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Article Draft for Theater District, Manhattan
[edit]Theater District, Manhattan
[edit]From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Theater District" redirects here. For other uses, see Theater District (disambiguation).
"Broadway Theater District" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Broadway Theater District (Los Angeles).
| Theater District | |
|---|---|
| Neighborhood of Manhattan | |
| The Golden Theatre, Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre and Booth Theatre on West 45th Street in Manhattan's Theater District | |
| Coordinates: 40°45′28″N 73°59′9″WCoordinates: 40°45′28″N 73°59′9″W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| City | New York City |
| Borough | Manhattan |
| Zip code | 10018, 10019, 10036 |
| Area code | 212, 646, [1] |
New York City's Theater District (sometimes spelled Theatre District, and officially zoned as the "Theater Subdistrict"[1]) is an area in Midtown Manhattan where most Broadway theaters are located, as well as many other theaters, movie theaters, restaurants, hotels, and other places of entertainment. It extends from West 40th Street to West 54th Street, and from Sixth Avenue to Eighth Avenue, and includes Times Square. The Great White Way is the name given to the section of Broadway which runs through the Theater District.
It also contains recording studios, record label offices, theatrical agencies, television studios, restaurants, Duffy Square, Shubert Alley, the Brill Building, a Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium, and Madame Tussauds of New York.[2][3][4]
History
[edit]Origins and Early History
[edit]The Theater District first began attracting theaters and restaurants to the neighborhood after the Metropolitan Opera House moved to West 39th Street and Broadway in 1883.[5]
Over the years since then, the district has been referred to by New Yorkers as "the Rialto," as "The Main Stem," and as "Broadway," and at the turn of the 20th century, was simply called "The Street.".[6][7]
By the 1970s, the 42nd Street area in the district had become run-down and seedy – with the opening of some X-rated movie houses, peep shows, and so-called grind houses there – and was even considered a somewhat dangerous place to venture into by many New Yorkers. The entire area was later significantly revitalized by the city in the 1990s, with the closing of most of those businesses, and the opening of an array of new theatres, multiplex movie houses, restaurants, and tourist attractions.[3]
Joe Papp's "Save the Theaters" Campaign
[edit]In the Spring of 1982, Joseph Papp, the Broadway theatrical producer, and director who had established The Public Theater, led a campaign called "Save the Theatres" in Manhattan.[8] The primary initial goal of the "Save the Theatres" effort, which was sponsored by Papp's not-for-profit group and supported by the Actors Equity union, was to save several theater buildings in the Theatre District neighborhood from their impending demolition by monied Manhattan development interests.[9][10][11][12] Papp provided financial resources, campaign buttons, posters, and newspaper ads for the effort; recruited a publicist and actors to promote the cause; and provided a various stage and street venues for public events in support of the campaign for saving the historic theatres.[10]
At Papp's behest, in July 1982, U.S. Congressman Donald J. Mitchell of New York, and 13 co-sponsors,[a] introduced a bill in the 97th Congress (1981–82), entitled "H.R.6885, A bill to designate the Broadway/Times Square Theatre District in the City of New York as a national historic site".[14] The proposed legislation, which failed to be enacted, would have required the Federal Government to aid financially and otherwise in preserving the district and its historic theatre houses as an official National Historic Site.[14]
The Save the Theatres campaign then turned their efforts toward supporting the establishment of the Theater District as a registered New York City historic district.[15][16] In December 1983, Save the Theatres prepared "The Broadway Theater District, a Preservation Development and Management Plan," and demanded that each theater in the district receive landmark designation.[16] Mayor Koch ultimately responded by creating a Theater Advisory Council, that included Papp as a member,[10] and which eventually led to the area being officially zoned as the "Theater Subdistrict."[1]
Theater Subdistrict Zoning
[edit]In January 2001, the New York Appellate Division, First Department in Fisher v. Giuliani 280 A.D.2d 13 (2001) 720 N.Y.S.2d 50, partially upheld the 1998 expansion of the Theater Subdistrict zoning regulations, which added receiving sites along Eighth Avenue where development rights from the landmarked Broadway Theaters could be sold. Community and civic organizations opposed the expansion of the district as it would impinge the nearby Clinton/Hell's Kitchen residential neighborhood. The court objection, filed in 1999, did not challenge the pre-existing Theater Subdistrict itself or the original development rights zoning legislation.[17]
New York City also created the "Theater Subdistrict Council," LDC (“TSC”), a not-for-profit corporation, under the 1998 zoning regulation.[18] The TSC administers the Theater Subdistrict Fund and allocates grants.[18]
The New York City Zoning Resolution for special purpose districts, as amended on April 30, 2012, contains special regulations for the Theater Subdistrict, including the transfer of development rights, incentives for the rehabilitation of existing theaters, the creation of a theater council to promote theaters, and zoning and signage for theaters, and contains a list of theaters that qualify for special provisions in the regulations.[19]
Disney and Their Impact on the Manhattan Theaters
[edit]The revitalization of the theater district began in a small way when the board of the Shubert Organization ousted its chairman, Lawrence Shubert Lawrence. The Shubert Organization owned many theaters in the district and Lawrence was ruining them. The board took over and eventually financed a play called “A Chorus Line”. It was a blockbuster hit and made Shubert enough money to renovate its theaters and promote new plays including “Cats”, which ran for 18 years[20]. The creators of Cats, Andrew Lloyd Weber and Cameron Mackintosh produced many other huge blockbusters which traveled the world and did not rely solely on New York audiences for their revenue.[21]
Broadway was still an afterthought for many producers and creators until Disney became involved. Disney engaged Alan Menken to write the “The Little Mermaid” which lured families to the theater district. It was followed by “Beauty and the Beast” in 1994 which ran for 13 years and was patterned after the 1991 movie of the same name. Of course, the success of this type of family entertainment would have been impossible without the hard work of the City of New York which cut down on crime in the area, drove out the sex industry, lowered taxes for many businesses and refurbished the Times Square subway system.[21][22]
As Beauty and the Beast was breaking box office records, Rudy Giuliani made closing peep shows and ending the panhandling in the Theater District high priority. He also courted Disney and convinced them to renovate the New Amsterdam Theater for its production of a new musical called "The Lion King” which was staged by Julie Traymor. The show, which featured gigantic Indonesian-inspired puppets and authentic African music, was a smash, winning the Tony for Best Musical in 1997.[22]
Not only was the production of The Lion King a monumental undertaking, the deal to renovate the theater itself was the subject of long and arduous negotiations. It was not until the governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, promised to make state loan funds available for capital improvements at other theaters that the deal was finalized. Disney understanding that there was other competition, their success relied on the success of other theaters. Many Broadway theaters were old and expensive to maintain, and rising production costs squeezed the theater industry. Disney invested more than $8 million in rebuilding the theater, and the New York Urban Development Corporation contributed a $21-million low-interest loan. The project made Disney the central player in revitalizing the theater district. The New Amsterdam's 42nd Street block previously consisted of boarded-up theaters, arcades and cheap retail stores.[23][24]
The Disney impact on the Theater District was immense. Although it had government support, Disney and other corporations such as Viacom and AMC did what the government alone could not do. In 1984 the Urban Development Corporation developed a huge redevelopment plan for the area. It proposed tall office towers and a merchandise mart. The plan outlined mechanisms for the giving tax incentives to developers, but when the real estate market collapsed in 1987 and a recession took place, there was no interest in such development. It was up to the market and the theaters and entertainment, in general, to give life to the area. Disney’s presence in Times Square attracted other brand-name corporations, which opened stores, offices, entertainment complexes and restaurants along 42nd Street and in the Theater District. [23]
Theaters with in the Manhattan Theater District
[edit]Manhattan is home to a large amount of Broadway theaters. Some of the notable theater are (but not limited too) are as followed: Imperial Theatre, Booth Theater, Majestic Theatre, Longacre Theatre, New Amsterdam Theatre, Shubert Theatre, Palace Theatre, Winter Garden Theatre, Eugene O'Neill Theatre, August Wilson Theatre, St. James Theatre, Circle in the Square Theatre, Brooks Atkinson Theatre, Walter Kerr Theatre, Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, Richard Rodgers Theatre, Nederlander Theatre, Gershwin Theatre, Radio City Music Hall.[25]
Other Nearby Theater Areas
[edit]The area known as Theatre Row is an area on 42nd Street from Ninth Avenue to Eleventh Avenue, which includes many Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway theaters. Some Off-Broadway theater are (but not limited too) are as followed: The Public Theater, Cherry Lane Theatre, Astor Place Theatre, Lucille Lortel Theatre, Westside Theatre
Boundaries
[edit]The City of New York defines the subdistrict for zoning purposes to extend from 40th Street to 57th Street and from Sixth Avenue to Eighth Avenue, with an additional area west of Eighth Avenue from 42nd Street to 45th Street.[26] The Times Square Alliance, a Business Improvement District organization dedicated to improving the Theater District, defines the district as an irregularly shaped area within the bounding box of 40th Street, 6th Ave, 53rd Street, and 9th Ave.[27]
- ^ a b "New York City Department of City Planning". NYC.gov. Retrieved March 3, 2013.
- ^ Editors of Time Out (2011). Time Out New York. Time Out Guides. ISBN 9781846702105. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
{{cite book}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ^ a b Eleanor Berman (2013). Top 10 New York City. Penguin. ISBN 9781465407931. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
- ^ Sascha Zuger (2011). Moon New York State. Avalon Travel. ISBN 9781612380872. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
- ^ AnneLise Sorensen, Eleanor Berman (2012). DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: New York City. Penguin. ISBN 9780756691189. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
- ^ Irving L. Allen (1995). City In Slang: New York Life and Popular Speech. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-535776-9. Retrieved March 3, 2013.
- ^ William R. Taylor (April 22, 1996). Inventing Times Square: Commerce and Culture at the Crossroads of the World. JHU Press. ISBN 9780801853371. Retrieved March 3, 2013.
- ^ The name of the organization was "Save the Theatres, Inc., as noted in court papers. See Shubert Organization, Inc. v. Landmarks Preservation Commission of the City of New York and Save the Theatres, Inc., Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, First Department, May 16, 1991, accessed March 10, 2013
- ^ "Proposal to Save Morosco and Helen Hayes Theaters", LHP Architects, accessed March 10, 2013
- ^ a b c Helen Epstein (22 March 1996). Joe Papp: An American Life. ISBN 9780306806766. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
- ^ "City Panel Near Vote On Save-The-Theaters Proposals". The New York Times. New York City. April 15, 1984. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
- ^ Corwin, Betty "Theatre on film and tape archive", International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts, accessed May 10, 2013
- ^ Bill Summary & Status – 97th Congress (1981–1982) – H.R.6885 - Co-Sponsors Thomas.loc.gov. Retrieved December 10, 2015
- ^ a b "Bill Summary & Status – 97th Congress (1981–1982) – H.R.6885". Thomas.loc.gov. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
- ^ Lynne B. Sagalyn (2003). Times Square Roulette: Remaking the City Icon. MIT Press. ISBN 9780262692953. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
- ^ a b Peter Bosselmann (August 28, 1985). Representation of Places – Imprimé: Reality and Realism in City Design. ISBN 9780520918269. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
- ^ https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15086717927940903823&q=fisher+v.+giuliani&hl=en&as_sdt=6,33&as_vis=1
- ^ a b "Theater Subdistrict Council – New York City Department of City Planning". Nyc.gov. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
- ^ "The City of New York Zoning Resolution; Article VIII; Chapter 1;" (PDF). Mayor Bloomberg; New York City Planning Commission; Department of City Planning. May 25, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
- ^ Nahshon, E. (2016). New York's Yiddish theater : From the Bowery to Broadway. From the Bowery to Broadway.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b "Broadway Emerged from the Ruin to Become a Billion Dollar Business".
- ^ a b "Broadway Mickey Mouse : Theater Deal Brings Disney Back to New York". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ a b "Broadway- 42nd Street". PBS.
- ^ "The Unexpected Lessons of Times Square's Comeback".
- ^ Pereira, J. (1996). Opening nights : 25 years of the Manhattan Theatre Club (American university studies. Series XXVI, Theatre arts ; vol. 17). New York: P. Lang. Opening Nights: 25 Years of the Manhattan Theater Club.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Special Purpose Districts: Manhattan: Special Midtown Districts" on the official NYC website. Accessed: February 21, 2013
- ^ Times Square: Times Square/Theater District Dining
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