Musicians Return to Radio City Christmas Spectacular

A tentative contract agreement has been reached between Radio City Entertainment and its corporate parent, Cablevision Systems, and Local 802, American Federation of Musicians. As a result, musicians will return to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular this afternoon. The show had been playing with pre-recorded music since November 3. No details of the contract have been released.

A musicians’ strike cancelled the first two scheduled performances of the run on November 2, but everyone else in the company — including the Rockettes — returned for performances the next day. The musicians were also willing to return, but Radio City barred them from doing so until a new contract was in place or the musicians agreed not to walk out again during the show’s two-month run.

Local 802’s contract with Radio City Entertainment expired in May. Among the issues that the two sides have been discussing are base pay rates and overtime pay.