What Is The Evolution Of New York Theatre

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.

Keith Albee Theater was opened on May 8, 1928. Early audiences came to the theater for both live performances, as well as the movies of the day. (??)In 1937, the Keith-Albee stood flooded for weeks, as did most of the city of Huntington. The theatre was re-emerged in 1940s and again brought entertainment to the Tri-State area.

named after their cost and the Greek word for theater, soon spread across the country. These storefront theaters remained the prime outlet for movies among the lower and middle class. The upper class began to flock to more modern theaters called Picture Palaces. Picture Palaces reached their peaks in the 1920’s and died out when the Great Depression hit in the 1930’s. These theaters were much larger than most theaters today and offered a wide range of features such as, extravagant lobbies, neatly dressed ushers, and live music. During

The technological advances of the 19th century played a big role in theatre. Since America was having an Industrial Revolution, many people from the country moved to the expanding cities in the east (“Nineteenth Century Theatre”). This migration made the growth of theatres possible. Theatre seats, balconies, and the basic structural support were made of wood (“Nineteenth Century Theatre”). During the 19th century, theatre lights were “upgraded” three times, the theatre went from candle lighting, to gas lighting,

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

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

There were other amenities that were lacking for the theaters. Almost all the lighting for the theater was natural light. This meant that most plays would have to be show during the daytime. The theaters did not have heating either. In the winter months they would have to shut the theater down and be transferred to indoor playhouses. This actually helped boost popularity because it gave the people something to do during the cold winter months since it was inside. There were no microphones or soundboards to be able to hear so actors had to speak loudly and clearly. Unfortunately, there were also no toilets at the theater. “But there were no toilets and the floor they stood on was probably just sand, ash or covered in nutshells” (Shakespeare Globe Education). During the summer hours when it would become real hot the pit would be called the “stinkards.”

Movies were a major source of entertainment and most neighborhoods and their own movie house. However, the major theaters were the Allen, Loew 's State, Loew 's Stillman, and the Palace which were all located downtown, which is now called Playhouse Square.

Two great writers of American musical theatre, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, had one idea in common. They wanted to present to the American public a new and revolutionary musical that would stand out above the rest. They wanted to make an impact on the societies of the era. They wanted to be creative and do something that was considered rebellious. When they finally combined their ideas together they created an American masterpiece in musical theatre: Oklahoma!. It was the first Rodgers and Hammerstein collaboration, starting the most successful creative partnership in the history of American musical theatre.

Theater was used to express the meaning in a story, also to give the audience a live performance of their favorite musicals. There were many big hits known in theater. A story lined based Shakespeare story of Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story was just one of the many big hits. Also an old-fashioned musical comedy of The Music Man had sent audiences home for 1,375 performances. Theater also played a part in the golden age of television. Broadcasters in the early years needed to fill in programming, so networks turned to theater for plays. “Hollywood soon quickly wooed away the playwrights and actor (The American Dream, 138).” Soon after networks came to rely on videotape in 1957.

Theatre is an art that transcends time and builds a new world for the audience atop the stage. A play is defined as “a dramatic composition” or “the stage representation of an action or story” (The Merriam-Webster Dictionary). This refers to drama being performed live by actors on a stage. Ancient Greece is accredited to inventing theatre and drama. In Greece during that time, at the height of popularity, were the stories of the well known flawed heroes and their journeys.

With resounding consistency, every reference to The Theatrical Syndicate begins with the same anecdotal tale: “One day in 1896, six theatre businessmen met for lunch at the Holland House Hotel.” The gentlemen gathered that day where in a consensus about a few things, but the greatest of which being the state of the American theatre and its institutional need for centralization. (Mroczka) The aim of the following discussion is to contextualize this organization within American theatre history while illustrating the positive and negative impacts of The Theatrical Syndicate on the theatre community.

Greek theater can be considered to be one of the building blocks for our theater today. The advancements that the Greeks possessed in the early fifth century were the start of western theater. The Greeks were heavily involved with religion and religious festivals, comedies, tragedies, climatic drama, and took the outdoor amphitheater and made many improvements to its structure.