In New York , we have a great tangle of wide avenues that pulsate the life of this city, which is considered one of the most imposing metropolises in the world. However, among so many broadways (“wide avenues”, in Portuguese), we cannot forget the one that is known as “the” Broadway , Manhattan Street Avenue , which today houses one of the most famous centers of theatrical entertainment on the planet.
What is Broadway?
Stuck in the heart of Times Square , Broadway brings together a group of thirty-nine great professional theaters that spread between 42nd and 53rd streets, which cross Manhattan Street. More than a tourist spot, the place has established one of the most watched and profitable theatrical genres. Initially, the theaters there had to face some mishaps. In the early decades of the 20th century, the popularization of talkies and the crisis of 1929 imposed a shaky debut for their theaters.
First performances and "american way of life"
Actually, the first stagings took place between the 18th and 19th centuries, when the burlesque shows , the operas and the Shakespearian dramas commanded the stages. The first musical to gain space came from abroad, when a group of English artists performed “The Elves ”. In the year 1866, “The Black Crook ” had a sumptuous budget of 25 thousand dollars, a considerable amount for the time.
As we enter the 20th century properly, we observe that Broadway musical shows strongly dialogue with the “american way of life ”. In short, we can see that at this stage the musicals were made up of light and quite fun themes. The political-social theme only appeared on those stages after the Great Depression , when, in 1935, the opera “Porgy and Bess ” narrated the story of poor blacks who lived in the South of the United States.
Between the 1940s and 1950s, the overcoming of the economic crisis reinvigorated the support of these shows. In 1943, “Oklahoma! ” set the record for 2,000 performances of a gripping narrative exposing the love story between a cowboy and a young farm girl. “The Sound of Music ”, from 1959, reached movie screens around the world, arriving in Brazil with the immortal title of “A Noviça Rebelde ”.
Entertainment industry
In the following decades, Broadway began to transform itself into a true entertainment industry sought after by spectators from all over the world. In the 1980s, “Cats ” – piece inspired by poems by T.S. Eliot , and the “The Phantom of the Opera ” broke several box office records, won awards and were adapted for theater companies in several countries. Already at that time, the Tony Awards became the most coveted award for all the pieces that crammed those bustling avenues.
Currently, Broadway theaters organize themselves in the so-called “The Broadway League ”, where the owners of the houses manage the exhibition of their pieces in other parts of the world. In 2009, the Brazilian stages lived the expectation of hosting a version of the show “Hairspray ”. In the United States, the revival of “Hair ”, a great success of the controversial sixties, attracted a good share of the North American public.