New York City Broadway Tickets

The crème de la crème of theatre in the cultural capital of the world…? It can only be Broadway! Broadway consists of 41 professional theatre venues located in the Theater District and the Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

The plays, musicals, concerts, and special events that take place on Broadway are considered the best entertainment of its kind the world over! Many shows go on to have a life beyond the stage, inspiring adaptations for television, film, music, and more. Broadway shapes the world’s artistic culture and entertains millions, year on year!

NYC Broadway History

From its Golden Age in the 1940s right up until today, Broadway has long been at the beating heart of New York City and is famed the world over! When Rogers and Hammerstein premiered Oklahoma! in 1943, it became the first blockbuster musical, running for a total of 2,212 performances. The 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s brought us iconic shows that stand the test of time even now like Guys and Dolls, My Fair Lady, The Music Man, and West Side Story to name a few! 1967’s Hair ushered in a new era, introducing the rock musical to Broadway and influencing others in its stead including  Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, and The Rocky Horror Show.

In 2006, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera surpassed Cats to become the longest-running musical on Broadway. On February 11, 2012, it became the first Broadway musical to ever surpass 10,000 performances and by November of 2016, the musical had been performed over 12,000 times in 28 years. The show is scheduled to close on February 18, 2023, soon after celebrating its 35th anniversary.

The Theatre on Nassau Street, New York City’s first purpose-built theatre in Manhattan, was erected in 1750 and presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas. Throughout the 1800s, theatres began to spring up around New York, with night spots presenting a variety of musical and non-musical entertainment. In 1849, a riot took place at the Astor Opera House, where lower-class patrons who frequented the Bowery Theatre accused the upper-class patrons of the Astor Opera House of snobbery. From that moment, entertainment in New York City became unofficially segregated by class. Opera was mostly patronized by the upper-middle and upper classes, minstrel shows and melodramas were for the middle-class, and the lower-middle class and working men would visit concert saloons to enjoy variety shows.

In 1855, the first long-run musical, The Elves, was staged on Broadway, running for 50 shows. However, it is 1866’s The Black Crook that set the stage for the musicals of today, running at 5 ½ hours long and for 474 performances. Over the years, vaudeville came to Broadway and with it, in Harrigan and Hart’s, came highly-talented singers, taking musical theatre to the next level. When Gilbert and Sullivan brought their family-friendly comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore to Broadway in 1878, they spawned several imitations, which brought the art form even closer to the musicals we know and love today.