From an award-winning author and internationally known expert on American theater history

The definitive history of theater in New York City

Features rare archival photos and never-before-published pen-and-ink drawings from the 1930s by Anthony F. Dumas

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Mary Henderson was, for more than a decade, curator of the theater collection at the Museum of the City of New York. A frequent lecturer, she has curated exhibits across the country and authored several books, including Theater In America, Broadway Ballyhoo, The New Amsterdam: Biography of a Broadway Theater, and Mielziner: Master of Modern Stage Design. She lives in Congers, NY.

Remarkably well researched and immensely entertaining, this definitive history of theater in New York City spans more than three centuries and relates the development of theater to the social, political, economic, and cultural climate of the time. Readers learn that it was in 1699 that a petition was first made for a license to perform plays in Manhattan and that 30 years later the first theater opened in Manhattan. From colonial New York, the story continues through the 20th century to the birth, and rebirth, of the theater district in Times Square and the revitalization of 42nd Street in the mid-1990s. An A to Z listing of every Broadway theater ever to exist is also included. Each listing features a photograph or illustration of the theater, its address, the architect, the opening production, historical information, and, if applicable, when the theater was demolished.