The bright lights, the excitement, glamour, and fame, all these things come to mind when someone thinks about Broadway. Located in glamorous New York City, Broadway is the place to go to fill all your entertainment needs.

What is Broadway? Broadway is the street in New York that has come to symbolize live theater entertainment throughout the world. Today the area, known to tourists and theatergoers, stretches from West 41st Street, where the Nederlander Theater is located, up to West 53rd Street's Broadway Theater. A Broadway show, refers to a performance staged in one of the thirty-nine larger professional theatres with 500 seats or more. Broadway has a rich history of showing live plays that can be traced back all the way to the early 1800s.

Today, the majority of Broadway theatres are located in the area called Midtown, in and around Times Square. Broadway theatres are usually run by a producing organization or another theatre group. All Broadway shows are professionally produced and adhere to strict contracts for all artists involved.

Shows on Broadway generally run for a varying number of weeks, this is ussally governed by the amount of ticket sales. Musicals will tend to have longer runs than the stage plays as they generally have large casts and a higher prodution value. In addition to long runs in Broadway theatres, producers will often copy the production with a new cast and crew for the Broadway national tour. This tour will then travel to theatres across the country. Both musicals and stage plays on Broadway and in their respective tours will often rely on casting well-known performers in leading roles to draw larger audiences or bring in new audience members to the theatre. Actors from movies and television are frequently cast for the premieres of Broadway shows or are used to replace actors leaving a cast. Most of the performers, however, are still primarily "stage" actors, who spend more time on the stages of New York and will appear in television and screen roles as a secondary venue.

In addition to these shows there are the off Broadway and off-off Broadway shows. These plays and musicals are more intimate shows that are played to smaller audiences while retaining the same level of professionalism that can be found in the larger houses.

At any given time, there can be more than sixty plays and musicals showing on Broadway and at the surrounding houses, including such favorites like Tarzan, Mary Poppins, and Beauty and the Beast. Other shows include The Blue Man Group, Awake and Sing, and Faith Healer. Tickets for these shows are available online and can generally be bought at a discounted prices. In addition to purchasing tickets for the shows, airline tickets and hotel accommodations are just a click away.

With its rich history and glamorous shows, Broadway is sure to offer choice entertainment for everyone. Shows are scheduled daily and with its prime location in the city that never sleeps; theatergoers are sure to find enjoyment even when they are not on Broadway.

Those who want to get the best deals on Broadway tickets and other tickets for that matter turn to the Internet. With a variety of sources offering tickets in a quick, easy and often discounted manner, the net is the best box office going.