Trouble in River City

In regard to “The Music Man” tour coming to Orange County sans Equity contracts (Morning Report, Aug. 18):

According to OCPAC spokesman Tim Dunn, the word “Broadway” is a “generic term” used to describe a particular style of musical. In the Oxford American Dictionary, not only is “Broadway” a proper noun, but its first definition is “a street in New York City ... famous for its stores and theaters.” The second definition is “the professional theater in New York City.” There is no mention of a “generic term.”

The actors who will appear on the OCPAC stage do not belong to Actors’ Equity Assn., the union of professional stage actors and stage managers in the United States. With rare exception, every actor on a Broadway stage in New York City is a member of Equity, whose council I have served on for the past nine years.

Make no mistake: There will be no professional, Equity actors on OCPAC’s stage. Those actors have been deprived of the benefits of a contract that includes not only health and pension benefits and a living wage, but also establishes rules for safe and sanitary working conditions as well as touring guidelines.

If Broadway is indeed “a generic term for that musical style,” then why doesn’t OCPAC hyphenate it--”Broadway-style”--and get Equity off its back?

It’s quite simple: OCPAC is counting on the reputation and images that the word “Broadway” conjures in order to sell this “generic” production to their trusting patrons.

GLENDA CHISM-TAMBLYN

Northridge