Street of Dreams
Our story starts with an Indian path that ran along the length of Manhattan. The Dutch settlers called the route «Heere Straet» and used it to connect their settlements of Niew Amsterdam and Niew Haarlem. After the English conquest, the road became known as «Broadway.» Towards the end of the 19th century a section of Broadway in lower Manhattan became the first road in America to be illuminated by electric carbon arc lamps. They bathed the theaters that had set up there in bright, garish lights that gave the entire district the nickname «Great White Way.»
Readers will find this monicker repeatedly in the following pages – find it in the original English, that is. For the first time in Aufbau´s recent history, we publish essays in German and English versions. We will continue in this bilingual fashion, which also marks a return to Aufbau´s format during the early days of the journal in the 1940s – a time when the golden age of Broadway began. The history and the present state of New York´s theater industry are subject of this issue. Contributions in German focus on the impact Jewish composers from Austria made on Broadway and take a look at the evolution of musical theater in New York. Our English language essays examine Broadway traditions and current conditions there.
As author and theater scholar Johnna Kaplan explains, today´s «Broadway» lies to the west of the actual road between 40th and 50th Street in Midtown Manhattan. Here theaters with names such as «The Gershwin», «The Shubert», «The Richard Rogers» or «The Stephen Sondheim» draw millions of visitors annually, many of them tourists. But these names also signal the enormous importance of Jewish composers, lyricists, producers and owners in Broadway´s history and present. These personalities stood at the cradle of American theater and play a significant role in New York's theater scene today. As Kaplan writes, «it is a lie that the Jews control the banks and run the media, but it could be – and has been – argued that the Jews built Broadway.»
Amelia Bienstock takes a look at today´s theater scene. Writing from her own experiences as a reporter and theater employee, Bienstock mainly perceives stagnation and risk aversion on Broadway today. Driven by the need to present spectacles that can compete with movies and theme parks, producers built on familiar materials and themes to attract the mass audiences necessary for healthy balance sheets. Nevertheless Bienstock discovers compelling moments even during long running hits such as «The Lion King».
In a second piece, Bienstock takes readers behind the scenes and finds people who dream of stage careers. Meanwhile workers such as Teresa and Ed are happy with their parts on Broadway out of the spotlight. Writing from an actor´s perspective, Zac Jaffee gives detailed insights into the economic situation of most Broadway performers. The San Francisco native also explains the role unions play in the theater industry. While he lets readers understand that most performers work very hard for small material rewards, Jaffee makes us believe that there is something magical about theater even in an era of mega-productions such as «Lion King» or «Les Miserables». ●
