L-R: Tony Sheldon, Will Swenson, and Nick Adams perform in Priscilla Queen of the Desert. There are many things in this picture, but a live strings section is not one of them. (photo: Joan Marcus/priscillaonbroadway.com)
When Priscilla Queen of the Desert opened on Broadway last March, it did so with just eight musicians in the pit (18 is Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians’ contractual minimum requirement for that theater. The producers and the union are currently in arbitration) playing along with another 11 instruments on a prerecorded soundtrack.
This did not sit well with Local 802, who teamed up with the Council for Living Music to create the Save Live Music on Broadway campaign. The site has been delighting in Priscilla’s poor ticket sales, detailing the decline in chart form with alliterative titles such as “Prerecorded Priscilla’s Persistent Plummet” and “Prerecorded Production’s Profits Plunge,” and attributing this to theatergoers’ desire to see live music.
They may not want to make that chart this month. Patrick Healy at The New York Times points out that, after reaching a show-low weekly gross of $547,180 in early September (the record high is $920,741, set during Memorial Day weekend), sales are picking up. Last week, the show grossed $860,673, according to The Broadway League. Not bad, but not great, either: the theater was only 82% full — the seats filled, presumably, with people who hate live music.
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