The term originally referred to any venue, and its productions, on a street intersecting
Broadway in
Midtown Manhattan's
Theater District, the hub of the American theatre industry. It later became defined by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers as a professional venue in Manhattan with a
seating capacity of at least 100, but not more than 499, or a production that appears in such a venue and adheres to related
trade union and other contracts. The adoption of the 499-seat criterion occurred after a one-day strike in January 1974. Examples of off-Broadway theatres within the Broadway Box are the
Laura Pels Theatre and
The Theater Center. The off-Broadway movement started in the 1950s as a reaction to the perceived commercialism of Broadway and provided less expensive venues for shows that have often employed future Broadway artists. An early success was
Circle in the Square Theatre's 1952 production of
Summer and Smoke by
Tennessee Williams. According to theatre historians Ken Bloom and Frank Vlastnik, off-Broadway offered a new outlet for "poets, playwrights, actors, songwriters, and designers. ... The first great Off-Broadway musical was the 1954 revival" of
The Threepenny Opera, which proved that off-Broadway productions could be financially successful. Critic
John Gassner argued at the time, however, that "Broadway is just as eclectic – and just as footless – as 'Off-Broadway'."
Theatre Row, on West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues in Manhattan, is a concentration of off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theatres. It was developed in the mid-1970s and modernized in 2002. Many off-Broadway shows have had subsequent runs on Broadway, including such musicals as
Hair,
Godspell,
Little Shop of Horrors,
Sunday in the Park with George,
Rent,
Grey Gardens,
Urinetown,
Avenue Q,
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,
Rock of Ages,
In the Heights,
Spring Awakening,
Next to Normal,
Hedwig and the Angry Inch,
Fun Home,
Hamilton,
Dear Evan Hansen,
Hadestown, and
Kimberly Akimbo. In particular, two that became Broadway hits,
Grease and
A Chorus Line, encouraged other producers to premiere their shows off-Broadway. ==Awards==