By the turn of 19th century, British influence had been suppressed in colonial America thanks to the American Revolution. The new nation was free to create its own identity, and live theater accepted the challenge. Some hotspots, of course, still remained, most notably the Astor Place Riot that occurred in New York City on May 10, 1849. More on that later.
In 1832, William Dunlap, known as “The Father of American Drama”, characterized theater as a powerful engine.
“No arts can be made more effectual for the promotion of good than the dramatic and the histrionic. They unite music, poetry, painting, and eloquence. The engine is powerful for good or ill—it is for society to choose.”Even though some southern states had already embraced live theater, three northern cities became the nerve center: Boston, Philadelphia, and New York.
Boston’s growing pains didn’t stem from British prejudice, but from Puritan resistance. Heavy hitters such as John Hancock and Sam Adams contributed to the religious, as well as artistic, suppression.
However, creativity cannot be squelched. Theaters were masked under names such as Exhibition Hall and Boston Museum. A comedic play, The Contrast, was billed as “a moral lecture in five parts” according to an advertisement in Boston’s Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advisor (October 18, 1792).
Poster of The Boston Museum, circa 1847
Beginning in the late 1700s, Philadelphia claimed to have been the center of theater entertainment until New York commanded the stage after the 1830s. In the 19th century alone, Philadelphia built over 100 theaters. The Chestnut Street Theatre, first opened in 1794 with a capacity of entertaining 2,000 patrons. In comparison, the Gershwin Theatre in New York is considered the largest on Broadway and holds 1,933 seats. The Chestnut Street Theatre was also the first in America to be lit by gaslight.
The Arch Street Theatre opened on October 1, 1828 and boasted a magnificent 108-year run. The notoriously infamous John Wilkes Booth joined the stock company there in 1857.
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| Louisa Lane Drew as Ophelia c. 1840-48 |
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| Lionel, Ethel, and John Barrymore, c. 1904 |
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| Drew Barrymore, 2014 |
New York City live theater started small. The first appeared on Nassau Street in 1732. Nearly twenty years later, the New York Theatre became the first to present a musical in 1750.
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Bowery Theatre |
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| Park Theatre |
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| Astor Place Riot |
Yes, the Revolutionary War had helped America to establish its own identity, and yes, much of the British influence had been suppressed, but not eradicated. Sixty-four years after the war, pockets of loyalists remained on both sides.
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| William Charles Macready |
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| Edwin Forrest |
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| Astor Place Riot |
In a plot twist, once Isaiah Rynders became involved, things got ugly.
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| Hollywood actor Edward G. Robinson as a mob boss |
When the play opened that evening, 10,000 people lined the streets. The riot broke out and vegetables and shoes were replaced with stones. Some attempted to set fire to the building.
The militia was called in, as were the police. In all, 600 soldiers and law enforcement personnel fought against angry civilians answering Rynders’s question: “Shall Americans or English rule this city?”
In the end, nearly two dozen rioters were killed and forty-eight were injured. The militia and policemen also suffered wounds. The theater never was the same, and ended up closing after the next season. Edwin Forrest’s reputation took a hit, as well, because some still saw it as one rival actor attacking another.
Whether this tragedy opened people’s eyes, or the stigma of British rule simply faded, I’m not certain, but at some point in American theater’s four-decade history, things have settled down.
To finish on a happy note, who’s up for musical theater?
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