Theater art in the USA: Broadway plays / Театральное искусство в США: Бродвейские пьесы
Broadway is a big and wide avenue. It runs the entire length of Manhattan Island in New York City. It passes through the middle of the Theater district concentrated around Times Square and has lent its name to those spectacular musical productions known as the Broadway play.
There are actually three types of Broadway theatrical productions: Broadway plays, Off-Broadway plays and Off-off-Broadway Plays. Broadway Plays are always performed in the 38 Broadway theaters clustered around Times Square near Broadway between 41st Street and 53rd Street. Most of them are musical productions with spectacular staring extravagant costumes and top quality song and dance performances. Tickets cost between $75 and $130.
Off-Broadway Plays are performed in approximately 50 smaller theaters scattered around Manhattan. The productions may be musicals, comedies or serious dramas and are typically less spectacular than Broadway plays. The talent is usually first class, as this is where the future Broadway stars get their experience Tickets cost between $20 and $50.
Off-off-Broadway Plays are performed in about 200 small theaters, lofts, clubs or church halls scattered around New York City. Off-Off Broadway is scattered around Manhattan. The quality of the production and of the talent varies considerably. Some of the plays are experimental or avant-garde. Tickets cost between $10 and $30.
You can find tickets for most productions. You can even get some real bargains on certain plays. You can find reviews of most productions in the New York Times newspaper, the New Yorker magazine and on several Broadway web sites. Broad-way.com gets you quality seats and gives you fast efficient service. But, tickets for the most popular current hits can be very difficult to find. They may require some advanced planning.
No visit to New York City would be complete without seeing at least one Broadway musical production!
Словарь
a theatrical production (s) — театральная постановка
to be clustered around smth — сгруппированный вокруг чего-либо, располагающийся возле чего-либо
top quality — самое высокое качество или уровень
approximately — приблизительно
to be scattered around — разбросанный вокруг чего-либо
to get some real bargains — хорошо поторговаться получить хорошие скидки
fast efficient service — быстрое и качественное обслуживание