From Production Center to Global Show Room: Theatre in Times Square after 1945

For most of the twentieth century, Times Square was a thoroughly theatrical urban space.  Through WWII, this mixed-use district had an abundance of theatres, rehearsal studios, costume houses, fabric stores, and dozens of workspaces for agents, producers, and dance teachers.  Nearby scene shops and lighting firms rounded out a remarkable center of theatrical production.  As these businesses proliferated, they helped to turn New York City into a national culture capital, capable of sustaining not just theatre, but also vaudeville, radio, and early television.  The powerful “Broadway” brand drew countless theatergoers to Times Square, and a dense network of performers and unionized workers flourished on surrounding streets well into the 1950’s. Though craftspeople, artists, and producers benefited from the efficiency of this district prior to 1945, they struggled as midtown transitioned to an information economy.
    This paper will focus on the global context of that struggle.  Broadway shows remained vital city products after WWII, but the craftspeople who assembled them tended to work outside Manhattan by the 1950’s and 1960’s.  This was partly due to rising midtown rents, but also the development projects that razed their workspaces.  Most city leaders, planners, and developers after 1945 championed office towers, which could better support an expansive, increasingly global, information economy.  By the 1970’s and 1980’s, such projects had undercut the local craft and construction capacities of the theatre district.
    Broadway producers survived in this new age by taking a distinctive “New York” form, the American musical, and shoring it up with global marketing strategies.  No longer could they build their products affordably within a single district, but they could surmount exorbitant construction costs by producing international blockbusters.  In the process, they helped to transform Times Square from a craft and construction center into a global showroom for live theatre.