page_title: Old Broadway Theatre
section_title: Performers and performances
hierarchical_section_title: Old Broadway Theatre / Performers and performances
caption_attribution_description: English: Cartes de visite portrait of English-American actress Madame Ponisi (cropped and desaturated)
context_page_description: The Broadway Theatre, called the Old Broadway Theatre since its demise, was at 326–30 Broadway, between Pearl and Anthony Streets in Manhattan. With over 4000 seats, it was the largest theater ever built in New York when it opened. During its brief existence, many prominent performers of the era appeared on its stage. It presented plays, opera, ballet, hippodrama, and circus performances in a space that was reconfigured several times. The operators always struggled to make money, however, and after twelve years the Broadway Theatre was replaced by a more profitable building, for the textile trade.
context_section_description: As at other theaters, the resident stock company presented familiar plays in repertory, with guest stars – touring actors – playing the leading roles during engagements of one or more weeks. Sometimes a new play or special production had a run of consecutive performances. A bill opened with an overture by the house orchestra and comprised a full-length play plus a curtain-raiser or afterpiece, and perhaps another musical, dance, or specialty act, as well. Sometimes the main piece was an opera or ballet by a guest troupe. Summers the company was off, and the house was rented to touring acts. The performers who played the Broadway were the same as those who played the city's other theaters, such as the Park, the Bowery, Niblo's Garden, and the Academy of Music.
caption: Madame Ponisi
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