BROADWAY

1) Broadway (literally : « la Large Voie ») is a road.

It runs through several boroughs of New York City, including Manhattan and the Bronx.
In Manhattan and the Bronx, it is more than 25 km long.

It is one of the oldest north–south roads in New York City, and the only diagonal one in Manhattan.
It dates back to the time when NYC, then called New Amsterdam, was a Dutch colony.

The most famous portion of Broadway is called the Great White Way, in mid-town Manhattan,
between 42nd and 53rd Streets.This nickname comes from the big signs which illuminate the area at
night.

On and around the Great White Way, you will find the Theater District.
The Theater District owes its name to all the theatres around. More generally, the whole area is
dedicated to entertainment; it is a place with numerous recording studios, record label offices, theatre
agencies, television studios, restaurants, movie theaters (= cinemas), hotels etc...

Times Square is a large pedestrian area on Broadway, in the middle of the Theater District.
It is a favourite meeting place for New Yorkers, who celebrate special events there, like New Year’s Eve.
It is also a very popular tourist attraction

2) Broadway (also known as « Broadway theater ») is a sector of activity.

It refers to the activity of the 41 big professional theaters located in the Theater District.

These 41 big professional theatres offer a minimum of 500 seats each, and they propose very ambitious
shows which cost a lot of money and are meant to attract large audiences.

Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway refer to the activity of smaller and more avant-garde theaters.

Broadway in New York City is known as the heart of the American theater industry, just as Hollywood in
Los Angeles is the heart of the American movie industry.

The most famous Broadway shows are musicals (for example : West Side Story, Les Misérables, Cats,
Alladin, The Phantom of the Opera, Mamma Mia, The Lion King etc…). The first musicals appeared on
Broadway in the 1910s (= the nineteen tens); a famous one was the Ziegfeld Follies.

Broadway theatres also give plays.

Theater productions and artists (from Broadway and from the rest of the USA) are honored during an
annual ceremony called the Tony Awards - or just The Tonys - taking place in a Broadway theater.
The Tony Awards are the USA’s most prestigious awards for theater productions; they are comparable
to the Academy Awards for movie productions. + The ceremony is broadcast live on TV.

Broadway shows are a very influential form of American popular culture and contribute to making
New York City one of the cultural capitals of the Western world.