Broadway Theatre (commonly known simply as Broadway) refers to the theatrical performances presented in the 41 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District and Lincoln Center along Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Along with West End Theatre located in London, UK, it is considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre of the English-speaking world. Some people argue that Broadway became one of the most influential forms of American popular culture and eventually established New York as the cultural capital of the United States.
The Theatre District is very popular with tourists. According to The Broadway League (an organisation including theatre owners, operators, producers and general managers) for the 2016-2017 season the total number of viewers was 13,270,343 and Broadway shows had earned $1,449,399,149 in grosses. THAT'S A LOT OF CASH.
The great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. Currently, there are 40 plays and musicals performed in various Broadway theatres, so let's focus on the currently most famous and popular ones, in no particular order.
Chicago
"He had it coming."
This one actually got its own movie (also titled Chicago and released in 2002). Chicago is set in Prohibition-era Chicago (surprise, surprise) and is a satire of the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal". The main characters are two female criminals: Velma Kelly - a cabaret singer, vaudevillian and murderer - and Roxie Hart - an aspiring vaudevillian and murderess freshly send to jail. They have to compete for the attention of the media and their shared attorney - Billy Flynn - who quickly starts favouring Roxy, much to Velma's annoyance.
This musical was performed in many countries (too many for me to list) including Poland in 2002.
Viewer discretion is adviced for skimpy outfits, violence and sexual undertones.
Wicked
"Everyone deserves a chance to fly!"
Wicked is one of the most beloved musicals in history. It tells a story of two witches - Elphaba and Galinda - their extraordinary friendship and hardships they have to endure. It may be considered a form of a prequel to the book and movie "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" in which Elphaba eventually becomes known as The Wicked Witch of the West and Galinda is known as Glinda (NOT GAlinda) the Good. This musical touches upon many important issues, such as bullying, racism (Elphaba is often made fun of because of her green skin and Animals are considered to be a sub-species), feminism, and many more. It's a truly heartwarming story filled with tears, laughter, wonderful visuals and ravishing costumes. It's definitely worth seeing.
The Book of Mormon
"Would you like to change religions? I have a free book written by Jesus!"
The Book of Mormon tells the story of two 18-year old Mormon men who are about to take off on their missionary tour of duty. They get sent to Uganda ("Cool! Like the Lion King!") and of course, there are real problems for them to deal with (such as extreme poverty and AIDS) and that's not exactly what they were prepared to deal with...
This musical was written by the creators of South Park (Yes, the animated comedy) and it is told through that "South Park filter": it satirizes various Mormon believes and practices. The songs are extremely catchy and the overall atmosphere of the musical is very lighthearted and funny, but there are a few of sad moments.
Dear Evan Hansen
"No one deserves to be forgotten"
Dear Evan Hansen is a musical about a high school student - Evan Hansen (surprise, surprise) who suffers from social anxiety. He's a socially-awkward outcast and a loner who at the same time wants to have friends and fit in, but he finds it extremely difficult to build any kind of relationship with other people and find his own place in this world. He hates himself for being who he is; he longs to be a part of something bigger but is terrified of people actually getting to know him.
It's truly heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time, I cried, literally, and IF YOU DON'T CRY WHILE LISTENING YOU HAVE NO HEART.
Hamilton
"Immigrants. We get the job done."
The main character of this musical is Alexander Hamilton (surprise, surprise) - one of the founding fathers of the US. What is quite unique about this musical is that basically all of the 46 songs featured in this musical are actually...rap songs. It is the first musical of that kind, and it's one of the reasons why it's so popular. Additionally, it has one very particular requirement for its eventual actors: they have to be people of colour, so we have Alexander Hamilton played by a Latino actor, George Washington by a black one and so on. Why? There are two reasons: the first one to show that people of colour have and always had played a part in the history of the US, and secondly, because there are extremely few roles available for non-white actors on Broadway, so the creators of Hamilton decided to create a space for them.
This musical is as good as they get: the songs are catchy, the costumes and staging are wonderful, the plot is fascinating. There is laughter and there are tears. It's a truly wonderful experience.
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