LINCOLN CENTER PERFORMING ARTS STAGE REVIEW

We publish to restore the U.S. Constitutional and Labor Law rights to FREE SPEECH AND PROVIDE THE JOBS, PENSIONS AND BENEFITS DENIED US BY A CORRUPT UNION UNDER CORRUPT BUSINESS AGENTS AND DEPARTMENT HEADS. LINCOLN CENTER MANAGEMENT FAILS TO PROVIDE THE RANK AND FILE OVERSIGHT AND HONEST MANAGEMENT ALLOWING LOCAL ONE CORRUPTION TO FLOURISH. THIS PREVENTS HONEST UNIONISM FROM FLOWERING HERE. OUR FRIENDS: WWW.BROADWAYSTAGEHANDSDEMOCRACYANVIL.BLOGSPOT.COM

RIP Leah Schneider member of Local One who struggled to make tier and carry twins and fight Cancer.

Leah Schneider, a remarkable woman and stage technician who struggled for years as a woman and non family member in Local One IATSE, struggling to make tiered medical benefits designed to most benefit, the officers and department heads of Local One IATSE. Family members of the inner circle of Local One, in violation of US Constitutional Law and US Labor Law, had the best jobs and guaranteed benefits year after year. The editorial staff of BSD had numerous talks with Leah where she outlined how difficult it was to make medical benefits prior to and during her pregnancy, and during her battle with Cancer, while the illegally favored relatives and friends of the Department heads and officers skated into the best jobs and benefits year after year, with quite a few making pay and benefits while working under age, doing multiple jobs at the same time (impossible without corruption.), and even without actually showing up. Leah's struggle was typical of many Local One members, literally treated as non members in Local One's corruption scam against the rank and file of Local ONE IATSE. Rest in Peace Leah. We will not forget you.

Stagehand Leah Schneider is back to work at the Cort Theatre on W. 48th St., to preparing for the upcoming play 'The Homecoming,' which opens in December. The Local 1 chapter of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees reached a tentative agreement with the League of American Theaters and Producers late last night, ending a 19-day stagehand strike that closed the doors on many Broadway shows.

THE STAGEHANDS REVIEW of LINCOLN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

BACKSTAGE AT THE METROPOLITAN OPERA AND ALL LINCOLN CENTER STAGES.

The Stagehands Review from The Rank and File Stagehands Sight Line.

Are the jobs at Lincoln Center going to the RANK AND FILE union members Lincoln Center Management and if not why are they not going to the rank and file?

Doesn't nepotism violate UNITED STATES CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND LABOR LAW?

Why are the Lincoln Center Department heads hiring their relatives instead of RANK AND FILE MEMBERS?

DOESN'T THIS MAKE LINCOLN CENTER AND IT'S VENUES AN ACCOMPLICE TO FRAUD AND THE VIOLATION OF MEMBERS OF LOCAL ONES RIGHTS TO JOBS, PENSIONS AND BENEFITS?

THE REVIEW SUPPORTS THE RIGHT OF THE RANK AND FILE STAGEHANDS TO JOBS, PENSIONS AND BENEFITS ENTITLED BY UNITED STATES CONSTITUTIONAL AND LABOR LAW.

ANN ZIFF CAN YOU HELP THE MEN AND WOMEN OF LOCAL ONE OBTAIN THE JOBS THEY DESERVE?

Please use some of that money to up the rank and file contracts.

PETER GELB AND THE DIAZ FAMILY ARE MAKING MORE THAN ENOUGH NOW.

Peter Gelb, the Met's general manager, and Ann Ziff. Photo from The New York Times.

Comes the news today that Ann Ziff has given the Metropolitan Opera here in New York a gift of $30 million.

The New York Times reports that this is the largest single gift from an individual in the history of the Met, and that Ms. Ziff made it unrestricted, so that the Met can spend it any way it wishes. General Manager Peter Gelb says, "It came at a time when the Met is sorely in need of cash."

Ann Ziff grew up in New York City, and her mother was Harriet Henders, a soprano who performed with conductor Arturo Toscanini, reports The Times. Ann married William B Ziff, Jr., the impresario behind Ziff-Davis Publishing, and they had three sons. William Ziff died in 2006, and now Ann is secretary of the Met's board and will become chairwoman next year.

She is also a gifted jewelry designer who sells her work to a private clientele. She told me that she will be opening a story on Madison Avenue this spring; I want to find out how that is progressing. Her specialty is combining unexpected colors and materials together for striking creations which were exciting to me. Here is a shot of her designs.

THE LINCOLN CENTER STAGEHANDS REVIEW SALUTES THE GENEROSITY OF ANN ZIFF AND FAMILY.

OUR FRIENDS:http://www.broadwaystagehandsdemocracyanvil.blogspot.com

David Koch: No More Cash for Lincoln Center

David Koch closes his wallet to Lincoln Center

By Richard Johnson

May 22, 2015 | 4:01pm

David Koch closes his wallet to Lincoln Center

David KochPhoto: WireImage

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David Koch — who donated $100 million for the refurbishment of the old New York State Theater in Lincoln Center (now the David H. Koch Theater) — has no interest in helping pay for the renovations on the David Geffen Hall across the plaza.

Geffen donated $100 million to get his name on the former Avery Fisher Hall in March, but Lincoln Center wants to raise another $400 million to redo the acoustically inferior space.

“I don’t think it’s going to be easy,” Koch told fellow dance fans at the 75th anniversary of the American Ballet Theatre.

“If they think I’m going to give them a big chunk of that money, they are asking the wrong guy.”

Koch also told my sources that the Geffen Hall could be adequately fixed for a more modest $200 million.

The very generous Koch, who is worth $43 billion, just gave $150 million to Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Meanwhile, ballet lovers are so annoyed at how long the performances on Tuesday dragged on, there are whispers that ABT artistic director Kevin McKenzie is in trouble. The dinner after the ballet didn’t start until 10:30 p.m. even though the curtain went up at 6:30 p.m.

“There were too many dances, too many speeches, too many videos. It was endless,” said one ballet lover. Lots of guests left before the second intermission.

One big donor groused, “If he [McKenzie] doesn’t understand people have to get up in the morning and want to go home, we need a new artistic director.”

Levy Fiddeled While Lincoln Center Burned!

Levy and the Local 1 Business Agents Fiddled while Lincoln Center Burned:How Reynold Levy (Says He) Saved Lincoln Center

By Justin Davidson Follow @JDavidsonNYC

Anne Hathaway, Reynold Levy==An Evening Celebrating Lincoln Center, Honoring REYNOLD LEVY==Lincoln Center, NYC==May 09, 2013==? Patrick McMullan==Photo - Patrick McMullan/ PatrickMcMullan.com==== — Reynold Levy Photo: Patrick McMullan

With its white stone façades and noble arcades, Lincoln Center looks as though it’s always been there and always will be, a 1960s Acropolis that glows afresh each night, constantly rejuvenated by daily infusions of the performing arts. But in 2002, when Reynold Levy took over as president of an entity that’s really more a collection of principalities than a unified organization, the campus looked older, sadder, and lonelier. The travertine was streaked, the pavers pocked, and the air conditioners grumbled. On rainy nights, audiences exiting the halls picked their way around lagoons that leaked into the garage below the plaza. West 65th Street looked like the back end of a big-box store. In a new memoir, They Told Me Not to Take That Job: Tumult, Betrayal, Heroics, and the Transformation of Lincoln Center (PublicAffairs), Levy describes what it took to turn a beloved relic into an artistic engine. His answer, of course, is: him. Well … him, plus $1.2 billion.

For those of us whose philanthropic donations generally hover around the high two figures, the concept of raising that much money in multi-million-dollar chunks is hard to reckon. Indeed, the task had already stumped several chief executives, especially since it required wrangling an amoeboid mess of an institution. Some parts, like the Film Society and the Chamber Music Society, barely recognized each other. Others competed for resources, audiences, and glory. But Levy, with his persuasive handshake and owlish mien, proved to be the administrative virtuoso that Lincoln Center had been waiting for. No need to take his word for it: Just walk around. The campus today is exactly what he and the architect Elizabeth Diller (a founding partner at Diller Scofidio + Renfro) said it would be: the same, only busier, more open, more glamorous, more comfortable, and more fun. If the renovation were a movie, its credit roll would run for 20 minutes, but it would be fair to call it a Reynold Levy production.

It’s not surprising, then, that he subscribes to the "great men" theory of history: In apportioning the components of the book’s subtitle, he’s allotted himself the heroics and assigned the betrayal part to others. And if his account of the gentle squeeze that he applied to various moguls isn’t exactly the stuff of Napoleonic exploits, his results, unlike Napoleon’s, were unambiguously good. If a book-length paean to balanced budgets sounds like a snooze, consider this: New York City Opera, which was decimated by AIDS but survived it, succumbed in the end to preventable fiscal wounds.

Every great leader needs a passel of weak ones to make him shine. Levy is gleefully ruthless in his portrayals of City Opera’s board president Susan Baker and its last executive director, George Steel, whom he essentially accuses of chasing the company over the edge of a financial precipice. Steel’s predecessor Paul Kellogg gets hammered for trying to blaze a dead-end road out of Lincoln Center: The company was moving to ground zero! No, wait, it was building a new opera house on Amsterdam Avenue, a few blocks away! No, actually it wasn’t, but Kellogg projected such profound unhappiness with the State (now David H. Koch) Theater that audiences took his advice and stayed away. Levy also strafes New York Philharmonic ex-chairman Paul Guenther, who tried to force the orchestra into a nonsensical merger with Carnegie Hall. That misadventure was abetted by then–executive director Zarin Mehta, desperate to avoid the misery and expense of renovating the orchestra’s eternally so-so Avery Fisher Hall, and music director Lorin Maazel, who wanted nothing more than to show up, conduct a concert (preferably with minimal rehearsal), and then retreat to his farm in Virginia.

The best and most useful parts of Levy’s book are blunt: He no longer cares who’s mad at him. But his diplomatic instincts wash over him again when he turns to Peter Gelb, the one potential target who’s still on the job. The Metropolitan Opera’s general manager could stand to delegate more, Levy says, leaving the clear impression that Gelb should consider delegating to someone more prudent and capable than he is. The problem is not that Gelb is overworked, but that he has penchant for irrationally exuberant spending. Levy repeats the stark facts that bubbled up in the course of last summer’s labor drama: The budget had become obese, the endowment had withered, and the sense of purpose common to singers, players, stagehands, electricians, and administrators had soured into mutual distrust. Gelb told the world that if the unions didn’t buckle and accept substantial pay cuts, the company would go bankrupt — which hardly seemed to matter, really, since he was also pointing out to opera lovers everywhere that they were getting old and dying off, taking the art form with them. (Thanks, Peter. We’ll work on that.) Most leaders leave it to their critics to point out that the institution they’re running is already halfway down a sheer ravine, but Gelb seemed almost giddy in his pessimism. If Levy thought Kellogg was unwise to tell his audiences that the State Theater was acoustically unsatisfactory, what can he really have thought of Gelb telling everyone to give up all hope?

Much of this feels like old news, some pages read like score-settling, a few as an objective recitation of the record. Still, Levy provides three plausible takeaways. The first is that Lincoln Center as a whole is a thriving, dynamic, multiplicitous presence, tending to the past and nourishing new creation; Levy rightly praises the programming guru Jane. The other two conclusions are more frightening: that juggernaut prestige organizations that have been in existence for a century or more are fantastically vulnerable, always a few bad mistakes away from catastrophe; and that good judgment, professionalism, and fiscal prudence in the performing arts are in painfully short supply. That sounds to me like the cry of a fund-raising warrior eager to be summoned out of retirement.

MultiMillion Payout for Lincoln Center President Levy

METRO

Complain about Stage Hands: Ex-Lincoln Center president trashes staff after multi-million payout

By Melissa Klein and Isabel Vincent

May 24, 2015 | 10:16am

Ex-Lincoln Center president trashes staff after multi-million payout

Former Lincoln Center president Reynold LevyPhoto: Patick McMullan.com

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The long-serving head of Lincoln Center retired last year, but not without a huge payday.

Reynold Levy collected a $600,000 bonus on top of his $1.3 million salary.

His total compensation package for 2013 came to $2,417,680, including nearly $500,000 in retirement money, according to recent tax filings. He had collected nearly $600,000 in retirement payouts over the previous three years.

“His bonus was based on annual reviews of his performance as president as well as project performance,” said Eileen McMahon, a Lincoln Center rep. It was based on 18 months of work, she said.

Lincoln Center took in $165 million in 2013 and reported expenses of $147 million, its newly released tax return shows.

Levy took the helm of the performing-arts center in 2002. He left in January 2014 after overseeing a $1.2 billion redevelopment of the Manhattan cultural complex.

In his recent memoir, “They Told Me Not to Take That Job: Tumult, Betrayal, Heroics, and the Transformation of Lincoln Center,” Levy called some other arts leaders incompetent.

Metropolitan Opera Talks Restart as Lockout Looms

Metropolitan Opera Talks Continue as Lockout Looms, Unions Allow Federal Mediator

Union Officials hold little hope of reaching deal before deadline.

Members of the singers union meet before contract negotiations with the Metropolitan Opera resumed Monday after a two-month hiatus. Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal

The Metropolitan Opera singers union resumed contract talks on Monday after a two-month hiatus, but union officials said they had little hope of reaching an agreement before a threatened lockout.

Intense negotiations are expected this week as contracts expire for 15 of the Met's 16 unions on Thursday. Last week, the opera company's general manager, Peter Gelb, advised union members to prepare for a lockout starting Friday.

Mr. Gelb has said he is seeking labor-cost savings of 16% to 17%, as the company grapples with faltering ticket sales, a depleted endowment and rising operating costs.

Union leaders have countered that the Met should curb what they have described as out-of-control spending by Mr. Gelb. They say his proposed work-rule and benefit changes would result in losses for their members of more than 17%.

Before the talks began Monday, emotions ran high among members of the singers union.

"He doesn't want to help us maintain our instruments," said chorus member Jean Braham, commenting on the effect Mr. Gelb's proposed high-deductible health plan could have on singers' voices and bodies.

"We are the artists," Ms. Braham said, her voice cracking. "We are the product. The fact that he accepts no responsibility and no accountability is just incredible to me."

Met spokesman Sam Neuman said the chorus members "are among the highest-compensated artists in their field—a status that will not change as a result of the current contract negotiations. We hope that they will recognize the need to share in our institutionwide plan of cost controls to secure the future of our company."

Full-time chorus members earned an average of $200,000 for the 2012-2013 season, including revenue sharing from high-definition broadcasts and overtime from several four-hour-plus operas. Orchestra members that year had median earnings of about $191,000.

During the talks, the American Guild of Musical Artists, which represents singers, dancers and stage managers, presented a proposal for a series of 2% raises over each of the next three years.

Union officials also said they had asked the New York attorney general to examine the Met's heavy draws from its endowment.

The endowment stood at $267 million as of July 11, down from $305.8 million in July 2006, according to the Met.

Mr. Neuman said the company's endowment "has been in full compliance with all applicable laws and best practices."

A spokesman from the attorney general's office declined to comment.

The tone of discussions remains acrimonious as the parties enter the final stretch before Thursday's deadline.

On Friday, the orchestra union presented an 84-page proposal to Met officials, blaming the box-office drop on Mr. Gelb's artistic choices and proposing $31 million in alternative cost savings.

The proposals included lowering ticket prices, shortening rehearsals and decreasing the number of new productions.

The orchestra also presented an analysis of music critics' reviews, concluding that Mr. Gelb's new productions have received more negative coverage than positive.

On Saturday, the Met responded with a 53-page rebuttal. It called the orchestra's analysis "erroneous" and its proposals "ill-advised" and "not realistic."

Lowering ticket prices would likely decrease, not increase, revenue, the Met said. It added that its productions have always received a mix of positive and negative reviews.

Of the three biggest unions, the stagehands have adopted the most moderate tone, suggesting that they would be willing to consider concessions—with a caveat.

"We're willing to tighten our belts, but Peter Gelb has to cut up his credit cards," said Joe Hartnett, who is coordinating negotiations for six units of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.

That union is the second group to appeal directly to board members.

In a letter dated July 18 and posted online Monday, union president Matthew Loeb asked board members to encourage Mr. Gelb to bargain with "a more collaborative spirit," arguing that management had shown "blindness" to potential savings.

Mr. Neuman said the Met intends to work collaboratively to reach an agreement, and noted that administrative staff would take cuts on par with negotiated union reductions.

ANN ZIFF: DIAZ FAMILY LOCAL ONE DISGRACE: FEMALE Met stagehand: Abuse was tragic opera

STEVE DIAZ/ JOHN DIAZ CLAN NEPOTISM LEADS TO REPRESSION AT THE METROPOLITAN OPERA: Met stagehand: Abuse was tragic opera

By LEONARD GREENE

Last Updated: 1:54 AM, September 18, 2012

Posted: 1:00 AM, September 18, 2012

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A former Met stage carpenter is suing the Metropolitan Opera for sexual harassment, claiming that her male colleagues constantly abused her with unwanted come-ons and crude, dangerous pranks.

Teri Orsburn, 53, worked for almost three years at the Met, where she was the company’s only female stagehand.

Orsburn says in a Manhattan federal lawsuit that from the outset, her immediate supervisor refused to call her anything else but “girl,” setting a tone for others to follow.

She said colleagues put glue on her tools, locked her out of the company lounge, and intentionally put her in physical danger.

TERI ORSBURN
Suing over “harassment.”

“They started heckling me immediately, day in, day out, and we worked very long days,” said Orsburn, an Arizona native and self-described cowgirl. “They acted like badly-behaved 8-year-old boys.”

Lawyers for the Metropolitan Opera did not immediately return a call for comment.

Orsburn said the curtain came down on her career after a stagehand shoved her to the ground and fell on her in a stage area where there were no witnesses.

She said the incident left her with physical injuries that made her unable to continue performing the job she had dreamed about since childhood.

Diaz Clan Creepy Puppets!

WSJ Reports: Mismanagement and Corruption Implode New York City Opera at Lincoln Center

The New York City Opera has suspended plans for next season as it takes a hard look at its business model, including exploring cheaper alternatives to its current home at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. BILLIONAIRE KOCH CAN YOU HELP THE OPERA AND SCAMMED RANK AND FILE MEMBERS OF LOCAL ONE?

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Associated Press

Kara Shay Thomson in a rehearsal of New York City Opera's 'Monodramas,' last month. The opera is considering a move from Lincoln Center.

Charles Wall, the opera's new chairman, said he and the board have embarked on an exhaustive review of its finances and won't schedule future programming until reaching a balanced budget. "There is no line item that's sacrosanct," he said in an interview Thursday with The Wall Street Journal.

The opera had been expected in recent weeks to announce its fall season, and its silence had created some "scuttlebutt," acknowledged Mr. Wall, a former vice chairman of Philip Morris International in Switzerland.

In contrast to the Metropolitan Opera, City Opera focuses on more experimental and affordable productions featuring, as Mr. Wall put it, "nonestablished future stars."

The review of its business model, which it expects to complete by mid-May, comes in response to several tumultuous years at the opera. Between late 2008 and early 2009, the company raided its endowment for a total of $23.5 million after getting approval from the New York state attorney general's office, which oversees nonprofits. The endowment currently stands at just $9 million. During the same period, it went dark for a season during the renovation of its Lincoln Center home, the David H. Koch Theater.

It also suffered an embarrassing episode in 2008 in which the Belgian director Gerard Mortier quit even before assuming his appointed post as the company's general manager.

Into Mr. Mortier's void came the current artistic director and general manager, George Steel, who said in an interview that the board's "top-to-bottom review" is "great news." He said Mr. Wall told him that "the company has had tremendous artistic success over the last couple of years, and this is building a plan for financial success to match the artistic success."

The company's recent programming, especially "Monodramas," a triple bill of one-act operas, has received enthusiastic critical reception.

But its books paint a bleaker picture. Its projected deficit for the current season is $5 million. Last season's revenue rebounded to $26.2 million from a low of $6 million during the period in which it went dark.

Still, revenue hasn't recovered to fiscal year 2008 levels, when it reached $33 million.

The opera may encounter serious hurdles as it tries to save money, particularly with regard to labor costs, a notoriously crippling expense for performing-arts organizations.

City Opera's contract with the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union that represents the choristers and singers, expires April 29. The union intends to notify the opera Monday that it will initiate a strike beginning April 30 if the parties cannot agree on the terms of a new contract, National Executive Director Alan Gordon said Thursday.

But none of that appears to faze Mr. Wall, who in recent weeks personally contributed $2.5 million to help plug the current-year deficit and initiated a campaign to raise the balance.

"Nothing's off the table," Mr. Wall said of the overhaul of the opera's financial model.

Regarding the possibility of exploring alternative performance spaces, for example, he described Lincoln Center as a "wonderful location," but added: "But there are a lot of terrific venues around the city, and I don't think Lincoln Center has a lock." Asked about the prospect of switching venues, Mr. Steel said, "I'm really focused on producing operas here next season. That's not a big part of my thinking right now."

The opera needs fundamental changes to keep its doors open, Mr. Wall said. "For years, arts organizations didn't look at the bottom line, is my sense," he said. "But you've got to bring a business outlook to these organizations, or they start dipping into the endowment—they start doing all sorts of things that they shouldn't be doing."

Write to Erica Orden at erica.orden@wsj.com

UNION PROTESTS CITY OPERA'S GEORGE STEEL

Old News as City Opera Disappears from Lincoln Center. Will the Met Follow? The Disaster continues under Gelb and the Corrupt Diaz Clan and Corrupt Local One Business Agents!?

City Opera Director Defends New Season

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Catherine Malfitano, center, and Tino Gagliardi, left, the Local 802 president, at the protest.

By DANIEL J. WAKIN

Tuesday it was George Steel’s turn.

The latest on the arts, coverage of live events, critical reviews, multimedia extravaganzas and much more. Join the discussion.

After months of pummeling by unions, luminaries of the opera world and company members, Mr. Steel, the general manager and artistic director of New York City Opera, presented his plan for a peripatetic company uncoupled from its Lincoln Center home.

Most of next year’s four-opera season was already known — a “Traviata” and Rufus Wainwright’s “Prima Donna” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; a “Così Fan Tutte” at John Jay College; a Telemann opera at El Museo del Barrio.

But Mr. Steel also disclosed that a City Opera partnership with the Public Theater would bring a Shakespeare-based opera to the Delacorte Theater in Central Park in the fall, part of what is expected to be a continuing joint venture. Tickets will be free, he said.

Other details, mostly casting, emerged. The Brooklyn native and up-and-comer Laquita Mitchell will sing Violeta in “La Traviata.” The Telemann opera will be “Orpheus.” Melody Moore will come back to the company to sing the title role in “Prima Donna.” She appeared last season in “Séance on a Wet Afternoon,” by Stephen Schwartz.

Along with presenting the details, Mr. Steel used the news conference to make the case for his vision and to rebut criticism, which has become increasingly personal, of the decision to leave Lincoln Center.

He appeared in the cool confines of the theater at the Guggenheim Museum just minutes after a lively demonstration in the broiling sun outside on Fifth Avenue by some 50 people, including members of the opera’s chorus and orchestra and three Democratic elected representatives from the Upper West Side: New York State Senator Tom Duane, Assemblywoman Linda B. Rosenthal and City Councilwoman Gale A. Brewer.

The rally, organized by the orchestra and chorus unions, was intended to denounce the move and efforts to turn the orchestra and chorus into essentially freelance outfits. A flier accused Mr. Steel of “utter incompetence, ineptitude and a skewed artistic vision that sells no tickets.”

Inside, Mr. Steel came out from the wings with Mark Newhouse, a prominent City Opera board member. Mr. Newhouse described the company’s mission as presenting traditional and rarely heard operas and introducing new talent, which he said would continue under Mr. Steel, whom he called “endlessly creative, energetic and intrepid.” The chairman, Charles Wall, was out of town, a spokeswoman said.

Mr. Steel said City Opera was “open for business” but had to leave its Lincoln Center home, the David H. Koch Theater, “because we can’t afford it any longer.” He said that 14 staff jobs had been eliminated and that the company could not survive without major changes to the union contracts, which he said were created for a scale of performance that City Opera can no longer sustain.

The company next season plans 16 staged opera performances, all with supertitles, far fewer than in past years. “We’re trying to pay people for the work that they do,” Mr. Steel said of the chorus and orchestra, which would give up guaranteed minimum work weeks and minimum membership numbers under the company’s contract offer.

Mr. Steel suggested that the union protests were “political theater which can obscure more than uncover.” When asked about the personal attacks, he said, “I guess it’s a strategy some people think is effective.”

He said that the future of the annual Vox showcase of new opera, a major resource for composers and contemporary-music lovers, was up in the air. Noting that it was a way to keep the orchestra working during idle weeks, he said, “We’re trying to find a way to continue it.”

Mr. Steel cast the company’s move out of Lincoln Center as an opportunity to bring opera to the people, likening New York to a “glittering theater with eight million seats.”

“We are coming out to meet the people of New York,” Mr. Steel said. He said the company could always return for performances at the Koch Theater and was considering appearances at the Rose Theater, City Center and Broadway houses, as well as in Staten Island, the Bronx and Queens.

He argued that leaving Lincoln Center would not discourage subscribers, who would be signing up for tickets at three separate theaters next season. “People in New York go to see what they want to see,” he said, not to the nearest opera house.

President Claffey IATSE Local One President Discusses Recent Wisconsin Events: 'A Wake-Up Call'. Takes David Koch and other Anti Union Activists to task.

Monday, March 14, 2011; Posted: 05:03 PM - by BWW News Desk

Local_One_President_Releases_Statement_20010101

Statement of James J. Claffey, Jr. President of Local One IATSE Regarding Recent Events in Wisconsin:

"The events in Madison, Wisconsin must serve as a wake-up call to us in the great state of New York. The attacks on Union workers in Wisconsin matters to us in more ways than most can imagine. If you wear a Union pin on your lapel, there are powerful forces in this country who are
putting a bulls-eye on your back as part of a larger campaign whose target is all working families and everything we hold dear.

As the 125th Anniversary of Local One approaches and I consider what the last century and a quarter has meant, I take a closer look at our local's many struggles for achievement as well as the history of working people in America.

In the last century, unionizing in America meant working people joining the middle class: a decent roof over our heads, food on the table, respect in the workplace and a better life for our children.
But ever since unions secured all of these things, these powerful forces have been attempting to take them back.

The Governor of Wisconsin wants to simply roll back two centuries of working people's progress and it should be clear; he's not talking about taking away the right to join a Union. The Governor of Wisconsin is talking about taking away the right for a Union to behave and perform like a Union whose objectives are to protect and negotiate wages, terms, conditions, benefits, jobs and jurisdiction. The Governor is attempting to challenge our mere existence by eliminating a union's right to collective bargaining.

All working families and labor organizations throughout this country must stand together because Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is not alone. When a corporation like Fox News can have five potential Republican presidential candidates on its payroll or billionaires like David H. Koch (yes, that David H. Koch whose name is on The New York State Theater) can throw tens of millions into "grass root" Tea Party campaigns to elect anti-union activists like the governor of Wisconsin, then union families should not forget that the same thing can happen in their state and in Washington, D.C.

The campaign to take away the rights of unionized Wisconsin state workers is just the start. The so-called "heartland of America" is rapidly becoming the "heartLESS-land of America." There's similar talk in Ohio, and Tea Party governors and legislatures all over the country are starting to sing the same phrases written by the billionaires who wrote the tune. And the big lie they're all
harmonizing on is that unionized state, county or city workers are better paid than the equivalent private sector worker.

Brothers and Sisters of Local One and union people all over America must exercise their legal rights collectively and take action to fight this battle as if it were in their own backyards. We must acknowledge these union busting campaigns as a wake-up call to support our Brothers and Sisters in Wisconsin, because if we don't, we will all one day wake up in Wisconsin."

James J. Claffey, Jr. began his career as a stagehand in 1982 in venues including Radio City Music Hall, the City Center 55th Street Dance Theatre, Madison Square Garden, CBS-TV, ABC-TV and various Broadway theatres. Mr. Claffey began his career as an Officer of Local One in 1996, serving as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees until 1998 at which time the membership elected him to the full time position of Theatrical Business Manager, an office he was then re-elected to in 2001. Since May 2004, he has served as President of Local One. He is a graduate of both the Cornell University Labor Studies Certificate Program and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Mr. Claffey was recently elected to the Board of Trustees of The Actors' Fund and serves on the NYC Opera Board of Directors as well as a Vice President on the NYC Central Labor Council.

SARAH JESSICA PARKER CAN YOU HELP END THE DISCRIMINATION BACKSTAGE AT LINCOLN CENTER?

Sarah Jessica Parker is new NYC Ballet board member

11:40 AM

Sarah Jessica Parker attends the New York City Ballet 2010 fall gala at Lincoln Center on October 7, 2010 in New York City.

CAPTION

By George Napolitano, FilmMagic

Sarah Jessica Parker, a.k.a. Carrie Bradshaw, met up withSex and the City author Candace Bushnell on the red carpet last night at New York City Ballet 2010 fall gala at Lincoln Center.

The Daily Mail reports SJP was attending the event not just as a lover of the dance, but as a newly elected member of the board of directors for the NYC Ballet company.

Today, Parker was back in her role as mom, spotted on the street taking son James Wilkie to school.

CLAN DIAZ, GELB BUSINESS AGENTS CONTINUE TO HIDE FROM RANK AND FILE

Met Opera on Verge of Funding Windfall

By ERICA ORDEN

Associated Press

The Metropolitan Opera House

The Metropolitan Opera could find itself the unexpected beneficiary of a multimillion-dollar gift under the unusual terms of a Washington, D.C., heiress's donation, according to several people familiar with the matter.

Betty Brown Casey's donations to the Washington National Opera's endowment came with a stipulation: Should that company fail to remain independent, the funds would be rescinded—and transferred to the Met.

That day could be on the horizon: The National Opera is in merger talks with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Wall Street Journal reported last week.

According to a person familiar with the matter, donations made by Mrs. Casey, the National Opera's life chairman, constitute between one-half and two-thirds of the National Opera's total endowment, which was $30.5 million at the end of its 2009 fiscal year. That would make the amount of the Met's potential windfall between $15 million and $20 million.

A lawyer for Mrs. Casey, Brendan V. Sullivan Jr., referring to the opera, said: "I'm confident that they will abide by their written agreements."

In a statement, a spokeswoman for the National Opera reiterated the sentiment. "Washington National Opera is grateful for the generosity of all of its donors, and abides by all terms related to all gifts," said Michelle Pendoley.

Kennedy Center spokesman John Dow said he was unaware of any stipulations, and declined to comment further.

Through a spokesman, the general manager of the Met, Peter Gelb, declined to comment. The Met's endowment at the end of fiscal year 2009 totaled $247 million, and the gift—if transferred—would represent a much-needed injection of funding for the company, which has been hammered by the recession. Its net assets declined 38% in the 2009 fiscal year.

Mrs. Casey, 83 years old, is the widow of Eugene B. Casey, a Maryland real-estate developer who served as a farm adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Mrs. Casey's motivation for the terms on her donations is unclear.

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Associated Press

Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter GelbFormer Kennedy Center President Larry Wilker said he was not aware of Mrs. Casey's decision and did not have any information about why she would have taken such a step. But he speculated that the stipulation could have been made in response to disappointment over scuttled plans to build an independent home for the Washington National Opera, which has performed at the Kennedy Center since 1971. In 1996, Mrs. Casey gave the opera company $18 million to purchase a building for development as an opera house. After construction costs became prohibitive, the company sold the building for $28.2 million, and the net proceeds were added to company's existing endowment, which was then named for Mrs. Casey's late husband.

Merger talks between the National Opera and the Kennedy Center began in March as an effort to address the opera's financial challenges, including a debt of $11 million and assets that declined by 16%, or more than $7 million, in fiscal year 2009. The plan under consideration would mimic the center's relationship with the National Symphony Orchestra. The center would assume the opera's assets and liabilities, and the opera would cede to the center approval on artistic and budgetary matters.

Both the opera and the center say they are engaged in talks concerning their future relationship as a result of the 2013 expiration of their rental contract.

Write to Erica Orden at

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50 YEARS OF CORRUPTION, NEPOTISM, DISCRIMINATION AND VIOLATION OF UNITED STATES CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

MAY 11: CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF LINCOLN CENTER. BACKSTAGE NEPOTISM, CORRUPTION AND DISCRIMINATION UNDER LOCAL ONE DEPARTMENT HEADS.

May 12, 2009 by admin

In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Lincoln Center, a photo shoot was held to bring together a variety of individuals. Joining David and Wu Han for a group photo were Governor Patterson and David Rockefeller, plus fellow Lincoln Center artistic and executive directors Peter Gelb, George Steel, Zarin Mehta and Jackie Davis.

A LOTTA WHITE BREAD IN ADMINISTRATION AND BEHIND THE SCENES.

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Stagehands Extort Hundreds of Thousands From Theater Goers
BY WARNER TODD HUSTON
POSTED ON DECEMBER 30 2010 9:00 PM

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If there never was a story that explains how unions are really little else but a criminal extortion racket, the story by James Ahearn in the New Jersey Began Record helps explain it for us. Ahearn’s piece headlined “For Backstage Labor, Rich Rewards,” informs us that some stagehands in New York theater make upwards to $422,000 a year in salary — and that doesn’t include benefits.
These positions are not as highly skilled as brain surgeons, to be sure, yet these guys make hundreds of thousands a year to move chairs, rearrange scenery, raise curtains, and what have you. Why the absurdly outsized pay scale? Threats of strikes shutting down Broadway and its multi-million dollar industry is why.
Ahearn reveals that one mere stagehand makes $422,599 a year, plus $107,445 in benefits and deferred compensation, another makes $290,000, and two carpenters and two electricians made about $400,000 a year with benefits to work the theaters of New York.
These guys are skilled laborers, of course. Not every guy off the street can just start being an electrician or a stagehand without training. But should these manual labor positions be making hundreds of thousands a year for their efforts? What accounts for this absurdity?
How to account for all this munificence? The power of a union, Local 1 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. “Power,” as in the capacity and willingness to close most Broadway theaters for 19 days two years ago when agreement on a new contract could not be reached.
In fact Ahearn quotes another journalist that tried to investigate these outlandish salaries and found that folks in the theater industry were reticent to even talk to him about it because they feared the power of the union to disrupt their businesses.
Read on at Right Wing News…
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tags: Broadway, Labor Unions, The Concession Stand, unions
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midnighteye23p· 1 week ago
Please look up the difference between reticent and reluctant and then inform the mainstream media where the same error is made en masse. It's actually easier to get it right than get it wrong, but wrong it is, so frequently that it has become self-propagating.
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“Stagehand Scalping” At Carnegie Hall; Where’s The Outrage About $450,000 Salaries For Stagehands?

By Mark Perry on December 27, 2010 | More Posts By Mark Perry | Author's Website

About a year ago, I had a post about “excessive pay” for the unionized stagehands at Carnegie Hall, some of whom made more during the 2007-2008 season by pushing the 9-foot Steinway Model D concert grand piano out onto the stage for a concert than the artist makes for playing the piano. Financial data about many nonprofit organizations, including salary data for the “highest paid employees and their compensation,” are available at the website GuideStar. Here’s the link to The Carnegie Hall Corporation listing at GuideStar.

For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, the top five highest paid Carnegie employees were all stagehands making an average of $359,000 in base compensation (see chart above). A more detailed analysis of Carnegie Hall’s 2008 tax return reveals that each of the five stagehands earned an additional $100,000 in deferred compensation for 2008, bringing their total yearly compensation amounts to:

Dennis O’Connell (properties manager): $524,332
James Csollany (carpenter): $461,174
John Cardinale (electrician): $438,828
Kenneth Beltrone (carpenter): $432,655
John Goodson (electrician): $425,105

That’s a total annual compensation for the five Carnegie stagehands of $2,280,000, or $456,000 each. How to explain these excessive above-market wages? Easy, the stagehands are members of one of the oldest and most powerful NYC labor unions – The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees – which exercised its union muscle in 2007 by striking and shutting down 26 Broadway shows for almost three weeks, at an estimated cost to NYC of about $40 million.

There’s a lot of outrage and attention directed towards “excessive CEO pay,” judging by the 153,000 Google hits for that phrase, which is 270 times more than the 567 Google hits for the phrase “excessive union pay.” As I mentioned in the previous post, musicians and promoters frequently blame “ticket scalpers” for raising ticket prices, but maybe “stagehand scalping” deserves some of the blame for high concert ticket prices?!

Sherman Frederick is a columnist for Stephens Media. His column appears Sunday in the Opinion section of the Review-Journal. In between Sundays, you can find out what's on his mind here.

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NEGATIVE PRESS ON LOCAL ONE CORRUPTION AT LINCOLN CENTER

New York Stagehands Union Inflates Ticket Prices

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 17:24

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IATSE Local One on strike If Broadway shows have gotten unusually expensive, one major reason is the dominant presence of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local One. Not too many people are aware of the power of this 3,000-member stagehands' union. But its leaders have managed to exact enormous concessions from arts management along the Great White Way, and at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and elsewhere. For the bosses, at least, it's been a sweet deal. An article in the Winter 2010 issue of City Journal, a quarterly periodical of the Manhattan Institute, summarizes just how sweet - and why the situation isn't likely to change anytime soon.

The short piece, written by New Criterion Managing Editor James Panero and titled "Strike the Set," notes that this union of carpenters, electricians and prop masters has amassed almost unchecked power. This has served to drive up production costs and force theater owners to raise ticket prices. Local One top brass aren't complaining. For the fiscal year ending June 2008, Dennis O'Connell, a union member who serves as property manager for Carnegie Hall, received more than $530,000 in compensation; that was second only to Carnegie Hall Executive Director Clive Gillinson. Four other stagehands - James Csollany, Kenneth Beltrone, John Goodson and John Cardinale - each made over $400,000. Nice work if you can get it. Other members can make out well, too, so long as they play by the rules of the union-controlled promotion system. It's an unwritten rule that first preference goes to family members and relatives.

Such arrangements, the author notes, are stifling even during good times. But as theater revenues have suffered during the latest recession, union compensation packages "should receive the same scrutiny as the pay rates of top management." While it's true executive directors and maestros can command high salaries, sometimes in excess of $1 million, such income is determined by market negotiation, not strike threat. Panero asks, "Could another prop master do O'Connell's job just as well, and for less pay?" It's a question more New Yorkers in the arts community should be asking, and not just of prop masters, lest more positions be eliminated or salaries be cut. "Arts leaders, who need to start controlling costs at all levels, also need the backbone to stare down the threat of a Local One strike," the author concludes. "And if negotiations break down in the future, the arts community must overcome its willingness to cross picket lines for a justified cause that will help all workers." That sounds like a plan.

Carl Horowitz's blog

KOCH THEATER CITED $51,000+$49,000 PREVIOUSLY FOR SAFETY VIOLATIONS INCLUDING ASBESTOS,

Workplace Violations Cited at Lincoln Center's Koch Theater $51,000+$49,000 INCLUDING ASBESTOS. BUSINESS AGENTS WHATS GOING ON?

STAGEHANDS AND PUBLIC AT RISK

Thursday, December 02, 2010

By Brigid Bergin: WNYC producer

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David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center

The newly renovated Koch Theater at Lincoln Center is facing $51,000 in fines for workplace safety violations. The theatre is home to the New York City Ballet and the New York City Opera.

Among the violations, an inspection by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited the theater for the presence of asbestos, or material that might contain asbestos in the theater’s promenade area and in nearby electrical closets. The materials had not been labeled and asbestos warning signs had not been posted.

Inspectors also found that theater's movable stage posed a risk to employees. When it's raised, inspectors found there weren't sufficient guardrails to prevent employees from falling into the orchestra pit. Then when the stage is lowered, the inspection found that employees could potentially be crushed by it. Other violations included a jammed exit door and a portable fire extinguisher that was not mounted.

These conditions were similar to those cited by OSHA during a 2009 inspection of the theater. Those citations resulted in $45,000 in fines.

The theater has 15 business days respond to the citations. A meeting between OSHA and the theater is scheduled for next week.

QUESTIONS FOR PETER MARTINS:

Questions for Peter Martins, Ballet Master in Chief of New York City Ballet: Not the questions we would ask him! Whats really going on backstage Peter?

Friday, June 25, 2010

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Peter Martins (Paul Kolnik)

Peter Martins, New York City Ballet's ballet master in chief, spoke recently with Leonard Lopate about the company's new season and its Architecture of Dance festival, which ends Sunday, June 27.

Under Martins' leadership, the NYCB this season presented seven new ballets, and four newly commissioned musical scores, and a customed-designed stage by renowned architect Santiago Calatrava. He talks about leaving the Royal Danish Ballet, where he was a principal dancer, to come to America — all because of West Side Story.

In the video below, Martins talks about his interests off the stage for a behind-the-scenes moment at the WNYC studios.

He explains why "this is [his] moment" and tells us what he'd do with his last day on earth.

NUTCRACKER SNOW JOB FROM CITY BALLET HOLIDAY BANDIT LOOP CONTINUES

Dance

Depths to Plumb, Sugarplum

RANK AND FILE SCAM CONTINUES AGAINST US AS THE SUGAR PLUM FAIRIES OUR OFFICERS INSURE NOTHING CHANGES AT THE NEW KOCH (NY STATE THEATER) RECONSTRUCTION OF EVERYTHING BUT THE UNION CARD. 25 G DONATION OF OUR FUNDS TO CITY BALLET FROM UNION GOVERNMENT INSURES THE R AND F ARE SCREWED AGAIN. WHO EVER HEARD OF A UNION DONATING TO A COMPANY? MORE OF OUR CASH WASTED.

Paul Kolnik for The New York Times

Performers in New York City Ballet's “Nutcracker,” swirling in sugarplum fairy dust. Some dancegoers decry America's annual affinity for Tchaikovsky's ballet.

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Published: December 16, 2009

Wednesday

Metropolitan Opera Talks Restart as Lockout Looms

Union Officials Hold Little Hope of Reaching Deal Before Deadline

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July 28, 2014 9:21 p.m. ET

Members of the singers union meet before contract negotiations with the Metropolitan Opera resumed Monday after a two-month hiatus. Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal

The Metropolitan Opera singers union resumed contract talks on Monday after a two-month hiatus, but union officials said they had little hope of reaching an agreement before a threatened lockout.

Mr. Gelb has said he is seeking labor-cost savings of 16% to 17%, as the company grapples with faltering ticket sales, a depleted endowment and rising operating costs.

Before the talks began Monday, emotions ran high among members of the singers union.

Earlier Coverage

Metropolitan Opera Leader Warns of Lockout | 07/23/14
A Mixed Bill at the Metropolitan Opera | 07/01/14
The Numbers: Box-Office Performance at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera Union Blames General Manager for Sales Slump | 06/19/14
Met Opera General Manager Earned $1.8 Million in 2012 | 06/16/14
Met, Singers at Odds Over Public Talks | 05/05/14