Whats the difference between Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway?
A Broadway theatre is a house of 500 seats or more, used primarily for theatre, and in the district bounded by Sixth Avenue to Eighth Avenue, 41st to 54th Streets. The Vivian Beaumont is outside this district but also qualifies as Broadway. Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and City Center all have larger houses than Broadway but theatrical shows in those houses aren’t considered Broadway. 99 to 499 seats is a reasonable guide for Off-Broadway but the strict definition is about whether the shows are mounted by companies working under an Equity contract or not. There are some Equity companies working in under-99 seat houses, some of which call themselves Off-Broadway and some of which don’t. The 99 seat cutoff derives from Equity’s showcase code which specifies the conditions under which Equity actors may work for a production not governed by a contract. It limits the the length of run (20 or 24 performances), the price which can be charged and the size of theatre which can b
