Broadway Musicals History (Early)

Broadway as a symbol

Broadway is the street in New York that has come to symbolize live theater entertainment and musicals throughout the world. Today the area, known to tourists and theater-goers, stretches from W.41st Street, where the Netherlander Theater is located, up to W. 53rd Street's Broadway Theater. Only four theaters are located physically on Broadway, the Marquis at 46th Street, the Palace at 47th Street, the Winter Garden at 50th Street and the Broadway at 53rd. All the other legitimate houses are located east or west of this twelve block stretch.

Broadway Stars.

By the 1830's America was exporting stars to Europe. The first notable American actor to make a successful tour was Edwin Forrest, who at nineteen, had played Iago to Edmond Kean's Othello. Forrest's second tour of Great Britain, in the following decade didn't fare as well. He was hissed off stage. Though the disruption of his tour was a personal feud with a British actor, its results were well publicized in the American Press and his return to the American stage was received with populist fervor. This "personal feud" became an international incident and demonstration of class struggle in 1849, when the British actor in question was scheduled to perform at the Astor Place Opera House in New York. A riot ensued on the night of May 10th which was put down with troops and cannon.

Broadways first marquis.

In 1891, the first electric marquis was lit on Broadway. The theater was on Madison Square at the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue at W. 23rd Street. The Flatiron Building now occupies the site. By midway through the following decade, the street blazed with electric signs as each theater announced its shows and stars in white lights. By the turn of the 20th Century the street had an entirely different look, with as many as sixteen theaters on Broadway itself and many others located on the side streets or other avenues. Broadway was much more than a mere twelve blocks. It started at 13th Street and wound its way a mile and a half up the Avenue to 45th Street, ending in the heart of Long acre Square. This first decade of the century also saw the construction of many theaters, most notably the New Amsterdam on 42nd Street in 1903, along with four others in that same year, that are still standing today.

Our Broadway.

The first decade of the 20th Century was both boring and transformational in the history of our Broadway Musicals. The seeds of that transformation go back to 1882, and the construction of The Madison Square Theater at 24th Street. The Mallory’s, who had built the theater, had employed a young actor-manager from San Francisco along with two brothers from the lower Eastside to help manage the theater. David Belasco, who had the distinction of appearing on stage with another unknown child, Maude Adams, in San Francisco in 1877, was soon to become a playwright, theater owner and builder. The two brothers from the lower Eastside were, of course, Charles and Daniel Frohman. The first sign of the transformation occurred when producer Rudolf Aronson decided to build a theatre of his own. At the time, theatres were concentrated between Union Square and 24th Street.

Musicals On DVD

How many of you have gone to a concert and paid well over 100 dollars for a ticket? If you like a certain group you will have to pay well over a hundred dollars to go see them in concert. I love music and can't afford to go to a concert so when I found out that I could watch a concert on a DVD I was very happy.

I caught the middle of am eagles concert on television one night. I love the eagles and I wanted to see the whole concert so I first looked on eBay for the concert on a DVD. The cheapest one I found was over 20.00 then there were shipping charges.

I know this probally doesn't seem like a lot of money to most of you but my husband and I are on disability so we don't have a lot of extra money to spend being on a fixed income. I always knew that you could go to Wal-mart and buy a movie on a DVD but I never thought they would have the eagles concert on a DVD. Well I was shopping one day and went to the musical section and found that same concert on TV on a DVD. It cost me only 11.00

I got home and was so excited to find out I could watch the eagles farewell concert on the DVD. I really liked a certain song of the Eagles and I missed the song when they were on television but now I had the DVD and it had all of the concert and extra bonus tracks on it. I don't have to worry about a commercial and I can skip through any part I want.

I have also seen a repeat of the eagles concert on television and it didn't have half as much on television as it did on the DVD. When I bought the eagles in concert I also got a booklet with the DVD that talked bout each member of the eagles band. These DVDs are absolutely wonderful. I can enjoy the comfort of my own home watching my concert rather then paying a lot of money going to the concert.

The time you have to try and get through the crowd of people and have to pay money for souvenirs and the cost of the tickets it is so much nicer to save money and feel comfortable in the privacy of your own home watching a DVD. I know a family member that spent about 500.00 for just 3 members of the family to see a concert live. I also know it was very hard to understand what they were singing because of all of the noise and the microphone.

I sure didn't have any problems with the sound or picture watching my eagles concert on my DVD. So if you like a certain group look for a concert of theirs on a DVD rather then going to a concert. It will save you a lot of money and a lot of headache. I also want to mention there are musical DVDs available and the money you spend buying the DVD goes for a good cause. I have the We are the world DVD and all the money people paid to buy the DVD went for a very good cause.