Broadway theatre
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Broadway theatre[1] is the most well known form of professional theatre to the American general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows. Along with London's West End theatre, Broadway theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world.
Broadway theatre, or a Broadway show, refers to a performance, usually a play or musical, presented in one of the 39 large professional theatres with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District of the New York City borough of Manhattan.[2] The shows that reach Broadway and thrive there have historically been perceived as more mainstream and less cutting edge than those produced Off- and Off-Off-Broadway or in regional non-profit theatres.
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[edit] Runs
Most Broadway shows are commercial productions intended to make a profit for the producers and investors ("backers"), and therefore meant to have open-ended runs, meaning that they may be presented for a varying number of weeks depending on critical response, word of mouth, and the effectiveness of the show's advertising, all of which determine ticket sales. However, some Broadway shows are produced by non-commercial organizations as part of a regular subscription season — Lincoln Center Theater, Roundabout Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons and Manhattan Theatre Club are the four non-profit theatre companies that currently have permanent Broadway venues.
Musicals on Broadway tend to have much longer runs than do "straight" (i.e. non-musical) plays. On January 9, 2006, The Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theatre became the longest running Broadway musical, with 7,486 performances, overtaking Cats.
[edit] Schedule
Generally speaking, shows with open-ended runs all operate on the same schedule, with evening performances Tuesday through Saturday with an 8 p.m. "curtain". Shows will also have afternoon "matinée" performances on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday; typically at 2 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. on Sundays to round out an eight show per week schedule. Broadway performances rarely occur at any time on Monday, and shows are said to be "dark" on that day. Therefore, actors and crew tend to regard Sunday evening through Tuesday evening as their "weekend". The Tony Award presentation ceremony is usually held on a Sunday evening in June to fit into this schedule.
In recent years, many shows have moved their Tuesday show time an hour earlier to 7 p.m. The rationale for the move was that fewer tourists took in shows midweek, so the Tuesday crowd in particular depends on local audience members. The earlier curtain therefore allows suburban patrons time after a show to get home by a reasonable hour.
[edit] Personnel
Both musicals and stage plays on Broadway often rely on casting well-known performers in leading roles to draw larger audiences or bring in new audience members to the theatre. Actors from movies and television are frequently cast for the revivals of Broadway shows or are used to replace actors leaving a cast. There are still, however, performers who are primarily stage actors, spending most of their time "on the boards", and appearing in television and in screen roles only secondarily.
In the past, stage actors had a somewhat superior attitude towards other kinds of live performances, such as vaudeville and burlesque, which were felt to be tawdry, commercial and low-brow — they considered their own craft to be a higher and more artistic calling. This attitude is reflected in the term used to describe their form of stage performance: "legitimate theatre". (The abbreviated form "legit" is still used for live theatre by the entertainment industry newspaper Variety as part of its unique "slanguage.")[3] This rather condescending attitude also carried over to performers who worked in radio, film and television instead of in "the theatre", but this attitude is much less prevalent now, especially since film and television work pay so much better than almost all theatrical acting, even Broadway. The split between "legit" theatre and "variety" performances still exists, however, in the structure of the actors' unions: Actors' Equity represents actors in the legitimate theatre, and the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA) represents them in performances without a "book" or through-storyline — although it's very rare for Broadway actors not to work under an Equity contract, since most plays and musicals come under that union's jurisdiction.
Almost all of the people involved with a Broadway show at every level are represented by unions or other protective, professional or trade organization. The actors, dancers, singers, chorus members and stage managers are members of Actors' Equity Association (AEA), musicians are represented by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), and stagehands, dressers, hairdressers, designers, box office personnel and ushers all belong to various locals of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes, also known as "the IA" or "IATSE" (pronounced "eye-ot-zee"). Directors and choreographers belong to the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSD&C), playwrights to the Dramatists Guild, and house managers, company managers and press agents belong to the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers (ATPAM). Casting directors (who tried in 2002-2004 to become part of ATPAM) is the last major components of Broadway's human infrastructure who are not unionized. (General managers, who run the business affairs of a show, and are frequently producers as well, are management and not labor.)
[edit] Producers and theatre owners
Most Broadway producers and theatre owners are members of the League of American Theatres and Producers, a trade organization that promotes Broadway theatre as a whole, negotiates contracts with the various theatrical unions and agreements with the guilds, and co-administers the Tony Awards with the American Theatre Wing, a service organization. While the League and the theatrical unions are sometimes at loggerheads during those periods when new contracts are being negotiated, they also cooperate on many projects and events designed to promote professional theatre in New York.
The three non-profit theatre companies with Broadway theatres ("houses") belong to the League of Resident Theatres and have contracts with the theatrical unions which are negotiated separately from the other Broadway theatre and producers. (Disney also negotiates apart from the League, as did Livent before it closed down its operations.) However, generally, shows that play in any of the Broadway houses are eligibile for Tony Awards (see below).
The majority of Broadway theatres are owned or managed by three organizations: the Shubert Organization, a for-profit arm of the non-profit Shubert Foundation, which owns 17 theatres (it recently retained full ownership of the Music Box from the Irving Berlin Estate); The Nederlander Organization, which controls 9 theatres; and Jujamcyn, which owns five Broadway houses.
[edit] Touring
In addition to long runs in Broadway theatres, producers often remount their productions with a new cast and crew for the Broadway national tour, which travels to theatres in major cities across the country — the bigger and more successful shows may have several of these touring companies out at a time, some of them "sitting down" in other cities for their own long runs. Smaller cities are eventually serviced by "bus & truck" tours, so-called because the cast generally travels by bus (instead of by air) and the sets and equipment by truck. Tours of this type, which frequently feature a reduced physical production to accommodate smaller venues and tighter schedules, often play "split weeks" (half a week in one town and the second half in another) or "one-nighters", whereas the larger tours will generally play for one or two weeks per city at a minimum. The Touring Broadway Awards, presented by The League of American Theatres and Producers, honor excellence in touring Broadway.
[edit] Audience
Seeing a Broadway show is a common tourist activity in New York, and Broadway theatre generates billions of dollars annually. The TKTS booths — one in Duffy Square (47th Street between Broadway and 7th Avenue) and one in Lower Manhattan (199 Water Street — Corner of Front & John Streets) — sell same-day tickets for many Broadway and Off-Broadway shows at a discount ranging from 10% to 50%. This service helps sell seats that would otherwise go empty, and makes seeing a show in New York more affordable. Many Broadway theatres also offer special student rates, same-day "rush" tickets, or standing-room tickets to help ensure that their theatres are as full, and their "grosses" as high, as possible.
Some theatregoers prefer the more experimental, challenging, and intimate performances possible in smaller theatres, which are referred to as Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway (though some may be physically located on or near Broadway). An example of this would be the hit musical Spring Awakening, which began its run Off-Broadway in a small, intimate environment, and continued onto Broadway, where it still gives the similar, intimate experience. The classification of theatres is governed by language in Actors' Equity Association contracts. To be eligible for a Tony, a production must be in a house with 500 seats or more and in the Theatre District, which criteria defines Broadway theatre.
Total Broadway attendance in 2005 was just under 12 million.[4] This was approximately the same as London's West End theatre. The attendance rose 4.1 percent from the previous year and it also marked the first time ever that attendance approached the 12 million mark.
[edit] Tony Awards
Broadway shows and artists are honored every June when the Antoinette Perry Awards (Tony Awards) are given by the American Theatre Wing and the League of American Theatres and Producers. The Tony is Broadway's most prestigious award, the importance of which has increased since the annual broadcast on television began. Celebrities are often chosen to host the show, like Hugh Jackman and Rosie O'Donnell, in addition to celebrity presenters. While some critics have felt that the show should focus on celebrating the stage, many others recognize the positive impact that famous faces lend to selling more tickets and bringing more people to the theatre. The performances from Broadway musicals on the telecast have also been cited as vital to the survival of many Broadway shows. Many theatre people, notably critic Frank Rich, dismiss the Tony awards as little more than a commercial for the limited world of Broadway, which after all can only support a maximum of two dozen shows a season, and constantly call for the awards to embrace off-Broadway theatre as well. (Other awards given to New York theatrical productions, such as the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Circle Critics Award, are not limited to Broadway productions, and honor shows that are presented throughout the city.)
[edit] List of Broadway theatres
- If no show is currently running, the play listed is the next show planned (dates marked with an *).
- If the next show planned is not announced, the applicable columns are left blank.
[edit] External links
- The Internet Broadway Database
- Broadway Theatre Archive
- Broadway Musicals
- Tony Awards
- Touring Broadway Awards
- American Theatre Wing
- Theatre Communications Group
- Actors' Equity Association
- The Dramatists Guild of America
- Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers
- American Federation of Musicians
- IATSE
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Although theater is the preferred spelling in the U.S. (see further at American and British English Spelling Differences), the majority of venues, performers, and trade groups for live dramatic presentations use the spelling theatre.
- ^ New York Tourism Department. New Your Tourism Website. Retrieved on 2007-12-18.
- ^ Variety Magazine. Variety Slanguage Dictionary. Retrieved on 2007-12-18.
- ^ The New York Times. "Broadway's Numbers for 2005 are Strong". Retrieved on 2007-12-18.
Broadway theatres | |
|---|---|
| Shubert | Ambassador Theatre · Ethel Barrymore Theatre · Belasco Theatre · Booth Theatre · Broadhurst Theatre · Broadway Theatre · Cort Theatre · John Golden Theatre · Imperial Theatre · Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre · Longacre Theatre · Lyceum Theatre · Majestic Theatre · Music Box Theatre · Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre · Shubert Theatre · Winter Garden Theatre |
| Nederlander | Brooks Atkinson Theatre · George Gershwin Theatre · Lunt-Fontanne Theatre · Marquis Theatre · Minskoff Theatre · Nederlander Theatre · Neil Simon Theatre · Palace Theatre · Richard Rodgers Theatre |
| Jujamcyn | Al Hirschfeld Theatre · Walter Kerr Theatre · Eugene O'Neill Theatre · St. James Theatre · August Wilson Theatre |
| Roundabout | American Airlines Theatre · Studio 54 |
| Other | Vivian Beaumont Theatre (owned by LCT) · Biltmore Theatre (owned by MTC) · Circle in the Square Theatre (independent) · Helen Hayes Theatre (independent) · Hilton Theatre (owned by Clear Channel) · New Amsterdam Theatre (leased by Disney) |
| Active but no longer Broadway houses | City Center of Music and Drama · Hammerstein's Theatre/Manhattan Theatre · Hudson Theatre · New Victory Theatre · Manhattan Opera House |
| Defunct and/or Demolished | 39th Street Theatre · 44th Street Theatre · 48th Street Theatre · 49th Street Theatre · 52nd Street Theatre · Adelphi Theatre · American Theatre · Apollo Theatre · Astor Theatre · Bandbox Theatre · Belmont Theatre · Berkeley Lyceum Theatre · Bijou Theatre · Broadway Theatre (41st St.) · Casino Theatre · Center Theatre · Central Theatre · Century Theatre (46th St.) · Century Theatre (62nd St.) · Circle Theatre · Cosmopolitan Theatre · Criterion Theatre · Daly's Theatre (30th St.) · Daly's 63rd Street Theatre · Earl Carroll Theatre · Edison Theatre · Eltinge Theatre · Empire Theatre · Fifth Avenue Theatre · Frolic Theatre · Fulton Theatre · Gaiety Theatre · Garrick Theatre · George M. Cohan's Theatre · Hampden's Theatre/Harkness Theatre · Henry Miller's Theatre · Herald Square Theatre · Hippodrome Theatre · Jardin de Paris · John Golden Theatre/Cort's 58th Street Theatre · Klaw Theatre/Avon Theatre · Knickerbocker Theatre · Latin Quarter · Liberty Theatre · Lincoln Square Theatre · Manhattan Theatre (33rd St.) · Mark Hellinger Theatre · Maxine Elliott's Theatre · Mayfair Theatre (44th St.) · Mayfair Theatre (46th St.) · Mercury Theatre · Morosco Theatre · New Century Theatre · New York Theatre (44th St.) · Nora Bayes Theatre · Olympia Theatre · Playhouse Theatre · Playhouse Theatre (6th Ave.) · President Theatre · Princess Theatre (29th St.) · Princess Theatre (39th St.) · Proctor's Theatre · Punch and Judy Theatre/Charles Hopkins Theatre · Rialto Theatre · Sam H. Harris Theatre · Savoy Theatre · Star Theatre · Theatre Republic · Times Square Theatre · Vanderbilt Theatre · Victoria Theatre · Waldorf Theatre · Wallack's Theatre/Harris Theatre · Wallack's Theatre/Palmer's Theatre · Wallack's Lyceum Theatre · Waverley Theatre · Winter Garden Theatre (Jenny Lind Hall) · Ziegfeld Theatre |
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