US: Musicians on strike against the use of taped music on Broadway kept New York theatres in the dark for a third day yesterday.
Among the shows affected were long-running hits like The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, The Lion King and Rent.
"Who wants to sing karaoke?" asked Lucille Decristofaro, who sang in a Broadway production of Les Miserables. "The whole point of Broadway is live music; a sound you can only get live."
The stoppage closed 18 musicals and three more in rehearsals after actors and stagehands surprised producers by observing the musicians' picket line on Friday night.
Cabaret is the only Broadway musical still on stage due to its separate arrangement with the union.
Non-musicals and off-Broadway plays are still open.
"We don't want more money," said Jonathan Dinklage, who plays violin in Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Marquis Theatre. "We just want to keep it alive."
Under the current contract, musical productions currently must employ a minimum of 26 musicians , a number the producers want to reduce to about 14.
The musicians' union, the American Federation of Musicians, is concerned that producers have a long-range plan to phase out their services altogether and use recorded or computer-generated music instead.
Theatre workers planned a mid-town Manhattan rally yesterday at 3:15 p.m. (9:15 GMT) on West 42nd Street, the heart of New York's theatre district. Additional picketing was planned yesterday in front of each darkened theatre, beginning about 1½ hours before curtain time.
The action has hit an economically-vulnerable New York as it still reels from the September 11th, 2001, attacks which caused a substantial budget shortfall.
"Our restaurant is very closely related to theatre," said Mr Sean Ricketts, dining room manager at Sardi's.
"It's not 320 musicians involved, but millions of people being affected."