Support for the Bowery Boys is also provided by Momix, appearing at the Joyce Theater in New York City,

from July 24th through August 12th, seamlessly blending illusion, physicality, magic, and whimsy.

Momix is pure fun. The company's return to the Joyce Theater is now an annual frolic.

This season, Momix's 38th overall, the company of Dance Illusionists, will be performing their most iconic and beloved choreography.

The entire adventure is delivered with tremendous imagination, both in terms of costumes and elusive choreography.

Don't miss the company that the Wall Street Journal raves is full of beguiling, eye-filling, and often impressive visual and movement theatrics.

Tickets at Joyce.org or by calling 212-242-0800.

Or visit the Joyce Theater Box Office at 175-8th Avenue at 19th Street.

Episode 267 of the Bowery Boys. Broadway. The story of a street.

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Support for the Bowery Boys is provided by our listeners. Join us for as little as a dollar a month by visiting patreon.com slash Bowery Boys.

Hello and welcome to the Bowery Boys. My name is Tom Myers. Greg Young, my co-host, is off on vacation this week.

He is currently flitting about the coast of South Carolina. But he will be back soon to join me for our next show.

In the meantime, never fear because today we have the good fortune of being joined by Fran Ledon, the author of a new history of Broadway.

As in Broadway, the street, the city's most famous thoroughfare. The book is called Broadway, a history of New York in 13 miles.

You know, it's funny because Greg and I have probably mentioned Broadway, the street, in just about every show we've done.

In some aspect, because you know, so many of the city's key events have taken place along Broadway or very near it.

And that is also the point of Fran's book that by telling the story of this street, he's actually able to tell the story of the entire city.

Broadway's history goes all the way back to the Dutch days when it first made its way up the southern tip of Manhattan to the city's commons by today's city hall.

On today's show, we'll be discussing how Broadway moved north, literally how it expanded, overcoming natural obstacles and merging with or avoiding old pre-existing roads.

We'll talk about how it took on such an unusual route and also how on earth did Broadway survive once the commissioners plan of 1811 was approved to impose that strict rigid street grid upon the city.

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