Big Apple History . Arts and Entertainment . From Vaudeville to Broadway


	Theatrical posters in Times Square

Audiences at the Victoria Theater in Times Square were used to rowdy shows, like the Cherry Sisters. Advertised as "America's Worst Act," the sisters performed behind a net, to protect them when the audience threw rotten eggs.

Another popular show was "Hanged." In the final scene, the warden -- who claimed to oppose capital punishment -- refused to drop the rope. An audience member was then invited on stage to do it. The play was later renamed "Electrocution" to keep up with the times.

Before TV, before radio, before the movies -- there were variety shows. Mostly for male audiences, they featured stage violence, noisy audience participation, and girls in scanty clothing. By the late 1800s, however, variety shows gave way to vaudeville. More respectable and acceptable to female audiences, vaudeville shows usually offered a mix of comedy skits, song and dance acts, and uplifting morality plays.

With the rise of film in the 1920s, vaudeville all but disappeared, but its offspring -- Broadway musical theater -- has lasted to this day in shows like "Showboat," "Oklahoma!," and "Cats."

Illustration: Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.