Writer and performer Noah Diamond made his New York debut on a double-decker tour bus. 400
Years in Manhattan is a multimedia stage show based on the New York City tour he conducted for
seven years. The show, which Mr. Diamond describes as “a comedic journey through the city’s history,”
enjoyed a successful workshop production in 2007 at HERE Arts Center, and makes its Off Broadway
debut this year at the Actors’ Temple.
For Diamond, being a New York City tour guide was the ideal day job while he struggled for a life in the
theatre. “A tour guide’s job is to write a solo show about a specific place, and then to perform it against
the ultimate backdrop,” he explains. Despite his lifelong interest in the city’s history, and his experience
as a playwright and comedian, working as a sightseeing guide did not occur to Diamond until he saw
The Cruise in 1998. That documentary, directed by Bennett Miller and featuring tour guide Timothy
“Speed” Levitch, inspired him to get his license and become “a professional New York storyteller.”
“It was like being in a show that ran for seven years,” Diamond recalls. Eventually, he stopped touring
in order to devote more time to the theatre. With his collaborator Amanda Sisk – the director of 400
Years in Manhattan – he has written and appeared in musical political satires such as Moral Value
Meal and Life After Bush.
Adapting his New York tour to the stage had long been on Diamond’s to-do list, but he could never
compensate for the absence of the tour’s most important element – the city itself. Then, looking at
images of Lower Manhattan for another project, he happened upon several pictures, drawn or
photographed from the same angle over four centuries. “I put them into a slideshow,” he recalls, “and
had them fade into one another, so I could watch the city develop over history.” The multimedia
presentation, he realized, “could show you the one thing the tour never could: the city’s literal past.”
Years in Manhattan is a multimedia stage show based on the New York City tour he conducted for
seven years. The show, which Mr. Diamond describes as “a comedic journey through the city’s history,”
enjoyed a successful workshop production in 2007 at HERE Arts Center, and makes its Off Broadway
debut this year at the Actors’ Temple.
For Diamond, being a New York City tour guide was the ideal day job while he struggled for a life in the
theatre. “A tour guide’s job is to write a solo show about a specific place, and then to perform it against
the ultimate backdrop,” he explains. Despite his lifelong interest in the city’s history, and his experience
as a playwright and comedian, working as a sightseeing guide did not occur to Diamond until he saw
The Cruise in 1998. That documentary, directed by Bennett Miller and featuring tour guide Timothy
“Speed” Levitch, inspired him to get his license and become “a professional New York storyteller.”
“It was like being in a show that ran for seven years,” Diamond recalls. Eventually, he stopped touring
in order to devote more time to the theatre. With his collaborator Amanda Sisk – the director of 400
Years in Manhattan – he has written and appeared in musical political satires such as Moral Value
Meal and Life After Bush.
Adapting his New York tour to the stage had long been on Diamond’s to-do list, but he could never
compensate for the absence of the tour’s most important element – the city itself. Then, looking at
images of Lower Manhattan for another project, he happened upon several pictures, drawn or
photographed from the same angle over four centuries. “I put them into a slideshow,” he recalls, “and
had them fade into one another, so I could watch the city develop over history.” The multimedia
presentation, he realized, “could show you the one thing the tour never could: the city’s literal past.”
Diamond explains that 400 Years in Manhattan was written “from the perspective of a
tour guide unconstrained by time or place. We can visit places in New York which no
longer exist, and we can visit them in chronological order; we can compare the past and
the present side by side. Most of the stories I tell in the show come directly from my
tours, but the view is different. Instead of starting on Eighth Avenue, we start in 1609.”
tour guide unconstrained by time or place. We can visit places in New York which no
longer exist, and we can visit them in chronological order; we can compare the past and
the present side by side. Most of the stories I tell in the show come directly from my
tours, but the view is different. Instead of starting on Eighth Avenue, we start in 1609.”
