| Broadway as a symbol | | | | Fifth Avenue at W. 23rd Street. The Flatiron |
| | | | Building now occupies the site. By midway |
| Broadway is the street in New York that has | | | | through the following decade, the street |
| come to symbolize live theater entertainment | | | | blazed with electric signs as each theater |
| and musicals throughout the world. Today the | | | | announced its shows and stars in white |
| area, known to tourists and theater-goers, | | | | lights. By the turn of the 20th Century the |
| stretches from W.41st Street, where the | | | | street had an entirely different look, with |
| Netherlander Theater is located, up to W. | | | | as many as sixteen theaters on Broadway |
| 53rd Street's Broadway Theater. Only four | | | | itself and many others located on the side |
| theaters are located physically on Broadway, | | | | streets or other avenues. Broadway was much |
| the Marquis at 46th Street, the Palace at | | | | more than a mere twelve blocks. It started at |
| 47th Street, the Winter Garden at 50th Street | | | | 13th Street and wound its way a mile and a |
| and the Broadway at 53rd. All the other | | | | half up the Avenue to 45th Street, ending in |
| legitimate houses are located east or west of | | | | the heart of Long acre Square. This first |
| this twelve block stretch. | | | | decade of the century also saw the |
| | | | construction of many theaters, most notably |
| Broadway Stars. | | | | the New Amsterdam on 42nd Street in 1903, |
| | | | along with four others in that same year, |
| By the 1830's America was exporting stars to | | | | that are still standing today. |
| Europe. The first notable American actor to | | | | |
| make a successful tour was Edwin Forrest, who | | | | Our Broadway. |
| at nineteen, had played Iago to Edmond Kean's | | | | |
| Othello. Forrest's second tour of Great | | | | The first decade of the 20th Century was both |
| Britain, in the following decade didn't fare | | | | boring and transformational in the history of |
| as well. He was hissed off stage. Though the | | | | our Broadway Musicals. The seeds of that |
| disruption of his tour was a personal feud | | | | transformation go back to 1882, and the |
| with a British actor, its results were well | | | | construction of The Madison Square Theater at |
| publicized in the American Press and his | | | | 24th Street. The Mallory?s, who had built the |
| return to the American stage was received | | | | theater, had employed a young actor-manager |
| with populist fervor. This "personal feud" | | | | from San Francisco along with two brothers |
| became an international incident and | | | | from the lower Eastside to help manage the |
| demonstration of class struggle in 1849, when | | | | theater. David Belasco, who had the |
| the British actor in question was scheduled | | | | distinction of appearing on stage with |
| to perform at the Astor Place Opera House in | | | | another unknown child, Maude Adams, in San |
| New York. A riot ensued on the night of May | | | | Francisco in 1877, was soon to become a |
| 10th which was put down with troops and | | | | playwright, theater owner and builder. The |
| cannon. | | | | two brothers from the lower Eastside were, of |
| | | | course, Charles and Daniel Frohman. The first |
| Broadways first marquis. | | | | sign of the transformation occurred when |
| | | | producer Rudolf Aronson decided to build a |
| In 1891, the first electric marquis was lit | | | | theatre of his own. At the time, theatres |
| on Broadway. The theater was on Madison | | | | were concentrated between Union Square and |
| Square at the intersection of Broadway and | | | | 24th Street. |