  Drama
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“Broadway is a main artery of New York life - the hardened artery”
Walter Winchell
“I remember seeing Children of a Lesser God on Broadway. I was sitting in the second or third row, and I was just so blown away, and I walked out saying, 'That's what I want to do.”
Jennifer Aniston
Hearts that know you hate you
And lips that have given you laughter
Have gone to their ashes of life and its roses,
Cursing the dreams that were lost
In the dust of your harsh and trampled stones.
Broadway -- by Carl Sandburg
Hello, this is Joy . This week we shall talk about a favorite place of mine, Broadway.
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Welcome to the Drama Newsletter
We always leave a beloved place in order to return to it sometime. Broadway in New York city is such a place for me, and I return to it as often as I can. Sometimes, I take a flight to JFK or the La Guardia Airports and then a taxi to a hotel in Manhattan as close to or in Broadway; at other times, I return to it in my heart and in my writings.
Broadway has inspired many poets. Of the old school, rather than Sandburg’s pessimistic look (above in the About This Newsletter section), Walt Whitman’s excited and dynamic words describe more of what I feel about this parcel of New York City, which is and has been the theater district not only for the United States but possibly for the entire world.
“The Originatress comes, The nest of languages, the bequeather of poems, the race of eld,
Florid with blood, pensive, rapt with musings, hot with passion,
Sultry with perfume, with ample and flowing garments,
With sunburnt visage, with intense soul and glittering eyes,
The race of Brahma comes!
See, my cantabile! these, and more, are flashing to us from the procession;
As it moves, changing, a kaleidoscope divine it moves, changing, before us.”
From A Broadway Pageant by Walt Whitman
Although Whitman is describing a pageant here, his words hint at the essence of Broadway.
This theater district, today, extends from the 34th Street to the 56th, on the east and the west of the avenue called Broadway with Times Square at its core. Broadway is most famous for its stage shows, and Broadway shows’ greatest rival today is the television. The finest plays and musicals and the most talented theater actors have to compete with the most trite TV shows for audience recognition, mainly because of the high cost of the tickets and the amount of people a theater can hold. The longest running Broadway shows to date are The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Les Miserables, A chorus Line, Oh! Calcutta, Beauty and the Beast, and Rent.
Besides the Broadway theater district, smaller Off Broadway theaters that are located between 57th and 72nd Streets offer less publicized, less expensive, yet more experimental and daring plays. Sporadically, a successful Off Broadway show will later run on a Broadway stage. Rent, Little Shop of Horrors, Godspell, Chorus Line, and Sunday in the Park with George are among such works.
Then, in Manhattan exist Off-Off-Broadway theaters with less that 100 seats for staging smaller amateur performances such as the Flea Theater in TriBeCa. After K. W. Bromley referred to Off-Off-Broadway as “Indie Theater” in his acceptance of an Innovative Theater award in 2005, Off-Off-Broadway shows are sometimes called the Indie Theater shows.
Broadway’s becoming a theater district goes far back to the time before the Revolutionary War. In mid-eighteenth century when two actors wanted to bring the staging of the plays of Shakespeare to Manhattan, the seeds of Broadway were sown. The first theater in Manhattan was in Nassau Street. Later on, P.T. Barnum operated an entertainment complex at Broadway and Prince Street. During the first few years, a variety of shows entertained the working and the middle classes. When the Astor Place Theater opened, these theater goers rose in a riot, objecting to the upper class audiences.
The first performance that added dance and music to a play was The Black Crook, in 1866. Its duration was five and a half hours. This musical attracted so many audiences that musicals became high quality entertainment. At the turn of the twentieth century, some of the earliest musicals were Cakewalk, George Washington Jr, A Trip to Coontown, The Fortune Teller, Little Johnny Jones, and 45 Minutes from Broadway.
Twentieth Century brought Babes in Toyland, Naughty Marietta, and The Red Mill. Since colored lights did not last long, white lights were used at the time; thus, Broadway took the nickname “The Great White Way.”
The advent of the motion picture industry and the Actors Equity Association strike were feared to bring a halt to Broadway; quite the contrary, during the roaring twenties, Broadway flourished and added serious drama to its light-hearted repertoire and Ziegfeld revues. Oklahoma was the first such hit. At that time, Noel Coward, Rudolf Friml, Sigmund Romberg produced memorable work alongside with the eternal Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Rodgers and Hart.
Then, in 1947, Tony Awards were established to recognize the best performers and performances of the American Theater and especially Broadway. Nowadays, most shows are made for profit by the many theater establishments in the area, although some are produced by non-profit organizations such as the Roundabout Theater Company, Manhattan Theater Club, and The Lincoln Center Theater. On the average, musicals run longer than non-musical plays, and some of the successful musicals and plays go on tour to other cities in the off season or after their curtains close on Broadway.
For me, the streets of Broadway add to the drama of its theaters, musicals, comedy clubs, and movie houses. Broadway and Times Square pump as the heart of Manhattan where I can walk in and out of two to five-star hotels, coffee houses like the Starbucks, diners and gourmet restaurants, taxis and the traffic, or where I can browse inside all kinds of shops but especially gift shops that sell theater paraphernalia such as costumes, masks, and props, or where I can stroll and absorb the excitement of other pedestrians, the street-corner preachers, and the lights of the establishments while I watch the limousines that bring actors to performances, actors signing autographs in front of the theater buildings, or an occasional scalper selling last minute tickets to shows with the corner of his eye guarding the whereabouts of the police. With all its coquettishness, Broadway makes life turn around our drama of existence.
Watching a live stage show, a serious play, or a musical is a great thrill that cannot be matched by the movies or the television. This makes Broadway the most prestigious area that celebrates the stage arts.
As I give my regards to Broadway, I sincerely hope you Writing.com playwrights will have your plays shown on a Broadway stage someday very soon. 
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Here are some items by Writing.com writers, mentioning Broadway.
A novel:
Short Stories:
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#710108 by Not Available. |
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#1223374 by Not Available. |
Poetry:
Monologues:
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#1223347 by Not Available. |
An article:
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#1288566 by Not Available. |
Crossword puzzles:
Quiz:
Other writings on theater and actors:
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A mere 1000 word short story about a slightly surrealistic experience at the theaters.
#1250119 by Zarathustra  |
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flex
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on conflict in drama, Joy. Inner conflict puts meat on the bones of our characters, making them flesh and blood. It allows us to invest in an emotional connection to them, whether that be one of compassion, or derision.
Thank you very much, Felix. 
Inner conflict certainly outdoes the external conflict. Yet, I feel it is much more difficult to write. One may need a keen sense for human psychology and behavior, even some serious studying of it. I am not sure of the name or the url (psychology for writers?), but I believe there is a website that provides some knowledge for writers on this matter.
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spidey 
Excellent newsletter on inner conflict! I liked your examples and your tip to resolve all conflicts. Great newsletter!
Thank you very much, Spidey. I am glad you liked the newsletter and the tip.
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Coolhand
Hey Joy, Great newsletter! Inner dialogue is a must to protray inner conflict. Inner dialogue is the one thing I find missing in most stories. It is an important tool that I'm using more and more. You've chosen a good batch of stories this week.
Coolhand
Thanks Coolhand.
Inner conflict can be portrayed through inner dialogue, true, but also, we must not forget that actions speak louder than words.
I am glad you liked the stories this week.
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StephBee 
Great discussion about inner conflict. I think it speaks to the heart of a "great" drama. Good example using "American Beauty." Two thumbs up.
Thank you very much, Steph.
Most anyone seems to understand "American Beauty" except some people find it too "heavy"!
I guess it is difficult to portray the inner drama thing on screen. :-}
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Drama: November 05, 2008 Issue [#2683]
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