The first Broadway musical that I saw, a quarter of a century ago, actually on Broadway, wasn’t, of course, actually on Broadway; it was on West 44th Street.
The first Broadway musical that I saw, a quarter of a century ago, actually on Broadway, wasn’t, of course, actually on Broadway; it was on West 44th Street. It was 42nd Street.
The geography is confusing, but so is the history, and indeed the nomenclature. For 42nd Street was not, of course, a Broadway musical, but a musical film made in 1933, based on a novel about life backstage at a Broadway theatre, with staged setpieces — notably the title song — in Hollywood’s version of the style of Broadway musical theatre. It was only in 1980 that it became a Broadway stage musical, at the Winter Garden — which actually is on Broadway).
Its very successful run of almost 3,500 performances paved the way for the blockbusters which, as critics periodically complain, have driven out the straight play from Broadway (and West End) stages.
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