A dispute is looming over Broadway as the Musicians' Union, Local 802, negotiates its new contract. The old one expires in March and the producers — with whom they dicker — are seeking the right to reduce the sizes of orchestras and, if necessary, rely on pre-recorded music. This kind of demand won out in Las Vegas a few years back and brought us to the point where all but a few shows there are performed to taped audio tracks. It's unlikely to happen to that extent on Broadway but any cutback would be a shame.
The union has set up a website which outlines their position, and there's an online petition you can sign to show your support. Like most online petitions, it's not likely to do much good but it can't do any harm. Of more import are some short video interviews with musicians, including this nice one with Stephen Sondheim. And I was interested to read a breakdown the union offers us of how much (or rather, how little) of the ticket prices are due to musicians' salaries. The Producers, for example, charges up to $100 for a ticket, grosses more than a million bucks a week, but — according to the union — only spends $47 grand a week, plus change, for the guys in the pit. That works out to three and a half bucks out of every ticket, which is a lot less than I'd have guessed.
Some other shows spend a tad more on musicians and, on a low grosser like the recently-closed Dance of the Vampires, the cost-per-patron is higher. But on no show is it much more than six bucks. In most cases, you're paying more in handling charges for the folks who print out your tickets than you are for all those wonderful music makers.
I guess you can tell where my sympathies are on this one.