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172-727: The Stephen Sondheim Theatre , formerly Henry Miller's Theatre , is a Broadway theater at 124 West 43rd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City . Owned by the Durst Organization and managed by the Roundabout Theatre Company , the modern 1,055-seat theater opened in 2009 at the base of the Bank of America Tower . The current theater is mostly underground and

344-426: A molding , a plaster cornice, and lighting fixtures. The box-office lobby had a floor of black and white marble, and the ceiling was made of plaster. The metal grilles and fixtures were painted in dark colors, while the doors were a dark ivory shade. Three doorways from the box-office lobby led to a shallow foyer running across the rear of the auditorium's orchestra. The foyer had bright-blue walls similar to those along

516-509: A porn theater through much of the 1970s, then operated as a discotheque called Xenon from 1978 to 1984, and subsequently operated as a nightclub under various names in the 1980s and 1990s. Henry Miller's Theatre reopened as a Broadway house in 1998, when Roundabout staged a revival of Cabaret , during which it was advertised as the Kit Kat Klub, the musical's fictional venue. Cabaret transferred to Studio 54 later that year, and

688-412: A water table made of granite, above which is a brick facade. There are five rectangular doorways at the center of the facade, each containing a recessed pair of metal doors; above these doorways are stone lintels with urn symbols flanked by rosettes. When the theater was built, the three center doorways led to a box office lobby; the leftmost doorway led to the balcony; and the rightmost doorway led to

860-419: A wind tunnel study is performed on large or unusually-shaped buildings. A scale model of the building and the surrounding vicinity is built and placed in a wind tunnel to determine the wind pressures acting on the structure in question. These studies take into account vortex shedding around corners and the effects of surrounding topography and buildings. Seismic loads in a curtain wall system are limited to

1032-463: A 1,055-seat theater designed by Cookfox , architects of the Bank of America Tower. The rebuilt theater covers 50,000 square feet (4,600 m). Severud and Tishman had to excavate up to 70 feet (21 m) below street level, since the new auditorium could not rise above the old facade. This makes the theater one of two subterranean houses on Broadway. The ground-level entrance contains the mezzanine, with

1204-476: A 2009 reconstruction. The facade is made of red brick and white marble. Miller had conceived of the theater building as the ideal "American theatre", but the facade took significant inspiration from English theater, and even the neo-Georgian decoration was meant to evoke the English origins of American drama. A writer for Architectural Record wrote that the design appeared to be at least partially inspired by

1376-472: 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

1548-839: 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

1720-416: A U-value of 0.2 or higher, which is equivalent to an R-value of 5 or lower. Infill refers to the large panels that are inserted into the curtain wall between mullions. Infills are typically glass but may be made up of nearly any exterior building element. Some common infills include metal panels, louvers, and photovoltaic panels. Infills are also referred to as spandrels or spandrel panels. Float glass

1892-449: 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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2064-663: 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

2236-434: 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

2408-504: A combination of both. Their exterior walls were load-bearing , supporting much or all of the load of the entire structure. The nature of the materials resulted in inherent limits to a building's height and the maximum size of window openings. The development and widespread use of structural steel and later reinforced concrete allowed relatively small columns to support large loads. The exterior walls could be non-load bearing, and thus much lighter and more open than load-bearing walls of

2580-540: 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

2752-404: A curtain wall. Water penetration is defined as water passing from the exterior of the building to the interior of the curtain wall system. Sometimes, depending on the building specifications , a small amount of controlled water on the interior is deemed acceptable. Controlled water penetration is defined as water that penetrates beyond the inner most vertical plane of the test specimen, but has

2924-541: A descending neon panel on the ceiling. Xenon hosted one play, The Ritz , which had exactly one performance on May 2, 1983. Xenon operated until either 1983 or 1984. The old theater reopened as the nightclub Shout in August 1985. The nightclub featured music from the 1950s and 60s, and the auditorium had decorations including a full-sized Cadillac projecting from the wall of the stage. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) had started considering protecting

3096-426: A designed means of drainage back to the exterior. AAMA Voluntary Specifications allow for controlled water penetration while the underlying ASTM E1105 test method would define such water penetration as a failure. To test the ability of a curtain wall to withstand water penetration in the field, an ASTM E1105 water spray rack system is placed on the exterior side of the test specimen, and a positive air pressure difference

3268-565: 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

3440-906: 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

3612-566: A futuristic conception from the 1939 New York World's Fair . Club Expo was renovated in late 1997 and reopened the following March as the Kit Kat Club, a "club within a club" concept. Named after the Berlin nightclub in the 1966 musical Cabaret , the Kit Kat Club housed Roundabout Theatre Company 's popular revival of the musical. After hours, the location served as a popular nightclub with burlesque entertainment and dancing. In July 1998,

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3784-403: A given curtain wall is anchored at 12-foot (144 in) floor heights. The allowable deflection would then be 144/175 = 0.823 inches, which means the wall is allowed to deflect inward or outward a maximum of 0.823 inches at the maximum wind pressure. However, some panels require stricter movement restrictions, or certainly those that prohibit a torque-like motion. Deflection in mullions

3956-422: A high heat transfer coefficient, meaning that aluminum is a very good conductor of heat. This translates into high heat loss through aluminum (or steel) curtain wall mullions. There are several ways to compensate for this heat loss, the most common way being the addition of thermal breaks . These are barriers between exterior metal and interior metal, usually made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). These breaks provide

4128-532: 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

4300-526: 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

4472-642: A nearby construction accident temporarily closed the building, forcing Roundabout to relocate to Studio 54 to finish their production. That November, the production permanently moved to Studio 54. Douglas Durst of the Durst Organization had wanted to use the Henry Miller as a theater again. The Kit Kat Klub's operators sued Durst and Roundabout in November 1998, claiming that Roundabout had committed breach of contract by moving to Studio 54. At

4644-539: 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

4816-1152: 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

4988-415: A promoter. By December 2000, The New York Times described the Henry Miller as being dilapidated, with dangling wires in the ceiling and a "carpet is so grubby that patrons are allowed to drink their Weissbier in the theater". Around that time, the theater was rechristened the Henry Miller and was renovated with 640 seats and a new air-conditioning system. After multiple delays, including a delay caused by

5160-500: 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

5332-549: A revival of Anything Goes , which opened in 2011 and lasted for one year. The Trip to Bountiful then opened at the theater in 2013, followed by Beautiful: The Carole King Musical , which ran from 2014 to 2019 The Stephen Sondheim also hosted Slava's Snowshow at the end of 2019. All Broadway theaters temporarily closed on March 12, 2020 , due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The Stephen Sondheim reopened on October 21, 2021, with performances of Mrs. Doubtfire , which ran until May 2022. The musical & Juliet then opened at

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5504-522: A revival of The Country Wife (1936) and French Without Tears (1937). The Henry Miller briefly hosted Our Town in 1938 before the play was moved to the Morosco Theatre . The Henry Miller's productions in the early 1940s included Ladies in Retirement (1940) with Flora Robson and Estelle Winwood , Spring Again (1941) with Grace George , and Harriet (1943) with Helen Hayes. By

5676-407: A revival production of the musical Bye Bye Birdie . The theater reopened with a preview performance of Bye Bye Birdie on September 10, 2009; the production ran for three months. The other major production to run at the new Henry Miller's Theatre prior to its renaming was All About Me , featuring Dame Edna and Michael Feinstein ; it played a limited engagement in early 2010. On March 22, 2010,

5848-431: 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

6020-407: A shop, but installation and glazing is typically performed at the jobsite. Very similar to a stick system, a ladder system has mullions which can be split and then either snapped or screwed together consisting of a half box and plate. This allows sections of curtain wall to be fabricated in a shop, effectively reducing the time spent installing the system onsite. The drawbacks of using such a system

6192-481: 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

6364-403: A significant decrease in the thermal conductivity of the curtain wall. However, since the thermal break interrupts the aluminum mullion, the overall moment of inertia of the mullion is reduced and must be accounted for in the structural analysis and deflection analysis of the system. Thermal conductivity of the curtain wall system is important because of heat loss through the wall, which affects

6536-481: A thin plastic interlayer; copper wall cladding , and panels consisting of metal sheets bonded to rigid insulation, with or without an inner metal sheet to create a sandwich panel. Other opaque panel materials include fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) and terracotta . Terracotta curtain wall panels were first used in Europe, but only a few manufacturers produce high quality modern terracotta curtain wall panels. A louver

6708-580: 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

6880-407: A wall is quite noticeable, public perception may raise undue concern that the wall is not strong enough. Deflection limits are typically expressed as the distance between anchor points divided by a constant number. A deflection limit of L/175 is common in curtain wall specifications, based on experience with deflection limits that are unlikely to cause damage to the glass held by the mullion. Say that

7052-403: Is transparent , translucent , or opaque, or in varying degrees thereof. Transparent glass usually refers to vision glass in a curtain wall. Spandrel or vision glass may also contain translucent glass, which could be for security or aesthetic purposes. Opaque glass is used in areas to hide a column or spandrel beam or shear wall behind the curtain wall. Another method of hiding spandrel areas

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7224-404: Is a normal force acting on the building as the result of wind blowing on the building. Wind pressure is resisted by the curtain wall system since it envelops and protects the building. Wind loads vary greatly throughout the world, with the largest wind loads being near the coast in hurricane -prone regions. For each project location, building codes specify the required design wind loads. Often,

7396-403: Is a separate criterion in curtain wall design and analysis . This often affects the selection of materials and sizes for design of the system. The allowable bending strength for certain aluminum alloys, such as those typically used in curtain wall framing, approaches the allowable bending strength of steel alloys used in building construction. Relative to other building components, aluminum has

7568-520: Is a terracotta frieze with the name "Henry Miller's Theatre" carved in the center and triangular pediments above the end pavilions. A parapet runs at the roof of the facade. Above the theater facade is a billboard attached to the Bank of America Tower's curtain wall. The interior was designed similarly to old English rooms in the Adam style . The box-office lobby was an elliptical space. The walls were cream-colored with mauve glazing and were decorated with

7740-599: 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

7912-418: Is accounted for by cutting horizontal mullions slightly short and allowing a space between the horizontal and vertical mullions. In unitized curtain wall, a gap is left between units, which is sealed from air and water penetration by gaskets. Vertically, anchors carrying wind load only (not dead load) are slotted to account for movement. Incidentally, this slot also accounts for live load deflection and creep in

8084-475: 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

8256-440: Is applied to the system. This set up simulates a wind driven rain event on the curtain wall to check for field performance of the product and of the installation. Field quality control and assurance checks for water penetration has become the norm as builders and installers apply such quality programs to help reduce the number of water damage litigation suits against their work. One of the disadvantages of using aluminum for mullions

8428-409: Is by far the most common curtain wall glazing type. It can be manufactured in an almost infinite combination of color, thickness, and opacity . For commercial construction, the two most common thicknesses are 1 ⁄ 4 inch (6.4 mm) monolithic and 1 inch (25 mm) insulating glass . 1/4 inch glass is typically used only in spandrel areas, while insulating glass is used for the rest of

8600-427: Is controlled by different shapes and depths of curtain wall members. The depth of a given curtain wall system is usually controlled by the area moment of inertia required to keep deflection limits under the specification. Another way to limit deflections in a given section is to add steel reinforcement to the inside tube of the mullion. Since steel deflects at one-third the rate of aluminum, the steel will resist much of

8772-408: Is defined as the weight of structural elements and the permanent features on the structure. In the case of curtain walls, this load is made up of the weight of the mullions, anchors and other structural components of the curtain wall, as well as the weight of the infill material. Additional dead loads imposed on the curtain wall may include sunshades or signage attached to the curtain wall. Wind load

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8944-562: 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,

9116-478: Is now common. In Scandinavia, the first curtain walls with quadruple-pane have been built. Larger thicknesses are typically employed for buildings or areas with higher thermal, relative humidity , or sound transmission requirements, such as laboratory areas or recording studios . In residential construction, thicknesses commonly used are 1 ⁄ 8 inch (3.2 mm) monolithic and 5 ⁄ 8 inch (16 mm) insulating glass. Glass may be used which

9288-399: Is on 124 West 43rd Street, at the base of the Bank of America Tower , in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It was originally known as Henry Miller's Theatre and was designed in the neo-Georgian style by Paul R. Allen with Ingalls & Hoffman, a firm composed of Harry Creighton Ingalls and F. Burrall Hoffman Jr. Though listed as an architect of record , Hoffman

9460-403: Is provided in an area where mechanical equipment located inside the building requires ventilation or fresh air to operate. They can also serve as a means of allowing outside air to filter into the building to take advantage of favorable climatic conditions and minimize the usage of energy-consuming HVAC systems. Curtain wall systems can be adapted to accept most types of louver systems to maintain

9632-598: Is reduced structural performance and visible joint lines down the length of each mullion. Unitized curtain walls entail factory fabrication and assembly of panels and may include factory glazing. These completed units are installed on the building structure to form the building enclosure. Unitized curtain wall has the advantages of: speed; lower field installation costs; and quality control within an interior climate-controlled environment. The economic benefits are typically realized on large projects or in areas of high field labor rates. A common feature in curtain wall technology,

9804-455: Is that its modulus of elasticity is about one-third that of steel. This translates to three times more deflection in an aluminum mullion compared to a similar steel section under a given load. Building specifications set deflection limits for perpendicular (wind-induced) and in-plane (dead load-induced) deflections. These deflection limits are not imposed due to strength capacities of the mullions. Rather, they are designed to limit deflection of

9976-525: Is the 1988 First Interstate Tower fire in Los Angeles, California . The fire leapfrogged up the tower by shattering the glass and then consuming the aluminum framing holding the glass. Aluminum's melting temperature is 660 °C, whereas building fires can reach 1,100 °C. The melting point of aluminum is typically reached within minutes of the start of a fire. Fireman knock-out glazing panels are often required for venting and emergency access from

10148-469: Is the air which passes through the curtain wall from the exterior to the interior of the building. The air is infiltrated through the gaskets, through imperfect joinery between the horizontal and vertical mullions, through weep holes , and through imperfect sealing. The American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA) is an industry trade group in the U.S. that has developed voluntary specifications regarding acceptable levels of air infiltration through

10320-424: Is through shadow box construction (providing a dark enclosed space behind the transparent or translucent glass). Shadow box construction creates a perception of depth behind the glass that is sometimes desired. Thin blocks (3 to 4 inches (76 to 102 millimetres)) of stone can be inset within a curtain wall system. The type of stone used is limited only by the strength of the stone and the ability to manufacture it in

10492-806: Is typically used for infill because it can reduce construction costs, provide an architecturally pleasing look, and allow natural light to penetrate deeper within the building. However, glass also makes the effects of light on visual comfort and solar heat gain in a building more difficult to control. Other common infills include stone veneer , metal panels, louvres , and operable windows or vents. Unlike storefront systems, curtain wall systems are designed to span multiple floors, taking into consideration building sway and movement and design requirements such as thermal expansion and contraction; seismic requirements; water diversion; and thermal efficiency for cost-effective heating, cooling, and interior lighting. Historically, buildings were constructed of timber, masonry, or

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10664-571: 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

10836-406: The perimeter slab edge , which is a gap between the floor and the curtain wall, is essential to slow the passage of fire and combustion gases between floors. Spandrel areas must have non-combustible insulation at the interior face of the curtain wall. Some building codes require the mullion to be wrapped in heat-retarding insulation near the ceiling to prevent the mullions from melting and spreading

11008-525: The 1919 Actors' Equity Association strike . Miller ultimately starred in eight productions at the theater during his lifetime, including The Famous Mrs. Fair (1918), and The Changelings (1923). During the early 1920s, Henry Miller's Theatre hosted the Broadway debuts of Leslie Howard in Just Suppose (1920) as well as Noël Coward in The Vortex (1925). Other actors and actresses to perform at

11180-610: 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

11352-580: 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;

11524-503: 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

11696-526: The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission . It was managed by Henry Miller along with Elizabeth Milbank Anderson and Klaw & Erlanger . After Miller's death in 1926, his son Gilbert Miller took over operation. The Miller family sold the theater in 1966 to the Nederlander Organization , who sold it in 1968 to Seymour Durst . The final musical production at the theater closed in 1969. It served as

11868-476: 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

12040-604: The September 11 attacks , Urinetown opened in September 2001, running for two years. By late 2003, Durst was planning to develop a new skyscraper on the site in conjunction with Bank of America . Durst notified the theater's operators that the Henry Miller's would have to be closed and demolished to make way for the construction of the 55-story Bank of America Tower . The original theater closed in January 2004. Because of

12212-413: The rainscreen principle theorizes that equilibrium of air pressure between the outside and inside of the "rainscreen" prevents water penetration into the building. For example, the glass is captured between an inner and an outer gasket in a space called the glazing rebate. The glazing rebate is ventilated to the exterior so that the pressure on the inner and outer sides of the outer gasket is the same. When

12384-409: 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

12556-509: The 80th birthday of American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim , Roundabout announced that Henry Miller's Theatre would be renamed in Sondheim's honor. The official unveiling and lighting of the marquee of the new Stephen Sondheim Theatre took place in a ceremony on September 15, 2010. The first production at the newly renamed theater was The Pee-wee Herman Show , which played a limited ten-week engagement. The Stephen Sondheim then hosted

12728-536: 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,

12900-619: 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

13072-738: 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

13244-574: 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

13416-526: The Circle's lease was terminated in January 1969, James M. Nederlander leased the theater to "movie exhibitor" Maurice Maurer. The production But, Seriously , which ran for three days the following month, was the last multi-day production at the theater for nearly three decades. The theater was renamed the Park-Miller and began showing "feature films" in 1970. According to theatrical historian Ken Bloom ,

13588-456: 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

13760-461: The Henry Miller as an official city landmark in 1982, with discussions continuing over the next several years. The LPC designated the Henry Miller's exterior as a city landmark on December 8, 1987, though the interior was merely "tabled" for later consideration. This was part of the LPC's wide-ranging effort in 1987 to grant landmark status to Broadway theaters. The New York City Board of Estimate ratified

13932-768: The Henry Miller included Alfred Lunt and Billie Burke in The Awful Truth (1922), Ina Claire in Romeo and Juliet (1923), and Jane Cowl and Dennis King in Quarantine (1924). Meanwhile, Elizabeth Milbank Anderson had died in 1921, and the lease on the underlying land was transferred to the City Real Estate Company. Miller, the theater's lessee, subleased the theater for five years to himself and A. L. Erlanger in June 1924. Henry Miller died in 1926, and his son Gilbert took over management of

14104-677: The Henry Miller. Instead, that November, the Millers sold the theater to the Nederlanders for $ 500,000. This was not the high offer that the Millers had received, but the buyers had promised to retain the "Henry Miller" name. The marquee outside the theater was installed around this time. The off-off-Broadway venue Circle in the Square took a one-year lease on the Henry Miller in May 1968, to start that August. The theater became known as "Circle in

14276-457: 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

14448-604: 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

14620-515: The Park-Miller aired male pornographic films. Two years later, the theater was leased to the Avon chain of theaters, becoming Avon-on-the Hudson. Through 1977, the theater was still showing porn films. The Durst Organization retook operation of the theater later that year and renovated it. In June 1978, the old Henry Miller's Theatre reopened as a discotheque called Xenon . The disco was outfitted with

14792-535: 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

14964-469: The Square on Broadway" and was planned to show feature films. The Circle only ran two shows at the venue, both of which were flops. The Nederlander Organization sold the Henry Miller in 1968 to Seymour Durst , who leased the theater back to the Nederlanders. Durst wanted to redevelop the entire city block but, over the following three decades, failed to carry out several proposals for the block. After

15136-478: The Stephen Sondheim Theatre the first Broadway theater to meet LEED standards. The rebuilt theater's design was influenced by input from numerous government agencies, theatre companies, and other organizations. For instance, the women's restroom was designed with 22 stalls, three times the number required under building code, and the men's restroom was designed with 10 stalls, one and a half times

15308-572: The Stephen Sondheim in November 2022. Productions are listed by the year of their first performance. This list only includes Broadway shows; it does not include films screened at the theater. & Juliet set the theater's box-office record, grossing $ 1,639,788 over nine performances for the week ending January 1, 2023. Previously, the record had been held by Beautiful: The Carole King Musical , which grossed $ 1,546,950 in 2014. Broadway theatre Broadway theatre , or Broadway ,

15480-439: The U.S. and all U.S. embassies built on foreign soil must have some provision for resistance to bomb blasts. Since the curtain wall is at the exterior of the building, it becomes the first line of defense in a bomb attack. As such, blast resistant curtain walls are designed to withstand such forces without compromising the interior of the building to protect its occupants. Since blast loads are very high loads with short durations,

15652-574: The Yum Yum Tree (1960) with Gig Young ; and Enter Laughing (1963) with Alan Arkin and Vivian Blaine . The 416-performance run of Enter Laughing was followed by a series of flops, some with as few as five performances. In April 1966, Gilbert Miller's wife offered the theater for sale for $ 1 million, saying she did not want her 81-year-old husband to "work hard as a producer" in his old age. Theatrical director Elia Kazan and his lawyer H. William Fitelson were reportedly interested in buying

15824-511: The architecture of the Drury Lane Theatre . Unlike most theaters of its time, Henry Miller's Theatre had windows on its street-facing facade, illuminating what were originally offices. The original facade still exists but only serves as an entrance to the rebuilt theater underground. The facade protrudes from the Bank of America Tower's glass curtain wall , which surrounds it on all sides. The theater's ground-story facade consists of

15996-492: 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

16168-435: 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

16340-476: 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

16512-550: 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

16684-446: The boxes. The front of the auditorium had a wooden orchestra pit separated from the audience by a curved screen. The music came from louvers at the top of the screen. A pianist in the pit operated a choral cello, sounds from which were piped throughout the auditorium. The stage was 33 feet (10 m) wide and had an amber brocade curtain. Above the curtain was a medallion with personifications of comedy and tragedy. The left side of

16856-431: The building (sometimes spandrel glass is specified as insulating glass as well). The 1 inch insulation glass is typically made up of two 1/4-inch lites of glass with a 1 ⁄ 2 inch (13 mm) airspace. The air inside is usually atmospheric air, but some inert gases , such as argon or krypton , may be used in order to offer better thermal transmittance values. In Europe, triple-pane insulating glass infill

17028-462: The building blocks of structural understanding were laid for the development of curtain walls. Oriel Chambers (1864) and 16 Cook Street (1866), both built in Liverpool , England , by local architect and civil engineer Peter Ellis , are characterised by their extensive use of glass in their facades. Toward the courtyards they boasted metal-framed glass curtain walls, which makes them two of

17200-543: The code requirement. In addition, the Stephen Sondheim is fully accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 , with 20 viewing stations, a drinking fountain, and a restroom for disabled guests. 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

17372-413: The completion of the compartment (or envelope). The use of fire sprinklers has been shown to mitigate this matter. As such, unless the building is sprinklered , fire may still travel up the curtain wall, if the glass on the exposed floor is shattered from heat, causing flames to lick up the outside of the building. Falling glass can endanger pedestrians, firefighters and firehoses below. An example of this

17544-552: The curtain wall at 900–910 Lake Shore Drive, where the curtain is an autonomous aluminum and glass skin. After 900–910, Mies's curtain wall appeared on all of his subsequent high-rise building designs, including the Seagram Building in New York. The widespread use of aluminium extrusions for mullions began during the 1970s. Aluminum alloys offer the unique advantage of being able to be easily extruded into nearly any shape required for design and aesthetic purposes. Today,

17716-398: The curtain wall response should be analyzed in a dynamic load analysis, with full-scale mock-up testing performed prior to design completion and installation. Blast resistant glazing consists of laminated glass , which is meant to break but not separate from the mullions. Similar technology is used in hurricane-prone areas for impact protection from wind-borne debris. Air infiltration

17888-422: 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

18060-615: The design complexity and shapes available are nearly limitless. Custom shapes can be designed and manufactured with relative ease. The Omni San Diego Hotel curtain wall in California, designed by architectural firm Hornberger and Worstel and developed by JMI Realty, is an example of a unitized curtain-wall system with integrated sunshades. The vast majority of ground-floor curtain walls are installed as long pieces (referred to as sticks ) between floors vertically and between vertical members horizontally. Framing members may be fabricated in

18232-469: The designations in March 1988. The Shout nightclub had closed by September 1991, when the theater reopened as the City nightclub. The nightclub was shuttered before 1994; that March, the old theater was described as being boarded up. In September 1994, it was announced that the nightclub Club Expo would open in the old Henry Miller. The space was decorated with elements, such as monorails and holograms, based on

18404-628: 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,

18576-629: The end of the month, Durst terminated the club's lease. The show Rolling on the TOBA opened at the Kit Kat Klub in March 1999. Its opening was delayed by ongoing eviction proceedings against the Kit Kat Klub, as Durst claimed that the club was violating its lease by booking TOBA without his permission. TOBA relocated to the Vivian Beaumont Theater the next month after the Tony Awards administration committee ruled that shows at

18748-602: 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. Curtain wall (architecture) Curtain walls may be designed as "systems" integrating frame, wall panel, and weatherproofing materials. Steel frames have largely given way to aluminum extrusions. Glass

18920-456: 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,

19092-617: The exterior. Knock-out panels are generally fully tempered glass to allow full fracturing of the panel into small pieces and relatively safe removal from the opening. Curtain walls and perimeter sealants require maintenance to maximize service life. Perimeter sealants, properly designed and installed, have a typical service life of 10 to 15 years. Removal and replacement of perimeter sealants require meticulous surface preparation and proper detailing. Aluminum frames are generally painted or anodized . Care must be taken when cleaning areas around anodized material as some cleaning agents will destroy

19264-561: The extreme ends of either facade. Accordingly, the five center doorways are flanked by a pair of segmental-arched gateways with wrought-iron gates. The gateways have paneled keystones above their centers and wrought-iron lanterns flanking each side. The rest of the facade is made of red brick in common bond and is split into two end pavilions flanking five vertical bays . Each bay is delineated by projecting brick pilasters topped by decorated Corinthian -style capitals of terracotta . The five center bays have rectangular window openings at

19436-815: The finish. Factory applied fluoropolymer thermoset coatings have good resistance to environmental degradation and require only periodic cleaning. Recoating with an air-dry fluoropolymer coating is possible but requires special surface preparation and is not as durable as the baked-on original coating. Anodized aluminum frames cannot be "re-anodized" in place but can be cleaned and protected by proprietary clear coatings to improve appearance and durability. Stainless steel curtain walls require no coatings, and embossed, as opposed to abrasively finished, surfaces maintain their original appearance indefinitely without cleaning or other maintenance. Some specially textured matte stainless steel surface finishes are hydrophobic and resist airborne and rain-borne pollutants. This has been valuable in

19608-451: The fire to the floor above. The firestop at the perimeter slab edge is considered a continuation of the fire-resistance rating of the floor slab. The curtain wall itself, however, is not ordinarily required to have a rating. This causes a quandary as compartmentalization (fire protection) is typically based upon closed compartments to avoid fire and smoke migrations beyond each engaged compartment. A curtain wall by its very nature prevents

19780-447: The first curtain walls were made with steel mullions , and the polished plate glass was attached to the mullions with asbestos- or fiberglass-modified glazing compound. Eventually silicone sealants or glazing tape were substituted for the glazing compound. Some designs included an outer cap to hold the glass in place and to protect the integrity of the seals. The landmarks of curtain wall design as it came to dominate construction were

19952-550: The first decade of the 20th century. From 1901 to 1920, forty-three theaters were built around Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, including Henry Miller's Theatre. Henry Miller had held a lifelong dream of operating a theater. In December 1916, he announced his intention to build a theater on a plot at 124-130 West 43rd Street, next to the established theater district on Times Square. The site measured 85.9 by 100.5 feet (26.2 by 30.6 m) and had previously been proposed as

20124-467: 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

20296-534: The floor slabs of the building structure. Accidental explosions and terrorist threats have brought on increased concern for the fragility of a curtain wall system in relation to blast loads. The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, has spawned much of the current research and mandates in regards to building response to blast loads. Currently, all new federal buildings in

20468-414: The foyer and lounge, but they had similarly designed black carpets with green and rose decorations. The original auditorium had 950 seats. It was semicircular and designed with what Miller considered an "intimate" feel. The parquet level was outfitted with 404 seats, even though the back row had to be removed because of the presence of the lobby behind it. The original auditorium included two balcony levels,

20640-477: The gallery. There is a marquee above the three center bays of the ground story. As of September 2010, the marquee displays the words "Stephen Sondheim", reflecting its rename from Henry Miller's Theatre. Henry Miller's Theatre was the first Broadway theater to be built under the 1916 Zoning Resolution , which is reflected in its design. Where previous Broadway theaters had to contain open-air alleys on either side, Henry Miller's Theatre concealed its alleys behind

20812-415: The glass (which may break under excessive deflection), and to ensure that the glass does not come out of its pocket in the mullion. Deflection limits are also necessary to control movement at the interior of the curtain wall. Building construction may be such that there is a wall located near the mullion, and excessive deflection can cause the mullion to contact the wall and cause damage. Also, if deflection of

20984-655: The gross profit from each production to the Milbank Memorial Fund , Anderson's legatee. Performances at Henry Miller's Theatre around this time included The Play's The Thing (1926), Our Betters (1928), and Journey's End (1929). Henry Miller's Theatre was most successful from the 1930s through 1950s. In the early 1930s, the theater hosted The Good Fairy (1931), with Helen Hayes and Walter Connolly ; The Late Christopher Bean (1932), with Pauline Lord ; and Personal Appearance (1934), with Gladys George . Other notable plays in that decade included

21156-688: The heating and cooling costs of the building. On a poorly performing curtain wall, condensation may form on the interior of the mullions. This could cause damage to adjacent interior trim and walls. Rigid insulation is provided in spandrel areas to provide a higher R-value at these locations. Thermally-broken mullions with double- or triple-glazed IGUs are often referred to as "high-performance" curtain walls. While these curtain wall systems are more energy-efficient than older, single-glazed versions, they are still significantly less efficient than opaque (solid) wall construction. For example, nearly all curtain wall systems, thermally-broken or otherwise, have

21328-444: The higher level being the "gallery". The second balcony was included because Miller had only been able to afford balcony seats in his youth. Many older and larger theaters of the time had two balconies, but newer or smaller theaters only contained one balcony. The lower balcony level had boxes , which Miller had initially planned to exclude from the design, though he ultimately decided upon making them inconspicuous. The gallery level, on

21500-573: The interstory drift induced on the building during an earthquake . In most situations, the curtain wall is able to naturally withstand seismic and wind induced building sway because of the space provided between the glazing infill and the mullion. In tests, standard curtain wall systems are typically able to withstand up to three inches (76 mm) of relative floor movement without glass breakage or water leakage. Snow loads and live loads are not typically an issue in curtain walls, since curtain walls are designed to be vertical or slightly inclined. If

21672-459: The load at a lower cost or smaller depth. Deflection in curtain wall mullions also differs from deflection of the building structure, whether concrete, steel, or timber. Curtain wall anchors must be designed to allow differential movement between the building structure and the curtain wall. Strength (or maximum usable stress ) available to a particular material is not related to its material stiffness (the material property governing deflection); it

21844-557: 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

22016-505: The new theater was "of the ideal size and shape" and that "the decorations are at once rich and in the perfection of good taste". Heywood Broun of the New-York Tribune said the theater "is a delight if you don't mind the curtain too much". The Brooklyn Times-Union subsequently said the theater was "a memorial worthy of any man" even if Miller did not have further accomplishments in his lifetime. The Fountain of Youth itself

22188-420: 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

22360-557: 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

22532-662: The orchestra level located below. The ground level has a bar and cafe, and there is an upper mezzanine with a restaurant. Two-thirds of the seating, as well as a lobby bar, are at orchestra level. The interior retains artifacts from the original structure. These artifacts include the original emergency-exit doors and the plaster frieze from the auditorium. The theater's interior was designed to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold green-building standards. The environmental features include recycled wall panels, locally quarried marble, and waterless urinals. This makes

22704-582: The past. This gave way to increased use of glass as an exterior façade, and the modern-day curtain wall was born. Post-and-beam and balloon framed timber structures effectively had an early version of curtain walls, for their frames supported loads that allowed the walls themselves to serve other functions, such as keeping weather out and allowing light in. When iron began to be used extensively in buildings in late 18th-century Britain, such as at Ditherington Flax Mill , and later when buildings of wrought iron and glass such as The Crystal Palace were built,

22876-556: 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

23048-415: 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

23220-407: The pressure is equal across this gasket, water cannot be drawn through joints or defects in the gasket. A curtain wall system must be designed to handle all loads imposed on it as well as keep air and water from penetrating the building envelope. The loads imposed on the curtain wall are transferred to the building structure through the anchors which attach the mullions to the building. Dead load

23392-423: 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

23564-645: 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

23736-414: The proper shape and size. Common stone types used are: calcium silicate , granite , marble , travertine , limestone , and engineered stone . To reduce weight and improve strength, the natural stone may be attached to an aluminum honeycomb backing. Metal panels can take various forms including stainless steel, aluminum plate; aluminum composite panels consisting of two thin aluminum sheets sandwiching

23908-531: 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

24080-427: The same architectural sightlines and style while providing desired functionality. Most curtain wall glazing is fixed, meaning that there is no access to the exterior of the building except through doors. However, windows or vents can be glazed into the curtain wall system as well, to provide required ventilation or operable windows. Nearly any window type can be made to fit into a curtain wall system. Firestopping at

24252-444: The same level as Miller's office, had an elevator so people could reach the gallery easily. There were 200 seats in the gallery. The auditorium's carpets had a black background with colorful patterns, a contrast to contemporary theaters that had monochrome carpets. The auditorium also had gray walls, hand-painted panels, and brightly colored plaster medallions and swags. Illumination was provided by central chandeliers as well as lights in

24424-414: 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

24596-412: The second story, with stone keystones and brick voussoirs atop each window, as well as iron balconies curving outward. On the third story, there are three round-arched windows at the center, flanked by two blind openings with brick infill; they also have stone keystones and brick voussoirs. The end pavilions have arched brick niches at the second story and terracotta roundels on the third story. Above that

24768-494: The site of an unbuilt theater by Felix Isman . Miller had leased the lot from its owner, Elizabeth Milbank Anderson . Paul Allen and Ingalls & Hoffman were hired for the design. Allen had been involved in the project partially because Miller had a history of working with Allen's sister, actress Viola Allen . Henry Miller's Theatre opened on April 1, 1918, hosting the play The Fountain of Youth , in which Miller himself starred. John Corbin wrote for The New York Times that

24940-413: The slope of a wall exceeds 20 degrees or so, these loads may need to be considered. Thermal loads are induced in a curtain wall system because aluminum has a relatively high coefficient of thermal expansion . This means that over the span of a couple of floors, the curtain wall will expand and contract some distance, relative to its length and the temperature differential. This expansion and contraction

25112-409: The stage contained its "working side", where stage directions were given, while the right side contained the dressing rooms . The rear of the stage had an additional space with a low ceiling. A counterweight system was installed over the stage, which obviated the requirement for a fly system . A switchboard controlled the lights above the stage. From 2004 to 2009, the old theater was replaced with

25284-470: 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

25456-443: The stairways and passageways. Stairs at either end of the foyer descended to the lounge, and another stair on the right side ascended to the balcony. The stairs between the foyer and lounge contained landings, which led to a ladies' retiring room and gentlemen's smoking room. The lounge had English green walls with silk hangings; its design elements included an onyx-and-crystal candelabra. Different designs of light fixtures were used for

25628-434: 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

25800-403: The theater briefly operated as a nightclub in 1999 and 2000. The dystopian musical Urinetown played in the venue from 2001 to 2004. Afterward, the auditorium was demolished, and the modern theater, originally retaining the Henry Miller's name, opened in 2009. The theater was renamed for American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim on his 80th birthday in 2010. The Stephen Sondheim Theatre

25972-427: The theater's landmark status, Durst and Bank of America had to avoid damaging the facade under threat of financial penalty. In addition, the new theater had to be placed underground because it could not rise higher than the height of the old facade. The landmark facade was temporarily attached to a three-story steel support frame when the tower was built. By late 2004, the frame had been constructed. The theater's interior

26144-432: The theater's twenty-fifth anniversary in 1943, Henry Miller's Theatre had hosted 83 plays and one musical, La La Lucille . Later in the decade, the theater showed Dear Ruth in 1944 and Born Yesterday from 1948 to 1950. The Henry Miller presented The Cocktail Party in 1950 with Alec Guinness , Cathleen Nesbitt , and Irene Worth and The Moon Is Blue in 1951 with Barbara Bel Geddes and Barry Nelson. This

26316-526: The theater. As trustee of his father's estate, Gilbert filed a lawsuit to cancel Erlanger's sublease of the theater. Miller argued that he did not have the power to reassign his father's stake in the sublease to himself, and Erlanger was refusing to vouch for him. As a result, shows at Henry Miller's Theatre were transferred to the Shubert Theatre while the litigation was pending. Gilbert Miller ultimately bought Erlanger's interest and paid 25 percent of

26488-534: 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

26660-481: 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

26832-461: 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

27004-568: 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 ,

27176-568: 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

27348-599: The venue were not eligible for the Tony Awards. After a protracted legal dispute, the New York Supreme Court ordered that the Kit Kat Klub vacate the theater in August 1999. The Henry Miller continued to operate as a nightclub and a venue for private parties until it closed in April 2000. Before its closure, the club had seen several crimes, including a December 1999 incident in which rapper Jay-Z stabbed

27520-578: The very different systems used by the United Nations Headquarters and the Lever House completed in 1952. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 's curtain wall is one of the most important aspects of his architectural design. Mies first began prototyping the curtain wall in his high-rise residential building designs along Chicago's lakeshore, achieving the look of a curtain wall at 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments . He finally perfected

27692-692: 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

27864-507: The world's first buildings to include this architectural feature. Oriel Chambers is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the earliest such building. The extensive glass walls allowed light to penetrate further into the building, utilizing more floor space and reducing lighting costs. Oriel Chambers comprises 43,000 sq ft (4,000 m ) set over five floors without an elevator , which had only recently been invented and

28036-519: 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,

28208-539: 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

28380-407: Was a flop , as was the play that succeeded it, The Marriage of Convenience . That July, Klaw & Erlanger agreed to jointly manage the theater with Miller. Most of the early productions were flops, until Mis' Nelly of N'Orleans, which opened in 1919 and had 127 performances. The musical La La Lucille , which opened in May 1919, was also a success, even though the theater had to close during

28552-644: 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

28724-489: Was demolished using manual tools, and the contractors installed sensors to detect any vibrations on the facade. Some of the old auditorium's seats became part of a Pennsylvania bowling alley. Roundabout announced in 2007 that it would operate the theater, which would become its third Broadway venue. By the middle of the following year, the scaffolding over the facade was being dismantled. In May 2009, Roundabout announced that Henry Miller's Theatre would reopen that September with

28896-417: Was designed by Cookfox , architects of the Bank of America Tower. It retains the landmarked facade of the original Henry Miller's Theatre, which was built in 1918 by Henry Miller , the actor and producer . The original 950-seat theater was designed in the neoclassical style by Harry Creighton Ingalls of Ingalls & Hoffman, in conjunction with Paul R. Allen. Its facade is protected as a city landmark by

29068-713: Was followed in 1953 by Oh, Men! Oh, Women! , which ran for a year. The Living Room also opened at the Henry Miller in November 1954 but, after a month, was replaced by Witness for the Prosecution , which ran until 1956. Other notable shows and performances in the 1950s included The Reluctant Debutante (1956); Hotel Paradiso (1957) with Bert Lahr and Angela Lansbury ; Under Milk Wood (1957); Look After Lulu! (1959) with Tammy Grimes , and The Andersonville Trial (1959) with George C. Scott and Albert Dekker . The early 1960s saw performances such as The World of Carl Sandburg (1960) with Bette Davis ; Under

29240-446: Was not involved with the theater's design, having enlisted in the military when Ingalls and Allen began designing the theater. The theater was originally named for its builder, English-born actor-producer Henry Miller ; since 2010, it has been named for composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021). While the facade dates from Allen and Ingalls & Hoffman's original design in 1918, the auditorium and other internal spaces date to

29412-541: Was not yet widespread. The Statue of Liberty (1886) features a thin, non-load-bearing copper skin. Extensive use of glass became required for large factory buildings to allow light for manufacture, sometimes making it seem like they had all glass facades. An early example of an all-steel curtain wall used in the classical style is the Kaufhaus Tietz  [ de ] department store on Leipziger Straße, Berlin , built in 1901 (since demolished). Some of

29584-602: 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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