Theater in the United States
Definition Significant stage presentations on
Broadway and throughout the United States
Major trends in theater, which had matured in the 1980’s,
continued to be the focus of theatrical art throughout the
1990’s. These trends included the introduction of African
American, feminist, and gay and lesbian issues to Broad-
way, the strengthening of Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway,
and regional theaters, and the growing interest in alterna-
tive theatrical production.
Throughout the 1990’s, theatrical activity had
greatly increased in Off-Broadway and Off-Off-
Broadway venues, and, indeed, theater had emerged
from the confines of New York City and grown
greatly across the United States. Moreover, issues
such as gay rights and the African American experi-
ence, which had been confined to specialized ven-
ues, were now being presented in major American
theater houses on Broadway and across the country.
Alternative New York theaters such as Women’s One
World (WOW) were offering intensely specialized
productions.
Broadway To begin the decade, A Chorus Line
(pr. 1975) closed on Broadway to a record 6,137 per-
formances. Also in 1990, Craig Lucas opened his
play,Prelude to a Kiss, which deals with the issue of
AIDS, an unusual subject for Broadway at that time.
August Wilson, America’s talented African Ameri-
can playwright, won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize forThe
Piano Lesson(pr. 1987). In 1991, Neil Simon won
both a Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer
Prize in drama for his traditional comedyLost in Yon-
kers, and Edward Albee, the leading American play-
wright of the decade, was awarded the William Inge
Award for Lifetime Achievement in the American
Theatre. Broadway was enlivened by a new musical,
The Secret Garden(pr. 1991), written by Marsha Nor-
man and Lucy Simon. The production won three
Tony Awards that year and ran for 709 perfor-
mances. Tony Kushner’sAngels in America: A Gay Fan-
tasia on National Themes, a play in two parts, created a
major stir for its frank portrayal of the gay experi-
ence in America. Part one,Millennium Approaches,
debuted in 1991, and part two,Perestroika, in 1992.
That year, a major influx of Hollywood stars ap-
peared on Broadway, including Alan Alda, Gene
Hackman, Judd Hirsch, Glenn Close, and Jessica
Lange. Broadway celebrated its one hundredth
birthday in 1993 with Simon’sLaughter on the Twenty-
third Floor and Wendy Wasserstein’s The Sisters
Rosensweig, starring Jane Alexander.
Broadway’s weakest year of the decade was 1995,
for there were only twenty-nine productions run-
ning. A positive note was that Terrence McNally
transferred his hit play Love! Valour! Compassion!
(pr. 1994) from Off-Broadway to a Broadway venue
in 1995. McNally’s play, which received rave reviews
and a positive audience response, deals with the is-
sue of homosexuality and AIDS, now considered ac-
ceptable subject matter for commercial theater. By
1996, Broadway had regained its vigor, and there
were thirty-nine shows in all, providing the highest
income year in history: $430 million. The feature of
the 1996 season wasRent, Jonathan Larson’s remak-
ing of Giacomo Puccini’sLa Bohème(pr. 1896) into a
modern rock opera, which won four Tony Awards
(including Best Musical) and the Pulitzer Prize in
drama. Another extremely popular musical,Chicago
(pr. 1975), originally created by famed director-
choreographer Bob Fosse, was revived in 1996 and
won six Tony Awards.
In 1997, Andrew Lloyd Webber’sCats(pr. 1981)—
based on a collection of children’s verse, T. S. Eliot’s
Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats(1939)—became
the longest-running show on Broadway.Catsrepre-
sented what had earlier come to be known as Broad-
way’s British invasion. The Englishman who led this
invasion was Lloyd Webber, who had been a prolific
presence in American theater ever since the success
of his 1971 rock operaJesus Christ Superstar. Neverthe-
less, American creators of musicals were not to be
overwhelmed by the British. Maury Yeston and Peter
Stone’sTitanic(pr. 1997), about the sinking of the
RMSTitanicin 1912, featured powerful songs and
lyrics and a stunning scenic innovation in which an
ocean liner sank on stage. The musical won five Tony
Awards. James Cameron’s filmTitanicwas released
later that year.
Also in 1997, a positive uproar was created by a
new face on Broadway, Julie Taymor, the director-
choreographer who fashioned inThe Lion Kinga
production fascinating for children as well as adults.
Produced in Disney’s newly refurbished New Am-
sterdam Theatre,The Lion Kingused the whole the-
ater space in which to perform, and the production
featured elaborate, innovative, and larger-than-life
puppets as lions, tigers, and elephants. The musical852 Theater in the United States The Nineties in America