BROADWAY AND WEST

MUSICALS
ROAD WAY THEATRE
• The Theater District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City. According to The Broadway League, for the
2018–2019 season (which ended May 26, 2019) total attendance was 14,768,254 and Broadway shows had
US$1,829,312,140 in grosses, with attendance up 9.5%, grosses up 10.3%, and playing weeks up 9.3%.[4]
• Broadway theatre,[nb 1] also known simply as Broadway, refers to the theatrical performances presented in the 41
professional theatres, each with 500 or more seats, located in the Theater District and Lincoln Center along 
Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.[1][2] Broadway and London's West End together represent the
highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world.[3]
• The majority of Broadway shows are musicals. Historian Martin Shefter argues that "'Broadway musicals',
culminating in the productions of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, became enormously influential forms
of American popular culture" and contributed to making New York City 
the cultural capital of the Western Hemisphere.[5]
EARLY THEATRE IN NEWYORK
• New York did not have a significant theatre presence until about 1750, when actor-managers Walter Murray
and Thomas Kean established a resident theatre company at the Theatre on Nassau Street, which held about
280 people. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The Beggar's Opera.[6] In 1752, 
William Hallam sent 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 the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and
ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter
theatre resumed in 1798, the year the 2,000-seat Park Theatre was built on Chatham Street (now called 
Park Row).[6] The Bowery Theatre opened in 1826,[7] 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 premiere 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 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 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 the middle class, variety shows in concert saloons for men of the working class and the slumming middle
class."[8]
• Birth of the musical and post-Civil War[edit]
• Theatre in New York moved from downtown gradually to midtown beginning around
1850, seeking less expensive real estate. In the beginning of the 19th 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."[9] Close to 60 years later, theatrical
entrepreneur Oscar Hammerstein I built the iconic Victoria Theater on West 42nd
Street.[9]
• Broadway's first "long-run" musical 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 did not arrive in the 
Times Square area until the early 1900s, and the Broadway theatres did not
consolidate there until a large number of theatres were built around the square in the
1920s and 1930s. New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London,[10] but 
Laura Keene's "musical burletta" The Seven Sisters (1860) shattered previous New
York records with a run of 253 performances. It was at a performance by Keene's
troupe of Our American Cousin in Washington, D.C. that Abraham Lincoln was shot.
 BROADWAY VS WEST END: WHO'S ON TOP?
 
 American and British Theatre both have one thing in common… the desire to entertain their audiences. This is achieved
in a variety of ways; whether the audience is taken on a heart-wrenching emotional journey or leave crying with
laughter, the central reason for the creation and performance of high end theatre is in many people’s view to entertain
the public.
The West End and Broadway are home to some of the most popular theatres in the entire world. With millions
attending productions at each location every year, there’s no doubt that they’re very popular.
We all have different taste as to what we like, that’s a given to humanity, but it’s amazing to see that this can also
affect the theatrical worlds too.
There are many musicals that have performed on the stages of Broadway and yet never made it to the West End, for
example Tarzan: The Musical, Newsies, The Little Mermaid, Brooklyn The Musical, How to Succeed in Business
Without Really Trying and If/Then, none of which were lucky enough to cross over the pond. It seems that if it
doesn’t do great on Broadway then why swim all the way to the West End? Different taste works both ways too
 Who’s the biggest of the bunch? Usually the Americans do everything in bigger proportions, but when it comes to the number of theatres Broadway and the West End each have around forty. But what about capacity?

The Americans are ahead when it comes to capacity. On a daily basis the numbers aren’t so different, but over a year Broadway can cater to for an extra three million people.
It’s not a complete loss for the West End though, as it has the bigger theatres. The West End’s biggest five theatres can hold more people than any Broadway theatre

WHO’S THE BIGGEST OF THE BUNCH? USUALLY THE

AMERICANS DO EVERYTHING IN BIGGER PROPORTIONS, BUT WHEN IT COMES
TO THE NUMBER OF THEATRES BROADWAY AND THE WEST END EACH HAVE
AROUND FORTY. BUT WHAT ABOUT CAPACITY?

• The Americans are ahead when it comes to capacity.

On a daily basis the numbers aren’t so different, but
over a year Broadway can cater to for an extra three
million people.

• It’s not a complete loss for the West End though, as it

has the bigger theatres. The West End’s biggest five
theatres can hold more people than any Broadway
theatre.

• Overall you’d have to say Broadway wins on size and

capacity.
FROM WEST TO BROADWAY
WEST
BROADWAY
GROUP 3
Thank you