Theater musicians fear replacement

Broadway’s pit musicians fear that producers are prepared to pull the plug on them and plug in electronic replacements if the musicians’ union refuses to swallow cuts in the size of orchestras.

The sides are preparing to negotiate a new contract, and producers want to drop longstanding minimum staffing levels that require anywhere from three to 26 players for book musicals, depending on theater size. Broadway musicians currently earn $1,350 a week plus pension and health benefits under a five-year deal that expires March 2.

Advances in digital sound reproduction make it possible for a single operator to run an orchestra-in-a-box -- and for shows to go on should in-the-flesh musicians strike. “This is the first time we have faced this serious a technological threat,” Bill Moriarity, president of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, said Tuesday. “Our members’ jobs are at stake.”

Reducing orchestra sizes -- or replacing musicians with pre-programmed instrumental tracks -- would be “tampering with the product” and would jeopardize the quality and artistic integrity of the Broadway musical, Moriarity said. That’s disputed by Jed Bernstein, president of the League of American Theatres and Producers, which represents Broadway theaters in negotiations: “The concept of paying for people who are not artistically necessary for the work has got to end.” If there is a strike, Bernstein said, each producer would decide independently whether to fill in with machinery.