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<i> Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press</i>

Striking musicians closed the “Folies Bergere” extravaganza on the Las Vegas Strip Saturday night in a labor dispute with the Tropicana Hotel. The Ramada-owned 2,000-room resort employs 14 musicians in the main showroom where the curtain routinely goes up twice nightly, seven days a week. The dark showroom put about 170 waiters, waitresses, dancers, showgirls, stagehands and entertainers out of work. About 1,400 people had reservations for the two performances Saturday night. It was unclear whether the Tropicana would resume a showroom policy by hiring non-union musicians. The musicians union has been threatened in recent years by high technology, which has replaced large musical groups and orchestras with tape and synthesizers. The strike marked the first walkout on the Strip since the expiration on June 2 of a contract covering 30,000 bartenders, culinary workers, stagehands and musicians at more than 30 gambling resorts. John Chiero, president and general manager of the Tropicana Hotel, said all other hotel workers remained on the job, despite musician picket lines. He said closure of the showroom “will not economically impact the hotel because historically, showrooms in Las Vegas lose money.” “The Folies Bergere,” a French extravaganza, has played the Tropicana Hotel for more than a decade.

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