Broadway musician's strike ends - ten more years of live music on the Great White Way:

Broadway's producers and striking musicians — immediately responding to a request from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to meet with a mediator Monday — bargained through the night, reaching a tentative new four-year contract Tuesday morning. The agreement ended a four-day walkout by the Great White Way's musicians, supported by actors and stagehands, that had cost millions of dollars.

The League of American Theatres and Producers could see the immediate impact of the strike in its weekly financial figures, released Tuesday. For the week ending Sunday — which included the 18 Broadway musicals that were closed Friday-Sunday — Broadway grosses were $5.2 million, compared with a gross of $13.1 million for the same week last season.

....by the time the two sides broke for a news conference Tuesday morning, they finally had reached agreement on the contentious major issue of minimums, the number of musicians required to play at different Main Stem houses. Producers came into the talks wanting to scrap the minimums, saying that they shouldn't have to pay for musicians who aren't actually needed. The union said the producers' plan was to replace all live Broadway musicians with the "virtual orchestra," or synthesizer technology.

The new pact provides for 18- and 19-musician minimums for the larger theaters that, under the old contract, had minimums of 24-26. The new minimums will remain in place for a decade, which Beaudoin referred to as "a 10-year commitment to live music."

....Said a weary but relieved Jed Bernstein, president of the League of American Theatres and Producers: "For any negotiation to be successful, you have to leave something on the table and get something in return. And it's true in this case. The unions were reassured that, with the number of musicians, Broadway musicals will have the sound that they're philosophically committed to. Producers feel the new minimums and the changes in the special situations will provide flexibility and a better appeals process." [Hollywood Reporter]

I am totally smpathetic to the plight of musicians, whose services have been on the decline since the invention of the phonograph, then radio, television, home recording, and the final boot out the door, digital music creation and reproduction.