188-598: The Hayes Theater (formerly the Little Theatre , New York Times Hall , Winthrop Ames Theatre , and Helen Hayes Theatre ) is a Broadway theater at 240 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Named for actress Helen Hayes , the venue is operated by Second Stage Theater . It is the smallest Broadway theater, with 597 seats across two levels. The theater
376-578: A holding company led by Harris Uris, which owned the hotel. This mortgage loan, along with four others on the site, were consolidated into a single lien totaling $ 1.85 million. The bus terminal formally opened in May 1930. The Hotel Dixie opened the next month, with S. Gregory Taylor as the operator and James M. Tait as the general manager. The Central Union Bus Terminal was known as the Short Line Bus Terminal by July 1931. In October 1931,
564-586: A $ 45 million capital campaign, with commitments for half that amount, and the theater company was planning to sell the theater's naming rights for $ 15 million. Pfeiffer Partners had completed plans for a renovation of the theater's interior. The same year, the Hayes staged the play Next Fall , as well as Colin Quinn 's one-man show Long Story Short , the latter of which was recorded at the theater as an HBO special. The popular rock musical Rock of Ages transferred to
752-505: A 22-story building with either 650 or 700 guestrooms. The plans had also included an underground bus terminal. The hotel was largely located on 43rd Street, although it also had an alternate entrance through a two-story building on 42nd Street. The hotel contained a bus depot, which opened in 1930 and operated until 1957. The terminal occupied the entire ground floor of the hotel, although its loading platform and waiting room were 5 feet (1.5 m) below street level. The facility
940-472: 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
1128-468: A Kiss . The Hayes was remodeled in 1992, and the musical revue The High Rollers Social and Pleasure Club and the musical 3 From Brooklyn were staged the same year. Lynn Redgrave performed her solo show Shakespeare For My Father in 1993, followed the next year by Joan Rivers in Sally Marr...and Her Escorts and a stunt show by The Flying Karamazov Brothers . Rob Becker's monologue Defending
1316-776: 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
1504-646: A bar and restaurant immediately above it. The upper stories originally contained 1,000 rooms but were later downsized to 700 rooms. The hotel was developed by the Uris Buildings Corporation , which announced plans for the site in September 1928. The Bowery Savings Bank foreclosed on the hotel in 1931 and acquired it in March 1932, operating it for the next decade. In 1942, the Dixie became part of
1692-449: 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,
1880-559: A building-code violation against the hotel in January 1998 after inspectors discovered bulging masonry on the facade. The hotel was temporarily closed in December 1998 because an emergency fire exit was damaged. The hotel was still dilapidated in the mid-2000s. According to The New York Times , guests variously reported problems with cleanliness, as well as equipment that sometimes did not work. Online travel company TripAdvisor ranked
2068-663: 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
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#17327875342202256-434: 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
2444-441: A cloak room. There were coat racks that could be pushed behind a Spanish-leather screen during performances. Also in the basement was a men's smoking room with oak wainscoting, yellowish-brown walls with benches, a cream-colored ceiling, and a red tile floor. The second and third floors were equipped with offices. These included Winthrop Ames's offices, which were directly above the auditorium. Backstage, elevators and stairs led from
2632-540: 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
2820-611: A day. The first new legitimate show at the theater was Tambourines of Glory , a Black revue that opened in November 1963 and closed after a week. Euster opened a bar in the Little's basement and offered free alcoholic beverages to patrons, but the New York City license commissioner quickly halted the practice because the theater had no liquor license. At the end of the year, the Paul Taylor Dance Company performed at
3008-565: 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
3196-906: 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
3384-575: A half. The network, seeking a larger accommodation, ultimately leased the Manhattan (now Ed Sullivan) Theater in August 1936, vacating the Little Theatre by the end of the next month. The playwright Anne Nichols leased the theater for legitimate productions in September 1936. Nichols moved her play Pre-Honeymoon there, and the venue became Anne Nichols' Little Theatre. During 1936 and 1937,
3572-459: A ladies' room. It was painted like the box office and had a large mirror, dressing table, chaise longue, and mahogany side chairs with armure coverings in a rose color. To the right, stairs descended to a tea room that was similar in design to a residential living room. The tea room had old-English oak furnishings, white-paneled walls, blue-green curtains, and a gray carpet. The tea room was used not only to serve drinks during intermission but also as
3760-532: 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
3948-526: 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
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#17327875342204136-539: 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
4324-1152: 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
4512-500: 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
4700-455: A revival of Richard Greenberg 's 2002 play Take Me Out . Grand Horizons was staged from January to March 2020. All Broadway theaters were temporarily closed on March 12, 2020 , due to the COVID-19 pandemic , and previews of Take Me Out were delayed. The Hayes reopened on November 3, 2021, with previews of Clyde's by Lynn Nottage . Take Me Out opened in April 2022, two years after it
4888-431: 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
5076-508: A second time in 1974, when Ray Aranha 's My Sister, My Sister opened there. Because of the Little's small size, the Actors' Equity Association gave the theater a special designation, which exempted the theater from some of Actors' Equity's strict rules regarding profits. This was followed in 1975 by the short-lived musical Man on the Moon and the play Lamppost Reunion , as well as in 1976 by
5264-481: 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
5452-573: A site of 16,500 square feet (1,530 m ), on which the family planned to build a 25-story hotel with 700 guestrooms. In May 1929, the New York State Title and Mortgage Company gave Percy and his brother Harold a $ 2.2 million construction loan for the Hotel Dixie. Excavation for the new structure began the same month with the removal of six old tenements from the site. Tenements at 250–262 West 43rd Street were razed, along with
5640-554: A six-month run of The Runner Stumbles . The next hit at the theater was Albert Innaurato 's play Gemini , which transferred from off Broadway in 1977 and ran for 1,819 performances over the next four years. Westinghouse subsequently sold the theater, but sources dissent on when the sale occurred. According to Ken Bloom and The New York Times , Martin Markinson and Donald Tick bought the theater from Westinghouse in 1979 for $ 800,000. However, media sources from March 1980 said that
5828-437: A sloped orchestra level, one balcony level, and a flat ceiling. There are other spaces throughout the theater, including lounges. Ames had intended for the Little Theatre to host new plays, but its unprofitability led him to expand the theater within a decade of its opening. Ames leased the theater to Oliver Morosco in 1919 and to John Golden in 1922. The New York Times bought the theater in 1931 with plans to raze it, but
Hayes Theater - Misplaced Pages Continue
6016-584: A stable door, was originally placed between two of these windows. Carriage lamps were also mounted on the facade to give the impression that the theater was formerly a residence. Above the ground floor, the theater building has a setback , which was formerly decorated with potted plants. The second and third stories each contain six sash windows flanked by shutters. The second-story window panes are arranged in an eight-over-twelve format; above them are splayed stone lintels , containing keystones with bead motifs and brackets. There are curved metal balconies in front of
6204-494: A two-story taxpayer at 241 West 42nd Street. The Uris brothers acquired a four-story building at 266 West 43rd Street in August 1929. This land lot was separated from the hotel's site by another building at 264 West 43rd Street, which belonged to the Schulte family. At the time, work on the hotel's foundations was underway. Several floors of steelwork had been added to the hotel by mid-October 1929. The Uris brothers leased
6392-429: A venue for gay pornographic films. Moore, who claimed he did not know that his tenants were pornographic film exhibitors, quickly halted the film screenings after other theatrical owners protested. In May 1974, Westinghouse Broadcasting acquired the Little Theatre from Moore's company, after Moore defaulted on a mortgage that had been placed on the theater building. The Little Theatre returned to legitimate productions
6580-580: 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
6768-500: A wheelchair lift at the main entrance had been temporarily removed to allow a carpet to be installed. The case was settled in November 2009. Erwin M. Lumanglas, the manager of the hotel since 2006, renovated some of the rooms by 2010 at a cost of $ 5,000 per room. The hotel did not rank among the ten dirtiest hotels in the United States in 2010, but it was ranked fourth in the country during 2011. TripAdvisor stopped ranking
6956-408: A year. Ames's lease on the Little expired in May 1932. The New York Times Company leased the theater to Little Theatre Operating Company for one year starting in September 1932. The new operator planned to host "contemporary light comedies". During this period, the Little hosted many relatively short-lived productions, including "a spate of plays with 'Honeymoon' in their titles". The theater passed to
7144-509: Is a brick arch, which contains impost blocks on either side, as well as a console -shaped keystone at the top. Within this arch are a set of wooden double doors, which are flanked by Ionic -style columns and by sidelights containing lozenge and oval patterns. The brick arch is flanked on either side by paired columns with Corinthian -style capitals . There are electronic signs between each column pair; these rest on pedestals and are topped by urns and volutes . A band course runs above
7332-599: 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 the highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world . While the Broadway thoroughfare
7520-475: 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
7708-562: 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,
Hayes Theater - Misplaced Pages Continue
7896-453: Is operated by Second Stage Theater , a nonprofit theater company, as of 2018. The facade consists of red brick with Flemish bond , as well as limestone trim. It is asymmetrically arranged, with the theater's main entrance to the far east (left) side of the ground floor. A stone water table runs along the bottom of the ground-floor facade. The rest of the facade was designed with sash windows containing white frames. The entrance doorway
8084-571: 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
8272-601: The American Red Cross from opening a shelter there. The hotel's bar, known as Rose of Saigon, was closed in early 1989 after city officials found that crack cocaine was being sold openly at the bar. An official for the New York City Office of Midtown Enforcement called it the "worst bar" he had ever seen, saying that it reminded him "of the bar scene in the Star Wars movie with the worst dregs of
8460-610: 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
8648-580: 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;
8836-611: The Little Theatre Movement . The New Theatre had failed quickly, as Ames's New Theatre Company only occupied the theater from 1909 to 1911. Ames saw the New as too large and too far away from Times Square. In September 1911, Ames announced his intention to build a 300-seat playhouse around Times Square. Two months later, Ingalls and Hoffman filed plans with the New York City Department of Buildings for
9024-503: 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
9212-476: 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
9400-409: 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
9588-499: The 42nd Street Redevelopment Corporation called it "Nightmare Alley". By the end of 1985, the number of homeless families in the Carter had declined from 300 to 61, and the hotel began to make an effort to attract tourists once again. New York City removed all homeless families from the Carter in 1988 due to difficulties with plumbing, electricity, security, and vermin. The conditions at the Carter and at Tran's other hotels had dissuaded
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#17327875342209776-738: The American Viennese Group. The theater became a conference center named the New York Times Hall in December 1941. The first event at the conference hall was a speech by mayor Fiorello La Guardia about air-raid preparations at schools. Under the Times 's ownership, the theater sometimes hosted concerts and discussions. The events included "victory garden lectures", a book conference for children, an instrumental concert, and recitals from figures such as basso Emanuel List and dancer Lotte Goslar . The hall's steep rake
9964-772: The Bowery Savings Bank moved to foreclose on the hotel's mortgage, for which the Jerrold Holding Corporation owed $ 1.98 million. A federal judge appointed the Irving Trust as a receiver , and James B. Regan, former proprietor of the Knickerbocker Hotel , was another appointed receiver. The Bowery Savings Bank scheduled a foreclosure auction for the Dixie but withdrew the planned auction in February 1932. The auction for
10152-536: 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,
10340-619: 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
10528-686: 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
10716-574: 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
10904-522: The Carter Hotels chain, which rehabilitated the hotel several times. The hotel was renamed the Carter in October 1976 in an attempt to rehabilitate its image. The businessman Tran Dinh Truong operated the Carter from 1977 until his death in 2012, after which GF Management took over. The Carter closed in 2014 and was sold to Joseph Chetrit , who planned to renovate the hotel as of 2022 . While it
11092-525: The Caveman opened at the Hayes in 1995 and ran for nearly two years. This was followed in 1997 by Alfred Uhry 's play The Last Night of Ballyhoo , which had 577 performances before closing. The Hayes's productions at the end of the 1990s included Getting and Spending in 1998, as well as Band in Berlin , Night Must Fall , and Epic Proportions in 1999. The revue Dirty Blonde opened in 2000 and
11280-469: The Dixie Hotel's Central Union Bus Terminal on February 14, 1930. The Dixie Hotel was originally supposed to open on May 1, 1930, and the bus terminal was planned to formally open at the same time. That month, M.C. Levine was recorded as having incorporated the Hotel Dixie with 10,000 shares. The Bowery Savings Bank gave a $ 350,000 mortgage loan the same month to the Jerrold Holding Corporation,
11468-459: The Dixie Hotel's former bus terminal into a parking lot for the hotel's guests in 1961. The space included a secondary lobby with features such as a registration desk, baggage check-in area, and a communications system; according to The New York Times , drivers could contact the front desk via closed-circuit television and could summon a bellhop without going to the main lobby. In 1964, local civic group Broadway Association proposed demolishing
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#173278753422011656-424: The Dixie Hotel, as well as ten nearby theaters on 42nd Street, to make way for a large convention center between Seventh Avenue, 41st Street, Eighth Avenue, and 43rd Street. Carter Hotels finished renovating the Dixie Hotel in 1965; the project included restoring all 700 rooms, as well as adding a CCTV system and automated elevators. By the mid-1960s, the hotel was managed by William Benson of Carter Hotels, who ran
11844-456: 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
12032-476: The Frankwyn Corporation, operated by Arch Selwyn and H. B. Franklin. In December 1934, Allen Robbins and Jacob Weiser assumed operation of the theater. The next February, the theater was leased to CBS as a broadcast studio. At the time, producer Brock Pemberton had offices on the upper stories; he was allowed to stay. CBS reduced the capacity to 475 seats and occupied the theater for a year and
12220-424: The Hayes hosted the musical The News , which flopped after four performances in 1985. The next year, the Hayes staged the comedy Corpse! , the mime show Mummenschanz: "The New Show" , and the revue Oh, Coward! . The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) started to consider protecting the Hayes as a landmark in 1982, with discussions continuing over the next several years. The LPC designated
12408-478: The Hayes in 2011, running there for nearly four years. Rock of Ages achieved the box office record for the Helen Hayes Theatre, grossing $ 744,667 over nine performances for the week ending December 30, 2012. After Second Stage finally raised enough money to buy the theater, Tick's family and Markinson requested that the sale be delayed until Rock of Ages closed. In February 2015, Second Stage sued
12596-435: The Hayes in April 2024, running two months, and was followed between July and October 2024 by the play Job . For the 2024–2025 season, the theater is planned to host Leslye Headland 's play Cult of Love ; this is planned to be followed in March 2025 by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins 's play Purpose . Productions are listed by the year of their first performance. Broadway theater Broadway theatre , or Broadway ,
12784-501: The Hayes was Kenneth Lonergan 's Lobby Hero , which opened in March 2018. This was followed the same year by Young Jean Lee 's Straight White Men and a revival of Torch Song Trilogy . Subsequently, in 2019, the Hayes hosted Heidi Schreck 's What the Constitution Means to Me and Tracy Letts 's Linda Vista . After Linda Vista , the Hayes was to present two plays in early 2020: Bess Wohl 's Grand Horizons and
12972-433: The Hayes's facade and part of the interior as landmarks on November 17, 1987. That month, the owners announced that they would auction off the theater at a starting price of $ 5 million. The New York City Board of Estimate ratified the landmark designations in March 1988. The theater was auctioned the same month; both Jujamcyn Theaters and the Nederlander Organization attended the auction, but there were no bidders. Late in
13160-498: The Hayes's owners for allegedly reneging on the 2008 sale agreement. Second Stage alleged that Tick's family and Markinson were trying to invalidate the sale by rushing the closing process. While the sale was supposed to have been finalized on February 17, Second Stage did not have enough money at that time to cover the $ 25 million purchase price. By then, the costs of acquiring and renovating the theater had increased to $ 58 million from $ 35 million. In response, Markinson said he would sell
13348-478: The Hayes, and the Latino comedy revue Latinologues was also presented. The theater's productions in 2006 included Bridge and Tunnel , Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway , and Jay Johnson: The Two and Only . The musical Xanadu premiered at the Hayes in 2007 and ran there for 512 performances. While Tick died the same year, his family still co-owned the theater with Markinson. In July 2008, Markinson and
13536-408: The Horizon . John Golden 's production of Frank Craven 's The First Year , starring Craven and Roberta Arnold , opened at the Little in October 1920; that play ran for nearly two years. In August 1922, Golden acquired Morosco's stake in the lease, partnering with L. Lawrence Weber and F. Ray Comstock . By that year, Ames had incurred a net deficit of $ 504,372 from the theater's operation, and
13724-457: 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
13912-422: The Little Theatre, a 299-seat theater at 238–244 West 44th Street, to cost $ 100,000. The 299-seat capacity exempted Ames from New York City Fire Department regulations, wherein theaters with at least 300 seats required emergency-exit alleys on either side. Ames also formed a corporation to operate the theater. The corporation issued stock , with Ames being the sole stockholder. Ames released further details about
14100-539: The Little Theatre, with Golden, Weber, and Comstock operating the venue. Two months later, the Little Theatre was leased to Chauncey W. Keim of the Harkem Holding Corporation for ten years. Harkem gave up its lease in June 1930, citing an unprofitable season. Later that year, the Little hosted Mr. Samuel with Edward G. Robinson , which was Ames's last show at the theater. This was followed in 1931 by Elmer Rice 's The Left Bank . Vincent Astor sold
14288-500: The Little continued hosting plays until 1941, when it was converted into a conference hall. The theater became an ABC broadcasting studio in 1951. The Little again hosted Broadway productions from 1963 to 1965, when it became a Westinghouse studio, taping shows such as the Merv Griffin Show . The Little again hosted Broadway productions starting in 1977, and it was then sold to Martin Markinson and Donald Tick, who renamed
14476-453: The Little, running for 252 performances. The plans for the theater's renovation were approved in June 1919, and Ames leased the theater to Oliver Morosco the same month. The same year, Morosco presented Please Get Married , featuring Ernest Truex and Edith Taliaferro . When the theater's expansion was completed in early 1920, Morosco hosted two "experimental dramas": Rachel Barton Butler 's Mama's Affair and Eugene O'Neill 's Beyond
14664-728: The Little. Subsequently, in early 1964, the Habima Theatre of Israel performed three shows at the Little: The Dybbuk , Children of the Shadows , and Each Had Six Wings . Euster and Leonard Tow sold the theater in June 1964 to Leonard B. Moore and Richard S. Smith. The theater was renamed the Winthrop Ames Theatre that September, when Frank D. Gilroy 's play The Subject Was Roses transferred there. According to one media source, Moore "did not want
14852-641: The Little. The comedy Pigs opened at the Little in September 1924 and ran for 347 performances. This was followed in 1926 by two shows with over a hundred performances: Marc Connelly 's The Wisdom Tooth and Gladys Buchanan Unger 's Two Girls Wanted . Another hit was a transfer of the Grand Street Follies in 1927. Additionally, Rachel Crothers's Let Us Be Gay opened in 1929 with Francine Larrimore and Warren William , running for 353 performances. Ames announced his retirement from producing in October 1929, but he said he would continue to control
15040-604: 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
15228-517: The Palace of Han . The Little's productions of the 1912–1913 season included a revival of The Affairs of Anatol , as well as the original productions Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Rutherford and Son . Ames financed several of the initial shows at the theater, including Prunella and The Philanderer in 1913. The following year, the theater hosted A Pair of Silk Stockings , which
15416-519: The Plantation Room, serving Southern food throughout the day. The hotel was planning to add another room for live performances by 1945. The Plantation Room began hosting live music shows in 1946, replacing what Billboard magazine called the "silly hat-nursery rhyme phase at this room". In the room's heyday, its performers included Al Trace 's band and Teddy Powell 's band. The Plantation Room stopped hosting shows in early 1947 because it
15604-535: 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
15792-494: The Tick family indicated their intention to sell the Hayes to Second Stage Theater, which planned to take over the theater in 2010. Second Stage was raising $ 35 million for both the acquisition and a renovation. In the meantime, Slava's Snowshow had a limited run at the Hayes during the 2008–2009 winter season. The 39 Steps moved to the Hayes in 2009 and ran for a year before relocating off-Broadway. In 2010, Second Stage launched
15980-406: The actual purchase, $ 22 million for renovation, and $ 14 million for programming. Jordan Roth of Jujamcyn Theaters , which operated the neighboring St. James Theatre, approached Second Stage about the possibility of simultaneously renovating both theaters. Second Stage sold the alley between the theaters to Jujamcyn, which helped Second Stage fund the cost of renovating the Hayes. The Rockwell Group
16168-455: The arch, behind the paired columns. Above this is a stone plaque with inscribed letters reading "The Little Theatre MCMXII", as well as a pair of dancing figures in low relief. The paired columns support a stone architrave above the doors. To the west (right) of the entrance are four double doors, which provide an emergency exit from the lobby. This section of the facade formerly contained three narrow windows. A double door, designed to resemble
16356-510: The architrave panels above the exit doors are also designed in the Adam style. The Hayes Theater is the smallest Broadway venue, with 597 seats. The auditorium has an orchestra level, one balcony, and a stage behind the proscenium arch. The space is designed with plaster decorations in relief . Originally, the Little Theatre had only 299 seats on a single level, the orchestra. In the original configuration, there were only 15 rows of seats. One of
16544-492: 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
16732-451: The balcony contains a promenade, accessed on either end by the stairways in the foyer. Near the front of the balcony level, both of the side walls contain two arched openings with pilasters on either side, as well as fan-shaped lunettes above. One of these is an emergency exit, while the other is a window opening; these windows allowed Ames to observe the auditorium from his office. The side walls have lighting sconces as well. The underside of
16920-405: The balcony is made of plaster paneling. The front railing of the balcony has Adam-style plasterwork paneling with pilasters, urns, and molded bands, with light boxes mounted in front. The railing curves onto the side walls, giving the impression of box seats. At the front of the auditorium is the proscenium, which contains a flat-arched opening flanked by angled bands. Behind the proscenium, there
17108-435: 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
17296-476: 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
17484-550: 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
17672-445: The bus slips. Two sets of doors, one on either side of the terminal, led from the loading area to the terminal's waiting room. The terminal was arranged so all slips were within 100 feet (30 m) of the waiting area. The waiting room had a cafe, newsstands, ticket booths, and elevators leading to the hotel's lobby. Both the waiting room and the loading area were heated using a forced draft system. Ventilation openings were placed at
17860-449: The columns were decorated to resemble trees. The nightclub, along with the adjacent Plantation Room restaurant, could fit a combined 500 people. The Bert Wheeler Theater opened at the hotel in 1966, ten steps above its entrance. The theater was variously cited as having 220 or 225 seats; it occupied the former Plantation Room and measured 60 by 45 feet (18 by 14 m). A circular bar, 50 feet (50 ft) in circumference, adjoined
18048-530: The company, wanted to change the hotel's name to give one of the establishments in the chain a corporate identity; at the time, the company operated several additional hotels in the Northeast United States. At this time, the Dixie was renamed the Carter. Vietnamese businessman and former ship owner Tran Dinh Truong purchased the hotel in October 1977 for $ 1.5 million. He formed a holding company, Alphonse Hotel Corporation, to take title to
18236-400: The corporation operating the theater was dissolved. Craven's Spite Corner opened in September 1922 and stayed at the Little for three months. Two plays by Guy Bolton were staged at the Little in 1923: Polly Preferred with Genevieve Tobin and Chicken Feed with Roberta Arnold. The latter was transferred to another theater when Golden sought to transfer the revue Little Jessie James to
18424-474: The daytime show Who Do You Trust? with Johnny Carson from the theater. In June 1962, Roger Euster purchased the Little Theatre through his company Little Theatre Inc., beating out several other bidders. The acquisition cost $ 850,000, part of which the company financed through a stock offering of $ 294,000. Euster planned to host daily "marathon presentations", with various legitimate plays, impersonations, children's shows, and classic shows running for 17 hours
18612-422: 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
18800-407: The decade, the Hayes hosted Larry Shue 's The Nerd in 1987 and the two-act musical Romance/Romance in 1988. This was followed in 1989 by Mandy Patinkin 's Dress Casual and Artist Descending a Staircase . Premiering at the Helen Hayes Theatre in 1990 were a short run of Estelle Parsons 's solo show Miss Margarida's Way , as well as a year-long run of the off-Broadway hit Prelude to
18988-736: The dirtiest hotels in the U.S. in 2012, but CNBC reported that guests continued to raise complaints about the hotel's cleanliness. Tran died in 2012, and the surviving members of his family fought over ownership of the hotel. John Cruz of GF Management took ownership of the hotel in April 2013 and renovated it. The New York Times reported at the time that the hotel had broken elevators; 40-year-old fire extinguishers; non-functional exit signs ; no weekend doormen; "discarded hospital linens" atop beds; inadequate insurance; and overdue loans. GF Management made gradual modifications to make it more desirable for guests, starting with rectifying fifteen violations of city building codes. GF Management also increased
19176-679: 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,
19364-445: 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. Hotel Carter (Manhattan) The Hotel Carter
19552-456: 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,
19740-541: The first decade of the 20th century. From 1901 to 1920, forty-three theaters were built around Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, including the Little Theatre. Winthrop Ames, a member of a wealthy publishing family, did not enter the theatrical industry until 1905, when he was 34 years old. After being involved in the development of two large venues, Boston's Castle Square Theatre and New York City's New Theatre , Ames decided to focus on erecting smaller venues during
19928-467: 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
20116-418: The four emergency-exit doors on 44th Street. The western end of the lobby foyer contains an archway to the basement; this was originally a wall with a fireplace. The foyer's north wall contains Ionic-style columns, behind which is the emergency-exit area. The south wall contains doors to the auditorium, as well as Ionic-style pilasters that are directly across from the north-wall columns. There are staircases on
20304-423: The four westernmost windows, while the two easternmost windows share a terrace over the main entrance. The third-story window panes are arranged in an eight-over-eight format with paneled keystones. A cornice with modillions runs above the third story. A balustrade formerly ran above the cornice but has since been removed. The main entrance leads to a box office, as well as a lobby with two sections. The box office
20492-560: The frequency of housekeeping services from every three days to every two days; renovating 30 fourth-floor room with art and IKEA furniture; and replacing mattresses in rooms with reports of bedbugs. Following GF Management's takeover of the Hotel Carter, the hotel's occupancy rates increased from 68 to 74 percent, and Cruz began charging room rates of $ 120 to $ 150 a night. The hotel was offered for sale in early 2014 after an extensive renovation. The Wall Street Journal reported that
20680-418: The front seats was designed specifically to accommodate businessman J. P. Morgan . The rear of the auditorium did initially have a balcony-level terrace, but it was only 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 m) wide and had no seats. The rear or southern end of the orchestra contains two paneled-wood doors from the foyer. The orchestra level is raked , sloping down toward the stage, similar to in the original layout of
20868-408: The hotel "offers travelers a cheap room in an expensive city, and something more: an adventure". New York magazine wrote in 2014: "If you still want a touch of the vice-ridden Times Square of the '60s and '70s, consider spending a night at the Hotel Carter." The hotel has recorded several homicides. A 25-day-old infant was beaten to death at the hotel in November 1983; her father, a hotel resident,
21056-781: The hotel as the dirtiest in the United States in 2006, 2008, and 2009. Additionally, in January 2009, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York sued the operators of the Carter and four other Midtown Manhattan hotels, alleging that each of the hotels violated the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Among the complaints were that the hotel's main entrance, public restrooms, registration desk, and guestrooms were all inaccessible to disabled guests. Tran's lawyer claimed that some rooms were already ADA-accessible and that
21244-466: The hotel could sell for as much as $ 170 million; hotel operators such as Highgate Holding and Morris Moinian expressed interest in buying the Carter. CNBC, which reported that the hotel could be sold for up to $ 180 million, said that a potential buyer would have to spend $ 100 million to $ 125 million on renovating the hotel further. The developer Joseph Chetrit won the right to buy the hotel in September 2014. A gentlemen's club that had been located in
21432-426: The hotel for a short period; he died in October 1932 in his bedroom at the hotel. The hotel started hosting big bands in November 1933, when Art Kahn 's band began performing there. The Bowery Savings Bank sold the hotel in March 1942 to Kings Hotel Inc., subject to a mortgage of $ 1.125 million. The new owner was a subsidiary of the Carter Hotels chain, which planned to spend $ 200,000 on renovations. The project
21620-629: The hotel until his death in 1967. An off-Broadway venue, the Bert Wheeler Theater, opened at the hotel in October 1966 with the musical comedy Autumn's Here . The hotel's theater was renamed the Burstein Theater in 1973 after it began presenting Yiddish shows. During the 1970s, the Dixie began to decline along with the rest of Times Square. Carter Hotels allocated $ 250,000 for renovations and sign alteration in an effort to "clean up" Times Square. H.B. Cantor, president of
21808-700: The hotel was rescheduled to March 1932, at which point the Uris family owed the bank $ 2.06 million. At the time, the hotel was valued at $ 2.3 million. The bank ultimately bought the hotel for $ 1.8 million at the end of the month. In April 1932, the Southworth Management Corporation (headed by Roy S. Hubbell, former manager of the Hotel Commodore and the Hotel Belmont ) took over the hotel's operation. Hubbell only managed
21996-599: The hotel's cleanliness. For example, during July 2009, the Glenn Beck Program highlighted the reports of the filth and disrepair of the Carter Hotel, while USA Today wrote that the hotel was filled with "roaches, rats, black mold and stains of dubious origin". Despite the many complaints that the Hotel Carter received, the hotel remained popular among some guests, including students, foreigners, and budget tourists. In 2005, The New York Times wrote that
22184-501: The hotel's owners in early 2024 to force Chetrit to disassemble the sidewalk shed outside the hotel, which had stood there for a decade. That September, the Chetrit Group defaulted on one of the hotel's mezzanine loans. In 1980, a writer for Newsday wrote that the hotel was a "large, un-self-conscious, family-oriented kind of place" with "simple and spotlessly clean" rooms. By the 2000s, media reports frequently criticized
22372-550: The hotel, Cheetah's , filed a lawsuit in December 2014 in an attempt to halt the hotel's sale to Chetrit. Chetrit finalized his acquisition in February 2015, and the Athene Annuity and Life Company gave Chetrit a $ 129 million loan for the renovations. JPMorgan Chase provided a $ 152 million mezzanine loan in February 2018. JPMorgan Chase's loan replaced in August 2022 with $ 185 million in construction financing, provided by Mack Real Estate. The city government sued
22560-505: The hotel. The hotel's theater continued to operate through the 1980s, presenting such shows as an adaptation of Aesop's Fables in 1979 and the musical Ka-Boom! in 1980. Although the 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, the Carter Hotel was excluded from the project. The Carter
22748-461: The hotel. Upon acquiring the Carter, Tran closed the hotel's 42nd Street entrance and hired Walter Scheff as its general manager. The New York Times described the hotel at the time as an establishment that catered to "middle-class tourists [and] has suffered with the decline of the surrounding area", although the paper reported that the hotel was still losing money. Over the next three decades, many of Tran's children, grandchildren, and wives lived in
22936-417: The lobby, and the auditorium ceiling in their original condition. He removed the wainscoting and wall coverings, since these did not conform to New York City building regulations for larger venues, and added Adam-style decorations in their place. A disagreement with the New York City Department of Buildings delayed the renovation by three years. In 1918, Rachel Crothers 's play A Little Journey opened at
23124-557: 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
23312-420: 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
23500-581: The northwest, the Majestic and Broadhurst theaters to the north, and the Shubert Theatre and One Astor Plaza to the northeast. Other nearby structures include the John Golden , Bernard B. Jacobs , Gerald Schoenfeld , and Booth theaters to the north, as well as the former Hotel Carter , Todd Haimes Theatre , and Lyric Theatre to the south. Prior to the theater's development, the site
23688-557: 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
23876-556: 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
24064-399: The perimeter of the oval contains reliefs of cherubs and female figures, connected by swags. The corners of the oval contain triangular panels; those in the rear depict female figures with mirrors, while those in the front depict Roman masks. There are fan-shaped medallions inside the oval, from which hang chandeliers. On the west wall of the foyer, the door to the left of the fireplace led to
24252-468: 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
24440-405: The possible enlargement of the theater. The New-York Tribune lamented that the city would "lose its gem among playhouses" with the planned enlargement. A Billboard magazine article that July indicated that the theater would receive a 200-seat balcony, increasing the capacity only to 500 seats. Ames hired Herbert J. Krapp in 1917 to remodel the theater with a balcony. Krapp kept the box office,
24628-423: 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
24816-645: 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
25004-615: The rear of each slip, near the buses' exhaust pipes. The hotel's first story contained the Dixie Lounge Bar, a nightclub that opened in 1942 and was decorated in the Southern Colonial style. The space was designed by Jac Lessman and could be accessed from the lobby, the dining room, and directly from the street. The room was surrounded by a four-foot-high brick wainscoting, and the front wall contained white window shutters and ivy-filled planting boxes. In addition,
25192-531: 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
25380-473: The same distance from Times Square. Another criticism was that Ames's theater was elitist because all seats had equally good views of the stage, with one ticket price for all seats. Construction progressed quickly, with over 150 workers being employed at one point. The Little opened on March 12, 1912, with John Galsworthy 's play The Pigeon . This was followed by a special matinee with Charles Rann Kennedy 's The Terrible Meek and Ma Tcheu-Yuen's The Flower of
25568-473: 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
25756-435: The small capacity of the Little had restricted Ames's ability to profit from the venue, even though Ames charged a relatively affordable $ 2.50 per seat (equivalent to $ 75.3 in 2023). That March, The New York Times reported that Ames was planning to increase the capacity to 1,000 seats by adding a balcony, enlarging the auditorium, and replacing the stage. Two months later, Ames leased the dwelling at 244 West 44th Street for
25944-545: The solar system gathered together". The International Travellers Network leased two floors as a hostel in the late 1980s, and the Penthouse Hostel leased the 23rd and 24th floors of the Hotel Carter in July 1990. Despite the revitalization of Times Square in the 1990s, the Carter remained dilapidated in character. By 1994, the hotel was ranked as New York City's most dangerous hotel because of its high crime rate. The New York City Department of Buildings issued
26132-470: 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
26320-582: The stage to the dressing rooms. There was also a green room from which the dressing rooms were accessed. Though green rooms were falling out of favor by the time the Little Theatre was constructed, one was included on Ames's insistence. The room was decorated with green walls, a long seat, and mirrors. 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
26508-466: The storefronts to various businesses, including a laundry, as well as a beauty parlor and barber shop. A concession was also awarded for the hat rack in the Dixie Hotel's lobby. Scarr Transportation Service was hired to managed the bus terminal, and the restaurant space in the terminal was leased to Loft, Inc. Two bus operators began using a temporary bus terminal on the site on December 9, 1929, and group of transportation executives formally dedicated
26696-434: 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
26884-464: The theater and was behind glass doors; it was closed during performances, except for during a twenty-minute intermission. Food was served in the Terrace Room, the hotel's restaurant. Harris H. Uris, who cofounded the Uris Buildings Corporation with his son Percy , acquired the land lots at 241 West 42nd Street and 250–262 West 43rd Street in September 1928. The acquisition gave the Uris family
27072-604: The theater at the agreed price of $ 24.7 million if Second Stage could get the money. The dispute was resolved in April 2015, when the sale of the Hayes to Second Stage was finalized. With the sale, Second Stage became one of four nonprofit theater companies to own and operate Broadway theaters. Before a planned renovation, the Hayes hosted short runs of the off-Broadway hit Dames at Sea in 2015 and then The Humans in 2016. The Humans relocated to another theater in July 2016 to make way for Second Stage's renovation. Second Stage ultimately spent $ 64 million, including $ 28 million for
27260-400: The theater at the time. The Shubert family (which operated several nearby theaters) and the operators of the neighboring Astor Hotel objected that the proposed demolition would lower their property values. The Times relented that July, delaying the proposed demolition by offering three-year leases in the theater building. In 1940, the Little hosted the revue Reunion in New York , featuring
27448-534: The theater for Helen Hayes in 1983. Second Stage bought the theater in 2015 and reopened it in 2018, shortening the name to the Hayes Theater. The Hayes Theater is at 240 West 44th Street, on the south sidewalk between Eighth Avenue and Seventh Avenue , near Times Square in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City . The land lot is nearly rectangular, with an indentation on
27636-598: The theater had been sold to Ashton Springer for $ 800,000. Springer's group, known as the Little Theater Group, planned to spend $ 400,000 to renovate the theater. The firm Adcadesign subsequently renovated the theater in 1981. In the early 1980s, the Little saw three short runs: Ned and Jack in 1981, as well as The Curse of an Aching Heart and Solomon's Child in 1982. The theater's next hit came in June 1982 when Harvey Fierstein 's play Torch Song Trilogy opened; it ran for three years. The Little Theatre
27824-420: The theater hosted productions such as Promise with Cedric Hardwicke , Sun Kissed with Jean Adair and Charles Coburn , and Abie's Irish Rose . The Little Theatre's original name was restored when Cornelia Otis Skinner 's solo show Edna His Wife opened in December 1937. By March 1939, the Times was again contemplating destroying the Little Theatre. The theatrical firm of Bonfils and Somnes were leasing
28012-465: The theater in December 1911. The Little was to be a single-level auditorium without balconies or boxes, and it was to host "plays of wide appeal" and "novelties". Ames wanted the theater to host "the clever, the unusual drama that has a chance of becoming a library classic". Some critics said the site was too far from Times Square, but Ames countered that the Belasco Theatre , one block east, was
28200-502: The theater to the New York Times Company that November. According to the Times , the theater would "protect the light and air" of the Times annex at 229 West 43rd Street, as well as provide an additional exit from the annex. Variety magazine reported that the theater would be demolished to make way for the annex exit. Due to Depression-era budget cuts, the Times decided to keep the theater operating for at least
28388-508: The theater to suffer under the handicap of being called Little any longer". The Subject Was Roses relocated in March 1965, and the theater's name reverted to the Little. Westinghouse Broadcasting paid the producers of The Subject Was Roses to relocate, as it was seeking to lease the theater as a broadcast studio. At first, Westinghouse taped the syndicated Merv Griffin Show at the Little. By 1969, Merv Griffin moved to another network and
28576-532: The theater was being used for taping The David Frost Show . The 1969–70 season of the game show Beat the Clock , hosted by Jack Narz , was also taped there. A show by psychologist Joyce Brothers was also hosted at the Little Theatre. Amid a general decline in the Times Square neighborhood, the Little Theatre became vacant by mid-1972. The venue stood vacant for six months in 1973, reopening in September as
28764-470: The theater's interior are New York City landmarks . The facade is made largely of red brick. The main entrance is through an arch on the eastern portion of the ground-floor; the rest of the ground floor is taken up by emergency exits, shielded by marquee . The main entrance connects to a box-office lobby, as well as a foyer with a vaulted ceiling and staircases. The auditorium is decorated with ornamental plasterwork , with Adam-style design elements; it has
28952-403: The theater. The side walls of the auditorium were originally covered in wooden panels, but these were replaced with plasterwork panels when Krapp renovated the theater. The front sections of the side walls are angled toward the proscenium, with emergency-exit doors at orchestra level. As of 2018, the side walls contain a pixelated blue mural that resembles the walls' former tapestries. The rear of
29140-482: 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
29328-481: 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
29516-461: 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
29704-437: The turntable, which would then rotate to the proper slip. The center of the turntable was 4 inches (100 mm) below the rim, preventing buses from rolling off the turntable by accident. Bus drivers pulled forward into the slip, allowing passengers to alight and board at the widest part of the loading platform. To prevent buses from rolling backward onto the turntable, each loading slip sloped 2 inches (51 mm) downward from
29892-419: The turntable. The loading platform itself was about 6 inches (150 mm) above the slip, allowing level boarding . Buses leaving the terminal would reverse onto the turntable, which would rotate toward the exit ramp. A dispatcher used an electronic signaling device to control all of the buses' movements, and the dispatcher also announced the departure of each bus. The loading platform wrapped around each of
30080-568: 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 ,
30268-568: 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
30456-692: 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
30644-427: The western and eastern ends of the foyer's north wall, which lead up to the balcony; the eastern staircase has a metal railing with lyres. An architrave, with a frieze depicting urns and lyres, runs along the top of the foyer walls. The foyer contains a barrel-vaulted ceiling above the architrave, with a chandelier suspended from an Adam-style medallion. The emergency-exit area's ceiling contains Adam-style panels, and
30832-471: The western end. The lot covers 7,225 square feet (671.2 m), with a frontage of 75 feet (23 m) on 44th Street and a depth of 100.42 feet (31 m). The Hayes Theater shares the city block with St. James Theatre to the west, Sardi's restaurant and 1501 Broadway to the east, and 255 West 43rd Street and 229 West 43rd Street to the south. Across 44th Street are the Row NYC Hotel to
31020-519: 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,
31208-539: 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
31396-644: 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
31584-662: Was a hit. This was followed by Hershey Felder 's solo musical tribute George Gershwin Alone and the musical By Jeeves in 2001, as well as the black comedy The Smell of the Kill in 2002. Frank Gorshin performed solo in Say Goodnight Gracie for 364 performances starting in 2002. William Gibson 's play Golda's Balcony opened the next year, featuring Tovah Feldshuh , and ran for 493 performances. During 2005, Jackie Mason hosted his comedy Freshly Squeezed at
31772-466: Was a hotel at 250 West 43rd Street, near Times Square , in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City . Opened in June 1930 as the Dixie Hotel , the 25-story structure originally extended from 43rd Street to 42nd Street , although the wing abutting 42nd Street has since been demolished. The hotel originally contained a bus terminal at its ground level, which was closed in 1957, as well as
31960-413: Was accessed by two arrival and two departure ramps, which could accommodate up to 40 buses per hour; these ramps led to both 42nd and 43rd Streets. The center of the terminal contained a bus turntable with a diameter of 35 feet. Twelve loading slips were arranged around the turntable. The terminal handled 350 buses daily during peak summer seasons. Buses arriving at the terminal would drive onto
32148-469: Was charged with murder and child abuse . In 1987, a woman was thrown to her death out of a window from one of the top floors after witnesses heard arguing from room 1604. The hotel's night manager was killed in July 1999 during a brawl near the front desk; a clerk who lived at the hotel was charged with the night manager's murder. In August 2007, a housekeeper found the body of aspiring model Kristine Yitref, wrapped in plastic garbage bags and hidden under
32336-419: Was cited for its "consistently low rate of compliance in correcting health and safety violations". After hotel officials failed to correct numerous building-code violations, the city government sued the hotel in 1983 and 1984; a judge found Tran in contempt of court . The hotel's physical condition was so bad that the New York City government stopped referring homeless people there in 1984, and an official for
32524-412: Was constructed in 1912 for impresario Winthrop Ames and designed by Ingalls & Hoffman in a neo-Georgian style. The original single-level, 299-seat configuration was modified in 1920, when Herbert J. Krapp added a balcony to expand the Little Theatre. The theater has served as a legitimate playhouse, a conference hall, and a broadcasting studio throughout its history. The facade and parts of
32712-517: Was extended into the orchestra, and lighting, control rooms, and camera arrangements were modified. The Little Theatre was also used for ABC radio broadcasts. In 1953, executives of the Ern Westmore Show arranged to broadcast from the Little for six and a half years. Dick Clark 's The Dick Clark Show started broadcasting from the Little Theatre in February 1958, remaining there through September 1960. During this time, ABC also broadcast
32900-445: Was first supposed to premiere. This was followed by Matthew Spangler 's play The Kite Runner in July 2022 and Stephen Adly Guirgis 's play Between Riverside and Crazy in December 2022. Larissa FastHorse 's The Thanksgiving Play opened at the Hayes in April 2023 for a two-month run, followed by Sandy Rustin's The Cottage in July 2023 and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins 's Appropriate in November 2023. Mother Play opened at
33088-473: Was hired as the architect. The project added an elevator, restrooms, and mechanical systems. In addition, the dressing rooms were relocated from the basement to the third floor. Second Stage planned to host works by living American playwrights, particularly from female and minority writers, at the Hayes Theater. This was a contrast to other Broadway theaters, which often hosted revivals by dead playwrights as well as foreign works. Second Stage's first production at
33276-502: Was losing money. Meanwhile, most of the bus lines that had served the Dixie Hotel's ground-level bus terminal relocated to the nearby Port Authority Bus Terminal after the latter opened in 1950. The Dixie terminal's operators had signed a ten-year lease for the space in 1947; the bus terminal ultimately closed in 1957, after most of the remaining bus lines relocated to the Port Authority. The Walter Ballard Company converted
33464-409: Was meant to give theater patrons the feeling that they were Ames's "guests for the nonce, in an old colonial house behind a garden wall, left behind in the march of progress, the front untouched and the interior remodeled by an amateur of the stage". The current two-level layout was completed in 1920 and designed by Herbert J. Krapp , who went on to become a prolific Broadway theater architect. The Hayes
33652-455: Was operating, the Hotel Carter gained a negative reputation due to the crimes that took place there, as well as its general uncleanliness. At least four murders have occurred in the hotel. In addition, the Hotel Carter was cited as being among America's dirtiest hotels for several years in the late 2000s and early 2010s. When it opened in 1930, the Dixie Hotel contained a thousand rooms (later downsized to 700 rooms). The hotel had been planned as
33840-411: Was originally a revolving stage, as well as three sets of curtains. A cornice runs above the proscenium and the side and rear walls, with rosettes , swags , and cartouches . The ceiling is flat but is decorated in ornate plasterwork, dating to Ingalls and Hoffman's design. The entire ceiling is surrounded by a band of rosette, swag, and urn motifs. The center of the ceiling contains a molded oval panel;
34028-466: Was originally paneled in ivory-colored wood. A passage to the stage is through a door to the west of the box office. The lobby, to the west (right) of the box office, is designed with reliefs in the Adam style . The main section of the lobby is a rectangular foyer, accessed through a doorway on the box office's right wall. To the north of the foyer is a secondary area, one step below the foyer, which leads to
34216-464: Was part of the Astor family estate and contained several brownstone townhouses. The Hayes Theater was designed by Ingalls & Hoffman for impresario Winthrop Ames using elements of the neo-Federal , colonial , and Georgian Revival styles. It was originally constructed in 1912 as the Little Theatre. In its original configuration, the Little's auditorium had just one level of seating. The layout
34404-470: Was removed, and the pipes throughout the theater building were replaced. In August 1944, the New York Times Company filed plans for a 11-story building on the site of the Little Theatre, but these plans were not executed. The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) leased the theater as a television studio by July 1951. ABC renovated the theater for The Frances Langford–Don Ameche Show , a variety show featuring Frances Langford and Don Ameche . The stage apron
34592-616: Was renamed in July 1983 for actress Helen Hayes , who was then 82 years old. Hayes had outlived her previous namesake theater on 46th Street, which had been demolished to make way for the New York Marriott Marquis hotel. Ed Koch , then the mayor of New York City, said that Hayes wanted her name on "a small theater" when asked whether she wanted the hotel's new 1,500-seat theater (later the Marquis Theatre ) renamed in her honor. After Torch Song Trilogy ended,
34780-446: Was the Little's first major hit with 223 performances. In addition, in 1914, Ames started hiring musicians to play "new, original, unpublished American music" during intermission. At the end of that year, Ames's physician ordered him to take a twelve-month hiatus from theatrical productions. The Little Theater hosted no productions during the 1915–1916 theatrical season, as Ames did not return to producing until August 1916. By early 1915,
34968-473: Was to include refurbishing the lobby, installing a marquee, adding dance floors, and renovating half of the rooms. Carter Hotels took over management of the business that April. To accommodate executives and business couples who lived at the Dixie, its managers converted some rooms to studio apartments . Jac Lessman converted the bar into a nightclub named the Dixie Lounge Bar, which opened in September 1942 and featured live music. The hotel's restaurant became
35156-663: 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
35344-480: Was used as a welfare hotel during the 1980s, housing homeless families; the Times reported in 1984 that the area around the entrance was filled "with teen-agers and young children who play sidewalk games into the night". The city government paid $ 62.62 per night to house a family in a small single room. Nurses, charities, and social-services workers frequently visited the hotel, serving its homeless population. The Carter housed 190 families by December 1983, when it
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