Broadway

Broadway is the longest street in New York City which is the setting for some of the best theatrical productions in the world. Broadway runs through downtown Manhattan connecting Manhattan with the Bronx. The term the “Great White Way” is often used and refers to the 36 theaters that are between West 41st and 53rd streets in New York City. Theatres on Broadway date back as far as the early 1800s. Broadway has become a symbol for theater entertainment and theater culture throughout the world. Broadway is a huge part of tourism in New York and brings in tons of gross profit to the theater community. In the 2008-2009 season there were 12.15 million tickets sold which led to a $943 million gross profit. Every year awards are given out for Broadway shows. These awards are called the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, named after the co founder of the American Theatre Wing, but most people know them as the Tony Awards. The Tony Awards are considered the most prestigious award in theater and can be compared to the Academy Awards for motion pictures. There are 26 different award categories, some of which include best play, best musical, best performance by leading actor in a play as well as three different special categories which are regional theatre tony award, special tony award, and tony honors for excellence in theatre award.

There are many exciting Broadway production going on right now. Some of the hottest shows right now include Wicked, The Addams Family, Chicago, Memphis, Promises Promises, Million Dollar Quartet, Come Fly Away, The Lion King, Avenue Q, and Blue Man Group. After looking online for only a few minutes I realized how easy it is to purchase tickets to any of these shows. There are a variety of websites selling them including www.broadway.com. Although I have never seen a Broadway production yet, I would love to. I am interested in some of the plays that were originally movies which would give me an idea of what the play would be about and have something to compare it to. I am also interested in seeing how well they are able to adapt a movie into a play. Plays like Wicked, Spiderman- Turn off the dark, and The Lion King are some that are in that category. I think that The Lion King would be one that I am most interested in because I think it would be especially tough to bring animated animal characters to life with actors on stage and I am interested in seeing how well they pull it off. The director and costume designer of The Lion King is Julie Taymor, along with set designer Richard Hudson, lighting designer Donald Holder, sound designer Tony Meola, and choreographer Garth Fagan. These members of the team along with the writers of the book Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi, lyrics by Tim Rice, and music by Elton John, help bring the whole performance together.

The Phantom of the Opera was originally a book written by a French writer by the name of Gaston Leroux but didn’t see any success until it was adapted into a play and is now the longest running show on Broadway history which premiered on January 9, 1988 and is still running to this day. The play has been shown an impressive 9,251 times. The second longest running show on Broadway was Cats which premiered on September 23, 1982 and closed September 10, 2000 with an impressive 7,485 showings. Although these two have been running the longest they don’t hold the title for the most awards received. That title goes to the musical The Producers which won 12 awards including best musical.