Their favorite haunt is Broadway.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of late stage legends from Judy Garland to Bob Fosse are reportedly still roaming Broadway \u2014 prompting today\u2019s actors to weave quirky traditions into their daily routines to try to appease Midtown\u2019s Theater District gods, a longtime tour guide told The Post.<\/p>\n
The upstairs apartment of New York\u2019s Belasco Theater is rumored to be the permanent home of famed old producer and writer David Belasco\u2019s ghost. The LIFE Images Collection\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
At the New Amsterdam Theater on West 42nd Street, home to the long-running \u201cThe Lion King,\u201d workers greet large portraits of Olive Thomas \u2014 a former Ziegfeld Follies chorus girl whose ghost is said to be among the most active on Broadway \u2014 each day to keep her mischief at bay, Broadway historian and guide Jeff Dobbins said.<\/p>\n
One of the hit show\u2019s casts even held a ceremony to \u201capologize\u201d to Thomas in the early 2000s after its turntable operating a \u201cPride Rock\u201d set piece mysteriously broke and cancelled a performance, he said.<\/p>\n
Ziegfeld Follies chorus girl Olive Thomas is said to be a permanent resident of the New Amsterdam Theater. Corbis via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThe management of the New Amsterdam is quite upfront: like, \u2018Yeah, this is a factor in this theater, and don\u2019t be surprised if you encounter an unexplained circumstance,\u2019 \u201d said Dobbins, who used to manage the Lyric Theater a block away.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an industry that\u2019s coexisting with all these spirits,\u201d he said. \u201c[Broadway workers] know that\u2019s a part of working with that theater. <\/p>\n
\u201cI would say as a whole, almost every theater has its spirits and its unusual occurrences.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dobbins also listed missing props, flashing lights and locking doors as commonplace happenings in Big Apple theaters attributed to otherworldly phenomena. <\/p>\n
While working as a tour guide at the New Amsterdam Theater in the early 2000s, the historian caught his own glimpse of Thomas \u201cpretty clearly\u201d in a full-length mirror, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw her image in the mirror, looking right at me \u2013 and by the way, not in a malevolent way at all,\u201d he said. \u201c[It was] in a sort of a mischievous way: She only appears to men, and she\u2019s flirty. People have heard her say, \u2018Hiya fella!\u2019 and blow a kiss before disappearing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say as a whole, almost every theater has its spirits and its unusual occurrences,\u201d Broadway expert Jeff Dobbins told The Post. Jeff Dobbins\/Bowery Boys Walks<\/p>\n
While the New Amsterdam has one of the most gregarious ghosts, Dobbins noted that the Palace Theatre is recognized by many as the most haunted.<\/p>\n
The 1910s-era former vaudeville house is where up to 100 ghosts reside, according to local theater experts.<\/p>\n
Some of the Palace\u2019s most famous reported otherworldly denizens include Garland, who is known to hum in the wings, as well as a famed acrobat who died during a tight-rope performance in its early days.<\/p>\n
The Belasco Theatre on West 44th Street is hauntingly fascinating. Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n
Dobbins said his business is brisk despite an overall reported decline in theater tourism \u2014 with one of his recent Lower Manhattan ghost jaunts selling out so quickly that he had to \u201cdouble\u201d the number of tour dates.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere seems to be a fascination with ghost tours and spirits and the history of all of this,\u201d he said, adding that global hits such as \u201cHamilton\u201d have renewed interest in both musical theater and history among a new generation of fans.<\/p>\n
The tour guide said the macabre stories weaved into his regular Broadway tours \u2014 which he\u2019s led since the late \u201990s \u2014 always get audiences to \u201creally perk up.<\/p>\n
A 1920s-era view of West 47th Street includes the famed Palace Theatre on the left. Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who take Broadway tours are most fascinated with what happens behind the curtains and history,\u201d he said, adding tour groups consistently inquire about the spirits haunting New York\u2019s famous theaters.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople from Broadway past are still an element on Broadway,\u201d he said, \u201cOften the theater staff, when you move into a theater, they\u2019ll be the ones \u2026 to say, \u2018listen, don\u2019t be surprised if over in this corner, something happens.’\u201d <\/p>\n
At the Belasco Theater, performers say a glimpse of the ghost of \u201cBishop of Broadway\u201d David Belasco, a famed old producer and writer, in his private box on opening night is a sign of a Broadway hit.\u00a0<\/p>\n