Page 340 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - New York City

338  TR A VELERS ’ NEEDS

Theater and Dance

New York is famous for its extravagant musicals and its ferocious Performance Theaters
critics. It is one of the world’s greatest centers for theater and This extremely avant-garde art
dance, featuring every kind of production imaginable. Whether form can be found in several
your preference is for the glitz and glamor of a Broadway Off- and Off-Off-Broadway
locations. Accurate descriptions
blockbuster or something truly experimental, you’ll find it here. and categoriza tions are almost
impossible, but expect the
Broadway bizarre and outlandish. The
from the well-appointed to most likely venues to find this
The name Broadway has long the improvised, sited in lofts, are La MaMa Experimental
been synonymous with New churches, and even garages. Theatre Club, P.S. 122, HERE,
York’s Theater District, but the Off-Broadway became very Baruch Performing Arts Center,
major ity of Broadway theaters popular during the 1950s as a 92nd Street Y, Symphony
are actually scattered between reaction to the commercialism Space, and The Public Theater
41st and 53rd streets and from of Broadway. It was also an ideal (see p116). The latter is perhaps
Sixth to Ninth avenues, with a place for cautious producers to the most influential theater
few around the much-improved try out works considered too in New York. It was founded in
Times Square. Most were built avant-garde for Broadway at the 1950s by the late director
between 1910 and 1930, during lower operating costs. Since the Joseph Papp, who introduced
the heyday of vaudeville and mid-1990s, Off-Off-Broadway neighborhood tours to bring
the famous Ziegfeld Follies. The theaters have staged more theater to people who had
Lyceum (see p140) is the oldest experimental pieces by these never seen it before.
theater still in operation (1903), same producers. The Public Theater created
the American Airlines Theatre, Off-Broadway theaters are hits such as A Chorus Line and
permanent home of the found all over Manhattan, Hair; it is most famous for its
Roundabout Theater Co., is one such as Central Park’s open-air free summer perfor mances of
of the newest (1918). Delacorte Theater (see p202), Shakespeare at the Delacorte
Following a slump in the which opened in 1962. Some Theater in Central Park. It usually
1980s, many Broadway theatres are even in the Broadway has several produc tions
have enjoyed a revival by using district, such as the Manhattan running, and at 6pm on the day
big names to draw in the Theater Club. Farther afield of performan ce, rush standby
crowds. This is where you will are the Brooklyn Academy of (discounted) tickets (limited to
find the “power productions” – Music (BAM) (see p231), and the two per person) are sold in the
the big, highly publicized 92nd Street Y. In these venues Public Theater lobby.
dramas, musicals, and revivals you will find lively, unusual, and
starring Hollywood luminaries experimental showcases for Theater Schools
in (it is hoped) sure-fire earners. new talent as well as lots of
Hits have included imports such uninhibited productions. New York is the best place in the
as Les Misérables; New York The Off-Broadway theaters country to see actors learning
originals such as Hamilton; the mounted the first productions their trade. Foremost among
popular chil dren’s favorite in New York of the works of the acting schools is The Actors’
The Lion King; and great play wrights Eugène O’Neill, Studio. The late Lee Strasberg,
revivals including 42nd Street. Tennessee Williams, Eugene the advocate of method acting
There have also been glitzy Ionesco, Sean O’Casey, Jean – in which the actor aims for
adaptations from movies, such Genet, and David Mamet. Samuel complete iden tification with the
as Hairspray; shows celebra ting Beckett’s Happy Days premiered character being played – was
1960s and 1970s pop favorites, at the Cherry Lane Theatre in its guru. His students included
such as ABBA in Mamma Mia! 1961, a venue that still Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, and
and Monty Python’s Spamalot. promotes cutting-edge writing. Marilyn Monroe. “In progress”
Off-Broadway theaters also host productions feature trainees
Off-Broadway and modern and often irrev erent and are open to the public and
Off-Off-Broadway treatments of the classics. free. Sandy Meisner trained
Sometimes a more intimate, many actors, including the late
There are around 20 Off- smaller Off-Broadway stage suits Lee Remick, at the Neighbor-
Broadway stages and 300 Off- a production better than a larger hood Playhouse School of the
Off-Broadway stages, whose more established theater would, Theatre. Its plays are not open
productions will sometimes as proved by such long-running to the public. The New Drama-
transfer to Broadway. Off- successes as The Fantasticks tists began in 1949 to develop
Broadway theaters have from along with The Threepenny Opera, new playwrights, helping the
100 to 499 seats, and Off-Off- which shown at the Lucille careers of the likes of William
Broadway showplaces have Lortel Theatre between 1955 Inge. Play readings are open
fewer than 100. Both range and 1961. to the public and free.

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