Broadway

Read and translate the text. Be ready to discuss the questions after the text.

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Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 large professional theatres with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan, New York City. Along with London's West End theatre, Broadway theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world.

The Broadway Theatre district is a popular tourist attraction in New York City, New York. According to The Broadway League, Broadway shows sold approximately $1.037 billion worth of tickets in calendar year 2010, compared to $1.004 billion for 2009.

Tony Awards. Broadway productions and artists are honored every June when the Antoinette Perry Awards (Tony Awards) are awarded by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League. The Tony is Broadway's most prestigious award, even compared to the Academy Awards for Hollywood productions. Their importance has increased since the annual broadcast on television began. In a strategy to improve the television ratings, celebrities are often chosen to host the show, some with little or no connection to the theatre. To be eligible for a Tony, a production must be in a house with 500 seats or more and in the Theatre District, which criteria define Broadway theatre.

Schedule. Although there are now more exceptions than there once were, generally shows with open-ended runs operate on the same schedule, with evening performances Tuesday through Saturday with an 8pm or 7pm "curtain" and afternoon "matinée" performances on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday; typically at 2pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays and 3pm on Sundays, making a standard eight performance week. On this schedule, shows do not play on Monday, and the shows and theatres are said to be "dark" on that day. Actors and the crew in these shows tend to regard Sunday evening through Tuesday evening as their "weekend". The Tony award presentation ceremony is usually held on a Sunday evening in June to fit into this schedule.

In recent years, many shows have moved their Tuesday show time an hour earlier to 7 pm. The rationale for the move was that fewer tourists took in shows midweek, so the Tuesday crowd in particular depends on local audience members. The earlier curtain therefore allows suburban patrons time after a show to get home by a reasonable hour. Some shows, especially those produced by Disney, change their performance schedules fairly frequently, depending on the season, in order to maximize access to their targeted audience

Personnel. Both musicals and stage plays on Broadway often rely on casting well-known performers in leading roles to draw larger audiences or bring in new audience members to the theatre. Actors from movies and television are frequently cast for the revivals of Broadway shows or are used to replace actors leaving a cast. There are still, however, performers who are primarily stage actors, spending most of their time "on the boards", and appearing in television and in screen roles only secondarily. In the past, stage actors had a somewhat superior attitude towards other kinds of live performances, such as vaudeville and burlesque, which were felt to be tawdry, commercial and lowbrow—they considered their own craft to be a higher and more artistic calling. This attitude is reflected in the term used to describe their form of stage performance: " legitimate theatre ". (The abbreviated form " legit " is still used for live theatre by the entertainment industry newspaper Variety as part of its unique "slanguage.") This rather condescending attitude also carried over to performers who worked in radio, film and television instead of in " the theatre ", but this attitude is much less prevalent now, especially since film and television work pay much better than almost all theatrical acting, even Broadway. The split between "legit" theatre and "variety" performances still exists, however, in the structure of the actors' unions: Actors' Equity represents actors in the legitimate theatre, and the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA) represents them in performances without a " book " or through-storyline—although it is very rare for Broadway actors not to work under an Equity contract, since most plays and musicals come under that union's jurisdiction.

Almost all of the people involved with a Broadway show at every level are represented by unions or other protective, professional or trade organization. The actors, dancers, singers, chorus members and stage managers are members of Actors' Equity Association (AEA), musicians are represented by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), and stagehands, dressers, hairdressers, designers, box office personnel and ushers all belong to various locals of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes, also known as "the IA" or "IATSE" (pronounced "eye-ot-zee"). Directors and choreographers belong to the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), playwrights to the Dramatists Guild, and house managers, company managers and press agents belong to the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers (ATPAM). Casting directors (who tried in 2002-2004 to become part of ATPAM) is the last major components of Broadway's human infrastructure who are not unionized. (General managers, who run the business affairs of a show, and are frequently producers as well, are management and not labor.)

The minimum size of the Broadway orchestra is governed by an agreement with the musicians union and the League of American Theatres and Producers. For example, the agreement specifies the minimum size of the orchestra at the Minskoff Theatre to be 18, at the Music Box Theatre to be 9.

Runs. Most Broadway shows are commercial productions intended to make a profit for the producers and investors ("backers" or "angels"), and therefore have open-ended runs (duration that the production plays), meaning that the length of their presentation is not set beforehand, but depends on critical response, word of mouth, and the effectiveness of the show's advertising, all of which determine ticket sales. Investing in a commercial production carries a varied degree of financial risk. Shows do not necessarily have to make a profit immediately. If they are making their "nut" (weekly operating expenses), or are losing money at a rate which the producers consider acceptable, they may continue to run in the expectation that, eventually, they will pay back their initial costs and become profitable. In some borderline situations, producers may ask that royalties be temporarily reduced or waived, or even that performers — with the permission of their unions — take reduced salaries, in order to prevent a show from closing. Theatre owners, who are not generally profit participants in most productions, may waive or reduce rents, or even lend a show money in order to keep it running. (In one case, a theatre owner lent a floundering show money to stay open, even though the production had to move to another owner's theatre because of a previous booking at the original house.)

Some Broadway shows are produced by non-commercial organizations as part of a regular subscription season—Lincoln Center Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, and Manhattan Theatre Club are the three non-profit theatre companies that currently have permanent Broadway venues. Historically, musicals on Broadway tend to have longer runs than "straight" (i.e. non-musical) plays. On January 9, 2006, The Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theatre became the longest running Broadway musical, with 7,486 performances, overtaking Cats

After (or even during) successful runs in Broadway theatres, producers often remount their productions with a new cast and crew for the Broadway national tour, which travels to theaters in major cities across the country—the bigger and more successful shows may have several of these touring companies out at a time, some of them "sitting down" in other cities for their own long runs. Smaller cities are eventually serviced by "bus and truck" tours, so-called because the cast generally travels by bus (instead of by air) and the sets and equipment by truck. Tours of this type, which frequently feature a reduced physical production to accommodate smaller venues and tighter schedules, often play "split weeks" (half a week in one town and the second half in another) or "one-nighters", whereas the larger tours will generally play for one or two weeks per city at a minimum.

1. How many professional theatres belong to Broadway?

2. Which criteria define Broadway theatre?

3. How can an actor receive Tony Award?

4. What is a typical weekly theatre schedule?

5. What is an open-ended run?

6. Are Broadway shows produced by non-commercial organizations?

7. What is a “bus and truck” tour?

8. What are the longest running Broadway musicals?

9. What is the minimum size of the Broadway orchestra?

10. Decode and explain the abbreviations AGVA, AEA, AFM, IATSE, SDC, ATPAM.

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