Musicians sign new agreements as Broadway celebrates bumper year

Published Friday 15 June 2007 at 11:45 by Michael Quinn

Against the background of a record-breaking season, Broadway’s musicians have signed a new three-year contract with producers.

The agreement avoids a repetition of the four-day strike in 2003 that cost an estimated $10 million (£5 million) in lost box-office income. The new contracts will make more musicians eligible for health care in exchange for losing two wage increases during the life of the agreement, with producers to contribute more to health plan provision.

Figures released this week show 12.3 million tickets were sold for shows on the Great White Way for the year to May 29. It is only the second time that Broadway audiences have exceeded the 12 million barrier and represents a 2.6% increase in year-on-year sales. Gross ticket sales also reached a new record level of $939 million (£475 million), said the League of American Theatres and Producers.

Thirty-five new productions opened on Broadway last year, 12 of which were new musicals, 11 new plays, seven play revivals and five musical revivals. Although largely optimistic about the prospects for the 2007/08 season, the LATP also warned that escalating production costs were a potential danger, with only one show in five recouping its costs.