Most of the city's big theaters are near Times Square and on Broadway. In fact, in the US the name "Broadway" means big theater shows, usually with singing and dancing.

Tickets for popular shows can be very expensive—sometimes hundreds of dollars. There have even been Broadway shows about Broadway. 42nd Street was about Broadway and New York. It ran for almost 4,000 shows. Mel Brooks' musical The Producers is about a terrible Broadway show.

Some New Yorkers think that Broadway shows are mainly for the tourists. But theater-lovers in the city can also see more unusual plays in Greenwich Village and other areas of the city. New Yorkers can see plays and dance and listen to music at the Lincoln Center. Before the center was built, this area of the city was very poor. Leonard Bernstein's famous musical West Side Story was about two gangs in this area.

Live Music

Great music is everywhere in the city. You can see famous rock bands in Madison Square Garden. You can hear Mozart at the Lincoln Center and at Carnegie Hall. You can hear all kinds of music in the city's hundreds of clubs. Or you can listen to music in churches, on the streets, and in the subway!

The Way to Carnegie Hail

There is an old New York joke about Carnegie Hall. A tourist is lost and walks up to a New Yorker.

"How can I get to Carnegie Hall?" asks the tourist.

"Practice!" answers the New Yorker.