Photographer Tanya Braganti On Capturing Broadway’s Theaters

For photographer Tanya Braganti, the streets of New York City have always provided an endless array of subjects. From her days at The New York Daily News, where she captured everything from fashion shows to heart surgeries, to her freelance work for architects, universities, and non-profits, Braganti has developed a keen eye for the city’s ever-unfolding stories.

In 2012, she took on a particularly monumental task: photographing all of Broadway’s historic theaters for Spotlight on Broadway, a project spearheaded by Commissioner Kathryn Oliver under Mayor Bloomberg’s Office of Media & Entertainment. (The videos from the project can be viewed on YouTube.)

“I was fortunate to work with TVGals Media’s Bobbie Birleffi and Beverly Kopf, the Emmy-winning directors and producers of Spotlight on Broadway, when I helped do photo stills in Nashville for their documentary Wish Me Away, the coming-out story of Chely Wright in 2010,” she explains.

Braganti’s familiarity with Broadway theaters was, admittedly, limited before the project. “I had seen some plays when I first came to New York City—Les Parents Terribles with Kathleen Turner, Proof—and my mom’s Oklahoma! and Carousel albums were on repeat in my childhood,” says Braganti. “But I wasn’t too familiar with the theaters themselves.” That quickly changed.

Given the non-stop activity in Broadway’s venues, scheduling was a challenge. “There was so much going on 24/7, so we usually had about an hour to work on each,” she says. “With the help of the producers, we honed in on each theater’s unique aspects as efficiently as possible.”

Some theaters left a particularly strong impression. The Cort Theatre (now the James Earl Jones Theatre) stood out for its transportive, 18th-century European aesthetic. “It has a marble bust of Marie Antoinette and ‘Minuet Dance in the Garden of Versailles’ over the proscenium,” Braganti notes. “Katharine Hepburn made her Broadway debut there in 1928.”

Another unforgettable space was the Walter Kerr Theatre, whose intimate Renaissance atmosphere and cultural significance made an impact. “Tony Kushner called it ‘one of the most perfectly designed theaters and a national treasure.’ During the early ’90s run of Angels in America, it became a gathering place to mourn the decimation of a community during the AIDS crisis,” Braganti reflects. “That kind of history is palpable.”

She was also captivated by hidden historical details, such as the ice conveyor systems found in some theater basements. “They used to blow fans over ice blocks to cool the first-class section,” she says, referring to a relic of a bygone era that still lingers beyond the modern Broadway experience.

Reflecting on the project, Braganti is struck by how Broadway serves as both a stage for theatrical history and a living time capsule. “Time kind of folds over itself in these theaters. Whether renovated or not, these floorboards and fixtures breathe the past—from the moment Barbra Streisand saw her first show, to the theater where Eugene O’Neill directed his first play, to the stage where George Clooney will make his debut.”

For Braganti, photographing Broadway was more than just a job—it was a journey through New York’s artistic heartbeat. “Entering these theaters, you experience the past and present as one moment. That’s the magic of Broadway.”