Curtains are rising on Broadway again after a 19-day strike darkened most of the Great White Way. From VOA's New York Bureau, correspondent Barbara Schoetzau reports stagehands and producers reached a tentative agreement after three days of marathon negotiations.
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Among those ready to return to the stages are the actors, who were not on strike but would not cross picket lines. Actress Brenda Braxton stars in the long-running musical hit "Chicago."
"I am so excited. First of all I am so excited to see my cast members because we have become such a family,": she said. "I am excited that they did come to some agreement between the unions and the producers and that we have new people coming into the cast. It is going t be like an opening night."
Tim Tomkins of the Times Square Alliance, a business group, says the strikes' effects were felt far beyond the theaters.
"The difference between August, which is already a busy tourism month, and December is anywhere between 50 to 75 percent more people are out in the streets in December," he said. "So that means that is an incredibly important time for restaurants and all of the business in Time Square."
The strike cost the city million of dollars in lost revenue and disappointed thousands of tourists who had tickets for shows during the Thanksgiving holiday.
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