New York's first significant Broadway theatre presence arose about 1750, when actor-managers Walter Murray and Thomas Kean established a resident Broadway theatre company at the Theatre on Nassau Street, which held about 280 people.
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Broadway theatre moved to New York in 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida.
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The 3, 000-seat Broadway theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments.
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Broadway theatre's first "long-run" musical was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857.
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In 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square, and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square.
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However, smaller vaudeville and variety houses proliferated, and Off-Broadway theatre was well established by the end of the 19th century.
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Trip to Coontown was the first musical comedy entirely produced and performed by African Americans in a Broadway theatre (largely inspired by the routines of the minstrel shows), followed by the ragtime-tinged Clorindy: The Origin of the Cakewalk, and the highly successful In Dahomey (1902).
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Lightnin' was the longest-running Broadway theatre show until being overtaken in performance totals by Abie's Irish Rose in 1925.
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Florenz Ziegfeld produced annual spectacular song-and-dance revues on Broadway theatre featuring extravagant sets and elaborate costumes, but there was little to tie the various numbers together.
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Springsteen on Broadway became the first full-length show to resume performances, opening on June 26, 2021, to 1, 721 vaccinated patrons at the St James Theatre.
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Broadway theatre once had many homegrown stars who committed to working on a show for a year, as Nathan Lane has for The Addams Family.
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In 2010, some theater heavyweights like Mr Lane were not even nominated; instead, several Tony Awards were given for productions that were always intended to be short-timers on Broadway theatre, given that many of their film-star performers had to move on to other commitments.
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Minimum size of the Broadway theatre orchestra is governed by an agreement with the musicians' union and The Broadway theatre League.
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Some Broadway shows are produced by non-commercial organizations as part of a regular subscription season—Lincoln Center Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Second Stage Theater are the four non-profit theatre companies that currently have permanent Broadway venues.
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