If Broadway shows have gotten unusually expensive, one major reason is the dominant presence of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local One. Not too many people are aware of the power of this 3,000-member stagehands' union. But its leaders have managed to exact enormous concessions from arts management along the Great White Way, and at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and elsewhere. For the bosses, at least, it's been a sweet deal. An article in the Winter 2010 issue of City Journal, a quarterly periodical of the Manhattan Institute, summarizes just how sweet - and why the situation isn't likely to change anytime soon.
