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100-428: Pittsburgh Public Theater annually produces a subscription series that mixes classics, works from Broadway , and musicals. PPT has a rich production history . Pittsburgh Public Theater has been in continuous operation since 1975, first on Pittsburgh's North Side and since 1999 in the O'Reilly Theater , in the heart of Downtown's Cultural District . The Public has produced several new theatrical works. In addition to

200-592: A Saturn Award , and Used People . Her final role was in Mars Attacks! , another film by Burton, in which she played an elderly woman whose beloved records by Slim Whitman help stop an alien invasion from Mars. On television, she appeared in the pilot episode of WKRP in Cincinnati as the imperious owner of the radio station, and she appeared in a memorable episode of Thirtysomething as Melissa's tough grandmother, who wanted to leave her granddaughter

300-469: A Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress . Sidney was born Sophia Kosow in the Bronx , New York , the daughter of Rebecca (née Saperstein), a Romanian Jew, and Victor Kosow, a Russian-Jewish immigrant who worked as a clothing salesman. Her parents divorced by 1915, and she was adopted by her stepfather Sigmund Sidney, a dentist. Her mother became a dressmaker and renamed herself Beatrice Sidney. Now using

400-472: 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

500-606: A Salesman . In February 2017, The Public introduced new accessibility initiatives using new technology for hearing and sight impaired audiences. On March 9, 2017, Pappas declared his intent to step down as producing artistic director at the end of his contract in August 2018. After the retirement of longtime Producing Artistic Director Ted Pappas, The Public began the 2018–2019 season with a new leadership team: Artistic Director Marya Sea Kaminski and Managing Director Lou Castelli. To open its 49th season, Pittsburgh Public Theater staged

600-839: 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

700-449: 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,

800-663: 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

900-434: 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

1000-540: 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

1100-565: 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

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1200-906: 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

1300-915: A graduate of the Theatre Guild School in June 1926 at age 15, in the three-act fantasy Prunella to the Tennessee Williams play Vieux Carré in 1977. Other stage credits included The Fourposter , Enter Laughing , and Barefoot in the Park . In 1982, Sidney was awarded the George Eastman Award by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film. Sidney was married three times, first to publisher Bennett Cerf on October 1, 1935; they divorced on April 9, 1936. She married actor and acting teacher Luther Adler in 1938, by whom she had her only child,

1400-532: 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

1500-526: 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

1600-539: 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

1700-1152: 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

1800-500: 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

1900-431: 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

2000-545: A season. The Public’s first General Director Ben Shaktman resigned on June 30, 1982. Larry Arrick replaced Shaktman as the Artistic Director of Pittsburgh Public Theater from 1982 to 1984. Additionally, Dennis Babcock replaced Howard J. Millman in the position of Managing Director. In April 1984, William T. Gardner replaced Arrick as Producing Director at The Public. In the same year, the Hazlett Theater

2100-481: 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

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2200-453: A solo play about the life of Art Rooney Sr. played by Tom Atkins , written by Rob Zellers and Gene Collier and directed by Ted Pappas. Later, the play saw several revivals and a film adaptation due to its local popularity. Also in 2003, Stephen Klein stepped down after nine years as managing director. Ted Pappas became the company’s Producing Artistic Director. In 2005, movie star Haley Mills and Tony Award winner Elizabeth Franz appeared in

2300-451: A son Jacob ("Jody"; 1939–1987), who died of ALS 12 years before his mother. Adler and Sidney divorced in 1946. On March 5, 1947, she married radio producer Carlton Alsop; roughly four years later, attorney Melvin Belli assisted Sidney in her divorce suit, brought on grounds of extreme cruelty. Waiving any alimony request and seeking only restoration of her maiden name, Sidney was granted

2400-580: 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

2500-665: 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 the highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world . While the Broadway thoroughfare

2600-475: 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

2700-562: 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,

2800-520: 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

2900-610: 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

3000-580: 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;

3100-503: 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

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3200-476: 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

3300-409: 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

3400-690: The American Century Cycle. In 2015 in The Wall Street Journal , Terry Teachout described Pittsburgh Public Theater as, “One of the most accomplished resident theaters on the East Coast.” In 2016, former Pittsburgh Steeler Rocky Bleier starred in biographical one-man show The Play by Gene Collier about Bleier's life. In 2017, television and film actor Zach Grenier fulfilled his dream to play Willy Loman in Death of

3500-536: 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,

3600-619: 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

3700-738: 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

3800-574: 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

3900-456: 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

4000-457: 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

4100-519: The Lonesome Pine , an early three-strip Technicolor film. During this period, she developed a reputation for being difficult to work with. At the time of making Sabotage with Alfred Hitchcock, Sidney was one of the highest-paid actresses in the industry, earning $ 10,000 per week—earning a total of $ 80,000 for Sabotage . Sidney's career diminished somewhat during the 1940s. In 1949, exhibitors voted her "box-office poison". In 1952, she played

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4200-682: The O'Reilly Theater — in the heart of the Downtown Cultural District. On October 4, 1999, The Public announced that Ted Pappas, a director-choreographer who was president of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, would be leading The Public in its brand new facility. The 650-seat venue, designed by architect Michael Graves and built by The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, opened with the world premiere of August Wilson's  King Hedley II  in December 1999. The auditorium

4300-604: 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

4400-535: 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

4500-696: The Public’s 15th season in 1989-1990, the theater had an all-time high subscription base of 16,185. 1990s In January 1990, Board President Joseph M. Wymard announced The Public's intention to move from the North Side into a new facility Downtown to be built by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Meanwhile, in 1990, the musical Eleanor was directed by Mel Shapiro and choreographed by Rob Marshall . In 1991, future Academy Award and Tony Award winner Mark Rylance graced The Public's stage in

4600-701: The Public’s Education Department organized its first Shakespeare Monologue & Scene Contest for students. In 1995, Amazing Grace , by Michael Cristofer , was directed by Eddie Gilbert and starred Marsha Mason . In the same season, the Reduced Shakespeare Company made its first of several future appearances at the O'Reilly Theater. August Wilson was in residence at Pittsburgh Public Theater in 1996 to rework his play Jitney , one of his most famous masterworks. In 1997, The Public's previous box office records were broken by Over

4700-689: The Tavern , a play by Tom Dudzick. Seven years after announcing its intent to move into a new Downtown facility, groundbreaking for Pittsburgh Public Theater’s future home began in April 1997. The theater was to be named the O’Reilly Theater for Dr. Anthony O'Reilly, H.J. Heinz Company’s board chairman. The organization launched the public phase of its $ 12.8 million capital campaign in September 1998. More than $ 8.5 million had already been raised during

4800-463: The U.S. premiere of The Bird Sanctuary by Frank McGuinness . The following year, Pappas directed another U.S. premiere, Alan Ayckbourn ’s RolePlay . In 2006, Mark R. Power began as managing director for an 18-month tenure. The Glorious Ones , a new musical by Lynn Ahrens and Pittsburgh native Stephen Flaherty , premiered at Pittsburgh Public Theater in April 2007 before opening Off-Broadway with Lincoln Center Theater . In 2009, Pappas directed

4900-492: 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

5000-435: 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

5100-496: The behind-the-scenes phase. $ 10 million was earmarked for an income-producing endowment. In December 1998, Artistic Director Eddie Gilbert announced that he would leave The Public in August, 2000. Management Consultant for the Arts, a Greenwich, Conn.-based recruitment firm, was hired to find his replacement. The O’Reilly Theater era (1999–present) After 24 years on the North Side, Pittsburgh Public Theater moved to its current home —

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5200-476: 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

5300-550: 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

5400-422: 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

5500-679: 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,

5600-489: 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. Sylvia Sidney Sylvia Sidney (born Sophia Kosow ; August 8, 1910 – July 1, 1999)

5700-456: 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,

5800-429: The family dress business, though Melissa wanted a career as a photographer. Sidney also appeared at the beginning of each episode as the crotchety travel clerk on the short-lived late-1990s revival of Fantasy Island . She also was featured on Starsky & Hutch ; The Love Boat ; Magnum, P.I. ; Diagnosis Murder ; and Trapper John, M.D. Her Broadway career spanned five decades, from her debut performance as

5900-467: 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

6000-449: The girlfriend or sister of a gangster. She appeared with Humphrey Bogart , Gary Cooper , Spencer Tracy , Henry Fonda , Joel McCrea , Fredric March , George Raft and Cary Grant . Among her films from this period were: An American Tragedy , City Streets , and Street Scene (all 1931), Alfred Hitchcock 's Sabotage and Fritz Lang 's Fury (both 1936), You Only Live Once and Dead End (both 1937), and The Trail of

6100-557: 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

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6200-420: 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

6300-557: 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

6400-556: 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

6500-468: 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

6600-551: The premiere of his play The Habitation of Dragons . In July 1989, Cloris Leachman appeared in a one-week engagement of Grandma Moses – An American Primitive presented by Pittsburgh Public Theater at the Fulton Theater. Also in the late 1980s, The Public presented its first benefit performance for the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force. Then, Dan Fallon joined The Public as Managing Director in 1989. During

6700-423: 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

6800-645: 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

6900-469: The role of Fantine in Les Misérables , and although the film itself did not meet the studio's expectations, Sidney received critical praise for her performance. Sidney appeared three times on Playhouse 90 . On May 16, 1957, she appeared as Lulu Morgan, mother of singer Helen Morgan in "The Helen Morgan Story". Four months later, Sidney rejoined her former co-star Bergen on the premiere of

7000-531: 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

7100-473: 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

7200-490: The short-lived The Polly Bergen Show . She also worked in television during the 1960s on such programs as Route 66 , The Defenders , and My Three Sons . In 1973, Sidney received an Academy Award nomination for her supporting role in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams . As an elderly woman, Sidney continued to play supporting screen roles, and was identifiable by her husky voice, the result of cigarette smoking. She

7300-488: The show at The Public. In November of the same year, Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham and Marlo Thomas starred in the world premiere of Paper Doll written by Mark Hampton and Barbara J. Zitwer . The Public's production of Medea, also in 2001, began a run of classical tragedies at The Public directed by Pappas, who read them first in Greek. In 2003, The Public saw its biggest box-office success with The Chief ,

7400-470: 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

7500-583: The state arts council, along with 934 individuals, funded the theater's $ 370,000 budget. With a grant from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and a design by Peter Wexler, a flexible stage and audience space with movable scaffold seating for 350 was created. Through strong outreach efforts, 7,100 subscriptions were sold before The Public’s first production opened in 1975. The first Public Theater production, The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams , starred Carol Teitel and

7600-536: The surname Sidney, Sylvia became an actress at the age of 15 as a way of overcoming shyness. As a student of the Theater Guild's School for Acting, she was praised by theater critics for her performances. In 1926, she made her first film appearance as an extra in D.W. Griffith 's The Sorrows of Satan . During the Depression, Sidney appeared in a string of films, often playing working-class heroines, or

7700-434: 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

7800-613: The theater's production of Sizwe Banzi is Dead by Athol Fugard in October 1976, even saw aspiring playwright August Wilson in attendance. Due to strong ticket sales and many sold-out performances, The Public expanded its season to five productions in 1977. 1980s In 1980, Howard J. Millman became  Executive Director . Meanwhile, the Allegheny Theater was renamed the Theodore L. Hazlett, Jr. Theater in honor of

7900-534: 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

8000-481: 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

8100-461: 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

8200-618: The title role in William Shakespeare 's Hamlet . In the same year at The Public, Academy Award winner Kim Hunter starred in A. R. Gurney 's The Cocktail Hour . In January 1992, 25 Pittsburgh couples celebrating 50 or more years of marriage were honored at a production of popular play I Do! I Do! . William T. Gardner, Producing Director for eight seasons, died unexpectedly of a heart attack in April 1992. In December, Edward Gilbert of  Toronto ,  Canada  was appointed Artistic Director. Stephen Klein

8300-568: 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 ,

8400-568: 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

8500-415: The visionary head of the  Mellon Trust . 1980 marked The Public's fifth season, which included a Shaktman-directed production of Macbeth with Tom Atkins in the titular role, Jean Smart as Lady Macbeth , and Keith Fowler as Macduff . After the fifth season, Pittsburgh Public Theater increased its lineup to include six productions in 1981, which is currently the typical quantity of productions in

8600-692: 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

8700-1087: The world premiere of August Wilson 's King Hedley II , another of his masterworks, Jitney , received its professional premiere at Pittsburgh Public Theater. The pre-Broadway run of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alan Ayckbourn 's By Jeeves was staged at The Public before moving to New York's Helen Hayes Theatre . Other plays which received their world premieres on The Public's stage include Horton Foote 's The Habitation of Dragons ; Jonathon Bolt and Thomas Tierney's Eleanor ; Michael Cristofer 's Amazing Grace ; Mark Hampton and Barbara Zitwer 's Paper Doll ; Rob Zellers and Gene Collier's The Chief ; Naomi Wallace 's Things of Dry Hours ; Mark Hampton and Michael Sharp's The Secret Letters of Jackie and Marilyn ; and Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty 's musical, The Glorious Ones . 1970s In 1974, Joan Apt and Margaret Rieck created Pittsburgh Public Theater with Ben Shaktman as General Director. The City of Pittsburgh offered the  Allegheny Theater  to The Public rent free. Grants from 37 corporations, foundations and

8800-468: The world premiere of Harry’s Friendly Service by Rob Zellers, who was The Public’s director of education and outreach. Future SNL cast member Cecily Strong performed with The Second City in Second City for President , a politically-themed comedy show, for a three show tour stop at the O'Reilly Theater in the summer of 2012. A production of Our Town , previously performed in 1990 by The Public,

8900-648: The world premiere of a new musical by Kent Gash (artistic director of The Acting Company ) and Rob Zellers, Billy Strayhorn: Something To Live For , about the Pittsburgh-native jazz legend Billy Strayhorn , produced by Billy Porter . Shaunda McDill was named Managing Director in February 2023, and The Public celebrates its 50th season in 2024/2025. Theatre in Pittsburgh Broadway theatre Broadway theatre , or Broadway ,

9000-519: 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,

9100-539: 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

9200-644: 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

9300-541: Was an American stage, screen, and film actress whose career spanned 70 years. She rose to prominence in dozens of leading roles in the 1930s. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams in 1973. She later gained attention for her role as Juno, a case worker in the afterlife, in Tim Burton 's 1988 film Beetlejuice , for which she won

9400-545: Was directed by Ben Shaktman in September 1975. The following month, Tom Atkins made his first appearance as Randle P. McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . The final show of The Public's inaugural three-show season was William Shakespeare 's Twelfth Night , which starred Leonard Nimoy as Malvolio . After a successful first season, The Public's second season saw similarly high sales and attendance figures;

9500-401: Was later appointed Managing Director, to share leadership in August 1994. The Public's 18th season in early 1993 was highlighted by Mad Forest , a play directed by Mark Wing Davey, and playwright Caryl Churchill attended the first preview. The following year, The Public’s future Producing Artistic Director Ted Pappas began directing at The Public with the musical  Wings . Also in 1994,

9600-427: Was named for Barry Rigg Sullivan and the rehearsal hall was named for Helen Wayne Rauh. Pappas kicked off his first season at The Public with You Can’t Take it With You by Pittsburgh playwright George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart . In February 2001, By Jeeves , an Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alan Ayckbourn production, played at the O'Reilly before its Broadway transfer. Ayckbourn directed and Lloyd Webber worked on

9700-622: Was renovated with a design by L.P. Perfido Associates to increase seating capacity to 471, increase technical capabilities, and enlarge lobby space. In September 1984, legendary actress Sylvia Sidney appeared in Marsha Norman 's 'night, Mother , directed by Peter Bennett. The following year, Helena Ruoti made her Public Theater debut in Becoming Memories , written by Arthur Giron and directed by Lee Sankowich. On Pittsburgh Public Theater's stage in 1988, Horton Foote directed

9800-603: Was revived in 2013 with a cast consisting entirely of Pittsburgh natives, including Tom Atkins . In March 2015, Todd Kreidler, a friend and frequent collaborator with August Wilson , directed Eugene Lee in How I Learned What I Learned , a play written by Wilson that explores his own days as a struggling writer in the Hill District . How I Learned What I Learned marked the Public's completion of 11 of Wilson's works, including

9900-580: Was the formidable Miss Coral in the film version of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden and later was cast as Aidan Quinn 's grandmother in the television production of An Early Frost where she spoke the memorable line "AIDS is a disease, not a disgrace!" and for which she won a Golden Globe Award . She played Aunt Marion in Damien: Omen II and had key roles in Beetlejuice (directed by longtime Sidney fan Tim Burton ), for which she won

10000-663: 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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