Musicians' Strike Leaves Broadway Without Musicals Who'd have thought it would ever come to this? That live music is preferable to the "virtual orchestra" is indisputable, but the 24-man minimum for the Broadway orchestra seems hard to justify on either economic or artistic grounds. Certainly I want as many musicians as possible to make a living playing their instruments, but I see musicals with small orchestras that are artistically successful in many venues, both in and out of New York. If the Broadway minimums were smaller, would there be more productions? Would productions be more economically viable and able to run longer? The way this article describes the two opposing camps' positions makes me think there must be some acceptable middle ground.