1.
Seating capacity
–
Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. The International Fire Code, portions of which have adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction. It specifies, For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms and it also requires that every public venue submit a detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including details of the means of egress, seating capacity, arrangement of the seating. Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the size of the venue. For sports venues, the decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors, chief among these are the primary sports program and the size of the market area. Seating capacity of venues also plays a role in what media they are able to provide, in contracting to permit performers to use a theatre or other performing space, the seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed. Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be used, the seating capacity must also be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums generally advertise their seating capacity, seating capacity is also an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas. The seating capacity for restaurants is reported as covers, a restaurant that can seat 99 is said to have 99 covers, seating capacity differs from total capacity, which describes the total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Use of the term public capacity indicates that a venue is allowed to more people than it can actually seat. Again, the total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law
Seating capacity
–
The
Indianapolis Motor Speedway has the largest seating capacity of any venue in the world.
Seating capacity
–
An aerial view of the
Melbourne Cricket Ground during the 1992
Cricket World Cup final packed with 90,000 people.
2.
Off-Off-Broadway
–
Off-Off-Broadway theatrical productions in New York City are those in theatres that are smaller than Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres. It is often used as a term relating to any show with non-union actors, the shows range from professional productions by established artists to small amateur performances. The Off-Off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as a reaction to Off-Broadway, michael Smith gives credit for the terms coinage to Jerry Tallmer in 1960. This DIY aesthetic also led to acts of object repurposing by playwrights and directors. Also integral to the rise of Off-Off-Broadway were Ellen Stewart at La MaMa, other theaters of note that presented many plays were Theatre Genesis, New York Theatre Ensemble, The Old Reliable, The Dove Company. The Playwrights Workshop, and Workshop of the Players Art, an Off-Off-Broadway production that features members of Actors Equity is, of necessity, called an Equity Showcase production, not all Off-Off-Broadway shows are Equity Showcases. The union maintains very strict rules about working in such productions, including restrictions on price, professional actors participation in showcase productions is frequent and comprises the bulk of stage work for the majority of New York actors. There has been a movement to revise the Equity Showcase rules. Curley, Mallory, Tales of Off Off Broadway, Randy Press, viagas, Robert, The Back Stage Guide to Broadway, New York, Back Stage, ISBN 0-8230-8809-X. Malewitz, Raymond, The Practice of Misuse, Stanford, Stanford University Press, New York Innovative Theatre Award, an awards and advocacy group for independent theater NY theatre, a review site specializing in indie theater League of Independent Theater Off off online
Off-Off-Broadway
–
Caffe Cino, July 1965
3.
Play (theatre)
–
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Plays are performed at a variety of levels, from Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theater, to Community theatre, there are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference as to whether their plays were performed or read. The term play can refer to both the works of playwrights and to their complete theatrical performance. Comedies are plays which are designed to be humorous, comedies are often filled with witty remarks, unusual characters, and strange circumstances. Certain comedies are geared toward different age groups, comedies were one of the two original play types of Ancient Greece, along with tragedies. An example of a comedy would be William Shakespeares play A Midsummer Nights Dream, a generally nonsensical genre of play, farces are often overacted and often involve slapstick humor. An example of a farce includes William Shakespeares play The Comedy of Errors, a satire play takes a comic look at current events people while at the same time attempting to make a political or social statement, for example pointing out corruption. An example of a satire would be Nikolai Gogols The Government Inspector, satire plays are generally one of the most popular forms of comedy, and often considered to be their own genre entirely. This is a genre that explored relationships between men and women, and was considered risqué in its time, however, since restoration comedy dealt with unspoken aspects of relationships, it created a type of connection between audience and performance that was more informal and private. It is commonly agreed that restoration comedy has origins in Molière’s theories of comedy, the inconsistency between restoration comedy’s morals and the morals of the era is something that often arises during the study of this genre. This may give clues as to why, despite its original success, however, in recent years, it has become a topic of interest for theatre theorists, who have been looking into theatre styles that have their own conventions of performance. These plays contain darker themes such as death and disaster, often the protagonist of the play has a tragic flaw, a trait which leads to their downfall. Tragic plays convey all emotions and have extremely dramatic conflicts, tragedy was one of the two original play types of Ancient Greece. Some examples of tragedies include William Shakespeares Hamlet, and also John Websters play The Duchess of Malfi and these plays focus on actual historical events. They can be tragedies or comedies, but are neither of these. History as a genre was popularized by William Shakespeare. Examples of historical plays include Friedrich Schillers Demetrius and William Shakespeares King John, ballad opera, a popular theatre style at the time, was the first style of musical to be performed in the American colonies. The first musical of American origin was premiered in Philadelphia in 1767, and was called “The Disappointment”, however, around the 1920s, theatre styles were beginning to be defined more clearly
Play (theatre)
–
A children's play depicting
The Nativity
4.
Musical theatre
–
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement, since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals. These were followed by the numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the theatre works of American creators like George M. Cohan. Musicals are performed around the world and they may be presented in large venues, such as big-budget Broadway or West End productions in New York City or London. Alternatively, musicals may be staged in smaller fringe theatre, Off-Broadway or regional theatre productions, musicals are often presented by amateur and school groups in churches, schools and other performance spaces. In addition to the United States and Britain, there are vibrant musical theatre scenes in continental Europe, Asia, Australasia, Canada, the three main components of a book musical are its music, lyrics and book. The interpretation of a musical is the responsibility of its team, which includes a director. A musicals production is also characterized by technical aspects, such as set design, costumes, stage properties, lighting. The creative team, designs and interpretations generally change from the production to succeeding productions. Some production elements, however, may be retained from the production, for example. There is no fixed length for a musical, while it can range from a short one-act entertainment to several acts and several hours in length, most musicals range from one and a half to three hours. Musicals are usually presented in two acts, with one intermission, and the first act is frequently longer than the second. A book musical is usually built four to six main theme tunes that are reprised later in the show. Several shorter musicals on Broadway and in the West End have been presented in one act in recent decades, moments of greatest dramatic intensity in a book musical are often performed in song. Proverbially, when the emotion becomes too strong for speech, you sing, typically, many fewer words are sung in a five-minute song than are spoken in a five-minute block of dialogue. Therefore, there is time to develop drama in a musical than in a straight play of equivalent length. Within the compressed nature of a musical, the writers must develop the characters, the material presented in a musical may be original, or it may be adapted from novels, plays, classic legends, historical events or films. On the other hand, many musical theatre works have been adapted for musical films, such as West Side Story, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Oliver
Musical theatre
–
The Black Crook (1866), which some historians consider the first musical
Musical theatre
–
A Gaiety Girl (1893) was one of the first hit musicals
Musical theatre
–
George Gershwin
Musical theatre
–
Chinese Opera
5.
Trade union
–
The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with employers. The most common purpose of these associations or unions is maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment and this may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety and policies. Unions may organize a section of skilled workers, a cross-section of workers from various trades. The agreements negotiated by a union are binding on the rank and file members, originating in Great Britain, trade unions became popular in many countries during the Industrial Revolution. Trade unions may be composed of workers, professionals, past workers, students. Trade union density, or the percentage of workers belonging to a union, is highest in the Nordic countries. The trade unions aim at nothing less than to prevent the reduction of wages below the level that is maintained in the various branches of industry. That is to say, they wish to prevent the price of labour-power from falling below its value, yet historian R. A. the other the aggressive-expansionist drive to unite all labouring men and women for a different order of things. The 18th century economist Adam Smith noted the imbalance in the rights of workers in regards to owners. In The Wealth of Nations, Book I, chapter 8, Smith wrote, We rarely hear, it has said, of the combination of masters. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labor above their actual rate When workers combine, masters. As Smith noted, unions were illegal for many years in most countries, there were severe penalties for attempting to organize unions, up to and including execution. This pool of unskilled and semi-skilled labour spontaneously organized in fits and starts throughout its beginnings, Trade unions and collective bargaining were outlawed from no later than the middle of the 14th century when the Ordinance of Labourers was enacted in the Kingdom of England. In 1799, the Combination Act was passed, which banned trade unions, although the unions were subject to often severe repression until 1824, they were already widespread in cities such as London. Sympathy for the plight of the workers brought repeal of the acts in 1824, by the 1810s, the first labour organizations to bring together workers of divergent occupations were formed. Possibly the first such union was the General Union of Trades, also known as the Philanthropic Society, the latter name was to hide the organizations real purpose in a time when trade unions were still illegal. The Association quickly enrolled approximately 150 unions, consisting mostly of textile related unions, but also including mechanics, blacksmiths, and various others
Trade union
–
Syndicalism
Trade union
–
Early 19th century workplace militancy manifested in the
Luddite riots, when unemployed workers destroyed labour saving machines
Trade union
–
Poster issued by the London Trades Council, advertising a demonstration held on June 2, 1873
Trade union
–
Labour union demonstrators held at bay by soldiers during the 1912
Lawrence textile strike in
Lawrence, Massachusetts
6.
Broadway (Manhattan)
–
Broadway /ˈbrɔːdweɪ/ is a road in the U. S. state of New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in New York City, dating to the first New Amsterdam settlement, the name Broadway is the English language literal translation of the Dutch name, Brede weg. Broadway is known widely as the heart of the American theatre industry, Broadway was originally the Wickquasgeck Trail, carved into the brush of Manhattan by its Native American inhabitants. Wickquasgeck means birch-bark country in the Algonquian language and this trail originally snaked through swamps and rocks along the length of Manhattan Island. Upon the arrival of the Dutch, the trail became the main road through the island from Nieuw Amsterdam at the southern tip. The Dutch explorer and entrepreneur David Pietersz. de Vries gives the first mention of it in his journal for the year 1642, the Dutch named the road Heerestraat. Although current street signs are simply labeled as Broadway, in a 1776 map of New York City, in the mid-eighteenth century, part of Broadway in what is now lower Manhattan was known as Great George Street. An 1897 City Map shows a segment of Broadway as Kingsbridge Road in the vicinity of what is now the George Washington Bridge. In the 18th century, Broadway ended at the town north of Wall Street, where traffic continued up the East Side of the island via Eastern Post Road. The western Bloomingdale Road would be widened and paved during the 19th century, on February 14,1899, the name Broadway was extended to the entire Broadway/Bloomingdale/Boulevard road. Broadway once was a street for its entire length. The present status, in which it runs one-way southbound south of Columbus Circle, on 6 June 1954, Seventh Avenue became southbound and Eighth Avenue became northbound south of Broadway. On 3 June 1962, Broadway became one-way south of Canal Street, with Trinity Place, northbound traffic on Broadway now needs to take Amsterdam Avenue to 73rd Street, make a sharp turn on the very narrow 73rd and then right turn on Broadway. Otherwise, and effectively, the traffic on Broadway has been diverted into Amsterdam Avenue. In August 2008, two lanes from 42nd to 35th Streets were taken out of service and converted to public plazas. Additionally, bike lanes were added on Broadway from 42nd Street down to Union Square, the city decided that the experiment was successful and decided to make the change permanent in February 2010. Additionally, portions of Broadway in the Madison Square and Union Square have been dramatically narrowed, Broadway runs the length of Manhattan Island, roughly parallel to the North River, from Bowling Green at the south to Inwood at the northern tip of the island. South of Columbus Circle, it is a southbound street
Broadway (Manhattan)
–
A daytime scene on Broadway Broadway through Manhattan, the Bronx and lower
Westchester County is highlighted in red
Broadway (Manhattan)
–
Broadway in 1860
Broadway (Manhattan)
–
In 1885 the Broadway commercial district was overrun with telephone, telegraph, and electrical lines. This view was north from Cortlandt and
Maiden Lane.
Broadway (Manhattan)
–
Plan of 1868 for an "arcade railway"
7.
Manhattan
–
Manhattan is the most densely populated borough of New York City, its economic and administrative center, and the citys historical birthplace. The borough is coextensive with New York County, founded on November 1,1683, Manhattan is often described as the cultural and financial capital of the world and hosts the United Nations Headquarters. Many multinational media conglomerates are based in the borough and it is historically documented to have been purchased by Dutch colonists from Native Americans in 1626 for 60 guilders which equals US$1062 today. New York County is the United States second-smallest county by land area, on business days, the influx of commuters increases that number to over 3.9 million, or more than 170,000 people per square mile. Manhattan has the third-largest population of New York Citys five boroughs, after Brooklyn and Queens, the City of New York was founded at the southern tip of Manhattan, and the borough houses New York City Hall, the seat of the citys government. The name Manhattan derives from the word Manna-hata, as written in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, a 1610 map depicts the name as Manna-hata, twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River. The word Manhattan has been translated as island of hills from the Lenape language. The United States Postal Service prefers that mail addressed to Manhattan use New York, NY rather than Manhattan, the area that is now Manhattan was long inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans. In 1524, Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano – sailing in service of King Francis I of France – was the first European to visit the area that would become New York City. It was not until the voyage of Henry Hudson, an Englishman who worked for the Dutch East India Company, a permanent European presence in New Netherland began in 1624 with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island. In 1625, construction was started on the citadel of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island, later called New Amsterdam, the 1625 establishment of Fort Amsterdam at the southern tip of Manhattan Island is recognized as the birth of New York City. In 1846, New York historian John Romeyn Brodhead converted the figure of Fl 60 to US$23, variable-rate myth being a contradiction in terms, the purchase price remains forever frozen at twenty-four dollars, as Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace remarked in their history of New York. Sixty guilders in 1626 was valued at approximately $1,000 in 2006, based on the price of silver, Straight Dope author Cecil Adams calculated an equivalent of $72 in 1992. In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was appointed as the last Dutch Director General of the colony, New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city on February 2,1653. In 1664, the English conquered New Netherland and renamed it New York after the English Duke of York and Albany, the Dutch Republic regained it in August 1673 with a fleet of 21 ships, renaming the city New Orange. Manhattan was at the heart of the New York Campaign, a series of battles in the early American Revolutionary War. The Continental Army was forced to abandon Manhattan after the Battle of Fort Washington on November 16,1776. The city, greatly damaged by the Great Fire of New York during the campaign, became the British political, British occupation lasted until November 25,1783, when George Washington returned to Manhattan, as the last British forces left the city
Manhattan
–
View from
Midtown Manhattan, facing south toward
Lower Manhattan
Manhattan
–
Peter Minuit, early 1600s.
Manhattan
–
The
Castello Plan showing the Dutch colonial city of
New Amsterdam in 1660 – then confined to the southern tip of Manhattan Island.
Manhattan
–
J.Q.A. Ward 's statue of
George Washington in front of
Federal Hall (on
Wall Street) where he was inaugurated as the first
U.S. President in 1789.
8.
Theater District, New York
–
It extends from West 40th Street to West 54th Street, and from Sixth Avenue to Eighth Avenue, and includes Times Square. The Great White Way is the given to the section of Broadway which runs through the Theater District. It also contains recording studios, record label offices, theatrical agencies, television studios, restaurants, Duffy Square, Shubert Alley, the Brill Building, odditorium, and Madame Tussauds of New York. The Theater District first began attracting theaters and restaurants to the neighborhood after the Metropolitan Opera House moved to West 39th Street and Broadway in 1883. Over the years since then, the district has been referred to by New Yorkers as the Rialto, as The Main Stem, and as Broadway, and at the turn of the 20th century, was simply called The Street. The entire area was later revitalized by the City in the 1990s, however, with the closing of most of those businesses. In the Spring of 1982, Joseph Papp, the Broadway theatrical producer and director who had established The Public Theater, at Papps behest, in July 1982, U. S. The Save the Theatres campaign then turned their efforts supporting the establishment of the Theater District as a registered New York City historic district. Giuliani 280 A. D. 2d 13720 N. Y. S, community and civic organizations opposed the expansion of the district as it would impinge the nearby Clinton/Hells Kitchen residential neighborhood. The court objection, filed in 1999, did not challenge the pre-existing Theater Subdistrict itself or the development rights zoning legislation. New York City also created the Theater Subdistrict Council, LDC, the TSC administers the Theater Subdistrict Fund and allocates grants. The area known as Theatre Row is an area on 42nd Street from Ninth Avenue to Eleventh Avenue, ghosts of 42nd Street, A History of Americas Most Infamous Block. New York, HarperCollins Books, ISBN 0-688-17089-7, a detailed history that focuses primarily of the Times Square Theater District from the beginning of the 20th century through its successful revival/restoration in the late 20th century. NYC. com Visitor Guide, Theater District Theater District Dining
Theater District, New York
–
The
Golden Theatre,
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre,
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre and
Booth Theatre on
West 45th Street in
Manhattan 's Theater District
Theater District, New York
–
Alphabet City
9.
Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)
–
It is commercial for much of its length. Sixth Avenues northern end is at Central Park South, adjacent to the Artists Gate traffic entrance to Central Park at Center Drive, historically, Sixth Avenue continued north of Central Park, but that segment was renamed Lenox Avenue in 1887 and co-named Malcolm X Boulevard in 1987. Sixth Avenue was laid out in the Commissioners Plan of 1811, as originally designed, Sixth Avenues southern terminus was at Carmine Street in Greenwich Village. In the early and mid 1800s it passed by the roadhouse and tavern Old Grapevine at the corner of 11th street. The IRT Sixth Avenue Line elevated railway was constructed on Sixth Avenue in 1878, darkening the street, proposals to extend the street south from Carmine Street, to allow easier access to lower Manhattan, were discussed by the citys Board of Aldermen as early as the mid-1860s. Construction of the resulted in considerable dislocation to existing residents. One historian said that ten people were displaced, most of them Italian immigrants who knew no other home in America. According to the WPA Guide to New York City, the resulted in blank side walls facing the uninspiring thoroughfare. Dozens of buildings, including the original Church of Our Lady of Pompeii, were demolished, by the mid-20th century, a coalition of commercial establishments and building owners along Sixth Avenue campaigned to have the El removed. The El was closed on December 4,1938 and came down in stages, beginning in Greenwich Village in 1938–39, demolition of the Sixth Avenue elevated railway, meanwhile, resulted in accelerated commercial development of the avenue in Midtown. Beginning in the 1960s, the avenue was rebuilt above 42nd Street as an all-but-uninterrupted avenue of corporate headquarters housed in glass slab towers of International Modernist style. On March 10,1957, Sixth Avenue was reconfigured to carry one-way traffic north of its intersection with Broadway in Herald Square, the rest of the avenue followed on November 10,1963. In the mid-1970s, the city spruced up the street, including the addition of patterned brick crosswalks, repainting of streetlamps, special lighting, rare throughout the rest of the city, was also installed. The avenues official name was changed to Avenue of the Americas in 1945 by the City Council, at the behest of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who signed the bill into law on October 2,1945. The intent was to honor Pan-American ideals and principles and the nations of Central and South America and it was felt at the time that the name would provide greater grandeur to a shabby street, and to promote trade with the Western Hemisphere. After the name change, round signs were attached to streetlights on the avenue, however, New Yorkers seldom used the avenues newer name, and the street has been labelled as both Avenue of the Americas and Sixth Avenue in recent years. Most of the old round signs with country emblems were gone by the late 1990s, R. Grace Building, International Center of Photography, Rockefeller Center — including the Time-Life Building, News Corp. Building, Exxon Building and McGraw-Hill Building, as well as Radio City Music Hall, the Steinway Hall of New York was moved to 1130 Sixth Avenue in October 2014
Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)
–
The "skyscraper alley" of
International Style buildings along Sixth Avenue looking north from
40th Street to
Central Park
Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)
–
Looking north from
14th Street in 1905, with the
Sixth Avenue El on the right
Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)
–
The
historic Ladies' Mile shopping district that thrived along Sixth Avenue left behind some of the largest retail spaces in the city. Beginning in the 1990s, the buildings began to be reused after being dormant for decades.
Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)
–
Venezuela 's sign
10.
Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)
–
Eighth Avenue is a north-south avenue on the west side of Manhattan in New York City, carrying northbound traffic below 59th Street. While the avenue has different names at different points in Manhattan, north of Frederick Douglass Circle, it resumes its Eighth Avenue designation, but is also known as Frederick Douglass Boulevard. The avenue ends north of 155th Street, and merges into the Harlem River Drive, the New York City Subway IND Eighth Avenue Line runs under Eighth Avenue. MTA Regional Bus Operations primarily operates two bus routes on the avenue, the northbound M20 serves Eighth Avenue between Abingdon Square and Columbus Circle, while the M10 serves the length of Eighth Avenue north of 59th Street in its entirety. The southernmost section is solely as Eighth Avenue between Abingdon Square and Columbus Circle. This portion of Eighth Avenue has carried traffic one-way northbound since June 6,1954, in fact, New York Citys annual gay pride parade takes place along the Greenwich Village section of Eighth Avenue. As its name indicates, CPW forms the edge of Central Park. It also forms the boundary of the Upper West Side. It runs 51 blocks from Columbus Circle to Frederick Douglass Circle, Central Park Wests expensive housing rivals that of Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side. Most of these housing cooperatives were built around 1930, replacing late 19th century hotels with the same names, some, including The Century, The San Remo, and The Majestic, are twin towers. Other landmarks and institutions along its length include the New-York Historical Society, the area from 61st to 97th Streets is included in the Central Park West Historic District. The building located at 55 Central Park West is the infamous Spook Central from the movie Ghostbusters, the famed New York City restaurant Tavern on the Green is located off of Central Park West, at 66th Street, within the grounds of Central Park. In 1899, while exiting a streetcar, Henry Bliss was run over by a taxi at CPW and West 74th Street, becoming the first person to be run down and killed by a motor car in the Americas. North of Frederick Douglass Circle at 110th Street in Harlem, it is Frederick Douglass Boulevard, Frederick Douglass Boulevard eventually terminates near the Harlem River at the Harlem River Drive around West 159th Street. While Central Park West has its own system, address numbers on Frederick Douglass Boulevard continue from where they would be if Central Park West used the Eighth Avenue numbering system. Formerly described as being like Detroit in its urban blight, it is now gentrified, especially in the restaurants along its route and this gentrification is partly due to massive city investment. The share of whites jumped to 12.4 percent from 2.3 percent, median household income rose 28 percent, to $34,694. Notes New York Songlines, Eighth Avenue, a walking tour
Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)
–
Facing north from 32nd Street
Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)
–
The
Hearst Tower at West 57th Street and Eighth Avenue
Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)
–
The
American Museum of Natural History
Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)
–
Housing cooperatives on CPW.
The San Remo on the right,
The Langham right from center,
The Dakota left from center, and
The Majestic on the far left.
11.
Times Square
–
It stretches from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. One of the worlds busiest pedestrian areas, it is also the hub of the Broadway Theater District, Times Square is one of the worlds most visited tourist attractions, drawing an estimated 50 million visitors annually. Approximately 330,000 people pass through Times Square daily, many of them tourists, the southern triangle of Times Square has no specific name, but the northernmost of the two triangles is called Father Duffy Square. Since 2008, the booth has been backed by a red, sloped, triangular set of stairs, which is used by people to sit, talk, eat. When Manhattan Island was first settled by the Dutch, three small streams united near what is now 10th Avenue and 40th street and these three streams formed the Great Kill. From there the Great Kill wound through the low-lying Reed Valley, known for fish and waterfowl, the name was retained in a tiny hamlet, Great Kill, that became a center for carriage-making, as the upland to the south and east became known as Longacre. Before and after the American Revolution, the area belonged to John Morin Scott, scotts manor house was at what is currently 43rd Street, surrounded by countryside used for farming and breeding horses. By 1872, the area had become the center of New Yorks horse carriage industry, the locality had not previously been given a name, and city authorities called it Longacre Square after Long Acre in London, where the horse and carriage trade was centered in that city. William Henry Vanderbilt owned and ran the American Horse Exchange there, in 1910 it became the Winter Garden Theatre. The first theater on the square, the Olympia, was built by cigar manufacturer, by the early 1890s this once sparsely settled stretch of Broadway was ablaze with electric light and thronged by crowds of middle- and upper-class theatre, restaurant and cafe patrons. In 1904, New York Times publisher Adolph S. Ochs persuaded Mayor George B, mcClellan, Jr. to construct a subway station there, and the area was renamed Times Square on April 8,1904. Just three weeks later, the first electrified advertisement appeared on the side of a bank at the corner of 46th Street, the north end later became Duffy Square, and the former Horse Exchange became the Winter Garden Theatre. The New York Times, according to Nolan, moved to spacious offices west of the square in 1913. The old Times Building was later named the Allied Chemical Building in 1963, now known simply as One Times Square, it is famed for the Times Square Ball drop on its roof every New Years Eve. In 1913, the Lincoln Highway Association, headed by entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, chose the intersection of 42nd Street and Broadway to be the Eastern Terminus of the Lincoln Highway. This was the first road across the United States, which originally spanned 3,389 miles coast-to-coast through 13 states to its terminus in Lincoln Park in San Francisco. Times Square grew dramatically after World War I and it became a cultural hub full of theatres, music halls, and upscale hotels. Times Square quickly became New Yorks agora, a place to gather to await great tidings and to celebrate them, advertising also grew significantly in the 1920s, growing from $25 million to $85 million over the decade
Times Square
–
Times Square
Times Square
–
Broadway show billboards in Times Square, 2013
Times Square
–
Broadway at 42nd Street in 1898
Times Square
–
A crowd outside The New York Times to follow the progress of the
Jack Dempsey –
Georges Carpentier fight in 1921
12.
42nd Street (Manhattan)
–
42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the district near that intersection. Washingtons attempt put him in danger of being captured, and his officers had to him to leave. The rout eventually subsided into an orderly retreat, john Jacob Astor purchased a 70 acres farm in 1803 that ran from 42nd Street to 46th Street west of Broadway to the Hudson River. The street was designated by the Commissioners Plan of 1811 that established the Manhattan street grid as one of 15 east-west streets that would be 100 feet in width, the Depot, which opened in 1871, was replaced by Grand Central Terminal in 1913. In 1980, it was turned into a successful Broadway musical which ran until 1989, from the late 1950s until the late 1980s, 42nd Street, nicknamed The Deuce, was the cultural center of American grindhouse theaters, which spawned an entire subculture. While the street outside the theatres was populated with, phony drug salesman, unkies alone in their heroin/cocaine dreamworld. Predatory chickenhawks spying on underage trade looking for pickups, ranssexuals, hustlers, and closety gays with a fetishistic homo- or heterosexual itch to scratch. It was common to see porn stars whose films were playing at the adult houses promenade down the block, not when you stepped onto the Deuce. Being a freak there would get you money, attention, entertainment, or maybe a robbery and a beating. For much of the mid and late 20th century, the area of 42nd Street near Times Square was home to activities often considered unsavory, in the early 1990s, city government encouraged a clean-up of the Times Square area. In 1993, the Walt Disney Corporation bought the New Amsterdam Theatre and it is now the flagship for Disneys theatrical productions in New York. This area is now co-signed as New 42nd Street to signify this change, the IRT 42nd Street Shuttle runs under 42nd Street between Broadway/Seventh Avenue and Park Avenue. Each line stops at Times Square and Grand Central, the Flushing Line also stops at Fifth Avenue and its predecessor, the 42nd Street Crosstown Line streetcar, had used 42nd Street. The George M. Cohan song Give My Regards to Broadway includes the lyrics Tell all the gang at Forty-Second Street / That I will soon be there. The Jim Croce song You Dont Mess Around with Jim includes the lyrics 42nd street got Big Jim Walker, the Billy Joel song Miami 2017 includes the lyrics Wed seen it all the time on 42nd Street. Ghosts of 42nd Street, A History of Americas Most Infamous Block, New York, HarperCollins Books, ISBN 0-688-17089-7. A detailed history that focuses primarily on the Times Square Theater District from the beginning of the 20th century through its successful restoration, down 42nd Street, Sex, money, culture and politics at the crossroads of the world
42nd Street (Manhattan)
–
Looking west along 42nd Street from
Seventh Avenue (2004)
42nd Street (Manhattan)
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Grindhouse movie theaters on 42nd Street in 1985 before its renovation; the 200 block of W. 42nd Street; former
Lyric Theatre facade and nearby buildings
42nd Street (Manhattan)
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Grand Central Terminal at night, as seen from the west on 42nd Street
42nd Street (Manhattan)
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The
Chrysler Building, with its unique stainless-steel top, is one of the most distinctive buildings on 42nd Street
13.
The Threepenny Opera
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The work offers a Socialist critique of the capitalist world. It opened on 31 August 1928 at Berlins Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, songs from The Threepenny Opera have been widely covered and become standards, most notably Die Moritat von Mackie Messer and Seeräuberjenny. Brecht was first motivated to prepare a version of The Beggars Opera by the revival of the original by Nigel Playfair in London in 1920. He offered the idea to the impresario Ernst Josef Aufricht who was seeking a production to launch his new company at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin. The score by Weill uses only one of the melodies which Johann Pepusch wrote for the original Beggars Opera. Weill claimed at the time that music cannot further the action of the play or create its background, Weills score shows influence of jazz and German dance-music of the time. The orchestration involves a small ensemble with a deal of doubling-up on instruments. The Threepenny Opera was first performed at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in 1928 on a set designed by Caspar Neher, despite an initially poor reception, it became a great success, playing 400 times in the next two years. The performance was a springboard for one of the best known interpreters of Brecht and Weills work, Lotte Lenya, who was married to Weill. By 1933, when Weill and Brecht were forced to leave Germany by the Nazi seizure of power, in between, on 8 February 1935 Edward Clark conducted the first British broadcast of the work. It received scathing reviews from Ernest Newman and other critics, but the most savage criticism came from Weill himself, who described it privately as. The worst performance imaginable … the whole thing was completely misunderstood, but his criticisms seem to have been for the concept of the piece as a Germanised version of The Beggars Opera, rather than for Clarks conducting of it, of which Weill made no mention. America was introduced to the work by the version of G. W. Pabst. The first American production, adapted into English by Gifford Cochran and Jerrold Krimsky and staged by Francesco Von Mendelssohn and it opened on Broadway at the Empire Theatre, on April 13,1933, and closed after 12 performances. Mixed reviews praised the music but slammed the production, with the critic Gilbert Gabriel calling it a dreary enigma, a French version produced by Gaston Baty and written by Ninon Steinhof and André Mauprey was presented in October 1930 at the Théâtre Montparnasse in Paris. It was rendered as LOpéra de quatsous, in 1930 the work was premiered in Moscow at the Kamerny Theatre, directed by Alexander Tairov. It was the one of Brechts works to be performed in Russia during his lifetime. Izvestia disapproved, It is high time that our theatres ceased playing homage to petit-bourgeois bad taste, the first Italian production, titled LOpera da tre soldi and directed by Giorgio Strehler, premiered at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan on 27 February 1956 in the presence of Bertolt Brecht
The Threepenny Opera
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Original German poster from Berlin, 1928
The Threepenny Opera
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Marcia Edmundson as Low-Dive Jenny in
Brad Mays ' 1982 Baltimore production
14.
Theatre Row (New York City)
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Theatre Row is the name for a section of 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan between Ninth and Eleventh Avenues. The name comes from the numerous Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway theatres that line the street, today, the stretch holds by a series of theatres, many if which have been renovated or newly built in recent years. Ghosts of 42nd Street, A History of Americas Most Infamous Block, new York, HarperCollins Books, ISBN 0-688-17089-7
Theatre Row (New York City)
–
The Theatre Row building with its five constituent theatre entrances
15.
Hair (musical)
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Hair, The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the counterculture and sexual revolution of the late 1960s. The musicals profanity, its depiction of the use of drugs, its treatment of sexuality, its irreverence for the American flag. The musical broke new ground in musical theatre by defining the genre of musical, using a racially integrated cast. Simultaneous productions in cities across the United States and Europe followed shortly thereafter, since then, numerous productions have been staged around the world, spawning dozens of recordings of the musical, including the 3 million-selling original Broadway cast recording. Some of the songs from its score became Top 10 hits, a Broadway revival opened in 2009, earning strong reviews and winning the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for best revival of a musical. In 2008, Time magazine wrote, Today Hair seems, if anything, Hair was conceived by actors James Rado and Gerome Ragni. The two met in 1964 when they performed together in the Off-Broadway flop Hang Down Your Head and Die, the main characters were autobiographical, with Rados Claude being a pensive romantic and Ragnis Berger an extrovert. Their close relationship, including its volatility, was reflected in the musical, Rado explained, We were great friends. It was a kind of relationship that we directed into creativity, into writing. We put the drama between us on stage, Rado described the inspiration for Hair as a combination of some characters we met in the streets, people we knew and our own imaginations. He recalled, There was so much excitement in the streets and the parks and the hippie areas and we hung out with them and went to their Be-Ins let our hair grow. Many cast members were recruited right off the street, Rado said, It was very important historically, and if we hadnt written it, thered not be any examples. You could read about it and see film clips, but youd never experience it and we thought, This is happening in the streets, and we wanted to bring it to the stage. Rado and Ragni came from different artistic backgrounds, in college, Rado wrote musical revues and aspired to be a Broadway composer in the Rodgers and Hammerstein tradition. He went on to acting with Lee Strasberg. Ragni, on the hand, was an active member of The Open Theater, one of several groups, mostly Off-off Broadway. He introduced Rado to the theatre styles and methods being developed at The Open Theater
Hair (musical)
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Original Broadway poster
Hair (musical)
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Poster from The Cheetah with the
Native American theme
Hair (musical)
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London programme
Hair (musical)
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1979 movie poster.
16.
Godspell
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Godspell is a musical, composed by Stephen Schwartz with the spoken parts by John-Michael Tebelak. Several cast albums have been released over the years and one of its songs, Day by Day from the original cast album, the structure of the musical is that of a series of parables, mostly based on the Gospel of Matthew. The parables are interspersed with a variety of music set primarily to lyrics from traditional hymns. It started as a project performed by students at Carnegie Mellon University. It was then re-scored for a production which became a long-running success. A junior one-act version with songs and monologues removed has also been made under the title Godspell Junior. The show originated in 1970 as Tebelaks masters thesis project, under the direction of Lawrence Carra, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, a version was performed at Carnegie Mellon in 1970, with several of the cast members from the CMU Music Department. Tebelak then directed the show, with much of the student cast, for a two-week, ten performance run at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, New York City, opening February 24,1971. It was brought to the attention of producers Edgar Lansbury, Joseph Beruh, and Stuart Duncan by Carnegie alumnus Charles Haid, the producers hired Stephen Schwartz, another alumnus of Carnegie Mellons theater department, to write a new song score. Schwartzs songs incorporated a variety of styles, from pop to folk rock, gospel. One song, By My Side, written by CMU students Jay Hamburger, as with the original score, most of the non-Schwartz lyrics were from the Episcopal Hymnal. The original cast defined the personalities of each character as the show was developed, most of the characters names are simply the first name of the actor, so the characters are more easily identified by the song they sing. The only two named roles are Jesus, and John the Baptist, who doubles in the show as Judas Iscariot. The stage version applies the following names and traits to the group of characters who act out the parables and sing, Gilmer, Herb, Jeffrey, Joanne, Lamar, Peggy. All ten actors are on stage throughout the show, the show begins with Gods Voice, spoken by Jesus, declaring his supremacy, My name is Known, God and King. I am most in majesty, in whom no beginning may be, the company then enters and takes the role of various philosophers throughout the ages. They sing fragments of their philosophies, first as solos. In response to these philosophers, John the Baptist enters blowing a shofar to call the community to order and he then beckons them to Prepare Ye, The Way of the Lord
Godspell
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Godspell
Godspell
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Corbin Bleu took over in the starring role, as Jesus.
Godspell
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Poster for Godspell by
David Byrd in the
Cherry Lane Theatre
17.
Little Shop of Horrors (musical)
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Little Shop of Horrors is a horror comedy rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood and flesh. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, the musical premiered Off-Off-Broadway in 1982 before moving to the Orpheum Theatre Off-Broadway, where it had a five-year run. It later received numerous productions in the U. S. and abroad, because of its small cast and relatively simple orchestrations, it has become popular with community theatre, school and other amateur groups. The musical was made into a 1986 film of the same name. An offstage voice recalls a time when the human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence, a trio of 1960s street urchins named Crystal, Ronette, and Chiffon set the scene and comment on the action throughout the show. Seymour Krelborn is a young man, an orphan living in an urban skid row. Audrey is a pretty blonde with a sense that leans towards the tacky. They lament their stations in life and the blight in their neighborhood. They are co-workers at Mushniks Skid Row Florists, a flower shop owned and operated by the cranky Mr. Mushnik. Seymour has recently obtained a mysterious plant that looks like a venus flytrap. While he was browsing the wholesale district, a sudden eclipse of the sun occurred, and when the light returned. Seymour is secretly in love with Audrey and names the plant Audrey II in her honor, the plant does not thrive in its new environment and appears to be dying. Seymour questions why it should be doing poorly, since he takes good care of it. He accidentally pricks his finger on a thorn, which draws blood. Seymour realizes that Audrey II requires blood to survive and allows the plant to suckle from his finger, as Audrey II grows, it becomes an attraction and starts generating brisk business for Mushnik. As the caretaker of the plant, the timid Seymour is suddenly regarded as a hero and he is elated to find out that Audrey secretly returns his feelings and wishes to leave her abusive boyfriend. Her dream is to lead an ideal suburban life with Seymour, complete with a home, frozen dinners. Meanwhile, the employees at Mushniks are sprucing up the shop because of the popularity of the rapidly growing Audrey II
Little Shop of Horrors (musical)
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Original Cast Album
Little Shop of Horrors (musical)
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Poster for 2003 tryout in Florida starring
Alice Ripley and
Hunter Foster
Little Shop of Horrors (musical)
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Audrey II in the 2006–07 West End production
18.
Sunday in the Park with George
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Sunday in the Park with George is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical was inspired by the painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, the plot revolves around George, a fictionalized version of Georges Seurat, who immerses himself deeply in painting his masterpiece. The Broadway production opened in 1984 and it has enjoyed several major revivals, including the 2005-06 UK production first presented at the Menier Chocolate Factory and its subsequent 2008 Broadway transfer. Act I In 1884, Georges Seurat, known as George in the musical, is sketching studies for his famous painting and he announces to the audience, White, a blank page or canvas. The challenge, bring order to the whole, through design, composition, tension, balance, light and he conjures up the island, a small suburban park, around him, and retains some control of his surroundings as he draws them. His longtime mistress, Dot, models for him, despite her frustrations at having to get up early on a Sunday, the quiet of the park is interrupted by a group of rude bathers. George freezes them with a gesture, setting them as the subjects of his first painting, the setting abruptly changes to a gallery where the painting is on display. Jules and his wife Yvonne think Georges work has No Life, back on the island, Jules and Yvonne have a short discussion with George and depart. They take their coachman Franz with them, interrupting Franzs rendezvous with the Nurse, Dot, who has grown tired of standing still in the early morning sunlight, leaves the park mollified after George promises to take her to the Follies. George approaches the Old Lady, revealed to be his mother, and requests to draw her, in Georges studio he works on his painting obsessively while Dot prepares for their date and fantasizes about being a Follies girl. When George briefly stops painting to clean his brushes, he, Dot is ready to leave, but George chooses to continue painting instead, greatly upsetting her. In the park, on a Sunday some time later, George sketches a disgruntled Boatman to the disapproval of an observing Jules, Dot enters on the arm of Louis, a baker. Two chatting shop girls, both named Celeste, notice Dot with a new man, when Jules and Yvonnes daughter Louise attempts to pet the Boatmans dog, he shouts at her, then lashes out at George and storms off. George and Dot have an awkward, strained conversation as she works on the book she is using to teach herself how to read. As Jules and Yvonne mock the unconventional nature of Georges art, they discuss an initiative to have his work included in the group show. George sketches two dogs while whimsically trying to imagine the world from their perspective, describing their relief to be free of their routines on Sunday. Dot sees George, but he slips away before she can speak to him and she clearly misses and loves George, but Louis loves, respects and needs her in a way George cannot, and she has made her choice. As the park empties for the evening, George returns, time has passed, and a heavily pregnant Dot visits Georges studio
Sunday in the Park with George
–
Original Broadway Playbill Cover
19.
Rent (musical)
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Rent is a rock musical with music, lyrics and book by Jonathan Larson, loosely based on Giacomo Puccinis opera La Bohème. The musical was first seen in a production at New York Theatre Workshop in 1993. This same Off-Broadway theatre was also the initial home following its official 1996 opening. The shows creator, Jonathan Larson, died suddenly of a dissection, believed to have been caused by undiagnosed Marfan syndrome. The show won a Pulitzer Prize, and the production was a hit, the musical moved to Broadways larger Nederlander Theatre on April 29,1996. On Broadway, Rent gained critical acclaim and won a Tony Award for Best Musical among other awards, the Broadway production closed on September 7,2008 after a 12-year run of 5,123 performances. On February 14,2016, the musical Wicked surpassed Rents number of performances with a 2pm matinee, the production grossed over $280 million. The success of the led to several national tours and numerous foreign productions. In 2005, it was adapted into a picture featuring most of the original cast members. In 1989, Jonathan Larson, a 29-year-old composer, began collaborating with Aronson on this project, and he also came up with the shows ultimate title. In 1991, he asked Aronson if he could use Aronsons original concept, Larson had ambitious expectations for Rent, his ultimate dream was to write a rock opera to bring musical theater to the MTV generation. Aronson and Larson made an agreement that if the show went to Broadway, Aronson would share in the proceeds, Jonathan Larson focused on composing Rent in the early 1990s, waiting tables at the Moondance Diner to support himself. Over the course of years, Larson wrote hundreds of songs and made drastic changes to the show. In the fall of 1992, Larson approached James Nicola, artistic director of New York Theatre Workshop, with a tape, Larson continued to work on Rent, gradually reworking its flaws and staging more workshop productions. Larson would not live to see Rents success, he died from an aortic aneurysm in the early morning of January 25,1996. The first preview of Rent was canceled and instead, friends, the show premiered as planned and quickly gained popularity fueled by enthusiastic reviews and the recent death of its composer. It proved extremely successful during its run, selling out all its shows at the 150-seat New York Theater Workshop. Due to such overwhelming popularity and a need for a larger theater, Larsons inspiration for Rents content came from several different sources
Rent (musical)
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Original Broadway window card
Rent (musical)
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Life Café
Rent (musical)
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Rent at David Nederlander Theatre in Manhattan, New York City
Rent (musical)
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Cast of Rent performing "Seasons of Love" at Broadway on Broadway, 2005.
20.
Grey Gardens (musical)
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The Beales were Jacqueline Kennedys aunt and cousin, respectively. However, its central purpose is to untangle the complicated dynamics of their dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship. The first act depicts the characters in their heyday and is a take on what their lives might have been like when they were younger. While the first act is almost entirely fictional, the act takes much of its dialogue. The same actress who plays Big Edie in the first act plays Little Edie in the second act, the musical opened Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons on February 10,2006 and ran through April 30,2006. Directed by Michael Greif with choreography by Jeff Calhoun, it starred Christine Ebersole, Mary Louise Wilson and it received mixed reviews, but attracted particularly good reviews for Ebersole and Wilson. It earned five Lucille Lortel Award nominations and twelve Drama Desk Award nominations, the show opened, with revisions, on Broadway on November 2,2006 at the Walter Kerr Theatre and closed on July 29,2007, after 307 performances and 33 previews. The production was nominated for 10 Tony Awards in 2007, winning three, including awards for both Ebersole and Wilson in leading and featured actress categories, respectively, is handling the shows licensing to stock, amateur, university and resident theatres. Independent productions, which started playing in those markets in 2008, in the spring of 2013, a three month run was mounted in Seattle as a co-production between the 5th Avenue Theatre and ACT Theatre, starring Patti Cohenour and Suzy Hunt. In August 2015, a three week production was held at the Bay Street Theater, Sag Harbor, New York, buckley and York star in a production at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, California, again directed by Michael Wilson in July and August 2016. The Australian premiere was a run from November 25 to December 4,2011. Directed by Roger Hodgman, the cast featured Pamela Rabe and Nancye Hayes, the Australian production was nominated for the Helpmann Award for Best Musical in 2012. The Canadian premiere was presented from May 2–19,2012 by Fighting Chance Productions in Vancouver, a Japanese production opened on November 7,2009 at Theater Creation in Tokyo and closed on December 6. The production then toured other Japanese cities, including Osaka and Nagoya, a Brazilian production opened on March 15,2013 at the Sala Municipal Baden Powell in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, performing 32 times and closing on May 5,2013. There were an approximate total 9.000 spectators, london The musical will premiere in the UK at the Southwark Playhouse from January 7,2016 to February 6. Directed by Thom Southerland, the cast stars Sheila Hancock and Jenna Russell, the original Broadway characters and cast, ≈ denotes new songs written for the Broadway production. Songs omitted in the Broadway production, Toyland, Body Beautiful Beale, Being Bouvier, Better Fall Out of Love, Tomorrows Woman, the Broadway production was received enthusiastically by critics. Time Magazine named Grey Gardens the No.1 best show to come out in 2006, however, he also noted that the musical tilts perilously toward cheap celebrity camp
Grey Gardens (musical)
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Cover of
Broadway original cast recording of Grey Gardens
21.
Urinetown
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Urinetown, The Musical is a satirical comedy musical that premiered in 2001, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, the show also parodies musicals such as The Threepenny Opera, The Cradle Will Rock and Les Misérables, and the Broadway musical itself as a form. The characters of Bobby Strong and Hope Cladwell were included on New York Theatre Monthlys list of The 100 Greatest Roles in Musical Theatre. Urinetown debuted at the New York International Fringe Festival, and then was produced Off-Broadway at the American Theatre for Actors, the musical then opened on Broadway at Henry Millers Theatre, running from September 20,2001 through January 18,2004, totaling 25 previews and 965 performances. It was directed by John Rando, and featured music and lyrics by Mark Hollman, book and lyrics by Greg Kotis, and choreography by John Carrafa. The original cast included Hunter Foster, Jeff McCarthy, Nancy Opel, John Cullum, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Spencer Kayden, John Deyle, principal cast changes included James Barbour as Officer Lockstock, Carolee Carmello and Victoria Clark as Penelope Pennywise and Charles Shaughnessy as Caldwell B. Cladwell as well as Amy Spanger as Hope Cladwell and it was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and won three. A national tour starring Christiane Noll began in San Francisco, California on June 13,2003, a production began performances at Chicagos Mercury Theater in March 2006 and closed in May 2006, followed by New Line Theatre in St. Louis, MO in 2007. The UK premiere directed by Jamie Lloyd opened at Londons St. James Theatre in April 2014, transferred to the Apollo Theatre in September 2014, in 2015, a production of the show opened in São Paulo, Brazil, at the Teatro do Nucleo Experimental. Greg Kotis had the idea for Urinetown while traveling in Europe, a traveling student on a budget, he encountered a pay-per-use toilet, and began writing shortly thereafter, joining with Mark Hollmann for the journey to Broadway. Kotis, his wife, and original cast member Spencer Kayden belonged to the group, plans with the Neo-Futurists later fell through, so John Clancy of the New York Fringe Festival accepted the show into the festival. Playwright David Auburn, a friend of Kotis and Hollmann, came to see the show, the company optioned the musical and it opened Off Broadway at the American Theatre for Actors, transferring to Broadway in September 2001. Originally planned to open on September 13, the show contained several references which, after the September 11 attacks, ultimately, only one line was removed from the script, and the show opened September 20,2001. The show opens with a welcome from Officer Lockstock, a policeman. According to Lockstock and Little Sally, a drought has caused a terrible water shortage. All restroom activities are done in public toilets controlled by a megacorporation called Urine Good Company, to control water consumption, people have to pay to use the amenities. There are harsh laws ensuring that people pay to urinate, and if they are broken, trouble ensues when Bobbys father, Old Man Strong, cannot afford his urinal admission for the day and asks Pennywise to let him go free just this once. After Old Man Strongs plea is dismissed, he urinates on the street and is arrested by Officers Lockstock and Barrel
Urinetown
–
Original Broadway poster art
22.
Avenue Q
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Avenue Q is an American musical in two acts, conceived by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, who together, wrote the music and lyrics. The book was written by Jeff Whitty and the show was directed by Jason Moore, Avenue Q is an autobiographical and biographical coming-of-age parable, addressing and satirizing the issues and anxieties associated with entering adulthood. The musical is notable for the use of puppets, animated by unconcealed puppeteers, Originally conceived as a television series, the show was developed as a stage production at the 2002 National Music Theatre Conference at the Eugene ONeill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. With 2,534 performances, Avenue Q ranks 23rd on the list of longest running shows in Broadway history, the show ended its Broadway run on September 13,2009, and then reopened Off-Broadway at New World Stages in October 2009. Avenue Qs unique presentation requires substantially more suspension of disbelief by audience members than normal, the cast consists of three human characters and eleven puppet characters who interact as if human, Sesame Street-style. The puppets are animated and voiced by actor/puppeteers who are present, unconcealed, onstage and that is, the puppets and human characters completely ignore the puppeteers, and the audience is expected to do so as well. One puppeteer sometimes voices two or more puppets simultaneously, conversely, the so-called live-hands puppets require two puppeteers — again, in full view of the audience. The show draws considerable inspiration from Sesame Street and substantially imitates its format, all of the characters, puppet and human, represent amalgamations of things and feelings going through personally. Much of the shows ironic humor arises from its contrasts with Sesame Street, the show also employs a highly unusual plot device, a real-life celebrity inserted as a fictional character within the story. Coleman later threatened repeatedly to sue Avenue Q producers for their depiction of him, when Coleman died on May 28,2010, casts of both the Off-Broadway production in New York City and the second national tour in Dallas dedicated that evenings performances to his memory. The Coleman character remains in the show with modified dialogue, setting, a fictional street in an outer-outer borough of New York City. Princeton, a recent college graduate, is anxious to discover his purpose in life, but first, he must find an apartment and a job, with no work experience, beginning his search on Avenue A, he finally finds an affordable apartment on Avenue Q. Arguments ensue over whose life sucks the most, Nicky, who is straight, suspects that Rod is gay, and assures Rod it is okay with him if he is, but Rod insists he is not. Princeton finds a penny and longs to discover his purpose in life. Kate dreams of starting a Monstersori school for people of fur. Princeton innocently asks Kate if she and Trekkie are related, since they are monsters, but Kate angrily pronounces his assumption racist. Princeton, taken aback, counters that Kates Monstersori School would discriminate against non-monsters and they and the neighbors agree that racism is an adult reality. Princeton receives money from his parents, and the Bad Idea Bears, Kates boss, Mrs. Thistletwat, assigns Kate to teach the next mornings kindergarten class, her first solo teaching opportunity
Avenue Q
–
Avenue Q at the
John Golden Theatre on Broadway
Avenue Q
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Avenue Q logo
Avenue Q
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Avenue Q cast performing at
Broadway on Broadway with the puppets.
23.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
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The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a long one-act musical comedy with music and lyrics by William Finn, a book by Rachel Sheinkin and additional material by Jay Reiss. The show centers on a spelling bee set in a geographically ambiguous Putnam Valley Middle School. Six quirky adolescents compete in the Bee, run by three equally quirky grown-ups, the 2005 Broadway production, directed by James Lapine and produced by David Stone, James L. The show has spawned various other productions in the United States, an unusual aspect of the show is that four real audience members are invited on stage to compete in the spelling bee alongside the six young characters. During the 2005 Tony Awards, former Presidential candidate Al Sharpton competed, another amusing aspect of the show is that the official pronouncer, usually an improv comedian, provides ridiculous usage-in-a-sentence examples when asked to use words in a sentence. For instance, for the word palaestra, he says, Euripides said, at some shows, adult-only audiences are invited for Parent-Teacher Conferences, also known as adult night at the Bee. These performances are peppered with references and profanity inspired by R-rated ad-libs made during rehearsals. The Broadway cast album was released on May 31,2005 and is available from Ghostlight Records, the original Broadway cast recording was nominated for a Grammy Award. The musical was based upon C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, an original improvisational play created by Rebecca Feldman and performed by The Farm, Sarah Saltzberg, Wendy Wassersteins weekend nanny, was in the original production, and Wasserstein recommended that Finn see the show. Finn brought Rachel Sheinkin on board, and they worked together with Feldman to transform C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E into a scripted full-length musical, Spelling Bee was workshopped and developed at the Barrington Stage Company, Massachusetts, where Julianne Boyd is the Artistic Director, in two different stages. In February 2004, a workshop was done in which a first act and parts of an act were created – this stage of the process was directed by Michael Barakiva. The script was fleshed out and the show was given a production in July 2004, directed by Feldman. Dan Knechtges choreographed the workshop, summer productions, and the Broadway production, dana Harrel produced both productions as the Producer of Stage II at BSC. Several cast members, Dan Fogler, Jay Reiss, and Sarah Saltzberg remained from C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, robb Sapp, Dashiell Eaves, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Lisa Howard, and Deborah S. Craig were added to the cast, and a full script was created. Spelling Bee premiered on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre on April 15,2005, the director was James Lapine and the choreographer Dan Knechtges. The show won Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Featured Actor, the first production outside the United States was at the Melbourne Theatre Company in Melbourne, Australia, from January 18,2006 to February 25 at the Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne. It starred Marina Prior as Ms. Peretti, David Campbell as Chip, the production, which won the 2006 Helpmann Award for Best Musical, was then presented by the Sydney Theatre Company at the Sydney Theatre in 2007. It again starred Prior and Szubanski, now joined by Lisa McCune as Olive, the Sydney season opened on June 11,2007 and closed in August 2007
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
–
Original Cast Recording
24.
Rock of Ages (musical)
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Rock of Ages is a rock/jukebox musical, with a book by Chris DArienzo, built around classic rock songs from the 1980s, especially from the famous glam metal bands of that decade. The musical features songs from Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Steve Perry, Poison and it was directed by Kristin Hanggi and choreographed by Kelly Devine with music supervision, arrangements and orchestrations by Ethan Popp. During the performance, the performers frequently break the wall, directly addressing the audience. Despite the musicals title, the Def Leppard song of the name is not included in the musical. The original Broadway production ran for 2,328 performances, closing on January 18,2015 as the 27th-longest running show in Broadway history. Since debuting on the Great White Way in 2009, it has spawned replica productions worldwide in Japan, Australia and he falls instantly for a girl, Sherrie Christian, who just arrived from Paola, Kansas, hoping to make it big in acting. Drew convinces Dennis to hire Sherrie as a waitress and he calls Stacee and convinces him to play the bands last show in the club where he had begun. As Drew struggles to write new lyrics, Sherrie urges him to go after his dreams, Regina begins protesting Hertz and Franzs redevelopment plans. Later, after arguing with her parents during a call, Sherrie begins to discover feelings for Drew. Also, Drew, auditioning to open for Arsenal, finds the lyrics he has been searching for, after obtaining the opening slot for Arsenal, Drew invites Sherrie to have a picnic in the hills overlooking Los Angeles. There, he suggests that the two are merely friends to calm their nerves, disappointing both of them and ruining the date. Stacee Jaxx arrives at the Bourbon and gives an interview about his life, Sherrie is immediately smitten with him, and believing she means nothing to Drew, has sex with Stacee in the mens room. While Stacee and Sherrie are copulating, Drew opens for Stacee and Arsenal, after their tryst, Stacee tells Dennis to dismiss Sherrie before the concert begins. His guitarist realizes what Stacee did and knocks him out, the record producer in the club was impressed with Drews performance and suggests he take over for Stacee. He then offers Drew a contract, which he accepts, Sherrie seeks comfort from Drew after she is fired, but having seen her go into the mens room with Stacee, he dismisses her. In the midst of events, Regina continues her protest. An upset and unemployed Sherrie meets Justice Charlier, the owner of the nearby Venus Club and she relates to Sherries story, saying that many of the small-town girls hoping to hit it big in LA end up making a living as strippers. Grudgingly, Sherrie accepts Justices offer to work in her club
Rock of Ages (musical)
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Cover Art for the cast recording
Rock of Ages (musical)
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Rock of Ages at the Shaftesbury Theatre, January 2012
25.
In the Heights
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In the Heights is a musical with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story is set over the course of three days, involving characters in the largely Dominican-American neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City, after productions at the Eugene ONeill Theater Center in Connecticut and Off-Broadway, the show opened in a Broadway production in March 2008. This production was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards, winning four, Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Choreography and it won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. It was also nominated for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Miranda wrote the earliest draft of In the Heights in 1999, his sophomore year of college. After the show was accepted by Wesleyan Universitys student theater company Second Stage, Miranda worked on adding freestyle rap. bodegas and it played from April 27 to April 29,2000. In 2002, Miranda and Mailer worked with director Kail and wrote five separate drafts of In the Heights. Directed by Thomas Kail, with choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler and music direction by Alex Lacamoire, it was produced by Jill Furman, Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller and Sander Jacobs. The Off-Broadway production was nominated for nine Drama Desk Awards, winning two, as well as winning the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Musical. The musical premiered on Broadway, starting in previews on February 14,2008, with an opening on March 9,2008. The Broadway production was directed and choreographed by Kail and Blankenbuehler. The producers announced on January 8,2009, that the show had recouped its $10 million investment after 10 months, the Broadway production celebrated its 1000th performance on August 2,2010. The Broadway production closed on January 9,2011, after 29 previews and 1,184 regular performances, the final cast starred Lin-Manuel Miranda, Arielle Jacobs, Marcy Harriell, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Olga Merediz, Andréa Burns, Christopher Jackson, Tony Chriroldes and Priscilla Lopez. Jon Rua starred as Graffiti Pete and understudied for the roles of Usnavi, the first national tour of In the Heights began on October 27,2009, in Tampa, Florida. The musical ran in San Juan, Puerto Rico in November 2010, librettist Hudes and songwriter-star Miranda are both of Puerto Rican descent. The tour closed on April 3,2011, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, at the time of its closing, the tour starred Joseph Morales as Usnavi. The international premiere ran in Manila, Philippines from September 2 to September 18,2011, the show had a repeat run in March 2012. A non-Equity United States national tour of In The Heights ran from October 17,2011, the tour played in Chicago in January 2012, with Virginia Cavaliere as Nina, Presilah Nunez as Vanessa, Kyle Carter as Benny, and Perry Young as Usnavi. Jose Pepe Casis was the director, who also played the part of Piragua Guy
In the Heights
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Broadway poster
26.
Spring Awakening (musical)
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Spring Awakening is a rock musical with music by Duncan Sheik and a book and lyrics by Steven Sater. It is based on the German play Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind, set in late-19th-century Germany, the musical tells the story of teenagers discovering the inner and outer tumult of teenage sexuality. In the musical, alternative rock is employed as part of the folk-infused rock score and its cast included Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, Skylar Astin, Carla Bianco and John Gallagher, Jr. while its creative team comprised director Michael Mayer and choreographer Bill T. Jones. The original Broadway production won 8 Tony Awards, including Tonys for Best Musical, Direction, Book, Score, the production also garnered 4 Drama Desk Awards whilst its original cast album received a Grammy Award. In addition, the show was revived in 2015 on Broadway and garnered 3 Tony Award nominations, among other honors. Wendla Bergmann, an adolescent in late-nineteenth-century Germany, laments that her mother gave her “no way to handle things” and has not taught her the lessons she is meant to know as a young woman. She tells her mother that it is time she learned where babies come from and her mother cannot bring herself to explain the facts about conception clearly to Wendla, despite knowing her daughter is reaching puberty. Instead, she simply tells Wendla that to conceive a child a woman must love her husband with all of her heart. The other young girls in town – Martha, Thea, Anna, at school, some teenage boys are studying Virgil in Latin class. When Moritz Stiefel, a nervous and anxious young man, sleepily misquotes a line. Moritz’s classmate, the rebellious and highly intelligent Melchior Gabor, tries to him, but the teacher will have none of it. Melchior reflects on the shallow narrow-mindedness of school and society and expresses his intent to change things, Moritz describes a dream that has been keeping him up at night, and Melchior realizes that Moritz has been having erotic dreams which Moritz believes are signs of insanity. To comfort the panicked Moritz, Melchior, who has learned sexual information from books, Moritz, Melchior and the other boys – Ernst, Hänschen, Otto and Georg – share their own sexually frustrated thoughts and desires. Moritz, who is not comfortable talking about the subject with Melchior, requests that he give him the information in the form of an essay, complete with illustrations. All the girls, save Ilse, are gathered together after school, Martha admits that she has a crush on Moritz, but is made fun of by the other girls. At the top of the list is the radical, intelligent, Moritz has eagerly digested the essay that Melchior prepared for him, but complains that his new knowledge has only made his dreams even more vivid and torturous. Melchior tries to calm and comfort his friend, but Moritz runs off in frustration, All of the boys and girls express their desires for physical intimacy. Searching for flowers for her mother, Wendla stumbles upon Melchior, the two reminisce on the friendship they once shared as children and share a moment while sitting together in front of a tree
Spring Awakening (musical)
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Original Broadway Recording
Spring Awakening (musical)
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University of Birmingham's Guild of Students GMTG production. "All That's Known"
Spring Awakening (musical)
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University of Birmingham 's Guild of Students GMTG production. "Bitch of Living"
Spring Awakening (musical)
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"The Word of Your Body" from
Carnegie Mellon University 's 2013 production of Spring Awakening
27.
Next to Normal
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Next to Normal is a rock musical with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt. Its story concerns a mother who struggles with worsening bipolar disorder and the effects that her illness, the musical also addresses such issues as grieving a loss, suicide, drug abuse, ethics in modern psychiatry, and the underbelly of suburban life. After an Off-Broadway run, the then played at the Arena Stage in its temporary venue in Crystal City. The musical opened on Broadway in April 2009 and it was nominated for eleven 2009 Tony Awards and won three, Best Original Score, Best Orchestration and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for Alice Ripley. It also won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, becoming just the musical in history to receive the honor. The previous musical to win the Pulitzer was Rent, in 1996, the First US National Tour launched in November 2010, with Alice Ripley reprising her Broadway role, the tour concluded in July 2011. The Broadway production closed in January 2011 after over 700 performances and it has since spawned many international productions. Suburban mother Diana Goodman waits up late for her son, Gabe. It is then morning and Dan, Dianas husband, rises to help prepare the family for Just Another Day, everything appears normal until Dan and Natalie realize that the sandwiches Diana is making are covering every surface in the kitchen. As Dan helps the disoriented Diana, the kids hurry off to school and, for Natalie and she is interrupted by Henry, a classmate who likes to listen to her play and who is clearly interested in her. Over the ensuing weeks Diana makes a series of visits to her doctor, Diana has suffered from bipolar disorder coupled with delusions for sixteen years. Doctor Fine continually adjusts her medications until she says she doesnt feel anything, Natalie and Henry grow closer until one day he professes his love for her and they kiss for the first time. Diana witnesses this and realizes her best years may be behind her, with her sons encouragement, she flushes away her medication. A few weeks later, Dan looks forward to dinner with his family, when Diana emerges with a cake singing Happy Birthday to her son, Dan and Natalie are devastated. Dan holds Diana and reminds her that their son died sixteen years ago, Dan mentions a return to the doctor, but Diana refuses, saying he cant possibly hurt the way she does. Dan tries to coax her into trusting him when their son appears, in her room, Natalie vents her anger to Henry and then refuses Dianas apology as her brother watches and taunts her. A few days later, Diana starts work with Doctor Madden, as her son tries to assert his presence, Dan and Natalie doubt the sessions are helping, and after an argument Natalie begins experimenting with her mothers medications. Doctor Madden proposes hypnosis to help Diana discover the roots of her trauma, the therapy makes a serious impact on her life, and Natalie bombs an important piano recital when she realizes her mother is not present
Next to Normal
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original Broadway poster art
28.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (musical)
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Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock musical about a fictional rock and roll band fronted by a transgender East German singer, Hedwig Robinson. The book is by John Cameron Mitchell, and the music, the story draws on Mitchells life as the son of a U. S. Army Major General who once commanded the U. S. sector of occupied West Berlin. The character of Hedwig was inspired by a German divorced U. S. Army wife who was a Mitchell family babysitter and moonlighted as a prostitute at her Junction City, Kansas, trailer park home. The music is steeped in the androgynous 1970s glam rock style of David Bowie, as well as the work of John Lennon and early punk performers Lou Reed, the musical opened Off-Broadway in 1998, and won the Obie Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical. The production ran for two years, and was remounted with various casts by the creative team in other US cities. In 2000, the musical had a London West End production, in 2014, the show saw its first Broadway incarnation, opening that April at the Belasco Theatre and winning the years Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. The production closed on September 13,2015, a national tour of the show began at San Franciscos Golden Gate Theatre on October 2,2016. The character of Hedwig was originally a character in the piece. She was loosely inspired by a German female babysitter/prostitute who worked for Mitchells family when he was a teenager in Junction City, Kansas. The character of Tommy, originally conceived as the character, was based on Mitchell himself. They agreed the piece should be developed through band gigs in clubs rather than in a setting in order to preserve a rock energy. Mitchell was deeply influenced by Squeezeboxs roster of performers who performed rock covers. A German glam rendition of Debby Boones You Light Up My Life once served as the musicals finale, Mitchells second gig was as fill-in host at Squeezebox on a bill featuring singer Deborah Harry of Blondie. It was for this occasion that Mike Potter first designed Hedwigs trademark wig, Mitchell has explained that Hedwig is not a trans woman, but a genderqueer character. Shes more than a woman or a man, he has said, shes a gender of one and that is accidentally so beautiful. The concept of the production is that the audience is watching genderqueer rockstar Hedwig Robinsons musical act as she follows rockstar Tommy Gnosiss tour around the country. Occasionally Hedwig opens a door onstage to listen to Gnosiss concert, Gnosis is recovering from an incident that nearly ruined his career, having crashed his car into a school bus while high and receiving oral sex from none other than Hedwig herself. Capitalizing on her notoriety from the incident, Hedwig determines to tell the audience her story and she is aided and hindered by her assistant, back-up singer and husband, Yitzhak
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (musical)
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Original Poster Art
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (musical)
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Original Off-Broadway poster art
29.
Fun Home (musical)
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Fun Home is a musical adapted by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori from Alison Bechdels 2006 graphic memoir of the same name. The story concerns Bechdels discovery of her own sexuality, her relationship with her gay father and it is the first Broadway musical with a lesbian protagonist. The musical was developed through several readings and performances, including at the Ojai Playwrights Conference in 2009 and at the Sundance Theatre Lab and it opened Off-Broadway at the Public Theater in September 2013 to positive reviews. Its run was extended several times, until January 2014, the Public Theater production of Fun Home was nominated for nine Lucille Lortel Awards, two Obie Awards and eight Drama Desk Awards, among others. The original Broadway production began previews at the Circle in the Square Theatre in March 2015 and it was nominated for twelve Tony Awards, winning five, including Best Musical, and its cast album received a nomination for the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The production closed on September 10,2016, and a tour began in October 2016 that is booked until August 2017. Writer/artist Alison Bechdels book Fun Home, a memoir in comics format, was published in 2006 to critical acclaim and its subject is Alison Bechdels coming of age, with particular emphasis on her relationship to her father, Bruce Bechdel. Alisons coming out as a lesbian is complicated by the revelation that Bruce had also had homosexual relationships, four months after Alison comes out to her parents, Bruce is killed by an oncoming truck, although the evidence is equivocal, Alison concludes that he committed suicide. Bechdels book was adapted into a musical with book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, writing in Slate, June Thomas called the play the first mainstream musical about a young lesbian. The adaptation was developed over the course of five years and it was first workshopped at the Ojai Playwrights Conference in August 2009. A staged reading was performed at The Public Theater in 2011, the musical had another workshop as part of the Sundance Institutes Theater Lab in July 2012, featuring Raul Esparza. Following that it ran for three weeks as part of the Public Theaters Public Lab series in October and November 2012. On April 8,2013, musical selections from the play were performed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Judy Kuhn, David Hyde Pierce, a final Public Theater workshop was held in May 2013. The musicals development process entailed extensive changes and rewrites, Beth Malone said that the original workshop script doesnt resemble this current play at all. Revisions continued through the period of the Off-Broadway production, requiring the actors to perform new material every night. Fun Home premiered Off-Broadway at The Public Theater in previews on September 30,2013, originally scheduled to run through November 3,2013, the run was extended several times, and the musical closed on January 12,2014. The production was directed by Sam Gold, with sets and costumes by David Zinn, lighting by Ben Stanton, projections by Jim Findlay and Jeff Sugg, Bechdel, Kron, Tesori and musical director Chris Fenwick accompanied the cast. The musical began previews at Broadways Circle in the Square Theatre on March 27,2015, Gold directed the show on Broadway, with the same production team as the Off-Broadway production, including Zinn, Mefford and Stanton
Fun Home (musical)
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Original Broadway Playbill
