New York--Radio City
 

The orchestra has gone on strike and the Rockettes have walked off with them in sympathy.

Does anyone know if this has been resolved? Thanks.

I think the first shows were scheduled for today, so I am guessing that this will be settled asap. This is THE BIG show every year for the Rockettes and Radio City, so not a great time for the orchestra to strike.

I will make sure I watch the news tonight and post any further info.

My husband just told me that the Rockettes are performing to recorded music :( . It doesn't look good. I was about to purchase tickets - now I will wait.

The musicians agreed to sign the offered contract, but management locked them out and used pre-recorded music for today's performance. The Rockettes threatened to walk out in sympathy, but have a no-strike/no-lockout clause in their contract and couldn't. It looks like RMC will be using canned music for the forseeable future.

Hopefully Local#1 the stagehands won't cross the picket line. If they do the musicians are done. Canned music on tour is one thing, but at Radio City Music Hall????? That just aint right!

Well let's see... how long were the Broadway musicians on strike a few years back..? The other unions walked then, as well, though, so I guess we have to wait it out & see.

My sense is that RC feels that people are coming for the Rockettes and not the music (many tourists interviewed today said it didn't really bother them). I wouldn't be surprised if this was the end of the show as we know it.

Well, I actually do have tickets for December 26th, so I hope this is resolved by then. I haven't seen the show since I was a kid and my husband has never seen it or even the inside of RCMH which is a spectacular in itself. Keep your fingers crossed!

I hate to see this happen, but in all honesty the music is all so electronic and so miked that I doubt most people could be able to tell the difference.

Patrick - to an extent you are right, it is heavily amplified and the people who saw the show said they couldn't tell the difference (but the news broadcasts were interviewing children, not music afficionados).

There is also the principle of it all. The musicians have been working without a contract since May; they walked out of the last dress rehersal in order to put some pressure on management (Cablevision - one of the demons in NYC). The musicians then agreed to management's last proposal and showed up ready to work, but were locked out, supposedly until a final contract is signed, which could be weeks. Weeks ago Cablevision offered the gig to a group from New Orleans that declined the offer once they heard that the regular musicians for RMC were working without a contract and the offer was really for them to be replacement workers.

Cablevision doesn't have much credibility at this point (for this and many other reasons). They know they can get away with using canned music, so they will. It's as simple as that.