Explainer Video
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EnglishVoice Age
Young Adult (18-35)Accents
North American (General)Transcript
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welcome to the world's most famous theater, district, Broadway, which consists of 41 theaters within a 24 city block radius. But New York's theaters weren't always located in this neighborhood. The first theater hub in the city was at the southernmost tip of Manhattan, today's financial district. In the mid 17 hundreds, New York City got its first permanent professional theater, the Theater on Nassau Street, which was home to the first known performance of a musical in NYC, The Beggar's Opera. After being suspended during the Revolutionary War, the scope of theater in New York City expanded significantly during the 19th century. The upper classes attended the opera. The middle classes attended melodramas, and the lower classes attended variety shows. Entertainment was also divided among cultural lines, including Yiddish theater, which flourished patronised by Jewish immigrants. But there was also massive crossover within venues, with some theaters attracting all social classes divided by their level of seating theaters. In the 18th century sat a few 100 attendees in makeshift spaces, but 19th century theaters became microcosms of the melting pot of the city itself. The opening of the black crook in 18 66 is widely considered a turning point for Broadway as an art form, and it coincided with a physical shift of theaters moving north as well. After the Civil War ended in 18 65 the theater district became increasingly congregated around Union Square. The farther north, one went, the cheaper real estate was, and so both New Yorkers and their entertainment venues expanded northward. In the latter half of the 19th century, Union Square was a hub of theaters, restaurants, shops and business was booming. Play houses were built all along Broadway reaching farther north. Each year. Broadway became synonymous with professional theater when the railroad systems improved and shows could now tour after playing New York. Direct from Broadway was the language used to tell audiences they were seeing the best productions. Theater began having a larger cultural impact and was seen as an increasingly essential part of city life. The modern era of the important and long running musical had the gun with showboat in the 19 twenties and Oklahoma in the 19 forties, Post World War Two marked the golden age of Broadway, coinciding with the growing sense of physical permanence regarding the theater district itself. But that didn't last long crime hit Midtown. Hard from the late 19 sixties onward, the area was dangerous, and many theaters sat empty for months and sometimes years on end. This led to the Great Theater massacre of 1982 where five Broadway houses were demolished to make way for the construction of the Marriott Marquis in the center of Times Square. The community was devastated, with many taking to the streets to protest. Because of this community uprising, most of the remaining Broadway houses became landmark, which marked a growing cultural consensus that the current theater district would be permanent. The eighties and nineties were a low point for Times Square, marked with crime, prostitution and drugs. Broadway as we know it today, saw a turning point in the mid 19 nineties, when Disney stepped in to help revitalize Times Square, reopening the New Amsterdam Theater with The Lion King. The city's campaign to make Times Square family friendly, again made way for a slew of long running hits including Hairspray and Wicked Television, was suddenly filled with Broadway show clips, and Disney's lead caused other major entertainment corporations to explore Broadway. Today, Broadway has 41 theaters the majority owned by the Shuberts, Netter Landers and you Jansen. While just a few decades earlier theaters were empty. Now each open house has multiple shows gunning for a chance to occupy it. The theater district is permanently situated in Times Square, with all houses located between 41st Street and 54th Street. Other than the Puma in Lincoln Center, today's Broadway wouldn't be possible without those who helped pave the way. As you walk through the timeline of Broadway, we celebrate each game changer that opened the doors and change the form of Broadway forever.