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118-671: The Minskoff Theatre is a Broadway theater on the third floor of the One Astor Plaza office building in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City . Opened in 1973, it is operated by the Nederlander Organization and is named after Sam Minskoff and Sons , the building's developers. There are approximately 1,710 seats in the auditorium, spread across an orchestra level and

236-416: A social construct which divides the actors and their stage-world from the audience which has come to witness it. But since the curtain usually comes down just behind the proscenium arch, it has a physical reality when the curtain is down, hiding the stage from view. The same plane also includes the drop, in traditional theatres of modern times, from the stage level to the "stalls" level of the audience, which

354-472: A 7:00 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. "curtain". The afternoon " matinée " performances are at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays and at 3:00 p.m. on Sundays. This makes for an eight-performance week. On this schedule, most shows do not play on Monday and the shows and theatres are said to be "dark" on that day. The actors and the crew in these shows tend to regard Sunday evening through Monday evening as their weekend. The Tony award presentation ceremony

472-538: A Little Closer closed on opening night in May 1983, and the musical Marilyn: An American Fable fared little better, running for 16 performances that November. When One Astor Plaza was sold in 1984 to Tishman Speyer and the Equitable Life Assurance Society , Jerome Minskoff and James Nederlander negotiated a long-term lease for the theater. The musical The Tap Dance Kid relocated from

590-839: A Theater Advisory Council, which included Papp. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City , Broadway theaters closed on March 12, 2020, shuttering 16 shows that were playing or were in the process of opening. The Broadway League shutdown was extended first to April, then to May, then June, then September 2020 and January 2021, and later to June 1, 2021. Then-governor Andrew Cuomo announced that most sectors of New York would have their restrictions lifted on May 19, 2021, but he stated that Broadway theatres would not be able to immediately resume performances on this date due to logistical reasons. In May 2021, Cuomo announced that Broadway theaters would be allowed to reopen on September 14, and

708-481: A balcony. Over the years it has hosted musicals , dance companies, and concerts . The Minskoff was designed by Kahn and Jacobs , who designed One Astor Plaza. It was one of the first theaters constructed under the Special Theater District amendment of 1967. The theater's main entrances are from a passageway connecting 44th and 45th Streets, in the middle of a city block between Broadway to

826-449: A booming economy and abundant creative talent kept Broadway hopping. To this day, the shows of the 1950s form the core of the musical theatre repertory." Kenrick notes that "the late 1960s marked a time of cultural upheaval. All those changes would prove painful for many, including those behind the scenes, as well as those in the audience." Of the 1970s, Kenrick writes: "Just when it seemed that traditional book musicals were back in style,

944-857: A brief engagement in January 1977, and the Minskoff hosted the final performances of the long-running musical Pippin , which transferred from the Imperial , later that year. Further live appearances included Cleo Laine 's concert Cleo on Broadway in October 1977; the laser-light show Star Wars Concert Live in December 1977; and the Murray Louis Dance Company with Rudolf Nureyev in April 1978. Two short-lived musicals appeared at

1062-663: A cast. There are still, however, performers who are primarily stage actors, spending most of their time "on the boards", and appearing in screen roles only secondarily. As Patrick Healy of The New York Times noted: Broadway once had many homegrown stars who committed to working on a show for a year, as Nathan Lane has for The Addams Family . In 2010, some theater heavyweights like Mr. Lane were not even nominated; instead, several Tony Awards were given for productions that were always intended to be short-timers on Broadway, given that many of their film-star performers had to move on to other commitments. According to Mark Shenton, "One of

1180-434: A challenge to the stage. At first, films were silent and presented only limited competition. By the end of the 1920s, films like The Jazz Singer were presented with synchronized sound, and critics wondered if cinema would replace live theatre altogether. While live vaudeville could not compete with these inexpensive films that featured vaudeville stars and major comedians of the day, other theatres survived. The musicals of

1298-540: A company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia , and opened with The Merchant of Venice and The Anatomist . The company moved to New York in 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida . During the Revolutionary War , theatre was suspended in New York City. But after

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1416-565: A discount of 20 to 50%. The TKTS booths are located in Times Square , in Lower Manhattan , and at Lincoln Center . This service is run by Theatre Development Fund . Many Broadway theatres also offer special student rates, same-day "rush" or "lottery" tickets, or standing-room tickets to help ensure that their theatres are as full—and their grosses as high—as possible. According to The Broadway League , total Broadway attendance

1534-764: A fan of Broadway theater. The UDG proposed that One Astor Plaza include a theater, a suggestion that the Minskoffs initially opposed. However, the Minskoffs ultimately relented after appealing to CPC chairman Donald H. Elliott , then to mayor Lindsay. In October 1967, the CPC proposed the Special Theater District Zoning Amendment, which gave zoning bonuses to office-building developers who included theaters. The proposed legislation would directly allow theaters in One Astor Plaza and

1652-906: A few exceptions, compared with London runs, until World War I . A few very successful British musicals continued to achieve great success in New York, including Florodora in 1900–01. In the early years of the twentieth century, translations of popular late-nineteenth century continental operettas were joined by the "Princess Theatre" shows of the 1910s, by writers such as P. G. Wodehouse , Guy Bolton , and Harry B. Smith . Victor Herbert , whose work included some intimate musical plays with modern settings as well as his string of famous operettas ( The Fortune Teller (1898), Babes in Toyland (1903), Mlle. Modiste (1905), The Red Mill (1906), and Naughty Marietta (1910)). Beginning with The Red Mill , Broadway shows installed electric signs outside

1770-412: A good view because the performers need only focus on one direction rather than continually moving around the stage to give a good view from all sides. A proscenium theatre layout also simplifies the hiding and obscuring of objects from the audience's view (sets, performers not currently performing, and theatre technology). Anything that is not meant to be seen is simply placed outside the "window" created by

1888-532: A larger theatre. Other productions are first developed through workshops and then out-of-town tryouts before transferring to Broadway. Merrily We Roll Along famously skipped an out-of-town tryout and attempted to do an in-town tryout—actually preview performances —on Broadway before its official opening, with disastrous results. After, or even during, successful runs in Broadway theatres, producers often remount their productions with new casts and crew for

2006-451: A lighting grid. The mezzanine level has narrow protrusions on the side walls instead of box seats. The proscenium arch is designed with mesh panels that can be removed. The stage contains traps at several locations, and the fly system above the stage is placed on the upstage wall, rather than on the sides. Unlike older theaters in New York City, the Minskoff and Gershwin theaters were subject to less stringent building codes. For example,

2124-526: A more experimental, challenging, and intimate performance than is possible in the larger Broadway theatres. Some Broadway shows, however, such as the musicals Hair , Little Shop of Horrors , Spring Awakening , Next to Normal , Rent , Avenue Q , In the Heights , Fun Home , A Chorus Line , Dear Evan Hansen , and Hamilton , began their runs Off-Broadway and later transferred to Broadway, seeking to replicate their intimate experience in

2242-539: A negative COVID-19 test (PCR within 72 hours or antigen within six hours of the performance start time). Beginning November 8, those ages 5–11 also had the option to provide proof of at least one vaccination shot. Effective December 14, in accordance with NYC's vaccination mandate, guests ages 5–11 were required to have at least one vaccination shot until January 29, 2022, where they had to be fully vaccinated. The vaccine mandate lasted until April 30, and attendees were also required to wear face masks until July 1. During

2360-1152: A new age of American playwright with the emergence of Eugene O'Neill , whose plays Beyond the Horizon , Anna Christie , The Hairy Ape , Strange Interlude , and Mourning Becomes Electra proved that there was an audience for serious drama on Broadway, and O'Neill's success paved the way for major dramatists like Elmer Rice , Maxwell Anderson , Robert E. Sherwood , Clifford Odets , Tennessee Williams , and Arthur Miller , as well as writers of comedy like George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart . Classical revivals also proved popular with Broadway theatre-goers, notably John Barrymore in Hamlet and Richard III , John Gielgud in Hamlet , The Importance of Being Earnest and Much Ado About Nothing , Walter Hampden and José Ferrer in Cyrano de Bergerac , Paul Robeson and Ferrer in Othello , Maurice Evans in Richard II and

2478-474: A picture frame than an arch but serving the same purpose: to deineate the stage and separate the audience from its action. While the proscenium arch became an important feature of the traditional European theatre, often becoming very large and elaborate, the original proscaenium front below the stage became plainer. The introduction of an orchestra pit for musicians during the Baroque era further devalued

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2596-520: A proscenium arch, but the term thrust stage is more specific and more widely used). In dance history , the use of the proscenium arch has affected dance in different ways. Prior to the use of proscenium stages, early court ballets took place in large chambers where the audience members sat around and above the dance space. The performers, often led by the queen or king, focused in symmetrical figures and patterns of symbolic meaning. Ballet's choreographic patterns were being born. In addition, since dancing

2714-500: A rate acceptable to the producers, they may continue to run in the expectation that, eventually, they will pay back their initial costs and become profitable. In some borderline situations, producers may ask that royalties be temporarily reduced or waived, or even that performers—with the permission of their unions—take reduced salaries, to prevent a show from closing. Theatre owners, who are not generally profit participants in most productions, may waive or reduce rents, or even lend money to

2832-544: A revival of the comedy Irene . The developers informed Broadway producers that any production in the theater would need $ 21,000 a week to break even. Theatrical historian Ken Bloom described most of the Minskoff's earliest productions as "a series of concerts, ballets, and flop musicals". The theater hosted several previews of Irene in early 1973 prior to the venue's official opening. The Minskoff officially opened with that musical on March 13, 1973 . Within five months, several dancers reported being injured when they fell on

2950-431: A run of 253 performances. The first theatre piece that conforms to the modern conception of a musical, adding dance and original music that helped to tell the story, is considered to be The Black Crook , which premiered in New York on September 12, 1866. The production was five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and

3068-469: A show at the Minskoff Theatre, grossing $ 3,696,977 over twelve performances for the week ending January 2, 2019. The theater closed on March 12, 2020 , due to the COVID-19 pandemic . It reopened on September 14, 2021, with performances of The Lion King . The pandemic had also forced the cancellation of two Jimmy Awards ceremonies at the theater: the 2020 edition, which was scrapped entirely, and

3186-481: A show to keep it running. Some Broadway shows are produced by non-commercial organizations as part of a regular subscription season— Lincoln Center Theatre , Roundabout Theatre Company , Manhattan Theatre Club , and Second Stage Theater are the four non-profit theatre companies that currently have permanent Broadway venues. Some other productions are produced on Broadway with "limited engagement runs" for several reasons, including financial issues, prior engagements of

3304-427: A taller building with additional floor area. The first major production at the Minskoff, Irene , was followed by a series of short-lived productions in the 1970s. The theater subsequently hosted long runs such as West Side Story , The Pirates of Penzance , Black and Blue , and Sunset Boulevard in the 1980s and 1990s. Though many of the Minskoff's early productions were unprofitable, since 2006 it has housed

3422-580: A venue for plays under the name Burton's Theatre. The Astor Opera House opened in 1847. A riot broke out in 1849 when the lower-class patrons of the Bowery Theatre objected to what they perceived as snobbery by the upper-class audiences at Astor Place: "After the Astor Place Riot of 1849, entertainment in New York City was divided along class lines: opera was chiefly for the upper-middle and upper classes, minstrel shows and melodramas for

3540-475: Is an internationally prominent tourist attraction in New York City . According to The Broadway League , shows on Broadway sold approximately US$ 1.54 billion worth of tickets in both the 2022-2023 and the 2023–2024 seasons. Both seasons featured theater attendance of approximately 12.3 million each. Most Broadway shows are musicals . Historian Martin Shefter argues that "Broadway musicals, culminating in

3658-466: Is no English equivalent ... It would also be possible to retain the classical frons scaenae . The Italian "arco scenico" has been translated as "proscenium arch." In practice, however, the stage in the Teatro Olimpico runs from one edge of the seating area to the other, and only a very limited framing effect is created by the coffered ceiling over the stage and by the partition walls at

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3776-399: Is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the first example of a proscenium theatre. The Teatro Olimpico was an academic reconstruction of a Roman theatre. It has a plain proscaenium at the front of the stage, dropping to the orchestra level, now usually containing "stalls" seating, but no proscenium arch. However, the Teatro Olimpico's exact replication of the open and accessible Roman stage

3894-571: Is usually held on a Sunday evening in June to fit this schedule. In recent years, some shows have moved their Tuesday show time an hour earlier to 7:00 pm. The rationale for this move was that since fewer tourists take in shows midweek, Tuesday attendance depends more on local patrons. The earlier curtain makes it possible for suburban patrons to get home by a reasonable hour after the show. Some shows, especially those produced by Disney , change their performance schedules fairly frequently depending on

4012-610: 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. Of the four non-profit theatre companies with Broadway theatres, all four ( Lincoln Center Theater , Manhattan Theatre Club , Roundabout Theatre Company , and Second Stage Theatre ) belong to

4130-712: The Greek chorus and musicians remained in the "orchestra" in front and below it, and there were often further areas for performing from above and behind the proskenion, on and behind the skene . Skene is the Greek word (meaning "tent") for the tent, and later building, at the back of the stage from which actors entered, and which often supported painted scenery. In the Hellenistic period it became an increasingly large and elaborate stone structure, often with three storeys. In Greek theatre, which unlike Roman included painted scenery,

4248-580: 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.) 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 seventeen theatres;

4366-427: The Nederlander Organization , which controls nine theatres; and ATG Entertainment , which owns seven Broadway houses. Both musicals and straight 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 film and television are frequently cast for the revivals of Broadway shows or are used to replace actors leaving

4484-476: The Roaring Twenties , borrowing from vaudeville, music hall , and other light entertainment, tended to ignore plot in favor of emphasizing star actors and actresses, big dance routines, and popular songs. Florenz Ziegfeld produced annual spectacular song-and-dance revues on Broadway featuring extravagant sets and elaborate costumes, but there was little to tie the various numbers together. Typical of

4602-691: The Uris Building , which would be the first completely new Broadway theaters since the Mark Hellinger Theatre was completed in 1930. The CPC approved the theater amendment that November, and the New York City Board of Estimate gave final approval to the proposal the next month. As planning progressed, members of the Broadway-theatre industry expressed concerns that theatrical experts had not been consulted in

4720-466: The proscaenium , bringing the lowest level of the audience's view forward to the front of the pit, where a barrier, typically in wood, screened the pit. What the Romans would have called the proscaenium is, in modern theatres with orchestra pits, normally painted black in order that it does not draw attention. In this early modern recreation of a Roman theatre, confusion seems to have been introduced to

4838-409: The 1920s were lighthearted productions such as Sally ; Lady Be Good ; Sunny ; No, No, Nanette ; Harlem ; Oh, Kay! ; and Funny Face . Their books may have been forgettable, but they produced enduring standards from George Gershwin , Cole Porter , Jerome Kern , Vincent Youmans , and Rodgers and Hart , among others, and Noël Coward , Sigmund Romberg , and Rudolf Friml continued in

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4956-537: The 2021 edition, which was hosted online. Productions are listed by the year of their first performance. Broadway theatre Broadway theatre , or Broadway , is a theatre genre that consists of the theatrical performances presented in 41 professional theaters , each with 500 or more seats, in the Theater District and Lincoln Center along Broadway , in Midtown Manhattan , New York City . Broadway and London 's West End together represent

5074-458: The Board of Estimate. Albert W. Selden had tentatively agreed to lease the Broadway theater in One Astor Plaza. Mayor Lindsay attended the groundbreaking ceremony for One Astor Plaza on October 10, 1968. The inclusion of the Broadway theater, and the complex engineering involved in the project, delayed the building's construction. Although Minskoff & Sons president Jerome Minskoff had agreed to

5192-532: The Broadhurst to the Minskoff in March 1984, closing the next year after 669 total performances. Subsequently, the Minskoff hosted three live appearances in early 1986: the singer Patti LaBelle , the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary , and the vocal groups The Temptations and The Four Tops . The musical Sweet Charity opened in April 1986 and subsequently had 368 performances. During the run of Sweet Charity ,

5310-536: The Broadway national tour, which travels to theatres in major cities across the country. Sometimes when a show closes on Broadway, the entire production, with most if not all of the original cast intact, is relaunched as a touring company, hence the name "Broadway national tour". Some shows may even have several touring companies out at a time, whether the show is still running in New York or not, with many companies "sitting down" in other major cities for their own extended runs. For Broadway national tours of top-tier cities,

5428-552: The Broadway orchestra is governed by an agreement with the musicians' union (Local 802, American Federation of Musicians) and The Broadway League. For example, the agreement specifies the minimum size of the orchestra at the Minskoff Theatre to be eighteen, while at the Music Box Theatre it is nine. Most Broadway shows are commercial productions intended to make a profit for the producers and investors ("backers" or "angels"), and therefore have open-ended runs (duration that

5546-686: The COVID-19 shutdown, the Shubert Organization, the Nederlander Organization, and Jujamcyn had pledged to increase racial and cultural diversity in their theaters, including naming at least one theater for a Black theatrical personality. The August Wilson Theatre , owned by Jujamcyn, had been renamed after Black playwright August Wilson in 2005. The Shuberts announced in March 2022 that the Cort Theatre , which

5664-574: The Cakewalk (1898), and the highly successful In Dahomey (1902). Hundreds of musical comedies were staged on Broadway in the 1890s and early 1900s made up of songs written in New York's Tin Pan Alley involving composers such as Gus Edwards , John Walter Bratton , and George M. Cohan ( Little Johnny Jones (1904), 45 Minutes From Broadway (1906), and George Washington Jr. (1906)). Still, New York runs continued to be relatively short, with

5782-629: The Chinese Acrobats & Magicians of Taiwan in December. At the time, because no hits had opened at the Minskoff Theatre after Irene closed, the Minskoff family was negotiating to have the Nederlander Organization take over the theater. Ultimately, in November 1979, Jerome Minskoff and James M. Nederlander agreed to jointly operate the theater. In 1980, the Minskoff hosted a revival of the musical West Side Story , which lasted for 333 performances. The next year, Irene Saez of Venezuela

5900-456: The Erlanger syndicate. During this time, the play Lightnin' by Winchell Smith and Frank Bacon became the first Broadway show to reach 700 performances. From then, it would go on to become the first show to reach 1,000 performances. Lightnin' was the longest-running Broadway show until being overtaken in performance totals by Abie's Irish Rose in 1925. The motion picture mounted

6018-548: The Half Shell Revue that April and Pearl Bailey and Billy Daniels 's production of Hello, Dolly! in November. The Minskoff hosted the rock musical Rockabye Hamlet , which flopped with seven performances in February 1976. The Dutch National Ballet made its United States debut at the Minskoff in November 1976, and the Chinese Acrobats of Taiwan performed the same month. The Merce Cunningham Dance Company had

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6136-457: The League confirmed that performances would begin to resume in the fall season. Springsteen on Broadway became the first full-length show to resume performances, opening on June 26, 2021, to 1,721 vaccinated patrons at the St. James Theatre . Pass Over then had its first preview on August 4, and opened on August 22, 2021, becoming the first new play to open. Hadestown and Waitress were

6254-563: The Minskoff hosted its first Tony Awards , the 1986 edition . The musical Teddy & Alice lasted for 77 performances after opening in late 1987, and the long-running Cabaret transferred from the Imperial early the next year. The Minskoff then hosted the 1988 Tony Awards immediately after Cabaret ended that June. The Minskoff's last show of the 1980s was the musical Black and Blue , which opened in January 1989 and had 829 performances over two years. The Minskoff once again hosted

6372-606: The Minskoff in 1978: Peter Udell and Gary Geld 's Angel , with five performances, and Jacob Brackman and Peter Link 's King of Hearts , with 48 performances. That December, the theater hosted a short run of the ice-skating show Ice Dancing . Béjart Ballet performed at the Minskoff for three weeks in March 1979, and the musical Got Tu Go Disco ran for eight performances that June. The Minskoff staged further live performances in late 1979, including appearances from Shirley Bassey in September, Engelbert in November, and

6490-510: The Minskoff since its relocation. A new set within the Minskoff Theatre was created in 2007 for the syndicated news magazine The Insider , which broadcast there for a year. In addition, starting in 2011, the Minskoff has hosted the Jimmy Awards for high school students every June. The Lion King became Broadway's highest-grossing musical ever in 2014, and it became the third-longest-running Broadway production in 2015 after overtaking

6608-498: The Minskoff was an unlucky theater, as it had rarely hosted a profitable show. Several of the longer-lasting shows, such as Irene and Sunset Boulevard , had closed at a loss. In November 2005, the long-running musical The Lion King was booked for the Minskoff, having been forced to relocate after eight years at Disney 's New Amsterdam Theatre . The theater was then renovated to accommodate The Lion King , which changed theaters in June 2006. The Lion King has run continuously at

6726-437: The Minskoff was designed without fire curtains, since the city had allowed sprinkler systems to be installed in both theaters. One Astor Plaza's eastern section is directly above the theater and has to be supported entirely by the theater's roof. The steel was provided by Bethlehem Steel ; its supervising engineer Thomas Connolly said One Astor Plaza's superstructure "would have been a snap from an engineering point of view", but

6844-604: The Opera at the Majestic Theatre became the longest-running Broadway musical, with 7,486 performances, overtaking Cats . The Phantom of the Opera closed on Broadway on April 16, 2023, soon after celebrating its 35th anniversary, after a total of 13,981 performances. Attending a Broadway show is a common tourist activity in New York. The TKTS booths sell same-day tickets (and in certain cases, next-day matinee tickets) for many Broadway and Off-Broadway shows at

6962-535: The Post was the first show to call itself a "musical comedy". Tony Pastor opened the first vaudeville theatre one block east of Union Square in 1881, where Lillian Russell performed. Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 ( The Mulligan Guard Picnic ) and 1890, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham . These musical comedies featured characters and situations taken from

7080-517: The Square , and American Place theaters were all constructed under the Special Theater District amendment of 1967 as a way to give their respective developers additional floor area. The theater is accessed from a covered arcade under the center of One Astor Plaza, which connects 44th and 45th Streets. The escalators from the arcade lead to the third-floor grand foyer, which has a glass wall overlooking Times Square. Additional escalators lead from here to

7198-513: The Teatro Olimpico clearly show that the action took place in front of the scaenae frons and that the actors were rarely framed by the central archway). The Italian word for a scaenae frons is " proscenio ," a major change from Latin. One modern translator explains the wording problem that arises here: "[In this translation from Italian,] we retain the Italian proscenio in the text; it cannot be rendered proscenium for obvious reasons; and there

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7316-560: The Tony Awards in 1991 , followed that November by a limited run of the musical Peter Pan . The Polish musical Metro flopped in April 1992 with 24 performances, and the theater was largely empty until February 1993, when it was used for a taping of a Great Performances episode about Black and Blue . A revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber 's musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat came to

7434-492: The authors and also in numerous unlicensed productions). They were imitated in New York by American productions such as Reginald Dekoven 's Robin Hood (1891) and John Philip Sousa 's El Capitan (1896), along with operas, ballets, and other British and European hits. Charles H. Hoyt 's A Trip to Chinatown (1891) became Broadway's long-run champion when it surpassed Adonis and its 603 total performances in 1893, holding

7552-435: The beginning of dance-performance as a form of entertainment like we know it today. Since the use of the proscenium stages, dances have developed and evolved into more complex figures, patterns, and movements. At this point, it was not only significantly important how the performers arrived to a certain shape on the stage during a performance, but also how graciously they executed their task. Additionally, these stages allowed for

7670-435: The beginning of the nineteenth century, the area that now comprises the Theater District was owned by a handful of families and comprised a few farms. In 1836, Mayor Cornelius Lawrence opened 42nd Street and invited Manhattanites to "enjoy the pure clean air." Close to 60 years later, theatrical entrepreneur Oscar Hammerstein I built the iconic Victoria Theater on West 42nd Street. Broadway's first "long-run" musical

7788-476: The biggest changes to the commercial theatrical landscape—on both sides of the Atlantic—over the past decade or so is that sightings of big star names turning out to do plays has [sic] gone up; but the runs they are prepared to commit to has gone down. Time was that a producer would require a minimum commitment from his star of six months, and perhaps a year; now, the 13-week run is the norm." The minimum size of

7906-550: The bill was not passed. The Save the Theatres campaign then turned their efforts to supporting the establishment of the Theater District as a registered historic district . In December 1983, Save the Theatres prepared "The Broadway Theater District, a Preservation Development and Management Plan", and demanded that each theater in the district receive landmark designation. Mayor Ed Koch ultimately reacted by creating

8024-416: The characters performing on stage are doing so in a four-walled environment, with the "wall" facing the audience being invisible. Many modern theatres attempt to do away with the fourth wall concept and so are instead designed with a thrust stage that projects out of the proscenium arch and "reaches" into the audience (technically, this can still be referred to as a proscenium theatre because it still contains

8142-402: The corners of the stage where the seating area abuts the floorboards. The result is that in this theatre "the architectural spaces for the audience and the action ... are distinct in treatment yet united by their juxtaposition; no proscenium arch separates them." A proscenium arch creates a "window" around the scenery and performers. The advantages are that it gives everyone in the audience

8260-422: The decade ended with critics and audiences giving mixed signals." Ken Bloom observed that "The 1960s and 1970s saw a worsening of the area [Times Square] and a drop in the number of legitimate shows produced on Broadway." By way of comparison, in the 1950 to 1951 season (May to May) 94 productions opened on Broadway; in the 1969 to 1970 season (June to May) there were 59 productions (fifteen were revivals). In

8378-589: The design of One Astor Plaza's theater. In March 1968, the CPC scheduled a public hearing to determine whether the Astor and Uris theater permits should be approved, including a second theater in the Uris Building. Six parties testified in favor; the Shubert Organization , the largest operator of Broadway theaters, was the only dissenting speaker. The CPC approved the theater over the Shuberts' objections, as did

8496-470: The east and Eighth Avenue to the west. There are escalators leading from the ground floor to the lobby, where further escalators lead to the auditorium. One Astor Plaza's eastern section is directly above the theater and has to be supported entirely by the theater's roof. One Astor Plaza was initially proposed in 1967 without any theaters. The Minskoff Theatre was added during the planning process; in exchange, One Astor Plaza's developers were allowed to erect

8614-679: The effort. At Papp's behest, in July 1982, a bill was introduced in the 97th Congress , entitled "H.R.6885, A bill to designate the Broadway/Times Square Theatre District in the City of New York as a national historic site". The legislation would have provided certain U.S. government resources and assistance to help the city preserve the district. Faced with strong opposition and lobbying by Mayor Ed Koch's Administration and corporate Manhattan development interests,

8732-437: The entire Broadway production is transplanted almost entirely intact and may run for many months (or years) at each stop. For example, the first U.S. tour of The Phantom of the Opera required 26 53-foot-long (16.1 m) semi-trailers to transport all its sets, equipment, and costumes, and it took almost 10 days to properly unload all those trucks and install everything into a theater. Proscenium It can be considered as

8850-456: The everyday life of New York's lower classes and represented a significant step forward from vaudeville and burlesque, towards a more literate form. They starred high-quality professional singers ( Lillian Russell , Vivienne Segal , and Fay Templeton ), instead of the amateurs, often sex workers, who had starred in earlier musical forms. As transportation improved, poverty in New York diminished, and street lighting made for safer travel at night,

8968-579: The existing theaters (all built before World War II) were functionally obsolete. Consequently, the plans for One Astor Plaza initially did not include a theater. The Minskoffs had applied for zoning amendments for their new tower, and a member of the New York City Planning Commission (CPC) notified the Urban Design Group (UDG) about the application. This brought the attention of New York City mayor John Lindsay ,

9086-467: The first musicals to resume performances on September 2, 2021. The 74th Tony Awards were also postponed; the Tony nominations were announced on October 15, 2020, and took place on September 26, 2021. On July 30, 2021, it was announced that all Broadway theaters required attendees to provide proof of full COVID-19 vaccination . The rule applied to guests ages 12+. Those under age 12 were required to provide

9204-798: The highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world . While the Broadway thoroughfare is eponymous with the district, it is closely identified with Times Square . Only three theaters are located on Broadway itself: Broadway Theatre , Palace Theatre , and Winter Garden Theatre . The rest are located on the numbered cross streets, extending from the Nederlander Theatre one block south of Times Square on West 41st Street, north along either side of Broadway to 53rd Street , and Vivian Beaumont Theater , at Lincoln Center on West 65th Street. While exceptions exist,

9322-531: The large trusses above the Minskoff's roof provided "a clear example of what expense a builder is willing to go to get that extra rentable space". Sam Minskoff & Sons had hired Kahn and Jacobs to design One Astor Plaza in 1967, having acquired the site the previous year. At the time, city officials were encouraging the westward expansion of office towers in Manhattan. There were few efforts to preserve existing Broadway theaters, since theatrical experts believed

9440-557: The middle-class, variety shows in concert saloons for men of the working class and the slumming middle-class." The plays of William Shakespeare were frequently performed on the Broadway stage during the period, most notably by American actor Edwin Booth who was internationally known for his performance as Hamlet . Booth played the role for a famous 100 consecutive performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1865 (with

9558-518: The modern sense, and the acting space was always fully in the view of the audience. However, Roman theatres were similar to modern proscenium theatres in the sense that the entire audience had a restricted range of views on the stage—all of which were from the front, rather than the sides or back. The oldest surviving indoor theatre of the modern era, the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza (1585),

9676-508: The musical Dance of the Vampires opened. The show lost its entire $ 12 million investment, making it one of the most expensive flops in Broadway history, and closed after 56 performances. The Minskoff again stood empty until February 2004, when the musical Fiddler on the Roof was revived; it ran for 781 performances. By then, some figures in the theatrical industry had begun to believe that

9794-480: The musical The Lion King , which became the highest-grossing Broadway musical ever in 2014. The Minskoff Theatre is on the third floor of One Astor Plaza , also known as 1515 Broadway , along Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City . Der Scutt designed the Minskoff, with Ben Schlanger as a consulting architect. Jo Mielziner was the consultant for the theater's original operator, Albert Selden. The Minskoff, Gershwin , Circle in

9912-420: The next sixteen years. However, smaller vaudeville and variety houses proliferated, and Off-Broadway was well established by the end of the nineteenth century. A Trip to Coontown (1898) was the first musical comedy entirely produced and performed by African Americans in a Broadway theatre (inspired largely by the routines of the minstrel shows ), followed by the ragtime -tinged Clorindy: The Origin of

10030-557: The number of potential patrons for the growing number of theatres increased enormously. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits and improved production values. As in England, during the latter half of the century, the theatre began to be cleaned up, with less prostitution hindering the attendance of the theatre by women. Gilbert and Sullivan 's family-friendly comic opera hits, beginning with H.M.S. Pinafore in 1878, were imported to New York (by

10148-417: The orchestra level, while 640 were placed on the mezzanine. Unlike other Broadway houses, the theater used a continental seating layout, with no middle aisle. Consequently, rows can have up to 52 seats between egresses. The Minskoff was the first fully wheelchair-accessible Broadway theater in New York City. The ceiling of the auditorium contains crystal-basket light fixtures and is divided in two sections by

10266-556: The performers, or temporary availability of a theatre between the end of one production and the beginning of another. However, some shows with planned limited engagement runs may, after critical acclaim or box office success, extend their engagements or convert to open-ended runs. This was the case with 2007's August: Osage County , 2009's God of Carnage , 2012's Newsies , and 2022's Take Me Out . Historically, musicals on Broadway tend to have longer runs than "straight" (i.e., non-musical) plays. On January 9, 2006, The Phantom of

10384-468: The plays of George Bernard Shaw , and Katharine Cornell in such plays as Romeo and Juliet , Antony and Cleopatra , and Candida . In 1930, Theatre Guild 's production of Roar, China! was Broadway's first play with a majority Asian cast. As World War II approached, a dozen Broadway dramas addressed the rise of Nazism in Europe and the issue of American non-intervention. The most successful

10502-537: The previous record-holder, Cats . As part of a settlement with the United States Department of Justice in 2014, the Nederlanders agreed to improve disabled access at their nine Broadway theaters, including the Minskoff. Subsequently, the Nederlanders added restroom stalls in 2017; the renovation took place when The Lion King was running. The Lion King achieved the box office record for

10620-518: The producers revised the musical over eight days in October 1998; the modified musical ran through May 1999. This was followed in October by Saturday Night Fever , which ran through December 2000. The Minskoff's first production of the 21st century was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer , which opened in April 2001 and failed after 21 performances. The empty theater was used for a tribute to the late composer Lee Strasberg in February 2002. The Minskoff did not have another production until December 2002, when

10738-423: The production plays), meaning that the length of their presentation is not set beforehand, but depends on critical response, word of mouth, and the effectiveness of the show's advertising, all of which determine ticket sales. Investing in a commercial production carries a varied degree of financial risk. Shows need not make a profit immediately; should they make their "nut" (weekly operating expenses), or lose money at

10856-645: The productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein , became enormously influential forms of American popular culture " and contributed to making New York City the cultural capital of the world . New York City's first significant theatre was established in the mid-18th century, around 1750, when actor-managers Walter Murray and Thomas Kean established a resident theatre company at the Theatre on Nassau Street in Lower Manhattan , which held about 280 people. They presented William Shakespeare 's plays and ballad operas such as The Beggar's Opera . In 1752, William Hallam sent

10974-414: The proscenium arch, either in the wings or in the flyspace above the stage. The phrase "breaking the proscenium" or "breaking the fourth wall" refers to when a performer addresses the audience directly as part of the dramatic production. Proscenium theatres have fallen out of favor in some theatre circles because they perpetuate the fourth wall concept. The staging in proscenium theatres often implies that

11092-401: The proskenion might also carry scenery. In ancient Rome, the stage area in front of the scaenae frons (equivalent to the Greek skene) was known as the pulpitum , and the vertical front dropping from the stage to the orchestra floor, often in stone and decorated, as the proscaenium , again meaning "in front of the skene ". In the Greek and Roman theatre, no proscenium arch existed, in

11210-531: The run ending just a few months before Booth's brother John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln ), and would later revive the role at his own Booth's Theatre (which was managed for a time by his brother Junius Brutus Booth Jr. ). Other renowned Shakespeareans who appeared in New York in this era were Henry Irving , Tommaso Salvini , Fanny Davenport , and Charles Fechter . Theatre in New York moved from Downtown gradually to Midtown Manhattan , beginning around 1850, seeking less expensive real estate. At

11328-473: The season. This is done in order to maximize access to their target audience. Most Broadway producers and theatre owners are members of The Broadway League (formerly "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

11446-534: The seating areas. The grand foyer has bars and coat checks. The glass-walled lobby has also been used for weddings but, according to a 1977 feature in the New York Daily News , weddings were not allowed during performances of shows. The Minskoff Theatre has approximately 1,710 seats across two levels: a steeply raked orchestra level at the third story and a smaller mezzanine above. When the theater opened in 1973, approximately 1,000 seats were placed on

11564-470: The stage for 657 performances. Chinatown itself was surpassed by the musical Irene (1919) in 1921 as the longest-running Broadway musical, and even earlier, in March 1920, by Lightnin' (1918) as the longest-running Broadway show. In 1896, theatre owners Marc Klaw and A. L. Erlanger formed the Theatrical Syndicate , which controlled almost every legitimate theatre in the U.S. for

11682-539: The stage, and Actors' Equity threatened to prohibit its dancers from performing there, prompting the theater's operators to make improvements to the stage. Irene lost money despite its popularity with audiences, and it ultimately closed in September 1974 with 605 performances. It was followed by two concerts in late 1974: Charles Aznavour in a solo concert, as well as Tony Bennett and Lena Horne performing together. Henry Fonda 's solo show Clarence Darrow arrived in March 1975, followed by Bette Midler 's Clams on

11800-434: The term "Broadway theatre" is used predominantly to describe venues with seating capacities of at least 500 people. Smaller theaters in New York City are referred to as off-Broadway , regardless of location, while very small venues with fewer than 100 seats are called off-off-Broadway , a term that can also apply to non-commercial, avant-garde , or productions held outside of traditional theater venues. The Theater District

11918-406: The theater as "our way of paying the city back", he said this had increased costs by up to 30 percent, from $ 55 to $ 70 million. Furthermore, Selden insisted that a modern technical system be installed in the new theater, which would add $ 400,000 to the cost. By 1971, though the theater was almost complete, it was still not officially named. The next August, the theater's first production was announced:

12036-450: The theater in November 1993, running for six months. Another musical by Lloyd Webber, Sunset Boulevard , opened at the Minskoff in November 1994. During the run of Sunset Boulevard , the 49th Tony Awards were hosted at the Minskoff in 1995. Sunset Boulevard ran for two years, closing in March 1997 with 977 performances. The musical The Scarlet Pimpernel then opened at the Minskoff in November 1997. After receiving negative criticism,

12154-443: The theater's presence made "a humdinger of an engineering feat". The theater roof consists of a Vierendeel truss that rests on two girders , one weighing 89 short tons (79 long tons; 81 t) and the other weighing 109 short tons (97 long tons; 99 t). These girders were the heaviest in any building at the time, and they had to be delivered in several pieces from the factory, itself an intricate operation. According to Mielziner,

12272-534: The theatres. Since colored bulbs burned out too quickly, white lights were used, and Broadway was nicknamed "The Great White Way". In August 1919, the Actors' Equity Association demanded a standard contract for all professional productions. After a strike shut down all the theatres, the producers were forced to agree. By the 1920s, the Shubert Brothers had risen to take over the majority of the theatres from

12390-481: The theatrical producer and director who established The Public Theater , led the "Save the Theatres" campaign. It was a not-for-profit group supported by the Actors Equity union to save the theater buildings in the neighborhood from demolition by monied Manhattan development interests. Papp provided resources, recruited a publicist and celebrated actors, and provided audio, lighting, and technical crews for

12508-461: The time, the average age of theatergoers was 40.4; nearly two-thirds of the audience were women; and 29% identified as a racial minority. 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 Theater District, which are the criteria that define Broadway theatre. Off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway shows often provide

12626-568: The twenties, there were 70–80 theaters, but by 1969, there were 36 left. During this time, many Broadway productions struggled due to low attendance rates, which resulted in perceived mediocrity among such plays. For this reason, the Theatre Development Fund was created with the purpose of assisting productions with high cultural value that likely would struggle without subsidization, by offering tickets to those plays to consumers at reduced prices. In early 1982, Joe Papp ,

12744-543: The use of the revived term in Italian. This emulation of the Roman model extended to refer to the stage area as the "proscenium", and some writers have incorrectly referred to the theatre's scaenae frons as a proscenium, and have even suggested that the central archway in the middle of the scaenae frons was the inspiration for the later development of the full-size proscenium arch. There is no evidence at all for this assumption (indeed, contemporary illustrations of performances at

12862-568: The vein of Victor Herbert. Live theatre has survived the invention of cinema. Leaving these comparatively frivolous entertainments behind and taking the drama a step forward, Show Boat premiered on December 27, 1927, at the Ziegfeld Theatre . It represented a complete integration of book and score, with dramatic themes, as told through the music, dialogue, setting, and movement, woven together more seamlessly than in previous musicals. It ran for 572 performances. The 1920s also spawned

12980-692: The war's end, theatre resumed in 1798, when the 2,000-seat Park Theatre was built on Chatham Street on present-day Park Row . A second major theatre, Bowery Theatre , opened in 1826, followed by others. By the 1840s, P.T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in Lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince Street, Niblo's Garden opened and soon became one of New York's premier nightspots. The 3,000-seat theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments. In 1844, Palmo's Opera House opened and presented opera for only four seasons before bankruptcy led to its rebranding as

13098-519: Was Lillian Hellman 's Watch on the Rhine , which opened in April 1941. After the lean years of the Great Depression , Broadway theatre had entered a golden age with the blockbuster hit Oklahoma! , in 1943, which ran for 2,212 performances. According to John Kenrick 's writings on Broadway musicals, "Every season saw new stage musicals send songs to the top of the charts. Public demand,

13216-539: Was 14.77 million in 2018–2019, compared to 13.79 million in 2017–2018. The average age of the Broadway audience in the 2017–18 theater season was 40, the lowest it had been in nearly two decades. By 2018, about 20% of Broadway tickets were sold to international visitors, although many visitors reported not being able to use their tickets. In 2022–2023, the first full season since the COVID-19 pandemic, Broadway theaters sold 12.3 million tickets, of which 35% were to local residents and 17% to international visitors. At

13334-644: Was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857. In 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square , and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square . Theatres arrived in the Times Square area in the early 1900s, and the Broadway theatres consolidated there after a large number were built around the square in the 1920s and 1930s. New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keene 's "musical burletta" The Seven Sisters (1860) shattered previous New York records with

13452-399: Was considered a way of socializing, most of the court ballets finished with a ‘grand ballet’ followed by a ball in which the members of the audience joined the performance. Later on, the use of the proscenium stage for performances established a separation of the audience from the performers. Therefore, more devotion was placed on the performers, and in what was occurring in the ‘show.’ It was

13570-563: Was crowned the winner of the Miss Universe 1981 pageant at the Minskoff, and David Merrick 's musical 42nd Street was performed at the theater on CBS 's Miss Universe telecast. A revival of the musical Can-Can lasted five performances in April 1981, and Joseph Papp 's production of The Pirates of Penzance relocated from the Uris to the Minskoff that August, running for a year and three months. Alan Jay Lerner 's musical Dance

13688-598: Was the exception rather than the rule in sixteenth-century theatre design. Engravings suggest that the proscenium arch was already in use as early as 1560 at a production in Siena . The earliest true proscenium arch to survive in a permanent theatre is the Teatro Farnese in Parma (1618), many earlier such theatres having been lost. Parma has a clearly defined " boccascena ", or scene mouth, as Italians call it, more like

13806-464: Was the original meaning of the proscaenium in Roman theatres , where this mini-facade was given more architectural emphasis than is the case in modern theatres. A proscenium stage is structurally different from a thrust stage or an arena stage , as explained below. In later Hellenistic Greek theatres the proskenion (προσκήνιον) was a rather narrow raised stage where solo actors performed, while

13924-602: Was under renovation at the time, would be renamed after actor James Earl Jones . In June 2022, the Nederlanders announced that the Brooks Atkinson Theatre would be renamed after Lena Horne , The James Earl Jones Theatre was rededicated in September 2022, while the Lena Horne Theatre was rededicated that November. Although there are some exceptions, shows with open-ended runs generally have evening performances Tuesday through Saturday, with

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