228-693: The New Amsterdam Theatre is a Broadway theater at 214 West 42nd Street , at the southern end of Times Square , in the Theater District of Manhattan in New York City . One of the first Broadway venues to open in the Times Square neighborhood, the New Amsterdam was built from 1902 to 1903 to designs by Herts & Tallant . The theater is operated by Disney Theatrical Productions and has 1,702 seats across three levels. Both
456-590: A 4D film presentation dedicated to the history of Broadway, Broadway Sensation , to be produced by lawyer Robert Kory and producer/director Gary Goddard . The attraction was expected to open in early 2015. The Times Square had proven so hard to lease that the Real Estate Board of New York granted an award to the brokers who had arranged the deal. The media reported in 2014 that the project had been canceled due to financial troubles. In August 2015, Elie Samaha and Donald Kushner announced they purchased
684-621: A $ 18.2 million grant for restoring the six theaters as part of an agreement with Prudential and Park Tower. Donna Dennis used the vacant theater's facade in 1993 for an art exhibition that included old playbills. That year, officials proposed opening the New York Information Center, which would occupy the Times Square Theater and either the Apollo or Lyric theaters. After Disney committed to restoring
912-556: A 1,100-seat theater on 42nd Street and a 1,200-seat theater on 43rd Street. The O'Day Construction Company was hired to erect both theaters. The Selwyn brothers intended to use the two theaters exclusively for their own productions. The Times Square opened on September 30, 1920, with Florence Reed starring in Edgar Selwyn's play The Mirage . The production was a relative hit, lasting for 192 performances through March 1921. During that play's run, G.K. Chesterton spoke on
1140-424: A 10-story tower with offices, on the narrow 42nd Street frontage, and an auditorium at the rear, on 41st Street. The tower was developed to house Klaw and Erlanger's booking activities. The two sections are connected by a one-story passageway at ground level. The New Amsterdam Theatre's building housed two theaters when it opened: the main 41st Street auditorium as well as a rooftop theater. The primary elevation of
1368-624: A 105-foot-wide (32 m) plot on 42nd Street, which contained George Sturges's unprofitable Bryant Theatre, as well as a 100-foot-wide (30 m) plot on 43rd Street, which was vacant. As construction proceeded on the Selwyn Theatre in September 1917, the Selwyn brothers announced two additional theaters. Originally, the two theaters were to be named after actress Margaret Illington and producer Margaret Mayo . The following February,
1596-412: A 700-seat venue for theatrical productions. The following year, Finkelstein and Andour Enterprises Inc. were listed as having purchased the building outright. Cohen retired around the same time, and Finkelstein took over full operation. By the early 1960s, the surrounding block had decayed, but many of the old theater buildings from the block's heyday remained, including the New Amsterdam. Later that decade,
1824-472: A 7:00 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. "curtain". The afternoon " matinée " performances are at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays and at 3:00 p.m. on Sundays. This makes for an eight-performance week. On this schedule, most shows do not play on Monday and the shows and theatres are said to be "dark" on that day. The actors and the crew in these shows tend to regard Sunday evening through Monday evening as their weekend. The Tony award presentation ceremony
2052-839: A Theater Advisory Council, which included Papp. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City , Broadway theaters closed on March 12, 2020, shuttering 16 shows that were playing or were in the process of opening. The Broadway League shutdown was extended first to April, then to May, then June, then September 2020 and January 2021, and later to June 1, 2021. Then-governor Andrew Cuomo announced that most sectors of New York would have their restrictions lifted on May 19, 2021, but he stated that Broadway theatres would not be able to immediately resume performances on this date due to logistical reasons. In May 2021, Cuomo announced that Broadway theaters would be allowed to reopen on September 14, and
2280-416: A U-shaped balcony was erected. The redesigned roof theater had a movable stage and a glass balcony. Cross lighting could also be used to create rainbow color patterns. In 1930, a movable glass curtain was installed over the proscenium of the roof theater. The floor was soundproofed when the space was used as an NBC broadcast studio, and smaller studios were placed in the office wing. By the early 21st century,
2508-449: A booming economy and abundant creative talent kept Broadway hopping. To this day, the shows of the 1950s form the core of the musical theatre repertory." Kenrick notes that "the late 1960s marked a time of cultural upheaval. All those changes would prove painful for many, including those behind the scenes, as well as those in the audience." Of the 1970s, Kenrick writes: "Just when it seemed that traditional book musicals were back in style,
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#17327878450362736-663: A cast. There are still, however, performers who are primarily stage actors, spending most of their time "on the boards", and appearing in screen roles only secondarily. As Patrick Healy of The New York Times noted: Broadway once had many homegrown stars who committed to working on a show for a year, as Nathan Lane has for The Addams Family . In 2010, some theater heavyweights like Mr. Lane were not even nominated; instead, several Tony Awards were given for productions that were always intended to be short-timers on Broadway, given that many of their film-star performers had to move on to other commitments. According to Mark Shenton, "One of
2964-434: A challenge to the stage. At first, films were silent and presented only limited competition. By the end of the 1920s, films like The Jazz Singer were presented with synchronized sound, and critics wondered if cinema would replace live theatre altogether. While live vaudeville could not compete with these inexpensive films that featured vaudeville stars and major comedians of the day, other theatres survived. The musicals of
3192-540: A company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia , and opened with The Merchant of Venice and The Anatomist . The company moved to New York in 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida . During the Revolutionary War , theatre was suspended in New York City. But after
3420-712: A critic characterized the roof theater as a "gloomy cavern" and the main auditorium as "just another in the dubious string of 42nd Street movie houses". By the late 1970s, the New Amsterdam Theatre was dilapidated, though many of the interior decorations still remained. The area had become dangerous: two armed guards were killed at the theater during a robbery in 1976, and a patron was stabbed to death in 1979. The cinema continued to run until about 1982 or 1983, showing kung fu movies in its final years. The 42nd Street Development Corporation, formed in 1976 to discuss plans for redeveloping Times Square, considered turning
3648-466: A decision on the ordinance. The injunction was vacated two days afterward, and Low vetoed the resolution. The Board of Aldermen passed a revised resolution the next week; the aldermen explicitly stated that the ordinance would help Klaw and Erlanger. After the ordinance was passed, the New Amsterdam's facade was completed as planned. By July 1903, work was proceeding on the New Amsterdam full-time, which The New York Times attributed to an agreement between
3876-565: A discount of 20 to 50%. The TKTS booths are located in Times Square , in Lower Manhattan , and at Lincoln Center . This service is run by Theatre Development Fund . Many Broadway theatres also offer special student rates, same-day "rush" or "lottery" tickets, or standing-room tickets to help ensure that their theatres are as full—and their grosses as high—as possible. According to The Broadway League , total Broadway attendance
4104-620: A documentary presented by aviator Alan Cobham , and a ballet show. After Blondes relocated from the Times Square in March 1927, A. H. Woods planned to move his production of the play Crime into the theater. Instead, the Times Square screened silent films for the 1927–1928 season. The silent film Sunrise opened at the Times Square in September 1927, and the theater screened the film Dawn in May 1928. Although other theaters on 42nd Street were already struggling to book long-running shows by
4332-462: A dome measuring 35 ft (11 m) wide. A black velvet curtain separated the audience from the stage, which was 40 ft (12 m) wide. A grand staircase connected the orchestra and balcony levels. There was also a women's lounge and smoking room on balcony level, as well as a men's lounge in the basement. The men's lounge was decorated in the Tudor style and contained wooden paneling. To
4560-523: A domed ceiling, and two balcony levels over the orchestra level. The space measures 86 ft (26 m) wide, and it is 90 ft (27 m) long between the stage apron and the reception room's wall. The dome rises 80 ft (24 m) above the floor of the orchestra. The original color scheme was described in The New York Times as consisting of "tender pinks, mauves, lilacs, red and gold". These decorations were bright to compensate for
4788-399: A double feature of Silence and The Prince of Pilsen . The theater's next legitimate show was Love 'Em and Leave 'Em , which relocated from the Apollo in May 1926. The Anita Loos play Gentlemen Prefer Blondes opened in September 1926 and ran for 199 total performances across two theaters. During the play's run, the theater also hosted a speech by explorer Richard E. Byrd ,
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#17327878450365016-906: A few exceptions, compared with London runs, until World War I . A few very successful British musicals continued to achieve great success in New York, including Florodora in 1900–01. In the early years of the twentieth century, translations of popular late-nineteenth century continental operettas were joined by the "Princess Theatre" shows of the 1910s, by writers such as P. G. Wodehouse , Guy Bolton , and Harry B. Smith . Victor Herbert , whose work included some intimate musical plays with modern settings as well as his string of famous operettas ( The Fortune Teller (1898), Babes in Toyland (1903), Mlle. Modiste (1905), The Red Mill (1906), and Naughty Marietta (1910)). Beginning with The Red Mill , Broadway shows installed electric signs outside
5244-432: A glass enclosure in front of the colonnade, allowing passersby to view the former theater's interior. The enclosure, measuring 23 ft (7.0 m) tall, will partially cantilever above the sidewalk on 42nd Street. LED signs are also planned to be installed on the building's exterior. An open-air restaurant will also be placed on the roof. The Times Square Theater had a fan-shaped layout. A contemporary account said
5472-409: A ground-floor orchestra level, as well as a balcony with a slightly higher seating capacity. The first four rows of the orchestra were designed with armchairs instead of typical theater seats. At balcony level was a crossover aisle with several entrances, reducing the distance that patrons had to climb compared to in older theaters. Near the front of the auditorium, on either side of the balcony level,
5700-447: A knight stood on the other side. The office stories along the 42nd Street elevation are three bays wide. The fourth through sixth stories contain simple fenestration , but the seventh-story windows are taller than those on the three preceding stories. On the seventh story there is a frieze with winged heads below it, as well as pilasters topped by capitals with floral decorations. Grendellis and Ricci designed terracotta panels for
5928-532: A larger theatre. Other productions are first developed through workshops and then out-of-town tryouts before transferring to Broadway. Merrily We Roll Along famously skipped an out-of-town tryout and attempted to do an in-town tryout—actually preview performances —on Broadway before its official opening, with disastrous results. After, or even during, successful runs in Broadway theatres, producers often remount their productions with new casts and crew for
6156-450: A live-concert venue. Had this plan been successful, the theater building would have been expanded to 35,000 sq ft (3,300 m ) to accommodate live concerts, and much of the theater's architectural details would have been preserved. After Billboard Live reneged, CBS considered leasing the theater as a broadcast studio by late 1997. Ultimately, CBS never signed a lease. Yet another themed restaurant, operated by WrestleMania ,
6384-416: A mask with garlands. It was originally flanked by representations of drama and music. These figures held up a shield silhouetted against the sky. Herts & Tallant did not include a cornice on the facade, since they felt such a feature was unsuitable for office buildings. The New Amsterdam Theatre was among the first non-high-rise buildings in New York City with a steel superstructure . The structural frame
6612-526: A more experimental, challenging, and intimate performance than is possible in the larger Broadway theatres. Some Broadway shows, however, such as the musicals Hair , Little Shop of Horrors , Spring Awakening , Next to Normal , Rent , Avenue Q , In the Heights , Fun Home , A Chorus Line , Dear Evan Hansen , and Hamilton , began their runs Off-Broadway and later transferred to Broadway, seeking to replicate their intimate experience in
6840-539: A negative COVID-19 test (PCR within 72 hours or antigen within six hours of the performance start time). Beginning November 8, those ages 5–11 also had the option to provide proof of at least one vaccination shot. Effective December 14, in accordance with NYC's vaccination mandate, guests ages 5–11 were required to have at least one vaccination shot until January 29, 2022, where they had to be fully vaccinated. The vaccine mandate lasted until April 30, and attendees were also required to wear face masks until July 1. During
7068-1152: A new age of American playwright with the emergence of Eugene O'Neill , whose plays Beyond the Horizon , Anna Christie , The Hairy Ape , Strange Interlude , and Mourning Becomes Electra proved that there was an audience for serious drama on Broadway, and O'Neill's success paved the way for major dramatists like Elmer Rice , Maxwell Anderson , Robert E. Sherwood , Clifford Odets , Tennessee Williams , and Arthur Miller , as well as writers of comedy like George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart . Classical revivals also proved popular with Broadway theatre-goers, notably John Barrymore in Hamlet and Richard III , John Gielgud in Hamlet , The Importance of Being Earnest and Much Ado About Nothing , Walter Hampden and José Ferrer in Cyrano de Bergerac , Paul Robeson and Ferrer in Othello , Maurice Evans in Richard II and
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7296-594: A production of The Pink Lady with Hazel Dawn , running 312 performances, as well as the musical adaptation of Ben-Hur . The New Amsterdam hosted several other productions in 1912 and 1913, including Robin Hood , The Count of Luxembourg , and Oh! Oh! Delphine . Flo Ziegfeld hosted the Ziegfeld Follies , a series of revues , at the New Amsterdam every year from 1913 to 1927, with two exceptions. Ziegfeld's relationship with Klaw and Erlanger had dated to
7524-416: A production studio. However, the negotiations with MTV fell through. Marvel Entertainment signed a letter of intent to build a Marvel Mania restaurant inside the Times Square in May 1996. These plans were placed on hold after Marvel Entertainment Group filed for bankruptcy protection at the end of the year. In mid-1997, Billboard Live International was negotiating to renovate the Times Square into
7752-500: A rate acceptable to the producers, they may continue to run in the expectation that, eventually, they will pay back their initial costs and become profitable. In some borderline situations, producers may ask that royalties be temporarily reduced or waived, or even that performers—with the permission of their unions—take reduced salaries, to prevent a show from closing. Theatre owners, who are not generally profit participants in most productions, may waive or reduce rents, or even lend money to
7980-404: A round arch. The pilasters in the corners of the arches were carved. A cornice ran above the facade. Unlike the four neighboring theaters, the Times Square Theater did not have any access from 43rd Street. Instead, its auditorium and stage house were both on 42nd Street. This allowed the auditorium to be positioned parallel to the street, facing eastward. As of 2018 , Beyer Blinder Belle
8208-431: A run of 253 performances. The first theatre piece that conforms to the modern conception of a musical, adding dance and original music that helped to tell the story, is considered to be The Black Crook , which premiered in New York on September 12, 1866. The production was five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and
8436-481: A show to keep it running. Some Broadway shows are produced by non-commercial organizations as part of a regular subscription season— Lincoln Center Theatre , Roundabout Theatre Company , Manhattan Theatre Club , and Second Stage Theater are the four non-profit theatre companies that currently have permanent Broadway venues. Some other productions are produced on Broadway with "limited engagement runs" for several reasons, including financial issues, prior engagements of
8664-620: A small decrease in quality and quantity of productions, but the Frolics Theatre had a steep decline in premieres. NBC took over the roof theater in February 1930 and converted it into a broadcast studio, the NBC Times Square Studio, which opened the next month. The modifications cost $ 70,000. Downstairs, Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1930 was played at the main auditorium. A revival of The Admirable Crichton and
8892-597: A variety of genres, though Levine said none of the company's 42nd Street theaters showed hardcore porn . The Brandts' theaters had a combined annual gross of about $ 2 million and operated nearly the entire day. However, the area was in decline; the Brandts' theaters only had three million visitors by 1977, about half of the number in 1963. The area had also become dangerous and rundown as well. Patrons were fatally shot in separate incidents in 1977 and 1980. The Brandts' movie theaters on 42nd Street continued to operate through
9120-580: A venue for plays under the name Burton's Theatre. The Astor Opera House opened in 1847. A riot broke out in 1849 when the lower-class patrons of the Bowery Theatre objected to what they perceived as snobbery by the upper-class audiences at Astor Place: "After the Astor Place Riot of 1849, entertainment in New York City was divided along class lines: opera was chiefly for the upper-middle and upper classes, minstrel shows and melodramas for
9348-443: A woman with flower and leaf decorations on either side. Perry designed full-size panels for the foyer walls, which depicted the colony of New Amsterdam in the 17th century as well as a more modern view of New York City in the 19th century. The panels were subsequently removed when refreshment stands were added, and mirrors were installed in their place. The ceiling of the foyer contained a stained-glass dome, originally named "The Song of
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9576-497: A year between them. The 42nd Street Company was established in 1961 to operate the Brandts' seven theaters on 42nd Street. By the early 1960s, the surrounding block had decayed, but many of the old theater buildings from the block's heyday remained, including the Times Square. Martin Levine and Richard Brandt took over the 42nd Street Company in 1972. The Times Square still operated as an action house. The other six theaters showed
9804-442: Is a former Broadway and movie theater at 215–217 West 42nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City , near Times Square . Built in 1920, it was designed by Eugene De Rosa and developed by brothers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn . The building, which is no longer an active theater, is owned by the city and state governments of New York and leased to New 42nd Street . The Times Square Theater
10032-475: Is an internationally prominent tourist attraction in New York City . According to The Broadway League , shows on Broadway sold approximately US$ 1.54 billion worth of tickets in both the 2022-2023 and the 2023–2024 seasons. Both seasons featured theater attendance of approximately 12.3 million each. Most Broadway shows are musicals . Historian Martin Shefter argues that "Broadway musicals, culminating in
10260-424: Is made of 2,000 short tons (1,800 long tons; 1,800 t) of steel. According to a 1903 source, the frame is made of approximately 270,000 steel pieces, which required about 7,500 engineering drawings. There were also 57 cantilevers and 38 electric elevators. The side walls of the office wing are non-bearing walls . The tower wing was used as offices for Klaw and Erlanger and later Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. The theater
10488-501: Is made of Welsh quarry tile and the walls have brown Flemish-oak paneling and upholstered seats. The upper portions of the walls contain sixteen murals attributed to Edward Simmons and R. W. Finn , which depict New York City's historical development. There is a fireplace at one corner of the room, with a mantel of Caen stone and gray-washed brick. The ceiling is a segmental dome, supported by an oval colonnade of plain, round Caen-stone columns. Eight allegorical murals by Peixotto decorate
10716-401: Is planning to substantially reconfigure the Times Square Theater building. The proposed renovation includes increasing the building's height to six stories, with its roof 138 ft (42 m) high. Four stories will be built above the existing building. The existing facade will be raised by 5 ft (1.5 m) to accommodate higher ceilings on the ground floor. The second story will have
10944-449: Is proposed to be converted into over 52,000 sq ft (4,800 m ) of mixed-use space as of 2019 . Most of the building, about 34,000 sq ft (3,200 m ), is planned to be used as storefronts. The third and fourth stories are both planned to have double-height ceilings, as well as many of the historical features relocated from the auditorium. Both stories are to have outdoor terraces. A spiral staircase would connect
11172-571: Is usually held on a Sunday evening in June to fit this schedule. In recent years, some shows have moved their Tuesday show time an hour earlier to 7:00 pm. The rationale for this move was that since fewer tourists take in shows midweek, Tuesday attendance depends more on local patrons. The earlier curtain makes it possible for suburban patrons to get home by a reasonable hour after the show. Some shows, especially those produced by Disney , change their performance schedules fairly frequently depending on
11400-610: The American Theatre Wing , a service organization. While the League and the theatrical unions are sometimes at loggerheads during those periods when new contracts are being negotiated, they also cooperate on many projects and events designed to promote professional theatre in New York. Of the four non-profit theatre companies with Broadway theatres, all four ( Lincoln Center Theater , Manhattan Theatre Club , Roundabout Theatre Company , and Second Stage Theatre ) belong to
11628-614: The Beaux-Arts exterior and the Art Nouveau interior of the building are New York City landmarks , and the building is on the National Register of Historic Places . The theater's main entrance is through a 10-story wing facing north on 42nd Street, while the auditorium is in the rear, facing south on 41st Street. The facade on 42nd Street is made of gray limestone and was originally ornamented with sculptural detail;
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#173278784503611856-492: The Durst Organization acquired the leases to eight theaters in Times Square, including the Selwyn. It subsequently announced plans to renovate the eight theaters in February 1990. The theaters closed when the New York state government acquired the theater sites that April via eminent domain . The city had planned to buy out the theaters' leases but withdrew after the 42nd Street Company indicated it would lease
12084-860: The Hotel Carter building and the Todd Haimes Theatre to the west, as well as the New Victory Theater and 3 Times Square to the east. Other nearby buildings include 255 West 43rd Street , the St. James Theatre , the Hayes Theater to the northwest; 229 West 43rd Street and 1501 Broadway to the north; 5 Times Square and the New Amsterdam Theatre to the southeast; and the Candler Building to
12312-580: The League of Resident Theatres and have contracts with the theatrical unions which are negotiated separately from the other Broadway theatre and producers. ( Disney also negotiates apart from the League, as did Livent before it closed down its operations.) The majority of Broadway theatres are owned or managed by three organizations: the Shubert Organization , a for-profit arm of the non-profit Shubert Foundation, which owns seventeen theatres;
12540-503: The Nederlander Organization , which controls nine theatres; and ATG Entertainment , which owns seven Broadway houses. Both musicals and straight plays on Broadway often rely on casting well-known performers in leading roles to draw larger audiences or bring in new audience members to the theatre. Actors from film and television are frequently cast for the revivals of Broadway shows or are used to replace actors leaving
12768-491: The New York City Subway 's Times Square–42nd Street station , served by the 1 , 2 , 3 , 7 , <7> , N , Q , R , W , and S trains, is next to the theater. The surrounding area is part of Manhattan 's Theater District and contains many Broadway theaters . In the first two decades of
12996-551: The Prudential Insurance Company of America . The Brandt family planned to submit a bid to redevelop some of the theaters they owned on 42nd Street. In June 1982, the Brandts' five theaters on the north side of 42nd Street, including the Times Square, were added to the redevelopment plan. In August 1984, the UDC granted Jujamcyn Theaters the right to operate the Selwyn, Apollo, and Lyric theaters; as part of
13224-476: The Roaring Twenties , borrowing from vaudeville, music hall , and other light entertainment, tended to ignore plot in favor of emphasizing star actors and actresses, big dance routines, and popular songs. Florenz Ziegfeld produced annual spectacular song-and-dance revues on Broadway featuring extravagant sets and elaborate costumes, but there was little to tie the various numbers together. Typical of
13452-664: The Shubert family acquired a partial interest in the three theaters that the Selwyns were constructing. By this time, the planned Illington Theatre was to be known as the Times Square Theater. The Selwyn brothers leased the eastern site from Sperry and Hutchinson Co. in July 1918, after the plot had already been excavated. In May 1919, the New York City Department of Buildings approved the Selwyn brothers' plans for
13680-699: The Ziegfeld Theatre on Sixth Avenue. The theater's hits in 1928 included the musical comedy Rosalie , which ran 327 performances, and Whoopee , which ran 379 performances. Meanwhile, Ziegfeld re-launched the Midnight Frolic at the rooftop theater in December 1928. The following June, Erlanger announced he would convert the rooftop theater into a modern facility called Aerial Theater, which would accommodate legitimate plays , films with sound, or radio broadcasts. Upon obtaining sole ownership of
13908-497: The proscenium arch , dome, and boxes for restoration. Even though the LPC had not designated the Times Square Theater as a landmark, parts of the building were still subject to preservation guidelines. The New York City Economic Development Corporation and the 42nd Street Development Project's Historic Preservation Committee both supported the plans. In early 2019, Stillman's executive vice president Armen Boyajian expressed hope that
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#173278784503614136-502: The 'Wells' , and Julius Caesar . The Frolic, meanwhile, hosted a performance of He Loved the Ladies during one week in 1927; one of the seven showings had no audience members at all. Klaw and Erlanger continued to operate the New Amsterdam Theatre jointly until 1927, when Erlanger bought out Klaw's interest. Erlanger then announced plans to renovate the New Amsterdam Theatre for $ 500,000. The same year, Ziegfeld developed his own theater,
14364-409: The 1920s were lighthearted productions such as Sally ; Lady Be Good ; Sunny ; No, No, Nanette ; Harlem ; Oh, Kay! ; and Funny Face . Their books may have been forgettable, but they produced enduring standards from George Gershwin , Cole Porter , Jerome Kern , Vincent Youmans , and Rodgers and Hart , among others, and Noël Coward , Sigmund Romberg , and Rudolf Friml continued in
14592-410: The 1931–1932 season, four successive plays closed within one month. The 1932–1933 season, with three shows, was the Times Square's final season as a live venue. The season's shows included Clear All Wires! , Foolscap , and Forsaking All Others . The play Angel , with Lenore Ulric , was supposed to have opened at the Times Square in June 1933 but never did so. The theater remained dark for
14820-486: The 1933–1934 season, even though the play Ragged Army had been planned to open there in February 1934. The theater's owner Burgwyn Realty Corp. leased the theater to the Brandt family for use as a cinema in May 1934. The Brandts planned to operate the theater under a grindhouse format, with films running continuously. This was part of a decline in the Broadway theater industry in the mid-20th century; from 1931 to 1950,
15048-440: The 20th century, eleven venues for legitimate theater were built within one block of West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. The New Amsterdam, Harris , Liberty , Eltinge , and Lew Fields theaters occupied the south side of the street. The original Lyric and Apollo theaters (combined into the current Lyric Theatre), as well as the Times Square, Victory, Selwyn (now Todd Haimes), and Victoria theaters, occupied
15276-466: The Band (1930), and Private Lives (1931). The theater staged its last show in 1933, and the theater became a cinema the next year. The Brandt family operated the Times Square for the next five decades, showing westerns and action films. There were several proposals to redevelop theaters along 42nd Street in the 1980s. New 42nd Street took over the Times Square and several neighboring theaters in 1990, but
15504-536: The Broadway national tour, which travels to theatres in major cities across the country. Sometimes when a show closes on Broadway, the entire production, with most if not all of the original cast intact, is relaunched as a touring company, hence the name "Broadway national tour". Some shows may even have several touring companies out at a time, whether the show is still running in New York or not, with many companies "sitting down" in other major cities for their own extended runs. For Broadway national tours of top-tier cities,
15732-619: The Broadway orchestra is governed by an agreement with the musicians' union (Local 802, American Federation of Musicians) and The Broadway League. For example, the agreement specifies the minimum size of the orchestra at the Minskoff Theatre to be eighteen, while at the Music Box Theatre it is nine. Most Broadway shows are commercial productions intended to make a profit for the producers and investors ("backers" or "angels"), and therefore have open-ended runs (duration that
15960-686: The COVID-19 shutdown, the Shubert Organization, the Nederlander Organization, and Jujamcyn had pledged to increase racial and cultural diversity in their theaters, including naming at least one theater for a Black theatrical personality. The August Wilson Theatre , owned by Jujamcyn, had been renamed after Black playwright August Wilson in 2005. The Shuberts announced in March 2022 that the Cort Theatre , which
16188-574: The Cakewalk (1898), and the highly successful In Dahomey (1902). Hundreds of musical comedies were staged on Broadway in the 1890s and early 1900s made up of songs written in New York's Tin Pan Alley involving composers such as Gus Edwards , John Walter Bratton , and George M. Cohan ( Little Johnny Jones (1904), 45 Minutes From Broadway (1906), and George Washington Jr. (1906)). Still, New York runs continued to be relatively short, with
16416-663: The Dresden, with performances of Cinders starting in April 1923. The rooftop theater became the Frolic Theatre in September 1923 and was operated by Ziegfeld and Charles Dillingham . During the mid- and late 1920s, the main auditorium hosted several plays. In 1925, the musical Sunny opened, ultimately running 517 performances; by contrast, Betsy opened the next year and was a failure with 39 performances. The main auditorium's productions in 1927 included Lucky , Trelawny of
16644-456: The Erlanger syndicate. During this time, the play Lightnin' by Winchell Smith and Frank Bacon became the first Broadway show to reach 700 performances. From then, it would go on to become the first show to reach 1,000 performances. Lightnin' was the longest-running Broadway show until being overtaken in performance totals by Abie's Irish Rose in 1925. The motion picture mounted
16872-459: The Flowers". The stained glass vault was replaced with a vault painted gold. The south wall of the entrance foyer leads to a promenade foyer, which is as wide as the auditorium itself. The promenade foyer contains a groin vault with floral moldings. The foyer contains a wood balustrade overlooking the parterre orchestra level of the auditorium to the west. A sylvan-themed relief by Issing is at
17100-729: The Fuller Company and the building trades. At the beginning of that August, the steel structure was topped out. The dispute over the facade continued even after the theater's opening. In 1905, McMillan brought the lawsuit to the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division , which ruled that the Board of Aldermen's ordinance violated the Constitution of New York . The New Amsterdam Theatre opened on October 26, 1903, with Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream , which
17328-525: The Johnson estate. The city block includes 5 Times Square to the east and the Candler Building , Madame Tussauds New York , Empire Theatre , and Eleven Times Square to the west. The Todd Haimes Theatre , Times Square Theater , Lyric Theatre , New Victory Theater , and 3 Times Square are across 42nd Street to the north, and the Nederlander Theatre is to the south. An entrance to
17556-601: The LPC hosted public hearings on whether to designate the Times Square and six other theaters as landmarks. The LPC rejected the designations in February 2016, as the theaters were already subject to historic-preservation regulations set by the state government. The Urban Development Corporation (UDC), an agency of the New York state government, then proposed redeveloping the area around a portion of West 42nd Street in 1981. The plan centered around four towers that were to be built at 42nd Street's intersections with Broadway and Seventh Avenue, developed by Park Tower Realty and
17784-410: The League confirmed that performances would begin to resume in the fall season. Springsteen on Broadway became the first full-length show to resume performances, opening on June 26, 2021, to 1,721 vaccinated patrons at the St. James Theatre . Pass Over then had its first preview on August 4, and opened on August 22, 2021, becoming the first new play to open. Hadestown and Waitress were
18012-416: The Nederlander Organization had wanted to continue hosting motion pictures while the redevelopment was underway, but the city government denied his proposal. Plans for restoration were officially announced in May 1983. The $ 6 million project would use both private and public funding. Soon after work began, contractors discovered more structural damage than they had expected, including rotting girders. This led
18240-588: The Nederlanders to announce in mid-1983 that the reopening would be delayed indefinitely. The production of the musical Carmen , which was supposed to be presented at the roof theater, was relocated as a result. The Nederlanders wanted to seal off the roof theater completely, but the city government suggested instead that the National Theater Center be hosted on the roof. City officials indicated that they would provide $ 2.5 million to restore
18468-429: The New Amsterdam Theatre and a portion of its interior as a city landmark on October 23, 1979. The theater was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 10, 1980. The New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC), an agency of the New York state government, had proposed redeveloping the area around a portion of West 42nd Street in 1981. Theatrical operator Nederlander Organization tried to buy
18696-586: The New Amsterdam Theatre from Finkelstein in early 1982, before the city and state governments selected developers for the sites, but was unsuccessful. The city government selected the Nederlander Organization in April 1982 to operate the New Amsterdam Theatre, and the Nederlanders bought the rights to operate the theater in December 1982. The theater was technically owned by the New York City Industrial Development Corporation, which issued $ 5 million in bonds to finance
18924-588: The New Amsterdam Theatre in 1994, most of the other theaters around 42nd Street were quickly leased. Garth Drabinsky , president of Canadian company Livent , signed a long-term lease for the Apollo and Lyric theaters in July 1995, and the present Lyric Theatre (then known as the Ford Center for the Performing Arts) opened in 1998. In September 1994, MTV took an option on the Apollo, Lyric, and Times Square theaters, which it planned to convert into
19152-505: The New Amsterdam Theatre into a dance complex in 1977. The same year, the City University of New York 's Graduate Center hosted an exhibition with photographs of the New Amsterdam and other theaters to advocate for the area's restoration. Another plan, in 1978, called for restoring the New Amsterdam as a legitimate theater while razing nearby buildings to create a park. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated
19380-423: The New Amsterdam has a seating capacity of 1,702. Unusually for theaters of the time, the balconies are cantilevered from the structural framework, which eliminated the need for columns that blocked sightlines. The second balcony is recessed from the first balcony and is suspended directly from the ceiling with tension rods. Also unlike in older theaters, which often had horseshoe-shaped balconies that wrapped around
19608-803: The New Amsterdam is one of the oldest surviving Broadway theaters. Furthermore, at the beginning of the 20th century, Klaw and Erlanger operated the predominant theatrical booking agency in the United States. They decided to relocate to 42nd Street after observing that the Metropolitan Opera House , the Victoria Theatre , and the Theatre Republic (now New Victory Theater) had been developed around that area. In January 1902, Klaw and Erlanger bought seven land lots at 214 West 42nd Street and 207–219 West 41st Street. At
19836-409: The New Amsterdam was converted into a movie theater in 1937, in which capacity it served until 1983. The Nederlander Organization tried to redevelop the theater for ten years as part of the 42nd Street Development Project. It was then leased by The Walt Disney Company and renovated by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer from 1995 to 1997. After Disney took over the New Amsterdam's operation, the theater hosted
20064-604: The Opera at the Majestic Theatre became the longest-running Broadway musical, with 7,486 performances, overtaking Cats . The Phantom of the Opera closed on Broadway on April 16, 2023, soon after celebrating its 35th anniversary, after a total of 13,981 performances. Attending a Broadway show is a common tourist activity in New York. The TKTS booths sell same-day tickets (and in certain cases, next-day matinee tickets) for many Broadway and Off-Broadway shows at
20292-535: The Post was the first show to call itself a "musical comedy". Tony Pastor opened the first vaudeville theatre one block east of Union Square in 1881, where Lillian Russell performed. Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 ( The Mulligan Guard Picnic ) and 1890, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham . These musical comedies featured characters and situations taken from
20520-724: The Selwyn Theatre in April 1924, swapping houses with the musical Battling Buttler . The theater also hosted a dance recital by Albertina Rasch in May 1924, though the Sabbath Committee ruled that the recital could not be staged on Sundays. That September, the theater hosted Jerome Kern and Howard Dietz 's musical Dear Sir , featuring Oscar Shaw and Walter Catlett . It was followed in November by Clifford Grey , Clare Kummer , and Sigmund Romberg 's musical Annie Dear, which featured Billie Burke . The Selwyn brothers dissolved their firm in 1925. The same year,
20748-483: The Selwyn, Apollo, Lyric, and Times Square were to be converted to commercial use. By the end of the year, the plans were threatened by a lack of money. In early 1989, several dozen nonprofit theater companies submitted plans to the UDC for the takeover of six theaters. Most of the bids were for the Liberty and Victory, but the Selwyn, Apollo, Lyric, and Times Square theaters received 13 bids between them. That year,
20976-554: The Selwyn, Apollo, and Harris for opera and dance, rather than for theatrical purposes. Other nearby buildings, including possibly the Times Square Theater, would have been razed to create a park. Another plan, called the City at 42nd Street, was announced in December 1979 as part of a proposal to restore West 42nd Street around Times Square. Under the plan, the Times Square Theatre would have been preserved, and some of
21204-516: The Times Square Theater was developed, the brothers operated the Harris and Selwyn (now Todd Haimes) theaters. The Selwyn Theatre had opened on an adjacent site in 1918. Even before that theater was completed, the Selwyn brothers had asked their partner Crosby Gaige to search for sites where they could build additional theaters. The brothers bought two sites just east of the Selwyn Theatre:
21432-436: The Times Square to Ecko Unltd. , which planned to convert it into a hip-hop store. Ecko planned to build a 20,000 sq ft (1,900 m ) or 30,000 sq ft (2,800 m ) store across four floors. The firm of Janson-Goldstein was hired to renovate the space; at the time, the store would have been completed in 2006. The project stalled after the planning process, even though Ecko had continued to pay rent, and
21660-529: The Times Square, to the Cine 42nd Street Corporation in 1986. From 1987 to 1989, Park Tower and Prudential hired Robert A. M. Stern to conduct a study on the Apollo, Lyric, Selwyn, Times Square, and Victory theaters on the north side of 42nd Street. Stern devised three alternatives for the five theaters. City and state officials announced plans for the five theaters, along with the Liberty Theatre on
21888-485: The Times Square; it was one of the first hits that featured actress Katharine Cornell . The theater also hosted recitals by actress Ruth Draper , who continued her performances there for several years. In 1922, the Times Square hosted plays such as The Charlatan , as well as The Exciters with Tallulah Bankhead . The Fool , by Channing Pollock , opened in October 1922 and ran for over 200 performances through
22116-457: The Vanities premiered in late 1933 and was followed by Roberta the same year, the latter of which was a hit with 295 performances. When Revenge with Music premiered at the New Amsterdam in 1934, it was the only remaining legitimate theater production on 42nd Street. Revenge with Music was followed by George White's Scandals of 1936, as well as Sigmund Romberg 's Forbidden Melody
22344-454: The acquisition. The Nederlanders were responsible for developing the theater and paying off the bonds, as well as $ 250,000 of annual payments in lieu of taxes . The company planned to redevelop the main auditorium into a 1,700-seat theater and reopen the 700-seat roof theater by 1983. If the rest of the 42nd Street Development Project was unsuccessful, the Nederlanders could switch the theater's main entrance to 41st Street. Robert Nederlander of
22572-473: The ages of drama. The top of the arch at the third story originally had a keystone carved by Grendellis and Ricci, with a garland depicting oak, laurel, and ivy. Above was a cornice with modillions , as well as a group of sculptures by George Gray Barnard , depicting five figures linked by garlands. Cupid (symbolizing love comedy) and a woman stood on one side of the central figure, a female personification of drama; Pierrot (symbolizing musical farce) and
22800-424: The air to natural levels of humidity. The air could be completely changed in ten minutes. Air was distributed through the floors and walls, and it was exhausted through disc fans above the auditorium. Three telephone systems were installed to allow communications between different parts of the theater. These mechanical systems were completely replaced between 1995 and 1997. The new mechanical systems do not intrude upon
23028-423: The arched pediments above the seventh-story windows, which represent dance, declamation , and song. At the ninth story, decorated pilasters flank the windows, and a frieze runs above the windows, with the year "1903" carved into it. The tenth story contains a central projecting dormer , containing a decorated pediment, as well as a smaller dormer in either of the side bays. The peak of the central dormer contains
23256-478: The assets of Broadway 4D Theaters and would continue the project. Singaporean company Oracle Projects International reportedly leased the theater in March 2016 for use as an event space. Stillman Development International LLC signed a 73-year lease for the Times Square Theater in 2017. The following year, Stillman and its partner Daishin Securities [ ko ] announced a $ 100 million renovation of
23484-423: The auditorium foyer on the south. The coffered ceiling is made of wood and originally contained plaster-and-leaded-glass chandeliers, which have since been replaced by simpler fixtures. The lobby leads south to the auditorium's entrance foyer. Within the foyer, above the doors from the lobby, is a semicircular plaster relief by Hugh Tallant, depicting progress. This design includes a blue-and-gold representation of
23712-441: The authors and also in numerous unlicensed productions). They were imitated in New York by American productions such as Reginald Dekoven 's Robin Hood (1891) and John Philip Sousa 's El Capitan (1896), along with operas, ballets, and other British and European hits. Charles H. Hoyt 's A Trip to Chinatown (1891) became Broadway's long-run champion when it surpassed Adonis and its 603 total performances in 1893, holding
23940-435: The beginning of the nineteenth century, the area that now comprises the Theater District was owned by a handful of families and comprised a few farms. In 1836, Mayor Cornelius Lawrence opened 42nd Street and invited Manhattanites to "enjoy the pure clean air." Close to 60 years later, theatrical entrepreneur Oscar Hammerstein I built the iconic Victoria Theater on West 42nd Street. Broadway's first "long-run" musical
24168-476: The biggest changes to the commercial theatrical landscape—on both sides of the Atlantic—over the past decade or so is that sightings of big star names turning out to do plays has [sic] gone up; but the runs they are prepared to commit to has gone down. Time was that a producer would require a minimum commitment from his star of six months, and perhaps a year; now, the 13-week run is the norm." The minimum size of
24396-550: The bill was not passed. The Save the Theatres campaign then turned their efforts to supporting the establishment of the Theater District as a registered historic district . In December 1983, Save the Theatres prepared "The Broadway Theater District, a Preservation Development and Management Plan", and demanded that each theater in the district receive landmark designation. Mayor Ed Koch ultimately reacted by creating
24624-401: The box office) measures 75 ft (23 m) wide, and the 41st Street frontage measures 150 ft (46 m) wide. Originally, the 42nd Street frontage was only 25 ft (7.6 m) wide; the developers, Abraham L. Erlanger and Marcus Klaw , wanted the more prominent 42nd Street frontage as the main entrance. The lots comprising the site had previously been owned by Samuel McMillan and
24852-405: The building. Colliers International was also hired to market the building. At the time of the announcement, the project was supposed to take two years. Stillman hired Beyer Blinder Belle to design the renovation, add several stories, and raise the facade by five feet. The facade would be separated from the interior structure and raised using hydraulic jacks. In addition, Stillman would remove
25080-530: The company canceled its plans to redevelop the Times Square Theater. New 42nd Street Inc. president Cora Cahan said she had received several proposals for potential uses of the theater, though most bidders said they did not want to build a performance space there. Producer Stewart F. Lane had proposed converting the theater for live use, but Cahan rejected the plan in January 1999. In the meantime, advertising firm TDI installed seven advertisement panels between
25308-399: The condition that the New Amsterdam never host burlesque. Cohen renovated the facade, replacing the original decorations with a marquee. The New Amsterdam reopened as a movie theater on July 3, 1937, showing the film adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream . Bernard Sobel , Flo Ziegfeld's former agent, lamented in The New York Times that the cinema conversion was "another indication that
25536-623: The current Lyric Theatre), as well as the Times Square, Victory, Selwyn (now Todd Haimes), and Victoria theaters, occupied the north side. These venues were mostly converted to movie theaters by the 1930s, and many of them had been relegated to showing pornography by the 1970s. The Times Square Theater, along with the Apollo Theatre immediately to the north and west, was developed by brothers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn in 1920. Both theaters were built simultaneously and designed by Eugene De Rosa . Architectural Plastering Co. performed
25764-422: The decade ended with critics and audiences giving mixed signals." Ken Bloom observed that "The 1960s and 1970s saw a worsening of the area [Times Square] and a drop in the number of legitimate shows produced on Broadway." By way of comparison, in the 1950 to 1951 season (May to May) 94 productions opened on Broadway; in the 1969 to 1970 season (June to May) there were 59 productions (fifteen were revivals). In
25992-432: The development of which had been delayed. The renovation was abandoned partway through, the decorations being left exposed to the elements. The roof had started leaking, and the interior had water damage. Several shows were announced for the rundown theater, all of which were withdrawn. After having spent $ 15 million on renovations, the Nederlanders announced in 1990 that the New Amsterdam's restoration would not be viable "for
26220-489: The dome. There is a bronze grille representing a winged youth, at the dome's apex. An inscription surrounds the dome's base, with the words "I had rather a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad", a line from the Shakespeare comedy As You Like It . The old smoking room was converted into a bar during the 1990s. The auditorium is at the south end of the building and is elliptical in plan, with curved walls,
26448-444: The early 1980s. The LPC started to consider protecting theaters, including the Times Square Theater, as landmarks in 1982, with discussions continuing over the next several years. While the LPC granted landmark status to many Broadway theaters starting in 1987, it deferred decisions on the exterior and interior of the Times Square Theater. Further discussion of the landmark designations was delayed for several decades. In late 2015,
26676-577: The effort. At Papp's behest, in July 1982, a bill was introduced in the 97th Congress , entitled "H.R.6885, A bill to designate the Broadway/Times Square Theatre District in the City of New York as a national historic site". The legislation would have provided certain U.S. government resources and assistance to help the city preserve the district. Faced with strong opposition and lobbying by Mayor Ed Koch's Administration and corporate Manhattan development interests,
26904-452: The entire Broadway production is transplanted almost entirely intact and may run for many months (or years) at each stop. For example, the first U.S. tour of The Phantom of the Opera required 26 53-foot-long (16.1 m) semi-trailers to transport all its sets, equipment, and costumes, and it took almost 10 days to properly unload all those trucks and install everything into a theater. Times Square Theater The Times Square Theater
27132-456: The everyday life of New York's lower classes and represented a significant step forward from vaudeville and burlesque, towards a more literate form. They starred high-quality professional singers ( Lillian Russell , Vivienne Segal , and Fay Templeton ), instead of the amateurs, often sex workers, who had starred in earlier musical forms. As transportation improved, poverty in New York diminished, and street lighting made for safer travel at night,
27360-423: The facade, on 42nd Street, is made of gray limestone with a steeply pitched roof made of red tile. The theater's entrance is a triple-height segmental arch ; the stories above contain offices. The office wing measures 150 ft (46 m) tall. The 41st Street elevation contains the stage doors and is clad with plain brick, since the architects thought the public would seldom see that elevation. The side walls of
27588-464: The family of George M. Cohan . This was followed in 1907 by The Merry Widow , which ran 416 performances at both the main auditorium and the Aerial Gardens. Richard Mansfield appeared in a limited number of performances at the theater for several seasons, starring in both Richard III and Peer Gynt . Kitty Grey , starring Julia Sanderson , was staged at the New Amsterdam in 1909, as
27816-467: The first musicals to resume performances on September 2, 2021. The 74th Tony Awards were also postponed; the Tony nominations were announced on October 15, 2020, and took place on September 26, 2021. On July 30, 2021, it was announced that all Broadway theaters required attendees to provide proof of full COVID-19 vaccination . The rule applied to guests ages 12+. Those under age 12 were required to provide
28044-410: The first-run theaters, and the "reissue houses", which screened old films. The New Amsterdam and the other 42nd Street theaters operated from 8 a.m. to 3 a.m., with three shifts of workers. The ten theaters on the block attracted about five million visitors a year between them. In 1960, Mark Finkelstein, who co-owned the theater building with Cohen, announced that the roof theater would be renovated into
28272-470: The former stage house was converted to a haberdashery , since the theater no longer needed these facilities after its conversion into a cinema. By the mid-1940s, the ten theaters along 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues were all showing movies; this led Variety to call the block the "biggest movie center of the world". The Brandts owned seven of these theaters, while the Cinema circuit operated
28500-418: The foundation to a depth of 40 ft (12 m). A controversy arose in early 1903 when a neighboring landowner, Samuel McMillan, discovered that the office wing on 42nd Street would protrude 4 ft (1.2 m) beyond the lot line. The DOB ordered that work be halted temporarily, pending a decision on an ordinance regarding "ornamental projections". The New York City Board of Aldermen had already passed
28728-728: The highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world . While the Broadway thoroughfare is eponymous with the district, it is closely identified with Times Square . Only three theaters are located on Broadway itself: Broadway Theatre , Palace Theatre , and Winter Garden Theatre . The rest are located on the numbered cross streets, extending from the Nederlander Theatre one block south of Times Square on West 41st Street, north along either side of Broadway to 53rd Street , and Vivian Beaumont Theater , at Lincoln Center on West 65th Street. While exceptions exist,
28956-468: The history of art" if it were successful. The New York Times referred to the theater as "a vision of gorgeousness"; New York Plaisance magazine called it "a most beautiful and commodious place of amusement"; and yet another source said: "Architecturally it is near perfection." Theatre magazine described the New Amsterdam as "perhaps the most imposing of all the new theatres" opened on Broadway during 1903. The Aerial Gardens opened on June 6, 1904, with
29184-491: The late 1920s, the Times Square was still able to secure some hits. Jed Harris leased the theater in mid-1928 and presented the original Broadway production of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur 's comedy The Front Page , which opened in August 1928. The Front Page ran for 276 performances through April 1929. Several shows had short runs in 1929, including The Middle Watch and Other Men's Wives . The next hit
29412-405: The late 1950s, the Times Square was classified as a "western and action outlet", displaying films that related to that genre. Tickets cost 25 to 65 cents apiece, the cheapest admission scale for any theater on 42nd Street. The Times Square and the other 42nd Street theaters operated from 8 a.m. to 3 a.m., with three shifts of workers. The ten theaters on the block attracted about five million visitors
29640-400: The marble on the western (right) wall. Above the walls are twelve terracotta panels designed by Roland Hinton Perry , which form a frieze. Those on the eastern wall depict scenes from Shakespeare's plays , and those on the western wall depict scenes from operas by Richard Wagner . A scene from Faust is depicted over the entrance on the north, and Greek drama is depicted over the doorway to
29868-485: The mid-1900s, when the syndicate had paid him $ 200 a week to present vaudeville; by 1907, he had come up with the Follies . The first edition of the Follies at the New Amsterdam was hosted on June 16, 1913. Among the performers in the Follies were Fanny Brice , Eddie Cantor , W. C. Fields , Ina Claire , Marilyn Miller , Will Rogers , Sophie Tucker , Bert Williams , and Van and Schenck . An urban legend holds that
30096-452: The mid-1980s, at which point the Times Square was showing "obscure horror/action triple-bills". The 42nd Street Development Corporation had been formed in 1976 to discuss plans for redeveloping Times Square. The same year, the City University of New York 's Graduate Center hosted an exhibition with photographs of the Times Square Theatre and other theaters to advocate for the area's restoration. Another plan, in 1978, called for restoring
30324-557: The middle-class, variety shows in concert saloons for men of the working class and the slumming middle-class." The plays of William Shakespeare were frequently performed on the Broadway stage during the period, most notably by American actor Edwin Booth who was internationally known for his performance as Hamlet . Booth played the role for a famous 100 consecutive performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1865 (with
30552-508: The musical The Lion King , followed by Mary Poppins and Aladdin . The New Amsterdam Theatre is at 214 West 42nd Street , between Seventh Avenue and Eighth Avenue near the southern end of Times Square , in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City . The land lot is irregularly shaped and covers 19,250 sq ft (1,788 m), extending 200 ft (61 m) between its two frontages on 41st and 42nd Streets. The main frontage on 42nd Street (including
30780-595: The next several years" until the four office towers were completed. The New York City Opera considered moving to the theater in 1991 but decided against doing so. Broadway theatre Broadway theatre , or Broadway , is a theatre genre that consists of the theatrical performances presented in 41 professional theaters , each with 500 or more seats, in the Theater District and Lincoln Center along Broadway , in Midtown Manhattan , New York City . Broadway and London 's West End together represent
31008-420: The next sixteen years. However, smaller vaudeville and variety houses proliferated, and Off-Broadway was well established by the end of the nineteenth century. A Trip to Coontown (1898) was the first musical comedy entirely produced and performed by African Americans in a Broadway theatre (inspired largely by the routines of the minstrel shows ), followed by the ragtime -tinged Clorindy: The Origin of
31236-643: The next year. As an experiment, the Selwyn brothers brought over several visiting companies in mid-1923 to perform The Fool in place of the usual actors. Each company performed for three days before being performing the production at other theaters. The play Helen of Troy, New York , transferred from the Selwyn Theatre in October 1923; this was followed in December by Pelléas and Mélisande with Jane Cowl , which flopped after 13 performances. During early 1924, André Charlot presented his eponymous musical revue , featuring Gertrude Lawrence , Beatrice Lillie , and Jack Buchanan . Charlot's revue transferred to
31464-473: The north side. These venues were mostly converted to movie theaters by the 1930s, and many of them had been relegated to showing pornography by the 1970s. The New Amsterdam Theatre was designed by architects Herts & Tallant and developed for Klaw and Erlanger from 1902 to 1903. It was built by the George A. Fuller Company . The facade is designed in the Beaux-Arts style with Art Nouveau elements, and
31692-399: The number of legitimate theaters decreased from 68 to 30. The lease originally ran for five years. The following year, Burgwyn lost the theater in a foreclosure proceeding. The Times Square and Apollo theaters were auctioned off; Timap Inc. acquired them in June 1935 for $ 110,000 and assumed responsibility for the existing $ 800,000 mortgage. The proscenium arch was infilled in 1939 when
31920-557: The number of potential patrons for the growing number of theatres increased enormously. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits and improved production values. As in England, during the latter half of the century, the theatre began to be cleaned up, with less prostitution hindering the attendance of the theatre by women. Gilbert and Sullivan 's family-friendly comic opera hits, beginning with H.M.S. Pinafore in 1878, were imported to New York (by
32148-442: The offers were successful. William Brandt indicated in 1946 that he might replace the theaters on the north side of 42nd Street with a skyscraper. By then, there was a shortage of new films in the theaters along 42nd Street, which led to decreased attendance. William Brandt said in 1953 that any of his 42nd Street theaters could be converted to a legitimate house within 24 hours' notice, but producers did not take up his offer. By
32376-423: The office wing on 42nd Street are also constructed of brick because the architects had anticipated that high-rise buildings would be constructed on either side. Fire escapes are placed across the theater wing's exterior on 41st Street. On 42nd Street, the triple-height arch had rusticated stone piers on either side. The original entrance was a double door with transom windows made of leaded glass , above which
32604-409: The old order has indeed changed". The theater showed other movies for 10 to 25 cents per ticket, although Cohen could not show first runs of movies immediately upon their release, at least not initially. The marquee was further modified in 1947. The auditorium boxes were removed as part of a 1953 renovation. These modifications allowed the installation of a Cinerama wide screen. MBS continued to use
32832-409: The ordinance, and mayor Seth Low had to decide whether to approve it. The DOB stationed a police officer outside the construction site during the daytime, but the developers erected the facade overnight in March 1903. A meeting on the ordinance drew much public opposition, prompting Low to send the bill back to the Board of Aldermen. A judge placed an injunction in April 1903, preventing Low from making
33060-435: The original direct current lighting system, which was dim. The modern decorative scheme contains reproductions of many of the original decorations with a subdued color palette. A double wall surrounds the whole auditorium and contains a fire gallery measuring 15 ft (4.6 m) wide. The auditorium held around 1,550 seats in its original configuration. After its reopening in 1997, the auditorium had 1,814 seats; as of 2022,
33288-506: The original design, except for a light grid above the proscenium of the auditorium. Leading from the 42nd Street entrance vestibule is the lobby, which runs under the office wing; the space contains curving Art Nouveau-style floral motifs. The eastern (or left) wall contains bronze office and elevator doors. The remainder of the wall contains marble panels, separated by terracotta pilasters that were designed by Neumark of Bremen and carved by Grendellis and Ricci. There are mirrored panels above
33516-522: The original revue The Band Wagon followed in 1931, as did Face the Music in 1932. After Face the Music closed at the end of 1932, the theater had no musical premiere for the first time in its history. During early 1933, the musicals Alice in Wonderland and The Cherry Orchard had limited runs at the New Amsterdam, presented by Eva Le Gallienne and her Civic Repertory Theater . Murder at
33744-584: The other theaters would have been modified. Mayor Ed Koch wavered in his support of the plan, criticizing it as a "Disneyland on 42nd Street". Subsequently, Hugh Hardy conducted a report on 42nd Street's theaters in 1980. His report, in conjunction with a movement opposing the demolition of the nearby Helen Hayes and Morosco theaters, motivated the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to survey fifty of Midtown Manhattan's extant theaters in
33972-477: The other three. The Brandt theaters included the Selwyn, Apollo, Times Square, Lyric, and Victory theaters on the north side of 42nd Street, as well as the Eltinge and Liberty theaters on the south side. The Times Square Theater showed action films and Westerns , and the Brandt changed the bill three times a week. Several producers offered to stage legitimate productions in the Brandt theaters, but none of
34200-556: The performers, or temporary availability of a theatre between the end of one production and the beginning of another. However, some shows with planned limited engagement runs may, after critical acclaim or box office success, extend their engagements or convert to open-ended runs. This was the case with 2007's August: Osage County , 2009's God of Carnage , 2012's Newsies , and 2022's Take Me Out . Historically, musicals on Broadway tend to have longer runs than "straight" (i.e., non-musical) plays. On January 9, 2006, The Phantom of
34428-468: The plays of George Bernard Shaw , and Katharine Cornell in such plays as Romeo and Juliet , Antony and Cleopatra , and Candida . In 1930, Theatre Guild 's production of Roar, China! was Broadway's first play with a majority Asian cast. As World War II approached, a dozen Broadway dramas addressed the rise of Nazism in Europe and the issue of American non-intervention. The most successful
34656-423: The production plays), meaning that the length of their presentation is not set beforehand, but depends on critical response, word of mouth, and the effectiveness of the show's advertising, all of which determine ticket sales. Investing in a commercial production carries a varied degree of financial risk. Shows need not make a profit immediately; should they make their "nut" (weekly operating expenses), or lose money at
34884-645: The productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein , became enormously influential forms of American popular culture " and contributed to making New York City the cultural capital of the world . New York City's first significant theatre was established in the mid-18th century, around 1750, when actor-managers Walter Murray and Thomas Kean established a resident theatre company at the Theatre on Nassau Street in Lower Manhattan , which held about 280 people. They presented William Shakespeare 's plays and ballad operas such as The Beggar's Opera . In 1752, William Hallam sent
35112-425: The proscenium, placed atop depictions of vines. There are also floral motifs and female figures around the dome. The ceiling of the auditorium also has seven arches with wood paneling. The ceiling of the main auditorium contains a girder measuring 90 ft (27 m) long and 14 ft (4.3 m) tall and weighing 70 short tons (63 long tons; 64 t). At the time of the New Amsterdam's construction in 1903, this
35340-429: The rear of the first-floor promenade foyer is an arch leading to the general reception room, a green-and-gold space with oak paneling . The general reception room measures 50 ft × 30 ft (15.2 m × 9.1 m). The arch was originally flanked by marble fountains. On the north and south walls, George Peixotto designed two symbolic paintings entitled "Inspiration" and "Creation". The rear (east) wall of
35568-529: The reception room has a fireplace with a Caen stone and Irish marble mantel , also decorated with curving foliate patterns. Above the fireplaces are niches, which originally contained busts depicting poets Homer , Shakespeare , and Virgil . The paneling is 12 ft (3.7 m) high and contains built-in seats and stylized curved trees. The paneling also once had 38 medallions with painted portraits, designed by William Frazee Strunz and depicting "Lovers of Historical Drama". The reception room's vaulted ceiling and
35796-419: The renovation had been slated for completion in 2020, the renovation was still incomplete at the beginning of 2021, and the developers did not give an updated timeline. Progress on the renovation stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City . Work on the Times Square had stalled by January 2023 because no tenants had shown interest in occupying the theater. Stillman subsequently contemplated erecting
36024-484: The rest of the facade is made of brick. The lobby within the office wing leads to a set of ornamental foyers, a reception room, and men's and women's lounges. The elliptical auditorium contains two balconies cantilevered above a ground-level orchestra. Above the main auditorium is a now-disused roof theater, which opened in 1904 and also served as a studio. The theater has a steel frame and was designed with advanced mechanical systems for its time. The New Amsterdam Theatre
36252-514: The roof theater and $ 20,000 on equipment. The renovated rooftop studio started broadcasting in October 1949. In subsequent years, the roof theater was used for rehearsals, and the main auditorium became a profitable cinema. By the late 1950s, the New Amsterdam was one of two theaters on the block that showed first-run films, the other being the Lyric . Ticket prices were higher than both "move-over houses", which received films immediately after they ran at
36480-437: The roof theater and convert it to the National Theater Center, but the city allocated the funds elsewhere in the 1985 city budget. The Empire State Development Corporation and New York City Economic Development Corporation purchased the property in 1984. The same year, Jerry Weintraub purchased a stake in the operation of the New Amsterdam. The theater's renovation had been planned in conjunction with four new office towers,
36708-486: The roof theater had been converted into office space. Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and the Great Depression . Manhattan's theater district had begun to shift from Union Square and Madison Square during the first decade of the 20th century. The New Amsterdam, Lyceum , and Hudson , which all opened in 1903, were among the first theaters to make this shift;
36936-473: The rooftop theater as a studio. The Cinema Circuit Corporation leased the roof theater in April 1943, showing movies at the 740-seat facility only on weekends. That November, the roof theater hosted a ten-week roster of small plays. The United Booking Office, the New Amsterdam's last remaining tenant from the legitimate theater era, moved out of the office wing that year. The roof studio was leased in 1949 to television station WOR-TV , which spent $ 75,000 to remodel
37164-441: The room's arches are decorated with floral moldings. The women's and men's lounges are both directly below the reception room: the women's lounge to the south and the men's lounge to the north. The women's lounge originally had pink carved reliefs of roses. The ceiling of the women's lounge depicted a rose with personifications of the five senses, as well as depictions of the figures Eros , Ganymede , and Jupiter . The men's lounge
37392-531: The run ending just a few months before Booth's brother John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln ), and would later revive the role at his own Booth's Theatre (which was managed for a time by his brother Junius Brutus Booth Jr. ). Other renowned Shakespeareans who appeared in New York in this era were Henry Irving , Tommaso Salvini , Fanny Davenport , and Charles Fechter . Theatre in New York moved from Downtown gradually to Midtown Manhattan , beginning around 1850, seeking less expensive real estate. At
37620-437: The same project, the Times Square Theater would have become retail space. In response, Brandt and Cine Theater Corp. sued the UDC, claiming that the moves shut out independent theatrical operators. Michael J. Lazar would have renovated the four theaters for Jujamcyn, but the city and state removed him from the project in 1986 following a parking scandal. The Brandts also leased all their movie theaters on 42nd Street, including
37848-483: The same year. The Dry Dock Savings Bank acquired the New Amsterdam Theatre through a foreclosure proceeding in May 1936 after the theater's owners had failed to pay over $ 1.65 million in interest, taxes, and other fees. By then, Erlanger and Ziegfeld had died several years previously. Afterward, Dry Dock leased the roof to CBS and the Mutual Broadcasting System for broadcasts, but an injunction
38076-474: The same year. The musical Watch Your Step premiered at the New Amsterdam in 1914, featuring Irving Berlin 's first complete Broadway score; it ran for 175 performances. A performance of Around the Map was staged in 1915. The following year, Sir Herbert Tree and Company staged several Shakespeare plays, and Guy Bolton and Emmerich Kálmán 's musical Miss Springtime ran 224 performances. The Cohan Revue of 1918
38304-473: The season. This is done in order to maximize access to their target audience. Most Broadway producers and theatre owners are members of The Broadway League (formerly "The League of American Theatres and Producers"), a trade organization that promotes Broadway theatre as a whole, negotiates contracts with the various theatrical unions and agreements with the guilds, and co-administers the Tony Awards with
38532-482: The second floor is a colonnade of six columns between a pair of outer bays . The New York Times described the columns as being in the Doric order . There were originally seven wrought-iron screens, one between each set of columns. The auditorium facade is slightly recessed behind the colonnade, creating a gallery . The outermost bays in the second floor contained sash window panes, flanked by pilasters that support
38760-647: The second through fourth floors, and the dome would be reinstalled above the staircase. Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and the Great Depression . Manhattan's theater district had begun to shift from Union Square and Madison Square during the first decade of the 20th century. From 1901 to 1920, forty-three theaters were built around Broadway in Midtown Manhattan. The Selwyn brothers, developed several Broadway theaters on 42nd Street. Before
38988-563: The show was also used to test the skills of promising up-and-coming performers. Ziegfeld also had his own office on the seventh floor of the office wing. The 1924 edition of the Follies had the longest run, with 401 performances, though that edition was not particularly distinctive either critically or artistically. Between each year's edition of the Follies , the theater hosted other productions. The production Sweethearts premiered in 1913, and Hazel Dawn starred in The Little Cafe
39216-422: The sides and rear of the auditorium, the New Amsterdam's balconies only stretch across the rear wall. At the orchestra and balcony levels, the lower sections of the walls have carved-oak wainscoting . The original seats had walnut-stained seatbacks without cushions, which became known as "Amsterdam backs" when they were used in other theaters. The auditorium initially had twelve seating boxes, six on either side of
39444-538: The south side of 42nd Street, in September 1988. Stern presented a model of his plan the next month. The plan called for reducing the size of the Selwyn Theatre to accommodate "intimate drama", as well as replacing the Selwyn Building with a structure containing rehearsal studios. The UDC opened a request for proposals for six of the theaters that October. The Liberty and Victory were to be converted into performing-arts venues for nonprofit organizations, while
39672-464: The south. The surrounding area is part of Manhattan 's Theater District and contains many Broadway theaters . In the first two decades of the 20th century, eleven venues for legitimate theatre were built within one block of West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. The New Amsterdam, Harris , Liberty , Eltinge , and Lew Fields theaters occupied the south side of the street. The original Lyric and Apollo theaters (combined into
39900-464: The southern end of Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City . The building occupies a nearly square land lot covering 10,401 sq ft (966.3 m ), with a frontage of 105 ft (32 m) on 42nd Street and a depth of 100.5 ft (30.6 m). The theater is surrounded to the east and north by the Lyric Theatre . It also shares the block with
40128-598: The southern end of the promenade foyer, leading to 41st Street. On the east wall of the promenade foyer, there are four staircases: two leading up to the auditorium's balconies and two leading down to the lounges. The stairs are made of green-veined Maryland Cremo marble. The stairs contain green terracotta balustrades made with faience glazing, containing panels with vines, flowers, and animals. The oak-wood newel posts at each landing have figures inspired by characters from Shakespeare. The staircase decorations have been attributed to Norwegian architect Thorbjorn Bassoe. From
40356-470: The stage for 657 performances. Chinatown itself was surpassed by the musical Irene (1919) in 1921 as the longest-running Broadway musical, and even earlier, in March 1920, by Lightnin' (1918) as the longest-running Broadway show. In 1896, theatre owners Marc Klaw and A. L. Erlanger formed the Theatrical Syndicate , which controlled almost every legitimate theatre in the U.S. for
40584-409: The stage. The stage had a turntable, and the stage floor could be tilted. Surrounding the stage is a large freight elevator, two dressing-room elevators, and a carpentry shop. There is also a fly gallery with counterweights to raise or lower sets. One side of the stage had an electric switchboard that controlled the lighting. The original stage curtain had floral motifs similar to those in the rest of
40812-404: The stage; they were arranged in staggered pairs and installed within arches on the side walls. The boxes were included to compensate for the relative lack of seating on the side walls, and they had unobstructed views of the stage. Each box was ornamented with a different floral motif, so the boxes were often identified by the names of the flowers on them. The boxes were removed when the New Amsterdam
41040-434: The term "Broadway theatre" is used predominantly to describe venues with seating capacities of at least 500 people. Smaller theaters in New York City are referred to as off-Broadway , regardless of location, while very small venues with fewer than 100 seats are called off-off-Broadway , a term that can also apply to non-commercial, avant-garde , or productions held outside of traditional theater venues. The Theater District
41268-452: The theater because of its technologically advanced equipment and Art Nouveau design. The men disagreed over the theater's bookings; Klaw wanted to stage classical productions, but Erlanger preferred large revues and musicals. In 1905, the theater hosted the comedy She Stoops to Conquer . The next year, the theater hosted Forty-five Minutes from Broadway , featuring Fay Templeton and Victor Moore , as well as The Governor's Son, starring
41496-449: The theater building was difficult to lease out because of its lack of a rear entrance. Among the unsuccessful bids were those by MTV , Marvel Mania , Livent , Ecko Unltd. , and a 4D theater company. Stillman Development International leased the building in 2017 and hired Beyer Blinder Belle to renovate it. The Times Square Theater is at 215–217 West 42nd Street, on the northern sidewalk between Eighth Avenue and Seventh Avenue , at
41724-407: The theater contains the ghost of one performer, silent film star Olive Thomas . Ziegfeld also hired either Joseph Urban or John Eberson to redesign the theater on the roof with a balcony and a dance floor. With the completion of the roof theater's renovation, Ziegfeld began displaying Danse de Follies , a racier sister show of the Follies , in 1915. Subsequently, known as the Midnight Frolic ,
41952-518: The theater could accommodate 1,127 people; meanwhile, The Broadway League and Playbill both cite a capacity of 1,055, and theater historian Mary C. Henderson gives a figure of 1,035. The interior was originally decorated in the Empire style with some Adam style ornamentation. The original color scheme was silver and green against a black background. In later years, the green decorations faded to gray. The theater had two levels of seating:
42180-445: The theater hosted the play Mismates , the namesake of the film Mismates . The musical Kosher Kitty Kelly also ran for 166 total performances at the Times Square Theater and Daly's 63rd Street Theatre , in spite of negative critical reception. Pollock's play The Enemy opened in late 1925 and ran for 202 performances. The Times Square Theater then showed a variety of films in early 1926, including The Volga Boatman and
42408-460: The theater was covered in plywood. In 2009, the company abandoned its lease, and Cahan considered filing a lawsuit against Ecko. A mural by Sofia Maldonado was placed on the empty theater in 2010. The Observer reported in early 2011 that a 4D theater was being planned for the Times Square. The next year, a group called Broadway 4D Theaters, LLC signed a long-term lease for the theater. The Times Square would have been renovated to accommodate
42636-404: The theater's columns. Cahan said that, in three months, the ads could raise $ 100,000 for New 42nd Street's adjacent rehearsal studios. By then, the popularity of theme restaurants was decreasing, and most sites in the neighborhood had already been redeveloped. The Times Square Theater remained empty in 2000, after every other theater on the block had been renovated. Part of the issue was that it
42864-412: The theater's exterior sgraffito work, while L. S. Fischl's Sons was the interior decorator. The theater's original facade , shared with the former Apollo Theatre, is made of limestone and is symmetrical. The layout is similar to that of the still-extant Music Box Theatre . The westernmost section served as an entrance to the Apollo Theatre, whose auditorium was originally on 43rd Street. There
43092-531: The theater's interior is an early example of architectural Art Nouveau in New York City. Decoration was carried out by more than a dozen artists. The decorative scheme predominantly depicted three topics: the history of New York City prior to 1903, including its original history as the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam ; the history of theater; and the floral and foliage motifs often seen in theaters. The design also included elements of classicism. The theater consists of
43320-424: The theater's restoration would be completed by early 2021. John Tiedemann had removed an iron gate on the facade for restoration, while contractor Shawmut had removed some of the interior decorative elements. The developers filed partial demolition plans for the Times Square Theater with the New York City Department of Buildings in July 2019. The developers then submitted construction plans in February 2020. Though
43548-525: The theater, Erlanger renewed Dillingham and Ziegfeld's lease, which had been set to expire at the end of 1929. Another production was staged at the main auditorium in 1929, Sherlock Holmes . Erlanger was in significant debt when he died in 1930, and the Dry Dock Savings Bank took over his estate. In the 1930s, during the beginning of the Great Depression, many Broadway theaters were impacted by declining attendance. The main auditorium only saw
43776-442: The theater. The dressing room could accommodate 500 people. The lighting system included a set of emergency exit lights, as well as reflectors to illuminate the area between the footlights . The girder above the main auditorium supported a roof theater named the Aerial Gardens. Accessed by two elevators from the lobby, the Aerial Gardens was also designed by Herts & Tallant and opened in 1904. New York City building regulations at
44004-480: The theaters to another developer. Although Durst protested the move, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled that the condemnation could occur. A nonprofit organization, New 42nd Street , was formed in September 1990 to restore six of the theaters and find uses for them. Government officials hoped that development of the theaters would finally allow the construction of the four towers around 42nd Street, Broadway, and Seventh Avenue. In 1992, New 42nd Street received
44232-534: The theatres. Since colored bulbs burned out too quickly, white lights were used, and Broadway was nicknamed "The Great White Way". In August 1919, the Actors' Equity Association demanded a standard contract for all professional productions. After a strike shut down all the theatres, the producers were forced to agree. By the 1920s, the Shubert Brothers had risen to take over the majority of the theatres from
44460-481: The theatrical producer and director who established The Public Theater , led the "Save the Theatres" campaign. It was a not-for-profit group supported by the Actors Equity union to save the theater buildings in the neighborhood from demolition by monied Manhattan development interests. Papp provided resources, recruited a publicist and celebrated actors, and provided audio, lighting, and technical crews for
44688-447: The time prohibited the construction of buildings above theater stages. As a result, the back of the theater's stage wall was directly above the proscenium arch of the main auditorium, and the stage was smaller. There was no balcony, but there were twelve boxes as well as a promenade at the rear of the roof theater. The Aerial Gardens was fully enclosed and originally had 680 seats. It could theoretically be used year-round, but in practice it
44916-461: The time, the average age of theatergoers was 40.4; nearly two-thirds of the audience were women; and 29% identified as a racial minority. The classification of theatres is governed by language in Actors' Equity Association contracts. To be eligible for a Tony, a production must be in a house with 500 seats or more and in the Theater District, which are the criteria that define Broadway theatre. Off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway shows often provide
45144-567: The time, the theater was to be known as the Majestic. The next month, Fuller Construction was hired as the main contractor, and Herts & Tallant were selected as the architects for the theater. By then, the venue had been named the New Amsterdam, after the Dutch colonial settlement that predated New York City. Herts & Tallant submitted plans to the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) shortly afterward. Construction had commenced by May 1902. Eighteen steam drills and 150 workers excavated
45372-537: The topic "Shall We Abolish the Inevitable?" at the theater. This was followed by the musical comedy The Right Girl , as well as the short-lived musical revue The Broadway Whirl . The plays The Demi-Virgin , Honors Are Even , and Love Dreams had short runs at the Times Square in late 1921. That November, the Clemence Dane play A Bill of Divorcement moved from George M. Cohan's Theatre to
45600-568: The twenties, there were 70–80 theaters, but by 1969, there were 36 left. During this time, many Broadway productions struggled due to low attendance rates, which resulted in perceived mediocrity among such plays. For this reason, the Theatre Development Fund was created with the purpose of assisting productions with high cultural value that likely would struggle without subsidization, by offering tickets to those plays to consumers at reduced prices. In early 1982, Joe Papp ,
45828-402: The two arches is a 18-by-45-foot (5.5 by 13.7 m) mural, designed by Robert Blum and executed by Albert B. Wenzell after Blum died. The mural depicts personified figures of such topics as truth, love, melancholy, death, and chivalry, flanking a central figure representing poetry. On either side are murals by Wenzell depicting Virtue and Courage. Issing also designed 16 dark-green peacocks for
46056-410: The vaudeville production A Little of Everything . The New Amsterdam had started out as a venue for serious drama, but comedy drama became popular within a few years of its opening. Klaw and Erlanger had begun renting out the New Amsterdam, since they wanted to focus on other theatrical ventures, and since it was expensive for them to produce all of the theater's shows. Many producers expressed interest in
46284-502: The vein of Victor Herbert. Live theatre has survived the invention of cinema. Leaving these comparatively frivolous entertainments behind and taking the drama a step forward, Show Boat premiered on December 27, 1927, at the Ziegfeld Theatre . It represented a complete integration of book and score, with dramatic themes, as told through the music, dialogue, setting, and movement, woven together more seamlessly than in previous musicals. It ran for 572 performances. The 1920s also spawned
46512-692: The war's end, theatre resumed in 1798, when the 2,000-seat Park Theatre was built on Chatham Street on present-day Park Row . A second major theatre, Bowery Theatre , opened in 1826, followed by others. By the 1840s, P.T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in Lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince Street, Niblo's Garden opened and soon became one of New York's premier nightspots. The 3,000-seat theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments. In 1844, Palmo's Opera House opened and presented opera for only four seasons before bankruptcy led to its rebranding as
46740-412: The west of the Times Square's auditorium was the Apollo's entrance, which consisted of a corridor with paneled walls and several types of marble. To the east of the auditorium is the lobby from the original Lyric Theatre. The old Lyric entrance from 42nd Street, with bas-relief sculptures and black-and-white marble decorations, was retained when the current Lyric Theatre was built in 1998. The building
46968-527: Was George and Ira Gershwin 's musical Strike Up the Band , which opened at the theater in January 1930 and ran for 191 performances over the next five months. At the onset of the Great Depression , many Broadway theaters were impacted by declining attendance, leading to many flops . The 1930–1931 season alone had six shows, including a revival of The Merchant of Venice . The season ended with Noël Coward 's Private Lives , starring Coward and Gertrude Lawrence , which lasted 256 performances. In
47196-453: Was Lillian Hellman 's Watch on the Rhine , which opened in April 1941. After the lean years of the Great Depression , Broadway theatre had entered a golden age with the blockbuster hit Oklahoma! , in 1943, which ran for 2,212 performances. According to John Kenrick 's writings on Broadway musicals, "Every season saw new stage musicals send songs to the top of the charts. Public demand,
47424-539: Was 14.77 million in 2018–2019, compared to 13.79 million in 2017–2018. The average age of the Broadway audience in the 2017–18 theater season was 40, the lowest it had been in nearly two decades. By 2018, about 20% of Broadway tickets were sold to international visitors, although many visitors reported not being able to use their tickets. In 2022–2023, the first full season since the COVID-19 pandemic, Broadway theaters sold 12.3 million tickets, of which 35% were to local residents and 17% to international visitors. At
47652-644: Was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857. In 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square , and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square . Theatres arrived in the Times Square area in the early 1900s, and the Broadway theatres consolidated there after a large number were built around the square in the 1920s and 1930s. New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keene 's "musical burletta" The Seven Sisters (1860) shattered previous New York records with
47880-454: Was a failure despite costing five times as much as the typical Broadway show. In its first few months of operation, the theater also hosted Whoop Dee Doo , a musical by Weber and Fields . The new theater was chronicled in various publications. Architects' and Builders' Magazine wrote that "the character of the decoration fixes more or less the purpose of the house", and another critic wrote that "the New Amsterdam Theatre will mark an epoch in
48108-427: Was a marquee overhanging the entrance to the Apollo. Above that was a vertical sign advertising the two theaters. The Apollo's name was placed on the western face of the sign, while the Times Square's name was placed on the eastern face. In addition, there were entrances to the Times Square Theater to the east, separated by rusticated limestone piers. The two theaters' entrances were otherwise identical in design. At
48336-462: Was a sign with the theater's name. The sign was ornately decorated and, at night, was illuminated by lights on the upper stories. The second and third stories contain bronze-framed windows with flower and vine decorations. The original doors were removed around 1937, but the second- and third-story windows still exist. The entrance vestibule, originally immediately inside the doors, contained green tiles and relief panels by St. John Issing. The vestibule
48564-490: Was a smoking room with depictions of various figures, which New York Plaisance magazine referred to as "notably artistic and interesting". The old rectangular smoking room, also called the New Amsterdam Room for its decorations, is between the lounges. Stairs descend 3 ft (0.91 m) from the lounges to the room. The space measures 70 ft × 40 ft (21 m × 12 m). The room's floor
48792-493: Was a wall section with two box seats. Each wall section had black velvet curtains and was topped by a plaster half-dome. The theater contained an "air cushion" facing 42nd Street to the south, which dampened noise from outdoors. On either side of the auditorium were emergency exits leading to passageways; the New-York Tribune said these were capable of emptying the theater "in a matter of seconds". The ceiling had
49020-401: Was also mechanically advanced for its time, with heating, cooling, and vacuum-cleaning systems, as well as a fireproof structural frame. The auditorium alone had a volume of 400,000 cu ft (11,000 m) and was indirectly heated by fans in the subbasement. The ventilation system included air plenums on 41st Street, a 10-foot (3.0 m) fan, a silk filter, and a heater that moistened
49248-410: Was converted into a movie theater. They were restored in 1997 based on historical blueprints. The Neumark brothers designed plaster and carved-oak moldings around the dome, the proscenium arch, and the wall arches. The proscenium arch measures 36 ft (11 m) high and 40 ft (12 m) wide. Surrounding the proscenium is an elliptical arch, which rises to the edge of the ceiling dome. Between
49476-576: Was designed in a silver, green, and black color scheme and had a shallow balcony, box seats , and murals. As part of a renovation proposed in 2018, the theater building will be substantially expanded with a glass annex, the original facade will be raised, and some of the interior elements will be preserved. The Times Square opened on September 30, 1920, with Edgar Selwyn's play The Mirage . The theater mostly hosted legitimate shows in its first decade, but it briefly screened films in 1926 and 1928. Notable shows included The Front Page (1928), Strike Up
49704-460: Was designed simultaneously with the now-demolished Apollo Theatre immediately to the north and west. The theaters shared a symmetrical facade on 42nd Street, which is made of limestone and contains a central colonnade . The Times Square Theater took up most of the facade, though the western section was occupied by the Apollo Theatre's entrance. Inside, the Times Square Theater had a fan-shaped auditorium that could seat 1,155 people. The auditorium
49932-429: Was named for the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam , the precursor to New York City. Klaw and Erlanger operated the venue for more than two decades after its opening on October 26, 1903. From 1913 to 1927, the New Amsterdam was the home of the Ziegfeld Follies , whose producer, Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. , maintained an office in the building and operated the theater on the roof. Erlanger bought Klaw's interest in 1927, and
50160-473: Was not viable as a theater, as its only entrance was on 42nd Street, making it more difficult to load scenery and props. In addition, the Times Square was old, had a small lobby, and suffered from noise issues. The 42nd Street Development Project had its offices on the former stage until 2004. Construction workers removed seat cushions and dismantled the project's offices before the theater was marketed for commercial use. That year, New 42nd Street agreed to lease
50388-506: Was only used during the summer. There was also a planted garden adjacent to the theater. The Aerial Gardens was subsequently known as Ziegfeld Roof, Danse de Follies, Dresden Theatre, Frolics Theatre, and finally the New Amsterdam Roof. After Florenz Ziegfeld started hosting the Ziegfeld Follies at the New Amsterdam in 1913, the main floor of the roof theater was turned into a 22,000-square-foot (2,000 m) dance floor, and
50616-442: Was placed in August 1936 because Dry Dock had no broadcast license. The broadcasters had to apply for a license after Dry Dock unsuccessfully sued to have the injunction removed. Othello , which premiered in January 1937, was the last live performance at the New Amsterdam for more than half a century; it ran for 21 performances before closing. The New Amsterdam Theatre was sold in June 1937 to Max A. Cohen of Anco Enterprises, under
50844-404: Was proposed for the theater in early 1998, though WrestleMania also did not sign a lease. New 42nd Street leased the theater in August 1998 to Livent, which proposed an entertainment complex with a 500-seat auditorium and a themed restaurant. Livent encountered major accounting issues within a week of the lease. By November 1998, Livent had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and
51072-450: Was reconfigured as an outdoor space when the original entrance doors were removed; it contains a ticket booth on its western side. The arch at the second and third stories was initially highly decorated, but the decorations were all removed in 1937 to make way for a marquee . At the second floor were yellow-and-gray Montreal marble columns. These were topped by bronze capitals designed by Enid Yandell , which contained four heads depicting
51300-496: Was the European operetta The Silver Star . The New Amsterdam also staged musicals, particularly those imported from Europe, as well as classic hits. The productions included those by Shakespeare, as well as "kiddie fare" such as Mother Goose and Humpty Dumpty . In 1910, the New Amsterdam staged the melodrama Madame X and the European operetta Madame Sherry , the latter of which ran 231 performances. The next year saw
51528-491: Was the largest piece of steel ever used in a building. The stage measures 60 by 100 ft (18 by 30 m), making it the largest legitimate theater stage ever designed at the time. The entire stage consists of bridge spans that could be lowered to 33 ft (10 m) below the auditorium. A two-story-deep area was excavated below the stage to accommodate this. Four hydraulic platforms, each measuring 42 by 7 ft (12.8 by 2.1 m), could raise or lower different parts of
51756-541: Was then staged at the New Amsterdam, followed the same year by The Rainbow Girl and The Girl Behind the Gun . The decade ended with The Velvet Lady , as well as a musical version of Monsieur Beaucaire , in 1919. The New Amsterdam staged Sally , where Marilyn Miller had her musical comedy debut, in 1920; it ran for 570 performances. The Midnight Frolic was popular but, because it offered alcoholic beverages, closed during Prohibition in 1921 or 1922. It then reopened as
51984-602: Was under renovation at the time, would be renamed after actor James Earl Jones . In June 2022, the Nederlanders announced that the Brooks Atkinson Theatre would be renamed after Lena Horne , The James Earl Jones Theatre was rededicated in September 2022, while the Lena Horne Theatre was rededicated that November. Although there are some exceptions, shows with open-ended runs generally have evening performances Tuesday through Saturday, with
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