All kinds of people come to visit New York City, and they've all got different ideas of what it's going to be like, and more importantly what they want to see while they're there. Of course, Broadway fans are just like everyone else. They want to see the sights, but they also want to catch shows on the Great White Way. Still, there's more to being a theatre fan in New York City than just seeing shows on Broadway. What about all those shows that are set in New York (RENT, A Chorus Line, Avenue Q, and On The Town just to name a few...)? Where do they take place and what goes on in them?

Whether you've seen these shows or not, for the tourist and Broadway fan in you (or maybe just someone who lives in NYC and has never really experienced the sights) I present a fun filled list of some of the sights of the city that take place in shows. This is...

The Broadway Fan's Tourist Guide to New York City!

THE LIFE CAFE: Featured in RENT, this is one of the oldest and most well-loved restaurants in the East Village. It's on the corner of 10th street and Ave B, which according to Marks account of he and Roger's address in the show, is one block south of where our Bohemian friends live on the corner of 11th street and Ave B. Not only is there a registry in the back where you can sign your name as an official RENT head, the whole area of town simply feels like you've walked into the musical. Take a walk up or down Ave A and you're likely to run into any number of street vendors, just like the ones where Angel and Collins shop for the famed jacket.

THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING: Sure, this is a famous New York landmark. Everyone who's coming into the city goes there, right? Well, yes, but to us theatre fans it's much more than that. It's the place featured in Avenue Q where Kate Monster tosses a penny into the air and smacks Lucy the Slut on the head! She was supposed to meet Princeton there, but he didn't show up, hopefully your trip to the top will be better than Kate's.

 

 

THE 181st STREET SUBWAY STOP: "Get off at 181st and take the escalator" are Usnavi's directions to his part of town in the opening number of In The Heights. Hope you wrote down what he said. If so, you can take a look around the area and find that the set for the Broadway show is almost an exact replica of the way Washington Heights actually looks. There are salons, car services, and of course Bodegas. Step inside one on a hot summer afternoon and buy some diet cola or champagne, as long as Sonny's fixed the fridge. Make sure you take a gander to the west and snap a picture of the GWB. That stands for George Washington Bridge. In the show, Nina sings about the GWB in "Breathe". Later on in the show, Usnavi proclaims, "can we sing so loud and raucous that they hear us across the bridge in East Secaucus?" Yup! That's the bridge they're talking about.

CBGB: at 315 Bowery is actually closed to the public, but the actual building and all it's goodies still stand. Anyone can walk right up and take a picture of it. The best part of this location? Not only was it the "Home of Underground Rock" for decades, but it's mentioned in not one, but TWO Broadway shows. Okay, fine, one Broadway and one off-Broadway, but New World Stages is pretty darn close to Broadway. Not only is a venue where Roger Davis of RENT performed with his band, but Monica and Ian of Rooms: A Rock Romance traveled all the way from the UK to take part in the musical revolution started by the bands that played there.

 

39 WHITEHALL STREET: All the way down at the bottom of Manhattan is a street called Whitehall. Although the Army Induction Center, at 39 Whitehall street, was bombed by Sam Melville in 1969, the street is still there and you can go to this part of town to get a feel for the area where Sheila and Berger look for Claude as they "Yip" out the bad and protest for the sun to shine in.

 

 

MACDOUGAL ALLEY: The characters of On The Town may not get a chance to visit this little place between West 4th street and Washington Square North, but you can. Chip sings about how, "There are 20,000 streets in New York, not counting MacDougal Alley the heart of Green-Witch Village, a charming thoroughfare filled with...," and he wasn't the only one to think so. Many famous American's have lived on this block in Manhattan from Eleanor Roosevelt to Eugene O'Neill--now if that's not a piece of theatre history, I'm not sure what is.

 

ODEON: If you're hungry in the midst of all this, head over to Tribeca and grab something to eat at the restaurant where many of the characters in Bright Lights Big City spend their time. Jamie knows he should be working, but he'd rather spend his time with some girls at 145 West Broadway. It's not the cheapest place in the city, but if won't break the bank either. If you're going to go all-out on New York, theatre style, why not splurge a little?

 

 

MACYS: Now...if you're like my male friends, you may regard Macys' flagship store on 34th street as the 7th layer of hell (it has about a million floors and you could get lost inside if you're not careful), but if you love to shop, it may be a God-send. Not only do they host our Thanksgiving Day Parade every year, not only is it one of the most famous stores in the country, it's also a part of Thoroughly Modern Millie. And when those all-American characters aren't at Macys, they're at 1270 Avenue of the America's visiting Brooks Brothers.

 

THE APOLLO THEATER: In the Broadway show and hit movie musical Dreamgirls, the Dreamettes head up to 253 W. 125th Street and enter a talent competition at the historic Apollo Theater. The Apollo was founded in the mid-1800s as a dance/ballroom, and just before the turn of the century it was brought under new management and changed into a theater. But this site isn't just great for Broadway fans, it's about music in general. Many of the greats from John Lennon to Michael Jackson have worked that well-worn stage.

 

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: Talk about the most theatre-centric school in the country. Located all around the city, but mostly by Washington Square Park, not only is NYU known all-around for being the top Musical Theatre School with their studio Cap21 churning out Broadway performers left and right, but it's also mentioned in a whole slew of musicals! Just for starters, Mary in Bright Lights Big City sings a whole song about a NYU student who goes missing...could that student be Sheila Franklin from HAIR? Okay, probably not, but hey, she does go there. We learn in the musical that she's in her second semester. And finally, everyone's favorite college professor Tom Collins comes back to New York City to teach his theory of "Actual Reality" to the "couch potatoes at New York University." And, okay, we don't really believe their couch potatoes, right? But hey, that's what he says...

 

Then, of course, there are the more classic places. In Altar Boyz they talk about someday wanting to perform at Madison Square Garden. And who can forget 42nd Street, I mean, come on, they named the whole musical after it! If you're coming in from out of town, be sure to download the song "Another Hundred People" from Stephen Sondheim's Company before you get here. You'll see how true to life those lyrics about everyone getting off of the "plane, or the train and the bus" really are.

I know these aren't ALL the sights there are to see in the city, not even all the ones that take place in shows. Still, as you zip around the city by bus, subway or cab, you can imagine your favorite Broadway characters hanging out at various locations, or perhaps snapping pictures with you if (like Millie from Thoroughly Modern Millie for example) they're new to town, too.