Drama on the Great White Way

Broadway, New York. PICTURE / GETTY IMAGES

The Great White Way is a nickname for a section of Broadway in the Midtown section of New York City and primarily refers to the area from 42nd and 53rd streets which encompass the Theatre District.

It is nearly a mile long with theatre both on Broadway and off to the left and right on the various streets north of Times Square. Broadway was illuminated in 1880 by Brush arc lamps, making it among the first electrically lighted streets in the US.

The headline, "Found on the Great White Way" appeared in the New York Evening Telegram in 1902, inspired by the millions of lights on theatre marquees and bill board advertisements that illuminate the area.
And today it is still a dazzling array of flashing marquee signs, of advertisements and the base for the tens of thousands of visitors who throng into Times Square every hour of every day.

Broadway and Off-Broadway (the 'off' is based on theatre size) has dozens of shows performing nightly — dramas, plays, revues and musicals — and if not sold out at a venue, there is a half-price booth where the remaining tickets for that day's matinees or evening shows are available.

Many of the theatres reflect in their names the rich history of Broadway — Schubert, Gershwin, Neil Simon, and Richard Rodgers — while others have names that you might find anywhere — Majestic, Amsterdam, and Marquis — but what's in a name?
Very little as impresarios try to find an appropriate space for the "latest" production or for a revival such as Carousel. Even with the myriads of theatres that seem to be available space is hard to find.

And what do you want to see? All the rage at the moment is the rap-musical Hamilton — booked out through this year with tickets available only through re-sale sites and starting at $599 to $1468!
A rather expensive night's entertainment.

But other shows are available and they include new productions such as Frozen, and Escape to Margaritaville, while others continue runs that have been going for years such as The Lion King, Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera and Chicago.

Today's shows use various gimmicks to bring in the audiences. It might be a "star" such as Katharine McPhee (Waitress), Bernadette Peters (Hello Dolly), or Joshua Jackson (Children of a Lesser God), while the "put-a-song-list-together" with a story line is found in such shows as Beautiful: The Carol King Musical or Summer: The Donna Summer Musical and Jimmy Buffett's Escape to Margaritaville.

And then there's the "take a movie and put it to music" approach. Opening in the late summer on Broadway will be Pretty Woman — based on the successful Julia Roberts and Richard Gere movie.

Still a dominant Broadway force is Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber who has his Phantom and School of Rock musicals showing while on Easter Sunday his Jesus Christ Superstar was performed live on the NBC network and featured John Legend in the lead and Alice Cooper as Herod.

Broadway — the magic of the theatre is enshrined in its name and magic is there every night in all of the theatres in and around the Great White Way.