This Just In

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

The Washington Ballet’s decision to use canned music instead of live union musicians is the cover story in this week’s Washington City Paper, which hit the streets last night. “You can’t quite say that there was absolutely no live music at last weekend’s opening performance of The Washington Ballet’s lavish annual production of The Nutcracker,” writes Mike Paarlberg. “On the streets outside the Warner Theatre on Friday night, a horn ensemble was playing a holiday medley, complete with selections from Tchaikovsky’s Christmas favorite.” Noting that “many American workers have grown accustomed to being replaced by outsourced labor or high-tech algorithms,” Paarlberg says that “The Ballet’s regular Nutcracker players, though, are in the awkward position of being replaced by…a compact disc,” and explores how “Live music is one thing that separates the nationally prominent companies from the local also-rans among the 21 Nutcrackers on this year’s holiday arts calendar.” Click here for the rest of the story, which describes Musicians Local 161-710’s campaign to restore live music to The Nutcracker.