#159 The Broadway Musical: Setting the Stage

Published: Dec. 13, 2013, 4:55 a.m.

The Broadway Musical is one of New York City's greatest inventions, 150 years in the making! It's one of the truly American art forms, fueling one of the city's most vibrant entertainment businesses and defining its most popular tourist attraction -- Times Square.\nBut why Broadway, exactly? Why not the Bowery or Fifth Avenue? And how did our fair city go from simple vaudeville and minstrel shows to 'Shuffle Along', 'Irene' and 'Show Boat', surely the beginning of the truly modern American musical?\nThis podcast is an epic and wild musical adventure in itself, full of musical interludes, zipping through the evolution of musical entertainment in New York City, as it races up the 'main seam' of Manhattan -- the avenue of Broadway. \xa0We are proud to present a tour up Broadway, past some of the greatest theaters and shows that have ever won acclaim here, from the wacky (and highly copied) imports of Gilbert & Sullivan to the dancing girls and singing sensations of the Jazz Age.\nSTARRING: Well, some of the biggest names in songwriting, composing and singing. And even a dog who talks in German!\nAnd featuring our new sponsor Squarespace!\n\nwww.boweryboyspodcast.com\nTwitter: boweryboys\n\nSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys