Talk:Broadway theatre

Theater Opening Dates

I'm tempted to add a column to the table in the "Broadway theatres and current productions" section that shows the year each theater opened, but (a) that table has quite a few columns already and an additional column might make it less readable/useful, and (b), that seems like something I maybe shouldn't do without getting a consensus of this article's editors first.

Perhaps it would actually be better to break that table into two: one that lists current productions (indicating the name of their theater), and another, perhaps in a separate section, that lists all of the current and former theaters and their relevant details.

A third option (which I think I like best), would be to have a new article at List of Broadway Theatres (spelling to be determined/debated), with sections for current and former theaters and columns summarizing all the relevant details. I've made a mockup of what such a list article might look like, based on the content of Template:Broadway theatres here: User:Dave314159/List of Broadway Theatres (Draft). The Broadway Theatres template has the extant former Broadway theatres as their own section, so perhaps it would be desirable to preserve that organization in the list article, but I only thought of that after the mock-up was substantially complete. There are a number of red-linked articles in the template, and filling out the table of defunct theaters could form the basis for stubs for those articles. (Would it perhaps be desirable to have the template entries link to the relevant row of the table in the list article, with the red link preserved in the table itself? Is that even doable?)

What do people think?

- Dave314159 (talk) 17:00, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

I think it's not the worst idea to add a column, but I also don't think it's necessary, because in many cases those theatres were either not opened as Broadway theatres or have seen extended periods of other use, making the info of questionable value. I would outright oppose a separate chart. Especially one that attempts to contain the many, many closed theatres. Maybe a separate list would be okay, but that strikes me as more a navbox or category thing. Hi baby already exist. oknazevad (talk) 20:19, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

@Oknazevad: And what did you think of my third option? Take a look at my rough draft of a potential list article: User:Dave314159/List of Broadway Theatres (Draft) - Dave314159 (talk) 21:36, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

Three thoughts. First, separate extant former theatres from demolished ones. I can still walk into the Ed Sullivan Theater. That makes it different from, say, the Morosco. They shouldn't be grouped together. Secondly, having the chart of current theatres there and here seems redundant. I think removing them and making it a list of only former broadway theatres (which can be linked via a see also hatnote in the current theatres section here) is a more useful list. Finally, please watch the over use of capitalization. Captions, headers, and notes in the charts should be in sentence case, not title case. For that matter, so should the title, per WP:MOS. oknazevad (talk) 22:43, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

I literally was coming to this talk page to suggest splitting this to create a separate List of Broadway Theaters page myself. While the info here is great for an overview of what is currently being performed there is much more info about the theaters themselves that would be beneficial. Date of opening, previous names, image of the building, longest run, etc. I think it would be best to keep on this page a minor list of current productions and the theater they are at, but use a separate article to explain the history of the buildings and how they are linked historically. I previously did a similar thing when I created List of Smithsonian museums a few years ago. It was a great success and drastically decluttered the main Smithsonian Institution page. I would be happy to help with a new list page. Found5dollar (talk) 22:27, 22 March 2020 (UTC)

I've started to construct a separate "List of Broadway theaters" page here. Found5dollar (talk) 17:20, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

With the list of Broadway theaters being a featured list, I think we can just transclude the following code onto this section:

{{trim|{{#section-h:List of Broadway theaters|Active Broadway theaters}}}}

Which actually transcludes the entire section "Active Broadway theaters" from that page onto the Broadway theatre page. The issue I can see is that it eliminates the opening and closing dates of the current production, so I haven't done it myself. – Epicgenius (talk) 15:03, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

The section is as much about the list of current productions as it is about current theatres. So unless those dates are added to the list version of the chart, then it would be a loss of info from the article. That said, perhaps it's not a bad idea if those adjustments are made. Having only one chart to maintain does make things easier. Though I would go the other way, and host the chart here, transcluding it in the list article. This article is much more actively updated to include the current and upcoming productions, so it should be made easier to edit so as to allow that to continue without issue.

That said, I go back to what I thought initially when the idea of a separate list article was proposed (as seen above). We don't really need a separate list article for the current theatres. It's a redundant effort. I think it would be better to have the sole current theatre chart be here and turn the list into solely a list of former theatres, complete with a title change, with a see also hatnote here pointing to there.

Also, frankly, the list article's attempts to shove too much info into a chart format (such as the overly long list of former names for each theatre) is messy. That's the sort of info that belongs in the individual articles, not the list. oknazevad (talk) 14:38, 5 October 2022 (UTC)

COVID-19 Closures

The latest subcategory under the "History" tab is the 1980s. Not only is this, by itself, due for an update, but seeing as the recent closing of Broadway is both historical and unprecedented, there is certainly just cause to update the history of Broadway theatre to include the impact of COVID-19. This is still a developing situation, so it may be wise to hold off on this update until the ramifications are clear and the dust seems to have settled. However, this would still make for an appropriate addition once the time is right. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.99.234.189 (talk) 05:32, 26 March 2020 (UTC)

I agree. The history definitely needs to be updated, being it's already 30-plus years since the last events included. oknazevad (talk) 11:47, 26 March 2020 (UTC)

It appears someone decided to add a COVID related subsection anyway. It would be helpful if the history section expanded to include the emergence of the "mega-musical" in the 80s and 90s, along with the growth in popularity and business over the past decade. I would do this myself, but I don't have much time to find those sources. Metamorph985 (talk) 12:38, 8 January 2021 (UTC)

21st century

This whole section, up and to the first mention of the Covid 19 pandemic, makes no reference to the Theatre and would perhaps better be located in Broadway (Manhattan). I don't see how it is relevant. Any objections to its removal?Mark E (talk) 13:49, 29 March 2022 (UTC) Edit to add: I note this is a fairly recent addition, but if we are to update the history section, it should be related to the theatre, not around traffic and street reconfiguations.Mark E (talk) 13:51, 29 March 2022 (UTC)

With no objections, I have removed this section. Mark E (talk) 09:32, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

Good call. Completely the wrong place. I'm not a fan of some of the heading changes that accompanied the addition of that misplaced material; the previous headers did a better job of marking eras in the history of Broadway theatre in particular. oknazevad (talk) 13:44, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

I also support this removal. Not even sure why stuff about Verdi Square belongs in an article about Broadway theaters, but it looks like this info was simply copied without attribution from Broadway (Manhattan)#21st century. – Epicgenius (talk) 16:45, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Media and Culture Theory - MDC 254

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 29 August 2022 and 9 December 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Appo.20, DanielleMargarite (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Juliad333.

— Assignment last updated by Juliad333 (talk) 19:24, 30 November 2022 (UTC)

Theaters on Broadway (the Street)

This article states that there are only three Broadway theaters actually located on Broadway. The Broadway League also includes Circle in three Square (1633 Broadway), Gershwin (1633 Broadway), and Palace (1564 Broadway) in this list. Those all also have over 500 seats. I'm not confident enough that I'm correct to make an edit like this, but if someone else can confirm this please make the edit. Eyeonezero (talk) 02:22, 17 June 2024 (UTC)