Editing Off-Broadway (section)

== History ==
The term originally referred to any venue, and its productions, on a street intersecting [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] in [[Midtown Manhattan]]'s [[Theater District, New York|Theater District]], the hub of the American theatre industry. It later became defined by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers as a professional venue in Manhattan with a [[seating capacity]] of at least 100, but not more than 499, or a production that appears in such a venue and adheres to related [[trade union]] and other contracts.<ref name=League/>

Previously, regardless of the size of the venue, a theatre was considered a Broadway (rather than off-Broadway) house if it was within the "Broadway Box", extending from 40th Street north to 54th Street and from [[Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)|Sixth Avenue]] west to [[Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)|Eighth Avenue]], including [[Times Square]] and West [[42nd Street (Manhattan)|42nd Street]]. This change to the contractual definition of "off-Broadway" benefited theatres satisfying the 499-seat criterion because of the lower minimum required salary for [[Actors' Equity Association|Actors' Equity]] performers at off-Broadway theatres as compared with the salary requirements of the union for Broadway theatres.<ref>{{cite journal |title=How to Tell Broadway from Off-Broadway from ... |url=http://www.playbill.com/article/how-to-tell-broadway-from-off-broadway-from-com-110450| journal=Playbill |access-date=January 28, 2017 |date=January 4, 1998 |quote=No matter what else you may have heard, the distinction is mainly one of contracts. There are so many theatres of so many different sizes served by so many different unions in New York that this three-tiered Broadway/Off-Broadway/Off-Off-Broadway system evolved to determine who would get paid what.&nbsp;... Most "Broadway" theatres are not on Broadway, the street. A few theatres on Broadway, the street, are considered "Off-Broadway."}}</ref> The adoption of the 499-seat criterion occurred after a one-day strike in January 1974.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.actorsequity.org/AboutEquity/timeline/timeline_1970.html |title= Actors' Equity 1970's Timeline |website=Actors' Equity Association |access-date=January 27, 2017}}</ref> Examples of off-Broadway theatres within the Broadway Box are the [[Laura Pels Theatre]] and [[The Theater Center]].

The off-Broadway movement started in the 1950s as a reaction to the perceived commercialism of Broadway and provided less expensive venues for shows that have employed many future Broadway artists. An early success was [[Circle in the Square Theatre]]'s 1952 production of ''[[Summer and Smoke]]'' by [[Tennessee Williams]].<ref>[http://archives.nypl.org/the/21843#access_use "Circle in the Square papers"]. New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. accessed December 18, 2018.</ref> According to theatre historians Ken Bloom and Frank Vlastnik, off-Broadway offered a new outlet for "poets, playwrights, actors, songwriters, and designers. ... The first great Off-Broadway musical was the 1954 revival" of ''[[The Threepenny Opera]]'', which proved that off-Broadway productions could be financially successful.<ref name=Bloom>{{cite book| last1=Bloom| first1=Ken| author2=Frank Vlastnik| chapter=Off Broadway, Part 1| title=Broadway Musicals: The 101 Greatest Shows of All Time| chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/broadwaymusicals0000bloo_e1y1/page/94/mode/2up?q=%22off-broadway%22| publisher=Black Dog Publishing| location=New York| year=2004| isbn=978-1-5791-2390-1| page=94| access-date=2024-05-12}}</ref> Critic [[John Gassner]] argued at the time, however, that "Broadway is just as eclectic – and just as footless – as 'Off-Broadway'."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gassner |first=John |date=1954 |title=Broadway in Review |journal=Educational Theatre Journal |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=333|doi=10.2307/3203511 |jstor=3203511}}</ref> [[Theatre Row (New York City)|Theatre Row]], on West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues in Manhattan, is a concentration of off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theatres. It was developed in the mid-1970s and modernized in 2002.<ref>McKinley, Jesse. [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/21/theater/upscale-march-of-theater-row-a-centerpiece-of-redevelopment.html "Upscale March of Theatre Row; A Centerpiece of Redevelopment"]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. November 21, 2002. Accessed March 2, 2017.</ref>

Many off-Broadway shows have had subsequent runs on Broadway, including such musicals as ''[[Hair (musical)|Hair]]'', ''[[Godspell]]'', ''[[Little Shop of Horrors (musical)|Little Shop of Horrors]]'', ''[[Sunday in the Park with George]]'', ''[[Rent (musical)|Rent]]'', ''[[Grey Gardens (musical)|Grey Gardens]]'', ''[[Urinetown]]'', ''[[Avenue Q]]'', ''[[The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee]]'', ''[[Rock of Ages (musical)|Rock of Ages]]'', ''[[In the Heights]]'', ''[[Spring Awakening (musical)|Spring Awakening]]'', ''[[Next to Normal]]'', ''[[Hedwig and the Angry Inch (musical)|Hedwig and the Angry Inch]]'', ''[[Fun Home (musical)|Fun Home]]'', ''[[Hamilton (musical)|Hamilton]]'', ''[[Dear Evan Hansen]]'', ''[[Hadestown]]'', and ''[[Kimberly Akimbo (musical)|Kimberly Akimbo]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://offbroadway.com/about.php|title=Off Broadway Theatre Information|access-date=January 27, 2017|website=League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers}}</ref> In particular, two that became Broadway hits, ''[[Grease (musical)|Grease]]'' and ''[[A Chorus Line]]'', encouraged other producers to premiere their shows off-Broadway.<ref name=Bloom/> Plays that have moved from off-Broadway houses to Broadway include ''[[Doubt (play)|Doubt]]'', ''[[I Am My Own Wife]]'', ''[[Bridge and Tunnel (play)|Bridge & Tunnel]]'', ''[[The Normal Heart]]'', and ''[[Coastal Disturbances]]''. Other productions, such as ''[[Stomp (dance troupe)|Stomp]]'', ''[[Blue Man Group]]'', ''[[Altar Boyz]]'', ''[[Perfect Crime (play)|Perfect Crime]]'', ''[[Forbidden Broadway]]'', ''[[Nunsense]]'', ''[[Naked Boys Singing]]'', ''[[Bat Boy: The Musical]]'', and ''[[I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change]]'' have had runs of many years off-Broadway, never moving to Broadway. ''[[The Fantasticks]]'', the longest-running musical in theatre history, spent its original 42-year run off-Broadway from 1960 to 2002 and had another off-Broadway run from 2006 to 2017.<ref>Lefkowitz, David (January 13, 2002). [http://www.playbill.com/article/the-fantasticks-bids-farewell-jan-13-after-42-years-on-sullivan-street-com-103329 "The Fantasticks Bids Farewell, Jan. 13, After 42 Years on Sullivan Street"]. ''Playbill''. Accessed January 28, 2017; and Gordon, David (September 9, 2016). [http://www.theatermania.com/california-theater/news/interview-tom-jones-the-fantasticks_78283.html "After 56 Years, Tom Jones Isn't Finished With ''The Fantasticks''"]. TheaterMania.com.</ref>