There are 41 active Broadway theaters listed by The Broadway League in New York City, as well as eight existing structures that previously hosted Broadway theatre. Beginning with the first large long-term theater in the city, the Park Theatre built in 1798 on Park Row just off Broadway, the definition of what constitutes a Broadway theater has changed multiple times.Swift, Christopher. The City Performs: An Architectural History of NYC Theater . [New York City College of Technology], CUNY. 2018. Retrieved March 25, 2020. The current legal definition is based on a 1949 Actors' Equity agreement with smaller theaters in New York to allow union members to perform, dividing theater spaces in the city into the system of Broadway and Off-Broadway seen today.Kaiser, DJ. The Evolution of Broadway Musical Entertainment, 1850–2009: Interlingual and Intermedial Interference . AllTheses and Dissertations (ETDs). 1076. 2013. p. 10. Retrieved March 28, 2020Equity to Aid Off B'way Orgs . Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 44. September 17, 1949. Retrieved March 30, 2020. Current union contracts clearly spell out if a production is "Broadway" or not, but the general rule is that any venue that mostly hosts legitimate theater productions, is generally within Manhattan's Theater District, and has a capacity over 500 seats is considered a Broadway theater.Pincus-Roth, Zachary. Ask Playbill.com: Broadway or Off-Broadway—Part I :Examining the differences between Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. Playbill. February 8, 2008. Retrieved March 23, 2020. Previous to this legal demarcation a Broadway production simply referred to a professional theatrical production performed in a theater in Manhattan, and the theaters that housed them were called Broadway theaters.
While Broadway theaters are colloquially considered to be "on Broadway", only two active Broadway theaters are physically on Broadway (the Broadway Theatre and Winter Garden Theatre).How To Tell Broadway From Off-Broadway From... . Playbill. January 13, 2019. Retrieved March 26, 2020 The Vivian Beaumont Theater, located in Lincoln Center, is the furthest north and west of the active theaters, while the Nederlander Theatre is the southernmost and the Belasco Theatre is the easternmost space. The oldest Broadway theaters still in use are the Hudson Theatre, Lyceum Theatre, and New Amsterdam Theatre, all opened in 1903, while the most recently constructed theater is the Lyric Theatre, built in 1998. The largest of the Broadway theaters is the 1,933-seat Gershwin Theatre, while the smallest is the 597-seat Hayes Theater.
The beginning of Broadway theater can be traced to the 19th-century influx of immigrants to New York City, particularly Yiddish, German and Italian, who brought with them indigenous and new forms of theater. The development of indoor gas lighting around this same time period allowed for the construction of permanent spaces for these novel theatrical forms. Early variety, burlesque, and minstrelsy halls were built along Broadway below Houston Street. As the city expanded north, new theaters were constructed along the thoroughfare with family-friendly vaudeville, developed by Tony Pastor, clustering around Union Square in the 1860s and 1870s, and larger opera houses, hippodromes, and theaters populating Broadway between Union Square and Times Square later in the century. Times Square became the epicenter for large scale theater productions between 1900 and the Great Depression.
There is no standard date that is considered the beginning of Broadway-style theatre.Kaiser, DJ. The Evolution of Broadway Musical Entertainment, 1850–2009: Interlingual and Intermedial Interference . AllTheses and Dissertations (ETDs). 1076. 2013. pp. 6–7. Retrieved March 28, 2020 A few landmarks that are considered the beginning of the Broadway era include the 1866 opening of The Black Crook at Niblo's Garden, considered the first piece of American style musical theater,Niblo's Garden . Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Retrieved March 27, 2020.Everett, William A., Laird, Paul R. Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical . . Rowman & Littlefield. p. xi. November 12, 2015. Retrieved March 28, 2020 the 1913 founding of the Actors' Equity Association, the union for New York Theater performers, and the 1919 Actors' Equity Association strike which gave actors and performers the recognition of a "fully legitimate professional trade". Mary Henderson in her book The City and the Theatre breaks down theater on the street Broadway into three time periods. "Lower Broadway" from 1850 to 1870, "Union Square and Beyond" from 1870 to 1899, and "Times Square: the First Hundred Years" (1900–2000). The current official Broadway/Off-Broadway division began with the 1949 Actors' Equity agreement.
Active Broadway theaters The current definition of a Broadway theater is based on the 1949 Actors' Equity agreement dividing Broadway from Off-Broadway, but in the general psyche Broadway theaters are considered theatrical houses which host productions that can be nominated for Tony Awards.Halston, Julie. Theatre 101: A Users Guide to Going to the Theatre . Theater Development Fund. Retrieved March 28, 2020. The American Theater Wing and The Broadway League, as presenters of these awards, have sole discretion to include or omit theaters from the list of Tony-eligible houses, but use the same standards and criteria as Actors' Equity does. The four main underlying criteria these organizations use to determine a Broadway theater are: Has a capacity of over 500 seats. Produces mostly legitimate theater productions. Is generally within Manhattan's Theater District (the Vivian Beaumont Theater is an exception) Is under an Actors' Equity "Production" contract if the theater is for-profit, or follows an Actors' Equity "LORT A" contract if the theater is run by a non-profit.
The following list contains the 41 theaters listed on the Internet Broadway Database, which is run by The Broadway League, that are considered active Broadway theaters and can host productions eligible for Tony Awards.