Broadway theatre

Coordinates: 40°45′21″N 73°59′11″W / 40.75583°N 73.98639°W / 40.75583; -73.98639

Broadway theatre, commonly known as Broadway, refers to the theatrical performances presented in the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theater District and Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Manhattan, New York City. Along with London's West End theatres, Broadway theatres are widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world.

The Theater District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City. According to The Broadway League, Broadway shows sold a record US$1.36 billion worth of tickets in 2014, an increase of 14% over the previous year. Attendance in 2014 stood at 13.13 million, a 13% increase over 2013.

The great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. Historian Martin Shefter argues, "'Broadway musicals,' culminating in the productions of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, became enormously influential forms of American popular culture" and helped make New York City the cultural capital of the nation.

Tony Award

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known informally as the Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre. Several discretionary non-competitive awards are also given, including a Special Tony Award, the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, and the Isabelle Stevenson Award. The awards are named after Antoinette Perry, co-founder of the American Theatre Wing.

The rules for the Tony Awards are set forth in the official document "Rules and Regulations of The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards", which applies for that season only. The Tony Awards are considered the highest U.S. theatre honor, the New York theatre industry's equivalent to the Academy Awards (Oscars) for motion pictures, the Grammy Awards for music and the Emmy Awards for television, and the Laurence Olivier Award for theatre in the United Kingdom and the Molière Award of France.

67th Tony Awards

The 67th Annual Tony Awards were held June 9, 2013, to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2012–13 season. The ceremony returned to Radio City Music Hall in New York City, after two years at Beacon Theatre, and was broadcast live on CBS television.Neil Patrick Harris hosted for the third consecutive year, his fourth time as host. Awards in four of the eight acting categories, (Best Actress in a Play, Best Actor in a Musical, Best Actress in a Musical, Best Featured Actor in a Play) were given to African-American performers. Furthermore, it is the second time in Tony history that both directing prizes went to women. Garry Hynes and Julie Taymor had previously won in 1998. Kinky Boots had a season best 13 nominations and 6 awards.Cyndi Lauper, who wrote the score for Kinky Boots, is the first solo female winner for Best Original Score.

Eligibility

Shows that opened on Broadway during the 2012–13 season before April 25, 2013 were eligible for consideration.

Broadway

Broadway may refer to:

Theatres

Streets

In North America

In New York City

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals.

Although music has been a part of dramatic presentations since ancient times, modern Western musical theatre emerged during the 19th century, with many structural elements established by the works of Gilbert and Sullivan in Britain and those of Harrigan and Hart in America. These were followed by the numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the musical theatre works of American creators like George M. Cohan. The Princess Theatre musicals and other smart shows like Of Thee I Sing (1931) were artistic steps forward beyond revues and other frothy entertainments of the early 20th century and led to such groundbreaking works as Show Boat (1927) and Oklahoma! (1943). Some of the most famous and iconic musicals through the decades that followed include West Side Story (1957), The Fantasticks (1960), Hair (1967), A Chorus Line (1975), Les Misérables (1985), The Phantom of the Opera (1986), Rent (1996), The Producers (2001) and Wicked (2003).