Download Off Broadway


Zhao Ping
Lei Jie
Li Liping
He Xiujuan
Brief introduction
 Broadway
is a street in Manhattan, New
York. The street across the island of
Manhattan from the south to north.
 There are a lot of theaters at both sides
of the street, so it is the most important
cradle（发源地） of drama and musical
in the United States. That’s why
Broadway became a synonym（代名词）
of musical.
Broadway history





Broadway was originally the Wickquasgeck Trail.
Upon the arrival of Dutch, they name the road
“Heerestraat”
In the 18th century, Broadway ended at the town
commons north of wall street.
In the late 19th century, the widened part of
Bloomingdale Road north of Columbus Circle
was called “the Boulevard”
At the end of the century, the whole old road
was renamed Broadway
stages:
1. The First theater: Park Theater,1810
The second theater: the Broadway,1820
Style : Victorian style
2. Rapidly developed: since 1920, after
the World War I
Peak time: the late 1920s, in 1925, up
to 80
Stagnate: early 1930, economic crisis
3. Now: synonym of theaters
Features of Broadway performances
shows: musical and opera
consistent style: black tone,
exaggerated,
humor, funny, natural
features: easy to understand
full of entertainment
strong commercial
colors
Off Broadway

Off Broadway means the drama
activities besides New York
commercial theatre center . And
most were performed in the theatre
of 41st street and 56th street or in
some old hired halls and
basements



To make theatrical
experiments in low cost ,
and provide performance
chances for the theatre
workers who were not be
appreciated.
Since 1950s, there were
some attractive dramas
preformed in Off Broadway,
developed a batch of new
theatre workers .
Its influence and scale
became more wide
gradually.
The development
• From geography , Off Broadway have been exceeded
the birth land, and spread all over New York.
• From the list of dramas, it not only performed the
typical drama of Shakespeare , Chekhov and Ibsen
and so on , at the same time ,it also preformed
modern serious drama , musical drama ,and comedies.
• From the performance purposes , some new actors
performed for their talent, some theatre works
couldn’t be performed in Broadway ,some for
commercial benefits and so on.
• In 1960s , Off Broadway reached its heyday(全盛期).
After 1960s ,the drama in Off Broadway
became more commercial , and less
artistry ;more cost ,and less drama lists .
Many new writers and opera troupes
performed again on the remote
cocklofts ,cellars ,bars , churches in very
low cost .
This phenomenon called “Off-Off
Broadway”
Famous musicals in Broadway
1982.10 to 2000.6
Famous people
Many Hollywood stars are coming out from the
Broadway stage. One example is Julie Andrews,
she was found by director because she was the
actress in the musical "The Sound of Music”.
Then she changed direction to the screen and
became the American screen idols in 1960s.
Julie Andrews
The Influence of Broadway

"Broadway," the meaning of the word today is not
just focused on this street or the theater; people
use the word to refer to the essence of American
drama. So an actor’s name appearing in a
Broadway Theater is the symbol of real success.

Today, Broadway musical has become one of the
pillars (支柱)in New York’s cultural industry.

Watching a Broadway musical is an indispensable
thing to every tourist who comes to New York.