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26-503: American theatrical producer Homer Curran operated another theater with his name for several years, prior to building this Curran Theatre; however, the original Curran Theatre had various names before and after this time, whereas this Curran Theatre has never had another name. It opened in February 1922 and was initially a Shubert house. Later, it was a showcase for Theatre Guild presentations. Subsequently, it became closely associated with

52-498: A Musical Adventure (1948), Martin Short : Fame Becomes Me (2006), Oliver! (1962), Peter Pan (1954), Pickwick (1965), Ring of Fire (2006), Soft Power (2018), The Grand Tour (1978), Three Wishes for Jamie (1951), White Christmas (2004–2005), and Wicked (2003). Zenda (Alfred Drake, Chita Rivera, Vernon Duke) world premiere 1963, Oliver! (American premiere: 1962, Jollyanna (revision of Flahooley) 1952, At

78-434: A marble floor but has long since been covered by carpeting. There are "plugs" built into the lobby floor in which to insert stanchions from which theater ropes were hung to section off the lobby. The loge section was modified prior to Hello, Dolly!' s first booking at the theater. Originally, the loge section was similar to the boxes, with movable chairs in sectioned areas. The box-like loges are still evident by what remains of

104-835: A nationwide presence. In 1907, the Shuberts tried to enter vaudeville with the United States Amusement Co. In the spring of 1920 they made another attempt, establishing the Shubert Advanced Vaudeville with Lee Shubert as President and playing two shows per day in Boston, Dayton, Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia and in September 1921 opening in New York. In April 1922, the Shuberts teamed with Isidore Herk and E. Thomas Beatty formed

130-641: A thousand theaters nationwide. The company continued to produce stage productions in New York until the 1940s, returning to producing Broadway productions in the 1970s after a hiatus. The company was reorganized in 1973, and as of 2016 owned or operated seventeen Broadway theaters in New York City, two off-Broadway theaters — Stage 42 and New World Stages — and the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia . It leases Boston's Shubert Theatre to

156-548: Is a theatrical producing organization and a major owner of theatres based in Manhattan , New York City . It was founded by the three Shubert brothers — Lee , Sam , and Jacob J. Shubert — in the late 19th century. They steadily expanded, owning many theaters in New York and across the United States. Since then it has gone through changes of ownership, but it is still a major theater chain. The Shubert Organization

182-543: Is drafted into the United States Army during World War II and is sent to Biloxi, Mississippi for basic training. There he meets a diverse assortment of soldiers, including the gentle and intelligent Arnold Epstein, who is the play's central figure. The piece portrays Epstein's struggle for power with middle-aged, hard-drinking platoon leader Sergeant Merwin J. Toomey. In a memorable scene, Epstein manages to force Toomey to perform two hundred push-ups in front of

208-534: Is now known as the CIBC Theatre . In 2016, it sold its longtime headquarters at 1700 Broadway to Ruben Cos for $ 280 million. Notes Further reading Biloxi Blues Biloxi Blues is a semi- autobiographical play by Neil Simon . It portrays the conflict of Sergeant Merwin J. Toomey and Arnold Epstein, one of many privates enlisted in the military stationed in Biloxi, Mississippi , seen through

234-707: The Citi Performing Arts Center . Shubert Ticketing, which includes Telecharge, handles tickets for 70 theaters. Several former Shubert-owned theaters across the United States are still referred to by the Shubert name. One of the most famous is the New Haven Shubert , the second theater ever built by the Shubert Organization. Until the 1970s, major Broadway producers often premiered shows there before opening in New York. It

260-720: The Affiliated Theatres Corporation, which would book shows for the chain. Faced with fierce competition from the B. F. Keith Circuit , the Shuberts closed their vaudeville operation in February 1923. By 1929, the Shubert Theatre chain included Broadway's most important venues, the Winter Garden , the Sam S. Shubert , and the Imperial theaters, and owned, managed, operated, or booked nearly

286-692: The Curran include Les Misérables , Jersey Boys , They're Playing Our Song , as well as Lily Tomlin in Jane Wagner 's The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe . Harry Potter and the Cursed Child began at the Curran in December 2019. During its run, Ambassador Theatre Group is set to operate the theatre. The Shubert Organization The Shubert Organization

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312-676: The Curran prior to moving to Broadway have included A Chorus Line revival (2006), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (2013), Biloxi Blues (1985), Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983), Carnival in Flanders (1953), Dame Edna : Back With a Vengeance (2004), Fences (1987), Gigi (1973), Head Over Heels (2018), Home Sweet Homer (Odyssey) (1975), Hugh Jackman in Performance (2011), Jitney (2002), Kismet (1953), La Boheme ( Baz Luhrmann's production) (2002), Lennon (2006), Lestat (2005–2006), Magdalena:

338-686: The Grand ( Paul Muni , Grand Hotel musical), 1958, Dumas and Son (1967), 1491 ( Chita Rivera , John Cullum), 1969, Gone With the Wind (American premiere) 1973. Broadway national tours have played at the Curran Theatre throughout its history. As operated by SHN , the Curran hosted five years of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera , becoming the show's longest domestic run outside of New York City. Other significant long runs presented by SHN at

364-593: The San Francisco Civic Light Opera (CLO), which also operated the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera . The CLO obtained numerous prestigious bookings and produced their own shows, often with stars as the lead roles. Curran wrote the book for the musical Song of Norway and co-wrote the book for Magdalena . He eventually left San Francisco for Southern California , where he rented theatrical lighting. For many years,

390-655: The San Francisco Opera performed its annual "Spring Opera" series at the Curran. In 1977, the Civic Light Opera shifted its operations to the Orpheum Theatre, and by the end of that year, Carole Shorenstein Hays and James M. Nederlander assumed operation of the Curran and launched their Best of Broadway season starting with John Raitt in the national tour of Shenandoah and including

416-463: The West Coast debut of Annie . Later, Shorenstein changed the name of her organization to SHN . In 2015 Shorenstein left SHN, focusing her attention solely on the Curran. SHN no longer operates the Curran. The theatre closed in September 2015 for renovations. Work included new upholstery for seats, carpeting, mechanical and electrical systems as well as expanded and upgraded lobbies. While work

442-596: The cast starred Barry Miller as Arnold and Matthew Broderick as Eugene. Scenic Design was by David Mitchell, costume design by Ann Roth , and lighting design by Tharon Musser . Emanuel Azenberg served as producer in association with Center Theatre Group / Ahmanson Theatre . Sources:Internet Broadway Database; The New York Times Matthew Broderick was succeeded by Bruce Norris, Zach Galligan , William Ragsdale , and Jonathan Silverman . Jamey Sheridan replaced William Sadler as Sgt. Toomey. Frank Rich wrote: "Besides being extremely funny, Biloxi Blues

468-492: The eyes of Eugene Jerome, one of the other soldiers. This play is the second chapter in what is known as his Eugene trilogy , following Brighton Beach Memoirs and preceding Broadway Bound . The play won the Tony Award for Best Play , and Barry Miller won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Arnold Epstein. The story begins with 18-year-old Eugene Morris Jerome from Brooklyn , who

494-516: The floor. The chandelier was built in San Francisco by Phoenix Day. A plaque honoring Arthur Mayer is mounted at the entrance to boxes L-M-N. Mayer watched the theater being built, was hired by Curran as part of the theater's opening-night staff, and continued working at the theater until he was nearly 100 years old. The Curran has hosted more pre- Broadway engagements than any other theater in San Francisco. Productions that have been staged at

520-424: The lobby space was used to install a larger bar area as well as accessible restrooms. The theater has two front curtains: the decorative green fire curtain in front of a gold curtain. When musicals traditionally utilized each theater's front curtains, the first curtain would be raised five minutes prior to the start of the show. There were two coat check rooms: one off to the south of the main floor interior lobby and

546-426: The metal railings in front of the loge section as well as the decorative plaster when viewed from below. The change was made because it increased the seating capacity by about ten seats in this highly desirable area. The interior main floor lobby no longer exists. Originally, it was changed to a minor degree to accommodate the installation of a sound booth without decreasing the orchestra seating capacity . Eventually,

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572-405: The other on the balcony (adjacent to the ladies' restroom). There were also two telephone "booths" on the mezzanine lobby—one on each side of the windows. These booths were actually very small rooms with formal doors. The coat check rooms and telephone booths are now used for storage. The theater also had a central vacuum system. This system is still evident by the connection points on the walls, near

598-623: The platoon. Biloxi Blues had its world premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre , Los Angeles, California, running from December 8, 1984 to February 2, 1985. It then ran at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco from February 6 through March 9, 1985. Biloxi Blues opened on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre on March 28, 1985 and closed on June 28, 1986 after 524 performances and 12 previews. Directed by Gene Saks ,

624-510: Was founded by the Shubert brothers , Sam S. Shubert , Lee Shubert , and Jacob J. Shubert of Syracuse, New York – colloquially and collectively known as "The Shuberts" – in the late 19th century in upstate New York , entering into New York City productions in 1900. The organization produced a large number of shows and began acquiring theaters. Sam Shubert died in 1905; by 1916 the two remaining brothers had become powerful theater moguls with

650-691: Was immortalized in many mid-20th century films, such as All About Eve . Another important regional theater was the Shubert in Chicago, Illinois , located within the Majestic Building at 22 West Monroe Street. Originally known as the Majestic Theatre, the Shubert Organization purchased it in 1945 and rechristened it the "Sam Shubert Theatre". The Shuberts sold the theatre to the Nederlander Organization in 1991 and

676-399: Was underway, the theatre presented non-traditional works in a series called Under Construction in which the audience entered and was seated on the stage. The Curran reopened January 25, 2017 with the musical Fun Home . The ceiling above the main lobby was hand-painted to look like wood (steel wool was used to fashion a wood grain effect in the plaster before painting). The main lobby has

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