ABSTRACT
One recent change that has benefited Broadway is the improved social status of musicals. Historians disagree about musical theater's "Golden Age"; some believe it was the period encompassing the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s, some limit it to the years 1924–1937, while others see it spanning the 1920s all the way to the 1970s. Broadway box office statistics are one way to measure audience's increased interest. Even with higher-priced tickets, mounting a musical is a risky and expensive business. Touring and regional productions play an important role in sustaining musical theater. Many tours are mounted through the auspices of Live Nation Entertainment, which has investments in a network of more than 100 theaters across United States and Canada. Hamilton has widened the Broadway theater aesthetic to include rap and hip-hop as valid stylistic options. In the Thirtieth Annual Easter Bonnet competition, Lin-Manuel Miranda led his fellow Hamilton performers in a rendition of their show's opening number, but set to new poetry.
