How Broadway Has Changed The Economy, Tourism, And Entertainment Industry

Most people fail to realize the importance of Broadway and all the history behind it. Did you know John Wilkes’ Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, brother played on Broadway? Or that Broadway wasn’t always in the same spot. Also, many famous actors today started out on Broadway before making it to Hollywood. Even some plays weren’t that famous until they were showed on Broadway. For example, The Phantom of the Opera, or Hamilton! Also, people also fail to realize that through many national tragedies, Broadway always found a way to show their support for their country. But honestly, how did it all start?

The very first theatre production credited with being the first Broadway musical impacted the theatre world in many ways. (The Black Crook, p.1) In the spring of 1866, the Academy of Music in New York City burned to the ground, leaving a troupe of Parisian ballerinas with nowhere to dance. (The Black Crook, p.1) William Wheatley, who was producing playwright Charles M. Barras’s melodrama The Black Crook, approached the dancers and offered them a spot in his show. (The Black Crook, p.1)

The theatre has been a part of entertainment since ancient Greece, around 4th century BC or thereabouts. The theatre grew out of festivals in honor of the god Dionysus. Aeschylus created the first play in her honor. The first Greek plays were all tragedies but eventually comedy made its way and these plays were performed at festivals all over Greece. Through the centuries theater played the main role of entertainment from noble and royalty to the common person in any city or village, and as we move into the twenties

Broadway was one of the first forms of entertainment. Before there were television programs, or movies, there was Broadway. Broadway originated in New York in 1750, when actor-manager Walter Murray built a theatre company at the Theatre on Nassau Street. A musical would show about once every weekend. The shows were very male based, and would commonly show a relationship between young boys and their fathers. Women were slowly integrated into Broadway, and as society changed its point of view on women, so did theatre.

Before vaudeville even got its name it was called variety shows in previous years. Variety shows had been around for a long time but as years progressed it became more diverse and had more acts included in it. Tony Pastor (known as the father of vaudeville) was one of the men credited for these variety shows. In 1881 Pastor established a variety theater in New York (“Vaudeville”). He had many different acts performed in his theaters, especially for family entertainment. He focused on very high standards of

Next, the performance at The Globe Theater help separate it’s self from the other theaters. “The plays at The Globe” article articulate, “As soon as a play had been written it was immediately produced and printed followed productions”(Alchin). Rival theaters would send out some of their workers to go to the plays to produce unauthorized copies, plays and they were copied quickly as possible. The fact that, other theaters copied The Globe Theater’s plays shows that the plays performed there had the other companies scared of losing their audience so they had to do something similar to The Globe Theater. It proves the plays performed were a huge success and very profitable. The plays and overall Theater had a tremendous influence on the people of England in several ways.

Theatre and Musical Theatre has been a form of entertainment since before North America was “discovered”. Broadway shows have been dated back to the early 1920’s and 1930’s. By 2016, over 25,000 tickets are sold to Broadway shows in a week. Thousands of people enjoy the shows that are featured on Broadway but have no idea the work and process that brought it to life. The process of getting a show on to Broadway can be broken down into three phases: pre-production, staging, and performance/promotion.

Art and theater were more popular than ever in the 1920s. Early modernism in art began at the turn of the century and continued through World War II. Modern styles of art included abstract expressionism, realism, and surrealism. The best museums featured shows by the important artists who used these styles. Broadway reached an all time peak. There were 276 plays offered in 1927 in New York City. (This is a lot compared to only 50-something in the 1970s.) Historians argue over exactly how many theaters there were. Some say eighty, some say seventy, but everyone agreed that Broadway was booming in the 1920s. After the war, the American population was moving more and more into the cities. In response to the many social changes in America, the new

In the 1920‘s they started experimenting with musical theater by taking popular vaudeville songs and connecting them into one story. When Showboat opened in December 1927, it was unlike anything Broadway had ever seen. Showboat featured dramatic themes and the first-ever completely integrated book and score.

best known. The Broadway Theatre district is a popular tourist attraction in New York City. You can

Although vaudeville seemed to be a long standing staple in our society, like all good things, it must come to an end. the decline and death of vaudeville appears certain, clear and inevitable. From the performers point of view, there was no perspective other than the "here and now" of their lives. Each day seemed to differ little from the previous, and speculation about the future was, as ever, informed by hear say and past experience. As an array of specialty acts, vaudeville was an enterprise without name that, over many years, could be found in the marketplaces of Asia and Europe. It eventually spread around the world to the farthest corners of Australia and Africa. Performers worked when and where they could, quite often in undesired locations. A certain cliché attached to performing in bed and breakfast's, saloons and public houses after their owners added stages and audience pits set apart from the tavern. It soon became quite taxing for performers to not only live the same shows everyday, but to move on and find other work after they were no longer needed in vaudeville shows. Still, this was not the only reason for the demise of vaudeville, although it played a large part. The largest contributing factor was the invention of the motion picture in the 1930's. There was no longer a need for people to be entertained by a comical, musical, circus style side show. Now they found a more intimate and fascinating way of enjoying a performance. The first

“Shrunken perhaps by the vicissitudes and exigencies of the times, Broadway presented itself admirably throughout the Thirties. It not only managed to preserve the best, but also nurtured and expanded them. At the brink of the new decade, Broadway stood smaller but brighter”

Today's effects of television on the theatre are big in good and bad ways. The good thing television can do for the theatre is advertise and show clips from the play. People also like to hear what other people think and there are shows on television that will do that. Television can also show the plays in full, which can be good and or bad. The way it could be good is seeing the play on television could make someone want to see it live, than again once someone sees it they may never want to see it again. Another thing that goes along with television is a VCR if someone wants to see something bad enough they can go rent it or tape it for every time they want to see it in the future. Now there are even channels that are dedicated to showing only stuff from the stage.

Imagine if it only cost you one penny to get tickets to a Broadway production. It would almost seem too good to be true! Well, back in the 1600s, in London, you could buy your way into a theater for as little as one penny. This price made it easy for anyone of any class to be able to partake in the festivities. Hence, the reason the theaters became so popular from 1562 to 1642. The theatres were very profitable based on the fact they were so popular in the community. The Elizabethan theatres were viewed as popular entertainment because of their fanciful attributes, their various events, and their several venues.

Over time, however, the theatre became a popular source of entertainment. Audiences liked the theatre because they all had money to watch it. The poorer people paid only 1 penny to watch it at the price of standing in the dirt with no seats, and richer people paid more for better seats. They also enjoyed it as it was a place to escape the work and it was so strict as they could throw things at the witches.