Broadway consists of the 40 professional theaters scattered across New York City’s Theatre District, including the Ambassador, Imperial, Majestic, and Shubert Theatres, among others. Collectively, the theaters are quoted to bring in over $900 million dollars a year. Theatre in New York got its foot-hold during the mid-to-late 1700s, at which time The Park, The Bowery, and The Astor Place Theatres were established. Originally focusing on the works of Shakespeare, Broadway moved in the musical direction during the mid-1800s with productions of “The Black Crook,” and the Gilbert and Sullivan “H.M.S. Pinafore,” among others. Actors on Broadway make a big distinction between their profession on what they call the “legitimate stage,” and other more variety oriented acts like vaudeville and burlesque.

Current masterpieces to hit Broadway for the 2009-2010 season include “Chicago,” “South Pacific,” “Wicked,” “Hair,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “The Lion King,” and “Jersey Boys,” to name a few.

Broadway Ticket Sales Report Week Ending November 11, 2007 By Carol-Ann Rudy With no end to The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees’ (IATSE) strike in sight, last week’s prediction in this column of a glittering holiday theater season seems thoroughly tarnished. The strike by the stagehands’ Local One... Read more
Duran Duran fans with tickets to see any one of the band’s last three Broadway shows (originally scheduled for Nov. 10, 12 or 13), can now see the band perform at the Roseland Ballroom, just a few blocks from the original location tonight, Nov. 13. Tickets for last night’s... Read more
Several Shows Affected By Walkout By Carol-Ann Rudy Along the Great White Way on Saturday, most theaters were plunged into darkness as the stagehands’ union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), chose this past weekend to go on strike. Picketing stagehands marched in front of twenty-eight theaters... Read more
By Carol-Ann Rudy The face of the theatergoer on Broadway is changing: more and more, it’s an African-American face, a Latino face, or an Asian face. Breaking it down, although audiences consist mainly of Caucasians, 26% of patrons were non-Caucasian, the highest ever, representing 3.18 million tickets sold of... Read more
Broadway Ticket Sales Report Week ending October 30, 2007 By Carol-Ann Rudy Following a record-breaking run in London, the new play by Tom Stoppard Rock ‘N’ Roll launched preview performances on Oct. 19 at the Jacobs Theatre. It promises to receive the same acclaim on Broadway with original London... Read more
Broadway Ticket Sales Report Week ending October 23, 2007 By Carol-Ann Rudy The wildfires currently raging in California may have prompted the cancellation of the Oct. 23 performance in San Diego of the national tour of Jersey Boys, but the show again grabbed second place in the Broadway sales... Read more
By Carol-Ann Rudy In a unanimous vote yesterday, Oct. 21, members of Local 1 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) authorized their union to call a future strike against the League of American Theaters and producers. Most theaters will be affected, as the League represents 22... Read more
By Jane Cohen and Bob Grossweiner Broadway is getting closer to going dark with contract talks at an impasse between stagehands union Local 1 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and The League of American Theaters and Producers, which represents Jujamcyn and Shubert theater owners, who... Read more
Broadway Ticket Sales Report Week ending October 7, 2007 By Carol-Ann Rudy Mauritius by playwright Theresa Rebeck opened Oct. 4 at the Biltmore Theatre, and while it took the Pulitzer Prize finalist ten tries to get to Broadway, with this play she proves she belongs there. This production, which... Read more
By Carol-Ann Rudy While Chicago has been an 11-year-long hit, one of the longest-running musical revivals on Broadway besides Oh! Calcutta!, the criminally fun production is about to land a couple of “mobsters.” On Nov. 19, two actors from the Emmy award-winning HBO hit, The Sopranos, Aida Turturro and... Read more