Broadway actors are preparing to exit the stage in a strike that would shutter more than 30 productions ahead of its peak season.

Actors’ Equity, a union representing 900 performers and stage managers in New York’s iconic theatre scene, said a walkout was on the cards due to a dispute over healthcare.

It’s negotiating with the Broadway League, a trade body representing theatre owners, producers, and operators. A previous three-year contract expired earlier this week.

The union wants the league to increase its contribution to its healthcare fund, which is expected to fall into a deficit before next May. The rate of contributions has remained unchanged for more than a decade.

Actors’ Equity president Brooke Shields said: “Asking our employers to care for our bodies, and to pay their fair share toward our health insurance is not only reasonable and necessary, it’s an investment they should want to make toward the long-term success of their businesses.”

She added: “There are no Broadway shows without healthy Broadway actors and stage managers. And there are no
healthy actors and stage managers without safe workplaces and stable health insurance.”

The Broadway League said it was “continuing good-faith negotiations” to “reach a fair agreement” that works for “shows, casts, crews, and the millions of people from around the world who come to experience Broadway.”

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Should Broadway fall victim to strike action, it would follow in the footsteps of Hollywood – where writers walked out in 2023, curtailing a number of major productions – and the US video game industry in 2025, with concerns around the use of AI a key driver.

Actors’ Equity has not carried out a major strike since 1968, when a three-day dispute shut down 19 shows. An intervention from the New York City mayor helped both sides come to a deal.

Boyzone say Louis Walsh has no involvement in their forthcoming reunion show and will not be taking a cut of the profits.

One of the biggest boybands of the 90s, the Irish group announced they will be reuniting for their “biggest show yet” next summer, performing at the Emirates Stadium in London on 6 June.

But while all four remaining members of the band had been due to attend a press announcement at the London Irish Centre in Camden on Tuesday, Mikey Graham was not in attendance.

When asked if they had been expecting him, Ronan Keating tells Sky News: “Mikey apologises for not being here today in person for personal reasons. We’ll see him soon, and he will be there on the night.”

He goes on: “We’ll see Mikey in 20 minutes, and he will be there on 6 June”.

It will be the first time the four band members have been back in the same room in nearly seven years, following a five-night run at the London Palladium in 2019.

Keith Duffy admits: “It’s a big moment.”

Shane Lynch, who has been open about previous disagreements with his fellow bandmates, says: “I can’t wait to see Mick. And I’m super excited for him.”

‘We stopped talking to Louis Walsh’

Mention of their former manager is met with less warmth.

When asked if Louis Walsh is involved with the one-off show, Keating says: “No. Louis hasn’t been involved in Boyzone for a very long time, before the documentary, even well before the documentary. We stopped talking to him.

“He’s very much working with Westlife and those things.”

As for whether Walsh will be taking a cut of the profits, all three band members laugh like drains at the suggestion.

Lynch is the first to stop, gathering himself and saying: “Louis, he was the beginning of the band at least, you know, certainly it’s not the end of the band at this point. I love and respect the man by all means. But we have moved on.”

‘Going out on a high’

Indeed, the four Dublin lads are in a very different place 33 years after they were thrust into the limelight as teenagers, with just Graham just a little older than the rest at 21.

Keating clarifies this time, they are the ones calling the shots: “We’re the ones in the driving seat… We’re doing on our terms.”

This time, Keating says it’s a journey he intends to make the most of: “We didn’t get to celebrate the 90s at all. We didn’t get to enjoy our success. Everybody else did, we didn’t. You know, boo hoo, we’re not crying. We had a hell of a time. We’re okay with that… We’re going to go out on a high”.

He’s also adamant this is a one-off: “It’s not gonna go further than the show. This is it.”

Read more: Ronan Keating on boyband fame in the 90s

Of course, Stephen Gately’s untimely death in 2009, as a result of an undiagnosed heart condition, means the full band will never again take to the stage, but Keating, Duffy and Lynch say the show will be a time to remember Gately.

Giving away no details as to how, Keating says: “There will be a moment in the show for Stephen… Getting that right is important.”

With around eight months to prepare, the pressure is now on the band to deliver.

Duffy says: “It’s a big effort to get this kind of show together. It’s been seven years. We didn’t expect it. It’s not like every five to seven years, we always had an idea, we’ll end up seeing each other and sharing the stage together. It was a definite no.”

Boyzone: No Matter What

All three admit the three-part Sky documentary Boyzone: No Matter What, which aired at the start of the year, has played a big role in their change of heart.

And now, with a new chapter ahead of them, could there be a fourth part in the works? Keating is hopeful.

“Wouldn’t it be lovely to have that, closure and that fourth episode? Never say never.

“We haven’t agreed anything, it hasn’t been planned. Yeah, there are cameras around and it’s a decision we’ve made with Curious [the production company who made the documentary] to document this, because it’s a monumental time for us.”

Monumental indeed, and following the recent trend for 90s reunions, the band’s members – no longer boys but in some cases grandfathers – will be hoping fans turn out to show their love, no matter what.

Boyzone will perform at the Emirates Stadium in London on 6 June, with yet to be announced special guests.

Boyzone: No Matter What is available on Sky and streaming service Now

Federal prosecutors in New York are urging a judge to sentence Sean “Diddy” Combs to more than 11 years in prison.

Following the hip-hop mogul’s conviction on prostitution-related charges, they also want him to be fined $500,000 (£372,000), according to court filings.

Last week, defence lawyers urged a 14-month sentence. Due to time served, that would enable him to walk free almost immediately – following his arrest in September last year.

But he could, in theory, face up to 20 years in jail after being found guilty of two counts of transportation for engagement in prostitution. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Judge Arun Subramanian, a US district judge, is due to sentence Combs in Manhattan on Friday.

During his trial, prosecutors said Combs coerced two of his former girlfriends to take part in what were described as “freak offs”.

He was found guilty of transporting male prostitutes across state lines to take part in those events.

Both women testified that Combs physically attacked them and threatened to cut off financial support if they refused to take part.

However, while jurors believed Combs broke the law over using sex workers, they did not find the sexual encounters involving the women were non-consensual, which is what prosecutors had argued.

Combs was cleared of the more serious charges of sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.

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In a written legal submission, his defence team has detailed “inhumane” conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.

They said the food sometimes contains maggots, that the rapper is routinely subjected to violence, and that he has “not breathed fresh air in nearly 13 months”.

They also said his “career and reputation have been destroyed”.

His legal team said Combs had been “adequately punished” already, was sober “for the first time in 25 years”, and had helped other inmates by creating an educational programme on business management and entrepreneurship.