County at the Imperial Theatre
Chicago at the Ambassador Theatre
The Color Purple at the Broadway Theatre
Curtains at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre
Cymbeline at the Vivian Beaumont Theater
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the St. James Theatre
The Drowsy Chaperone at the Marquis Theatre
The Farnsworth Invention at the Music Box Theatre
Grease at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre
Hairspray at the Neil Simon Theatre
Is He Dead? at the Lyceum Theatre
Jersey Boys at the August Wilson Theatre
Legally Blonde at the Palace Theatre
Les Misérables at the Broadhurst Theatre
The Lion King at the Minskoff Theatre
The Little Mermaid at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
Mamma Mia! at the Winter Garden Theatre
Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam Theatre
Monty Python's Spamalot at the Shubert Theatre
The Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theatre
Pygmalion at the American Airlines Theatre
Rent at the Nederlander Theatre
The Ritz at Studio 54
Rock 'n' Roll at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
The Seafarer at the Booth Theatre
Spring Awakening at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Circle in the Square Theatre
Young Frankenstein at the Hilton Theatre
Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre
Xanadu at the Helen Hayes Theatre

Broadway Shows Cancelled Thru November 25, 2007

November 18, 2007
Statement from the League of American Theatres and Producers

We are profoundly disappointed to have to tell you that talks broke off with Local One, IATSE tonight, and that no further negotiations are scheduled.

We presented a comprehensive proposal that responded to the union's concerns about loss of jobs and earnings and attempted to address our need for some flexibilities in running our business. The union rejected our effort to compromise and continues to require us to hire more people than we need.

Out of respect for our public and our loyal theatergoers, many of whom are traveling from around the world, we regret that we must cancel performances through Sunday November 25.

Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson Tour?

Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson, who scored a hit earlier this year with the duet "Because of You," will join forces for an early 2008 roadtrip.

Dubbed the "2 Worlds 2 Voices Tour," the run is scheduled to kick off Jan. 17 in Ohio, and will touch down in 15 cities, all of which are located in the South and Midwest. Details are included below.

Fans can probably count on a very short wait between McEntire's and Clarkson's individual sets, as the two plan to share the same backing band throughout the run. It's also a safe bet that the pair will hit the stage together for a rendition of "Because of You," a cut that appears on McEntire's latest album, "Reba Duets," which surfaced in September.

Before hitting the road with McEntire, Clarkson will finish up her own in-progress headlining tour, which currently has her on the West Coast, and will wrap up Dec. 3 in Nashville. The Grammy-winning "American Idol" victor is backing her latest album, "My December," which surfaced in July.

Clarkson's current theater outing came about after the singer pulled the plug on a summer arena trek due to poor ticket sales. Shortly after scrubbing that outing, Clarkson split with her longtime manager, Jeff Kwatinetz, and signed on with Starstruck Entertainment CEO Narvel Blackstock--who, not coincidentally, is McEntire's husband.

January 2008

17 - Dayton, OH - Ervin J. Nutter Center
18 - Louisville, KY - Freedom Hall
19 - Morgantown, WV - West Virginia University
24 - Norfolk, VA - Norfolk Scope Arena
25 - Winston-Salem, NC - Lawrence Joel Complex
26 - Fayetteville, NC - Crown Center
31 - Valley Center, KS - Kansas Coliseum

February 2008

1 - Tulsa, OK - Mabee Center
2 - Bossier City, LA - CenturyTel
7 - Saint Charles, MO - Family Arena
8 - Indianapolis, IN - Conseco Fieldhouse
9 - Rockford, IL - Metro Center
14 - Tupelo, MS - Bancorpsouth Arena
15 - Jonesboro, AR - ASU Convocation Center
16 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center

Broadway Shows Shutdown

This isn't a good sign of things to come when a playwright strike halts Broadway.

Strike Shuts Down Most Broadway Shows

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/theater/10cnd-theater.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

After a morning of confusion and anxiety during which members of Local One, the stagehands union, met and the producers waited to see what would happen, the stagehands strike has officially begun. Union members are holding picket signs in front of theaters and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the parent union of Local One, issued a statement confirming the walkout.

The stagehands took their picket signs to the wet sidewalks around 10 a.m. today, after a meeting of Local One, their union, at the Westin New York on West 43rd Street.

Twenty-seven Broadway shows, including “Wicked,” “Jersey Boys” and “The Lion King” were shuttered, starting with “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical” which was to raise its curtain at 11 a.m.

Only eight shows, which are in theaters on a separate contract with the union, are still running: “Cymbeline,” “Mary Poppins,” “Mauritius,” “Pygmalion,” “The Ritz,” “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” “Xanadu” and “Young Frankenstein.”

This is the second strike on Broadway in less than five years; the four-day musician walkout in 2003 was the first in almost three decades. But this is the first time Local One, a 121-year old union, has called a strike on Broadway.

Producers have made plans to give refunds to people who have bought tickets to shows that would be canceled. The first show to be shuttered by the walkout is “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical,” which begins performances at 11 a.m.

On Thursday, after two long days of negotiating with the League of American Theaters and Producers, the stagehands’ union was given the authority to strike by its parent union, the last step necessary before a strike can be called.

A session scheduled for Friday did not take place, and all around Broadway, producers, stagehands and just about everyone else in the industry were buzzing with theories about when or if the stagehands would walk out.

Local One officials had been expected to give a few days’ notice before a strike was called, though a note on the union’s Web site said that the parent union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, would advise Local One as to when the strike would begin.

The talks, which have been going on since before the union’s contract expired in July, broke down over the issue of work rules.

The contract with Local One has strict rules governing how many stagehands must be called to work, what kind of tasks they can perform and how long the work calls can be scheduled. League members say the rules inevitably lead to long periods of time when stagehands are on the clock with nothing to do.

The league has been pushing for more flexibility in deciding how many stagehands are needed for work and when they are needed, and they have offered a package of raises in return for that flexibility.

James J. Claffey, the president of the union, has said that the stagehands would be willing to make changes to the rules in return for benefits of equal value. But there is no way to tell how much work the stagehands would lose under the rules the producers are proposing, Mr. Claffey said, and so it would be difficult to gauge the value of what the league has been offering in return.

It is unclear how long a strike would last. League members have privately speculated that the pressure to get Broadway up and running again would keep the strike from going longer than three or four days. Union officials say that a strike could go for weeks if necessary; Mr. Claffey has already turned down an offer from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to help in the negotiations.

By taking a few cents out of every ticket over the past few years, the producers have amassed a $20 million fund to help weather a shutdown by covering fixed costs, like insurance. But for shows that do not have much in the way of advance sales — sales that could be refunded — a strike that went on for more than a few days could be fatal.

Local One, which has around 2,200 members, roughly a quarter of whom work on Broadway, has accumulated its own $4.1 million emergency stockpile. The union has set aside an additional $1 million to help members of the other unions that will be out of work during a strike.

Union officials also point out that there are more than a thousand non-Broadway jobs in Local One that stagehands can rotate into while they are not working on Broadway, but that rotation system has become more complicated now that the strike by the Writers Guild of America has left Local One members in the television industry without work as well.

Hot Tickets for November

Though the red hot Boston Red Sox gave a dramatic end to the baseball season, the swept the Rockies in the World Series. Our ticket affiliate, StubHub continues to find fans the seats they're looking for during the winter!

Our hottest selling NFL games are the Indianapolis Colts at San Diego Chargers on Nov. 11 and the Green Bay Packers at Dallas Cowboys on Nov. 29. Cowboys tickets are also big sellers for when they play the Washington Redskins on Nov. 18, and again on Dec. 30. These will sell fast.

We are seeing a large of amount of college football tickets being sold, especially for this weekend's USC at Cal matchup, as well as UCLA against USC on Dec. 1. Other big sellers include Ohio State at Michigan on Nov. 17, USC at Arizona State on Thanksgiving Day, Texas at Texas A&M on Nov. 23 and Alabama at Auburn on Nov. 24.

College basketball starts this weekend! Fans want to see their team make it all the way through March to the Final Four! We're seeing lots of sales for Kansas at USC on Dec. 2, North Carolina at Kentucky on Dec. 1, and Wisconsin at Duke on Nov. 27.

In the NBA, the Celtics are the hot ticket! Some of most sold out games include contests against the Miami Heat on Nov. 16, the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 23, and the Chicago Bulls on Dec. 8. The New York Knicks are in high demand a! s well, with games coming up against the Heat on Nov. 11, Warriors on Nov. 20 and the Bulls on Nov. 24.

If you haven't heard, Hannah Montana tickets are in high demand! Other artists are also selling big, including Garth Brooks, Bruce Springsteen, and The Spice Girls.

If you don't get your tickets now and plan ahead, they will be all gone. Concert tickets, sports tickets and broadway ticket prices soar as the event dates get closer to the actual event. Just like airline tickets. Don't regret it later, buy now and plan ahead.

Hottest Selling Tickets for October

Good luck finding tickets to any of these events. Unless you find them in the ticket aftermarket, like a ticket reseller. Most of these are sold out because of their popularity.

1 Wicked
2 Hannah Montana
3 Radio City Christmas Spectacular
4 Jersey Boys
5 Bon Jovi
6 Dallas Cowboys
7 Cirque Du Soleil
8 Van Halen
9 Trans-Siberian Orchestra
10 Bruce Springsteen
11 Green Bay Packers
12 Lion King
13 New York Giants
14 Young Frankenstein
15 New York Knicks
16 Stevie Wonder
17 Indianapolis Colts
18 Andrea Bocelli
19 Dane Cook
20 Pittsburgh Steelers