THEATRE | achoruslinebsu

The Landscape of New York Theatre

Theatre in New York City in the 1970s was about trying something new. Building off of shows from the 60s like Hair, How to Succeed in Business, and Cabaret, the theatre of the 1970s was about pushing boundaries and presenting reality in all its messy glory.

Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway

The categorization of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway is based on number of house seats and location. Broadway theatres have more than 500 seats, Off-Broadway has between 100 and 499 seats, while Off-Off-Broadway has, you guess it, less than 100 seats. Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway must all be located in NYC, whereas Broadway houses must be deemed as such by the Broadway League.

In the 1960s and 70s Off-Off-Broadway dealt mostly with experimental theatre that worked to challenge and transform its audiences. They played with boundaries by using nudity and simulated sex in many productions. It was this Off-Off-Broadway movement that inspired Hair in 1968.

'Nudie' Musicals

'Nudie' musicals presented nudity onstage in a way that said 'sex is beautiful and natural and fun and there's no need to be afraid of it'. Unlike XXX theatre, Peep shows, and sex clubs, sex in these musicals was always simulated, never real. These musicals validated the sexual revolution happening outside with shows like Hair, Oh! Calcutta!, Stag Movie, Let My People Come, Le Bellybutton,

African-Americans Featured Onstage

The 1970s were a better time for African-American actors than they had been in the past. Several shows hit Broadway featuring African-American actors in lead roles. Many of these shows one multiple Tony awards and have lasted through the decades as big hits.

Raisin: the musical based on Raisin in the sun
The Wiz
Bubbling Brown Sugar
Porgy and Bess
Ain't Misbehaving

Revue Musicals

Among the forward, innovated musicals coming to fruition in the 1970s there were a large number of review musicals which stuck to spectacle, popular music, and large dance companies. A Chorus Line takes you behind the scenes of an audition for a musical review. A few examples include: This Was Burlesque (1965), Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope (1971), Do It Again! (1971), and That's Entertainment! (1972).

Broadway was not doing well in the early 1970s. In the 1920s Broadway hosted up to 200 shows a year, but in the 1970s they were lucky to have 50. A book titled "Curtain Times: The New York Theatre" stated that it seemed like all the notable dramatists took a few years off in the early 1970s. The mood on Broadway changed in the 1974-75 season to a mood of excitement and hope, possibly thanks to A Chorus Line's off-Broadway debut. To put up a new show in 1974 was a leap of faith, and one that paid off.

Actors Equity

On November 16th, 1970 off-broadway actors and stage managers went on strike demanding higher wages and other benefits. The strike began when the League of Off Broadway Theaters and Producers could not reach an agreement with Actor Equity before the midnight strike cutoff. Click here to read the New York Times article on the issue from November 17th, 1970.

Before 1970, the off-Broadway actor's minimum wage was $75 - $200 a week depending on box office receipts, but 1973 brought with it the actors equity call for a new three year contract. This contract called for a weekly $12.50 raise for the duration of the three year contract. Because of the struggling financial stability of off-Broadway houses, the houses firmly refused, almost causing a strike but they reached a compromise which decided that, essentially, the off-Broadway actors minimum would be equal to the Broadway actors minimum, $210 - $240 weekly.

On January 21, 1974 another strike called for an increase in the maximum seats in an off-Broadway house. The strike ends in one day with the maximum number of seats moved from 299-499 making off-Broadway theatre commercially viable.

Later that same year Equity helped create regulations ensuring that theatres will stay heated during the Energy Crisis, and that buses will continue to be able to take school groups to the theatres. Actors’ Equity Association wins a special Tony Award for its “diligent and tireless effort on behalf of American actors,” at the 1974 Tony Awards.

Click here for more information about Actors' Equity through the 1970s.

Fun Facts

In 1974 straight plays moved their curtain back to 8:00pm, while musicals still started at 7:30pm.
Meryl Streep moved to NYC in 1975 just as A Chorus Line was hitting the scene.
In June 1970s the New York City Public Library at Lincoln Center proposed to tape Broadway performances. Actors Equity agreed, finding it a reasonable compromise that would allow historical records while retaining the fleeting nature of theatre.

Broadway

Training

Training in the theatre world was much different in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s than it is today. There was no such thing as a triple threat, and for many people who wanted to be actors, their dreams were to be on film in Hollywood.

Theatre Outside NYC

Before the 1980s there was little to no notable theatre happening outside of cities like New York, Chicago, and LA. Growing up in the 50s or 60s meant you may have heard about shows happening in the big city, but you would have been very lucky to see them come to you. According to the New York Times, in the 1960s and early 70s "the road was dead," meaning that very few shows went on tour because if they did they didn't make money (Leonhardt). The few theaters in smaller cities that did exist, thanks to the Little Theatre Movement of the 1920s, were struggling to stay afloat. Growing up you may have caught a tour of The King and I in 1954, West Side Story in 1959, or Camelot in 1963 if you were lucky.

Classes

Instead of going to see professional theatre, if you wanted to be a performer, you took classes. Dancers took dance classes and actors went to drama school and took voice lessons on the side. There was no such thing as doing all three. You were either aiming to be a chorus dancer or one of the actors who acted and sang while the chorus danced behind them. Young dancers grew up in ballet classes. You may have attended an Author Murray studio. Author Murray was a pioneer of dance teaching. Before he opened his studios he and his employees went around neighborhoods and sold dance lessons door to door.