A New Theater Capital.

By 1850 New York City, with a population of 500,000, had become the center of theatrical activity in the United States, a position formerly held by Philadelphia. The largest New York theater was the New Bowery Theater, featuring a large proscenium stage and four thousand seats. Twice as large as the largest theater of twenty years earlier, the New Bowery reflected not only the dynamic growth of American cities and their increasingly urbanized, middle-class populations, but also the democratic spirit that Walt Whitman was celebrating in the 1850s. Other cities with major theaters were Boston, Charleston, and New Orleans. At a first-class theater, ticket prices averaged from fifty to seventy-five cents for seats in the orchestra section, twenty-five cents for box seats, and twelve cents for seats in the galleries. Over the next two decades top ticket prices rose to a dollar and...