Dynamic cultural institutions have a long history of making New York City a superstar on the world stage
It’s no exaggeration that New York City is the nation’s epicenter of creativity and has been for generations. Many of its cultural landmarks date back more than a century.
When tourists come to New York, they want to see big-time art museums, catch a Broadway show and perhaps attend the taping of a TV show. They inevitably zero in on Midtown Manhattan, particularly Times Square and the theater district, the heartbeat of the city that never sleeps.
The theater scene goes back to New York’s first playhouse, established in Lower Manhattan in 1732. Following the 1732-1907 timeline at the Museum of Broadway, you learn that showplaces gradually moved north until Times Square became the epicenter of large-scale theatrical productions between 1900 and the Great Depression. This was the beginning of the district known as Broadway, which now counts 41 theaters in a 25-block radius, with Times Square at its core. The oldest theaters—the Lyceum, Hudson and New Amsterdam—are still in use; all opened in 1903.
Minstrel shows (with performers in blackface) gained popularity with New Yorkers in the second half of the 19th century. Vaudeville’s variety shows took hold in the early 20th century, and at the same time, the music publishing industry thrived on a small strip of 28th Street called Tin Pan Alley.
A giant of the American stage in the early 1900s was George M. Cohan, a producer, director, playwright, lyricist and entertainer whose shows included classic songs like “Give My Regards to Broadway,” “Yankee Doodle Boy” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag.” Cohan is remembered in Times Square with a bronze statue at 46th Street and Seventh Avenue.
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A Great Broadway History in NY
Creating buzz on Broadway during the same period was the Ziegfeld Follies, a series of scripted musical revues produced by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. Mixing song, dance and comedy, the shows featured chorus girls in extravagant costumes and top-name performers like Eddie Cantor, Fanny Brice, W.C. Fields, Will Rogers and Sophie Tucker.
The Museum of Broadway’s excellent exhibit on the Follies showcases a chorus girl’s gold shoes, gold purse and tiara, plus other artifacts discovered in the New Amsterdam Theatre (the Follies’ home from 1913-1927) when it was taken over by Disney Theatrical Productions in the 1990s. The 42nd Street venue, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was restored to its Art Nouveau glory and reopened in 1997. The rundown theater had been dark for many years after serving as a movie house from 1937-1983. Disney’s renovation has been credited with reviving Times Square and making it more family-friendly, as the environs had become tawdry and crime-ridden. The 1,702-seat New Amsterdam today is home to Disney’s long-running musical Aladdin.
Another historic venue on the National Register, the Ed Sullivan Theatre, on Broadway between 53rd and 54th streets, was built in 1927 as a Broadway theater and has hosted “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” since 1915 (and David Letterman’s talk fest before that). With a Neo-Gothic interior designed to resemble a cathedral, it housed “The Ed Sullivan Show” from 1953-1971.
Colbert tickets are hard to get, so most fans have to settle for posing with the marquee. The Museum of Broadway opened its doors in November 2022. A treasure house for theater buffs, it really appeals to anyone interested in the culture and history of New York. Steps from Times Square, the museum resides next door to the historic Lyceum Theatre on West 45th Street.
Serenaded by show tunes playing in the background, museum visitors immerse themselves in theater lore as told through costumes, props, and archival photos and video clips. Inevitably, folks find themselves humming along as they peruse exhibits on their favorite shows, whether it’s Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story or Disney’s The Lion King. Or maybe you’re a fan of Cats, Oklahoma!, Rent, Cabaret, A Chorus Line or Fiddler on the Roof. Along the way are Instagram moments where you can strike poses in sets with your favorite iconic characters.
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Many Fun Activities in New York
A new attraction called Rise NY, just down the street from the Museum of Broadway, may be the most fun way to learn about New York’s history. Enjoy a film narrated by actor Jeff Goldblum, interactive galleries touching on everything from movies and television to fashion and finance, and a flight-simulation ride that makes you feel like you’re swooping over the city.
Radio City Music Hall, a 10-minute walk from Times Square, has been entertaining audiences since its debut on December 27, 1932. An Art Deco masterpiece adorned with marble, gold leaf, chandeliers, sculptures, murals, wood panels and plush drapery and carpeting, the Avenue of the Americas landmark is the largest indoor theater in the world, its marquee a full block long.
Radio City was conceived and financed by John D. Rockefeller Jr. as part of Rockefeller Center, a complex of commercial buildings that was intended to bring hope and optimism during the Great Depression when the city was flooded with vacant rental space. In creating this palace for the people, Rockefeller partnered with Radio Corporation of America (RCA). They were joined by the talents of impresario S.L. “Roxy” Rothafel, who had earned a reputation as a theatrical genius by employing an innovative combination of vaudeville, movies and razzle-dazzle decor to revive struggling theaters across America. Radio City’s popular movie-and-stage-show format, which included performances by the high-kicking Rockettes precision dance company, ended in 1979.
For many years a first-run movie theater, Radio City Music Hall hosted premieres of such films as King Kong, National Velvet, White Christmas, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and To Kill a Mockingbird, which starred former Radio City usher, Gregory Peck. Today, it is known primarily as a venue for concerts and stage shows, including The Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes, a holiday tradition since 1933. Behind-the-scenes tours of the 6,000-seat auditorium include meeting a costumed member of the Rockettes.
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Art Fans Love New York City
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan between 62nd and 65th streets, also has an interesting history. Built in the 1960s in an urban renewal project that razed the Puerto Rican and black neighborhood of San Juan Hill, the 16-acre campus features concert halls and auditoriums that house the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet and other arts institutions.
Carnegie Hall, renowned for its unsurpassed acoustics, has been one of the world’s best venues for music since the opening night concert conducted by Tchaikovsky on May 5, 1891. The world’s top orchestras perform in the main Isaac Stern Auditorium, while Weill Recital Hall hosts chamber music and Zankel Hall features music of all genres. The second-floor Rose Museum showcases archival treasures. Group tours of the Italian Renaissance-style building on Seventh Avenue at 57th Street are available.
On Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, a short walk from Times Square, visitors pose for photos next to one of the marble lions guarding the entrance of the flagship New York Public Library, which was dedicated by President William Howard Taft on May 23, 1911. Then the largest marble building in the country, it was hailed by the New York Herald as “a splendid temple of the mind.” This masterpiece of Beaux-Arts architecture, officially the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, awes visitors with its majestic public spaces, which can be admired on a free docent-led tour highlighted by the third floor’s Rose Main Reading Room, nearly the length of a football field. A celestial ceiling mural and massive windows overlooking the 42 oak tables give the room a jaw-dropping grandeur.
Also featured on the one-hour tour: Astor Hall, the palatial lobby noted for its expanses of white marble, soaring arches, intricately carved wood and two broad staircases; DeWitt Wallace Periodical Room, with its richly paneled walls and murals of the historical headquarters of great New York publishing houses; and the Map Collection Room, one of the world’s largest repositories of maps, atlases and globes. A self-guided audio tour is available as well.
Treasures: The Polonsky Exhibition presents a selection of rare materials from the library’s vast collections, offering an intellectually stimulating take on famous people and their achievements over the centuries. Items on view include Charles Dickens’s writing desk and chair, a 1455 Gutenberg Bible and the original stuffed animals that inspired the Winnie-the-Pooh books.
Art lovers know that New York is home to an overwhelming collection of artistic riches, many of them found along Fifth Avenue’s Museum Mile. The crown jewel undoubtedly is the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met), the largest museum in the Western Hemisphere.
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New York City is full of mind-expanding experiences
Founded in 1870 by a group of civic leaders, businessmen and philanthropists, the Met opened in 1880 at its current location in Central Park, where the original building is completely surrounded by various additions. Its first acquisition was a Roman sarcophagus. In 1871, 174 European paintings, including works by Anthony van Dyck, Nicolas Poussin and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, entered the collection.
You can see only a fraction of the Met’s holdings on a single visit, so pick and choose from the diverse smorgasbord—Egyptian mummies, Greek and Roman antiquities, American decorative arts, European paintings, arms and armor, the Costume Institute’s blockbuster fashion exhibition, the list goes on.
From attending live theater to perusing dead Egyptians, culturally-focused visitors to New York City need never fear running out of mind-expanding experiences.
By Randy Mink, Senior Editor
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