Broadway Strike - Day Eleven: Most of Broadway remains dark. Producers of 'The Grinch' seek an injunction to require Jujamcyn Theatres to allow the show to re-open


Local One Pickets


As the strike by Local One, Broadway's unionised stage hands, enters its eleventh day there are no signs of a settlement. Broadway is quickly becoming gloom town, with some inside the industry prediction that the strike may continue well into December. It is impossible to predict that far ahead, but there seems little optimism that the strike will end this week.

There has been some speculation that the League and the Union will meet for negotiations on Sunday, but there is nothing to base such speculation on, and in our view it seems extremely unlikely.

The bizarre story of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! � The Musical continues. Yesterday, the union and the show's producers agreed to re-open the show on 20 Nov 2007.

Within minutes of this being negotiated, the Jujamcyn Theaters, owners of St James Theatre where The Grinch should be playing, made the following announcement: "The Local One Stagehands struck the St. James Theatre at 10:00 am the morning after the Opening of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical. The Grinch will not reopen until the union signs agreements and ends the strike at all theatres and all the other shows that have been closed by their strikes reopen on Broadway." This means that the theatre owners are now locking out the stagehands from St James Theatre.

The Grinch producers responded to Jujamcyn Theaters announcement with their own statement, "We appreciate that Local One has recognized our pre-existing agreement and has lifted the strike on The Grinch in spite of their differences with the League. We are going to court tomorrow to seek an injunction to require Jujamcyn to open the doors to families and children planning on coming to the theatre this week. We need someone who believes in the spirit of Christmas to enable the show to re-open for the holidays."

The future of the The Grinch depends upon the court's decision. If the show does not re-open this week, many in the industry predict that the show's producers, 'Running Subway Prods,' will have no choice but to post closing notices.

Broadway Strike! - Day one
Broadway Strike! - Day two
Broadway Strike! - Day three
Broadway Strike! - Day four
Broadway Strike! - Day five
Broadway Strike! - Day six
Broadway Strike! - Day seven
Broadway Strike! - Day eight
Broadway Strike! - Day nine
Broadway Strike! - Day tenth


Click here to find out which Broadway shows are playing, and which ones are not.

Originally published on

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