History of Broadway Theatre

Name
Instructor
Course
Date
History of Broadway Theatre
Outline
The Understanding and Beginnings of Broadway Theatre.
The Impact of Depression on Broadway Theatre.
Historical Landmarks in Broadway Theatre and Current Status.
Essay
Broadway Theatre, otherwise simply referred to as Broadway is a collection of at least 40 theatres and their performances in New York City’s Midtown Manhattan. The location of these theatres is normally referred to as the Theatre District. The foundation of the Broadway Theatre can be traced back to the year 1750 when Walter Murray and Thomas Kean opened a new theatre company on the famous Nassau Street (Stempel 126). In particular, this inaugural theatre had a capacity of 280 patrons. It later became the stage where ballad operas and Shakespearian plays were presented (Stempel 128). Since then, Broadway Theatre has grown to the level of at least 500 or more seats for each of the 40 plus individual theatres.
However, like any other enterprise, the Broadway Theatre suffered just before and during the Depression period. At the time, most Americans were literally unable to go to the theatre, and this meant that some theatres had to close shop as actors were rendered jobless. Some of them resorted to moving to Hollywood as a new career path (Bordman and Norton 63). By 1943 when World War II and the associated impacts of the Depression were still ongoing, African-Americans paradoxically gained prominence in Broadway Theatre. Some of the notable productions that put them on the spotlight were Oklahoma! And Porgy & Bess.

In fact, this is deemed as the Golden Age of the Broadway theatre.
The last, but also significant, are the landmarks that tell the history of the Broadway theatre. The oldest surviving and continuously operating theatre are the Lyceum Theatre, which has been in existence since 1903 and staged The Proud Prince (Bordman and Norton 147). The other landmark is The New Amsterdam Theatre, which fell a victim of the Depression in 1936 (Stempel 151). Presently, the longest running drama on Broadway is The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd. It began previews in 1988 and ever since it has surpassed 10,000 performances (Bordman and Norton 153).
Works Cited
Bordman, Gerald, and Norton, Richard C. American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.
Stempel, Larry. Showtime: A History of the Broadway Musical Theater. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2010. Print.