Broadway runs from 42nd street until 53rd street, and is also known as the Great White Way and the Theatre District. "Broadway theatres are widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world."
The first Theatre on Broadway, The Empire Theatre, was opened in 1893. This theatre encouraged other theatres to be built uptown such as the Olympia, the Victoria, and the Palace Theatre.
By the 1920's everybody knew of Broadway and The Great White Way and would send postcards to their family and friends to gush about what they were able to experience. They called it the Great White Way because, the smog in the air along with the bright white lights that constantly shine, would make a white glow down Broadway. They used white bulbs because colored bulbs burnt out too fast.
The Palace Theatre was the center of the vaudeville style of theatre and was the place where the best vaudeville shows went. Vaudeville is said to be derived from the french term "voix de ville" which translates to voice of the city and in 1932 the Palace took away that voice and replaced it entirely with cinema.
When cinema first started, many of the theatre owners did not worry because they were starting with silent films. However by the end of the twenties movies such as The Jazz Singer were coming out and beginning to make people wonder if these things might take over live theatre all together. By 1943 the theatre industry had bloomed and all of those worries flew out the window.
The years between 1943 and 1959 are considered to be the Golden Age of Broadway. The musical Oklahoma written by Rodgers and Hammerstein, was the first musical of the Golden Age and many look at it as the one that started them all. Other musicals such as Carnival, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, and Annie Get Your Gun came out of this period and are said to be some of the greatest musicals ever written.
After this decade of amazing shows and thriving theatre, the community took a drastic drop in both shows released, and box office sales. For almost twenty years Broadway experienced a proverbial drought, and could not seem to keep sales up. It got to the point that theatres were having to shut down due to lack of profits.
In 1982 a man named Joe Papp led a "Save the Theatres" campaign aimed at tearing down the Broadway theatres. He Reached out to various Representatives and proposed a bill to establish the Broadway theatres as national monuments. This was, unfortunately, never passed however the "Save the Theatres" Campaign took the next best thing and focused their efforts on deeming the Theatre District a national landmark and thus required that every theatre got themselves registered as an official national landmark.
Now the Theatre District thrives and is made up of 40 theatres showing musicals such as the Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Chicago, and Finding Neverland. The Theatre District, in the past two years, has a total gross revenue of $1,365,240,000 and has become a global hub for theatre.
The first Theatre on Broadway, The Empire Theatre, was opened in 1893. This theatre encouraged other theatres to be built uptown such as the Olympia, the Victoria, and the Palace Theatre.
By the 1920's everybody knew of Broadway and The Great White Way and would send postcards to their family and friends to gush about what they were able to experience. They called it the Great White Way because, the smog in the air along with the bright white lights that constantly shine, would make a white glow down Broadway. They used white bulbs because colored bulbs burnt out too fast.
The Palace Theatre was the center of the vaudeville style of theatre and was the place where the best vaudeville shows went. Vaudeville is said to be derived from the french term "voix de ville" which translates to voice of the city and in 1932 the Palace took away that voice and replaced it entirely with cinema.
When cinema first started, many of the theatre owners did not worry because they were starting with silent films. However by the end of the twenties movies such as The Jazz Singer were coming out and beginning to make people wonder if these things might take over live theatre all together. By 1943 the theatre industry had bloomed and all of those worries flew out the window.
The years between 1943 and 1959 are considered to be the Golden Age of Broadway. The musical Oklahoma written by Rodgers and Hammerstein, was the first musical of the Golden Age and many look at it as the one that started them all. Other musicals such as Carnival, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, and Annie Get Your Gun came out of this period and are said to be some of the greatest musicals ever written.
After this decade of amazing shows and thriving theatre, the community took a drastic drop in both shows released, and box office sales. For almost twenty years Broadway experienced a proverbial drought, and could not seem to keep sales up. It got to the point that theatres were having to shut down due to lack of profits.
In 1982 a man named Joe Papp led a "Save the Theatres" campaign aimed at tearing down the Broadway theatres. He Reached out to various Representatives and proposed a bill to establish the Broadway theatres as national monuments. This was, unfortunately, never passed however the "Save the Theatres" Campaign took the next best thing and focused their efforts on deeming the Theatre District a national landmark and thus required that every theatre got themselves registered as an official national landmark.
Now the Theatre District thrives and is made up of 40 theatres showing musicals such as the Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Chicago, and Finding Neverland. The Theatre District, in the past two years, has a total gross revenue of $1,365,240,000 and has become a global hub for theatre.