David Byrne’s new Broadway show finds itself in a union fight over its music
David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s Broadway show is treading the boards, to the union’s dismay
Aux News David Byrne
The Broadway Theater must be the place to skirt union rules.
During heightened tensions between labor and the people whose work they benefit from, David Byrne, Fatboy Slim, and their upcoming Broadway show, Here Lies Love, are treading the boards lightly and upsetting unions every step of the way. Per The New York Times, Byrne and Slim’s new show violates union rules requiring no less than 19 paid musicians for musicals at the Broadway Theater (that number varies depending on the size of the theater). For his part, Byrne maintains that Here Lies Love is a unique case.
Here Lies Love is “not a traditional musical,” the show’s statement explains. The story of Imelda Marcos, the controversial former first lady of the Philippines, the show requires the “performance of the live vocals to pre-recorded, artificial tracks,” which are “paramount to its artistic concept.”
The show certainly doesn’t sound traditional as the “Broadway Theatre has been transformed into a nightclub” by ripping out the seats and installing a dance floor, so “every theatergoers [is] immersed in the experience.”
“In many ways, Here Lies Love is pioneering this kind of dance club track-act immersion on Broadway,” the statement reads. “Broadway must create space for boundary-pushing creative work. Broadway is also the venue for a well-conceived, high-quality show that highlights the valued traditions of specific cultures whose stories have never been on its stages. Here Lies Love does not believe in artistic gatekeepers. Here Lies Love believes in a Broadway for everyone, where new creative forms push the medium and create new traditions and audiences.”
The production has filed to have the show deemed a “special situation,” an agreement between the production and labor regarding the number of musicians hired. And, no, we do not believe that Byrne and Fatboy Slim count as hired musicians. (Still, that would leave 17 seats to fill.) It’s the precedent being set here that’s a problem. The union’s job is to preserve those coveted 19 seats of musicians, which, as of this writing, is a field that’s really hard to get a job in. We’re not sure if making sure people get paid is the same as “gate keeping,” but that term certainly looks better in a press release. Broadway shows have been allowed reduced orchestras in the past; however, one with no orchestra is very uncommon, meaning this fight could lead to arbitration.
“We’re not going to stand by and let this happen,” Tino Gagliardi, president and executive director of But Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, told the New York Times. “It’s not fair to the public.”
Previously, Byrne wrote and performed the Broadway musical American Utopia, which featured live music and paid musicians.
16 Comments
“It’s not fair to the public.”
YEAH, because as we know it was THE PUBLIC that demanded this rule about 19 musicians working at this one place.
THE PUBLIC!!!!!
He stole Ed Sheeran’s banjo!
Yeah, but Sheeran himself stole it from Kermit the Frog! And at least now it’s back on Broadway.
The article doesn’t touch on it, but I’m wondering if the music is maybe more electronic in nature? Could that be a reason why live musicians wouldn’t make as much sense? It’s the only reason I could think of (that isn’t “intentionally trying to skirt union rules”, though that’s certainly possible).
I mean, American Psycho was more of that too and still managed to field a whole musician team, I believe…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Psycho_(musical)
The concept album (with a crazy lineup of vocalists) and the original off Broadway cast recording have both been out for awhile, I do get the argument that it would be hard to redo that with 19 musicians when they’re mostly Fat Boy Slim beats?https://open.spotify.com/album/78JwlqX2qAedtJN11U5qkW?si=e1OpR9APQN2ZTdvI-BdPTAI’m surprised they would go through all the effort of tearing out half the theater seats to turn everything into a dance floor without the musician thing once entering anyone’s thoughts.I saw the Seattle staging and assuming they try to translate that I have no idea where you’d even be able to cram 19 musicians other than dispersing them amongst the seated crowd? ( The standing/dancing audience section had to move around a lot to avoid the cast and moving sets.)
The whole thing is just one long song about shoes.
I guess there’s only so much you can say about buildings and food.
Stop making sense.
This must be the place for making Talking Heads references.
It sounds like this is not really a Broadway show as they’ve come to be be delineated. Perhaps they could have mounted it at one of the many, many other venues in NYC. Otherwise, play by union rules.
Agreed. If the show’s performance precludes the inclusion of the required number of musicians, then that’s fine, but, also, it’s not a Broadway musical.
As other commenters have pointed out, it seems like Mr. D. Byrne’s art school background might be biting him in the ass, in that he’s thinking of this as an Art Installation With Music that he happens to be producing on Broadway.
–
By some freakish coincidence, I know someone working on this show! so for once, I get the experience on the ground, as it were, and then also the media version, and it seems like they’re fairly close.
ie nobody is a ‘bad guy’ in this situation, exactly, in that the union is simply saying: hey, we hear you when you say you’re using canned music, but here’s the thing, on Broadway? We’ve decided that canned music = musicians because how else do they get paid?
While D.B. and crew are saying: this isn’t a musical, it’s a different thing, so should have different rules.
–
The play really does sound like a very different experience than what might’ve been there before.
–
But as other people have said: If it’s on Broadway, in order for the musicians to get paid, you have to either pay for the musicians on your canned music as if they were live ones, or work by the standards we already have.
–
I’m glad I don’t have to decide this one, as it seems like both sides have good points.
Like all shows, especially ‘different’ ones, making money?
Very tricky.
So, every cent counts.
–
There should be some compromise, in there, and I do hope they work it out, because it sounds like a blast of a show.
“It’s not fair to the public” is a really dumb argument. The public don’t care how many musicians are in the pit. If the people who wrote the music say it doesn’t need nineteen musicians to be performed, then it doesn’t need nineteen musicians. What are you gonna do, add a dozen cowbell players just to remain in observance of an outdated rule?
These requirements to hire a set number of musicians by the union (regardless of the composer’s original arrangements) is another thing that drives up ticket prices on Broadway.
18 homeless people in white suits with broad shoulders and with harmonicas in their pockets. Pay them union wage to enjoy the show.Seems easy to me.