Can any of you seriously say the Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights could get through Congress today? It wouldn’t even get out of committee.
F. Lee Bailey, Newsweek, 17 April 1967.
The
Broadway League, formerly the
League of American Theatres and Producers and
League of New York Theatres and Producers, is the national
trade associationA trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association or sector association, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry...
for the
Broadway theatreBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
industry. Its members include theatre owners and operators,
producersA theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...
, presenters, and general managers in New York and more than 250 other North American cities, as well as suppliers of goods and services to the theatre industry.
History
The League was founded in 1930 as the "League of New York Theatres and Producers". It was founded by Broadway theatre operators to further common interests, with the main purpose of fighting
ticket speculationTicket resale is the act of reselling tickets for admission to events. Tickets are bought from licensed sellers and are then sold for a price determined by the individual or company in possession of the tickets. Tickets sold through secondary sources may be sold for less or more than their face...
. The League's first successful act was the writing of the Theater Ticket Code (together with Actors' Equity) which later became a state law. In the following years the League expanded its charter several times, serving at time as the chief negotiator for producers with craft unions and Actors' Equity. With the decline of Broadway in the 1980s the League changed its name to the "League of American Theatres and Producers". On December 18, 2007 the League changed its name to the current name, "The Broadway League".
The Tony Awards
The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
theatreTheatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and are presented by the Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of
American Theatre WingThe American Theatre Wing is a New York City-based organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre," according to its mission statement...
and the League, at an annual ceremony in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The awards are for
BroadwayBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre. A discretionary non-competitive
Special Tony AwardThe Special Tony Award category includes the Lifetime Achievement Award and Special Tony Award. These are non-competitive awards, and the titles have changed over the years...
and the
Tony Honors for Excellence in TheatreThe Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre is a non-competitive award created by the American Theatre Wing in 1990. They are presented to institutions, individuals and/or organizations that have demonstrated extraordinary achievement in theatre, but are not eligible to compete in any of the...
are also given. The awards were founded by the Wing in 1947, and the League started co-presenting them in 1967.
The Touring Broadway Awards
The Touring Broadway Awards (TBAs) recognize outstanding achievement in Broadway
playsA play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
and
musicalsMusical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
that tour North America. Founded in 2000 by the League, the awards were known until 2004 as the National Broadway Theatre Awards.
Broadway on Broadway
Broadway on Broadway is a free annual outdoor concert kicking off the Broadway season each September, produced by the League and the Times Square Alliance. The event takes place in
Times SquareTimes Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
, which is shut down for the event. The event was conceived in 1992 as a welcome party for delegates to the
Democratic National ConventionThe Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...
, which was held in New York that year. The concert returned in July 1993 and 1994 and moved to September on 1995. It has been held in mid-September ever since. The 18th annual show took place on September 13, 2009 and included performances from the casts of 21 musicals.
Stars in the Alley
Stars in the Alley was a free annual outdoor concert in
Shubert AlleyShubert Alley is a narrow long pedestrian alley at the heart of the Broadway theater district of New York City. It splits a block, as it runs parallel to and between Eighth Avenue and Broadway, linking West 44th Street to West 45th Street. It contains approximately of public space.The alley has...
in the heart of Manhattan’s Theatre District, produced by the League. It was usually held the week of the Tony Awards, and marked the official end of the Broadway season. The 21st annual event was held on June 6, 2007, and the casts of dozens of Broadway shows took part. The event has not returned in 2008 and 2009, and is not planned to return on 2010.
Other notable events
- Broadway Under the Stars: an annual evening concert that was first held in 2002 and was held until 2006.
- Tony Awards Preview Concert: a cabaret-style concert featuring songs from Tony-nominated shows held in 2008 and 2009. It was not be held on 2010.
Internet Broadway Database
The Internet Broadway Database (
IBDB) is an online
databaseA database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It is operated by the Research Department of the League.
Research
The League serves as the central hub for statistical information about Broadway theatre production in North America. Its research department maintains historical data on individual playhouses and productions. In addition, many reference documents, including weekly box office grosses and season-by-season statistics, are available to the public, journalists, and scholars via the website. The Research department also publishes annual reports that track trends in the industry over time including the Demographics of the Broadway Audience and Broadway’s Economic Contribution.
Other notable services
- Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) (formerly Broadway Goes Green): an initiative that promotes environmentally friendlier practices in theatre production, launched in 2008.
- Broadway Fan Club: A monthly newsletter
- Broadway Speakers Bureau: encouraging high school and college students to explore non-performance careers in theatre
- Apple Awards: a program rewarding efforts to support education programs relating to Broadway or touring Broadway shows that was started in 2003