Herbert J. Krapp (1887–1973) was a 20th-century theatre architect and designer , notable for his contributions to Broadway theater district architecture. Known for his innovative approach to design, his built work favors width, rather than depth, to create better sightlines for an "intimate theatre" experience.
118-694: The Imperial Theatre is a Broadway theater at 249 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way ) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City . Opened in 1923, the Imperial Theatre was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed for the Shubert brothers . It has 1,457 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization . The auditorium interior is a New York City designated landmark . The theater
236-412: A frieze with foliate ornament and a cornice with modillions , which wraps around the front of the auditorium. Light boxes are installed on the front rail of the balcony, which has no ornamentation. The underside of the balcony, over the orchestra, has ornate paneling. On either side of the proscenium is a wall section with three boxes on the balcony level, which step down toward the stage. The theater
354-439: A frontage of 20 feet (6.1 m) on 45th Street and a depth of 200 feet (61 m). The portion of the lot on 45th Street is narrower than the section on 46th Street, where the auditorium is situated. The auditorium section, spanning the lots at 238 to 250 West 46th Street, measures 113 feet (34 m) wide by 100 feet (30 m) deep. The adjoining block of 45th Street is also known as George Abbott Way , and foot traffic on
472-472: 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
590-578: A Hammerstein score; it was among Broadway's last hit operettas, as well as the only Broadway production in the 1928 season to have over 500 performances. The musical Sons o' Guns opened in November 1929 with Lili Damita ; it ran 297 performances in spite of the onset of the Great Depression. The 1930s began with some short runs, but the Imperial still hosted several successful shows despite
708-839: 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
826-483: A band with foliate ornamentation, with a latticework panel at the center. The rest of the ceiling contains a slight curve and shallow coves, which were intended to give the theater an intimate feeling. The ceiling is slightly higher than the sounding board, creating a rib near the front of the auditorium, where the ceiling steps down to the sounding board. The front rib contains Adam-style bas-relief plaster decorations, as well as circular bas-relief medallions. The rest of
944-449: 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,
1062-663: 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
1180-434: 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
1298-540: 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
SECTION 10
#17327732370121416-565: 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
1534-906: 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
1652-616: A landmark on November 17, 1987. This was part of the commission's wide-ranging effort in 1987 to grant landmark status to Broadway theaters. The New York City Board of Estimate ratified the designations in March 1988. The Shuberts, the Nederlanders , and Jujamcyn collectively sued the LPC in June 1988 to overturn the landmark designations of 22 theaters, including the Imperial, on the merit that
1770-472: A large balcony, and box seats with carved panels above them. The flat proscenium arch above the stage is topped by a curved sounding board . The Shubert Organization's fiftieth venue in New York City, the Imperial was constructed in 1923 to replace the outdated Lyric Theatre . The Imperial opened on December 25, 1923, with the musical Mary Jane McKane . Since then, it has hosted numerous long-running musicals, including Annie Get Your Gun , Fiddler on
1888-532: 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
2006-526: 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
2124-539: 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
2242-1152: 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
2360-500: 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
2478-401: A restoration program for their Broadway theaters, repainting the theater in a red, burgundy, and rose color scheme. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) had started to consider protecting the Imperial as a landmark in 1982, with discussions continuing over the next several years. Though both the exterior and interior were considered, the LPC designated only the interior as
SECTION 20
#17327732370122596-431: 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
2714-480: A score by Harold Rome and Leonard Gershe . The Imperial had more long runs in the 1960s. First among them was Gypsy with Merman, which transferred from the Broadway Theatre in 1960. Next was Carnival! , which opened in 1961 and starred Jerry Orbach and Anna Maria Alberghetti . Carnival! ended to make room for Lionel Bart 's Oliver! , a West End musical that had its Broadway premiere at
2832-485: A score by Leonard Bernstein . Later that year, Merman appeared in Berlin's Call Me Madam , which had 644 performances. Wish You Were Here premiered in 1952, running 598 performances, with a set that included a fully functional swimming pool on the Imperial's stage. This was followed by John Murray Anderson's Almanac in 1953, one of Broadway's last large revues. The Imperial staged Silk Stockings in 1955, which
2950-475: A score by Berlin, which opened in 1946 and ran 1,147 performances. The run of Annie Get Your Gun was suspended temporarily in 1946 after the weight of the musical's set caused one of the theater's beams to warp. The Imperial then hosted two shows in 1949: a transfer of Along Fifth Avenue , as well as a 308-performance run of Berlin and Robert E. Sherwood 's Miss Liberty . In 1950, the Imperial hosted Peter Pan , featuring Jean Arthur and Boris Karloff with
3068-516: A settlement made in February 1956, they chose to sell their St. James Theatre , since they would have otherwise been forced to lease the Imperial or the St. James. The Imperial also hosted the 1957 musical Jamaica , starring Lena Horne and Ricardo Montalbán with a score by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg , and the 1959 musical Destry Rides Again , starring Dolores Gray and Andy Griffith with
3186-481: 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
3304-759: A single, integrated design." His functional innovations include orchestra-level stadium seating , and single, rather than double, balconies above it. He favored neoclassical façades, incorporating elements, such as ornamental iron balconies, patterned brickwork and grilles , as well as decorative pilasters , cornices , arches and frieze . A frequent user of the Adam style , sometimes complemented with Elizabethan , Mediterranean , Mission or other revival elements, Krapp's interiors made regular use of recessed ceilings, wall columns and ornamental wall panels , decorated with floral or geometric motifs. Sometime between 1912 and 1916, in addition to designing theatres for
3422-580: 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
3540-510: A year and a half before transferring. John Kander and Fred Ebb next collaborated for the musical Zorba , which ran at the Imperial in 1968. In 1970, the Imperial hosted the musical Minnie's Boys , featuring Shelley Winters , and Two By Two , starring Danny Kaye . Following these were the relatively short revivals of On the Town in 1971 and Lost in the Stars in 1972. By contrast,
3658-609: Is a white terracotta facade. The 45th Street entrance is a three-story building. It is extremely narrow because it was wedged between the now-demolished Klaw Theatre to the west and the Music Box Theatre to the east. Aside from signs on the facade, it is designed in a plain style. This was characteristic of most post-World War I theaters that Krapp designed for the Shuberts, such as the Ambassador Theatre and
Imperial Theatre - Misplaced Pages Continue
3776-475: 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
3894-415: Is largely situated on 46th Street. A narrow lobby extends to the main entrance on 45th Street, where there is a three-story facade of white terracotta . The 46th Street facade, which is made of buff -colored brick, was intended as the carriage entrance. The lobby, originally decorated in dark and white tiles, leads to the rear of the theater's orchestra level. The auditorium contains Adam-style detailing,
4012-523: Is placed on the eastern section of the facade, next to the Richard Rodgers Theatre. According to theatrical historian William Morrison, both of the Imperial's facades "cannot be said to be particularly distinguished". The auditorium has an orchestra level, one balcony, boxes , and a stage behind the proscenium arch. The auditorium is wider than its depth, and the space is designed with plaster decorations in high relief . According to
4130-520: 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
4248-468: The 44th Street Theatre followed in 1943, and the Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash musical One Touch of Venus premiered the same year with Mary Martin. The Ziegfeld Follies of 1943 was also performed at the Imperial. The late 1940s saw the premieres of multiple hits, a trend that continued through the 1950s. The largest of those was the musical Annie Get Your Gun , featuring Ethel Merman with
4366-610: 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
4484-598: The Gerald Schoenfeld , Booth , Shubert , and Broadhurst Theatres to the south; and the Majestic , Bernard B. Jacobs , and John Golden Theatres to the southwest. The site was historically part of the Astor family estate, which acquired the lots in 1803. The Imperial Theatre was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed in 1923 for the Shubert brothers . It was the fiftieth theater to be developed by
4602-671: The Helen Hayes Theatre in the 1920s. He also designed the Hotel Edison , the Lincoln Hotel (now the Row NYC Hotel ), and numerous other buildings. Although the stock market crash of 1929 brought an end to the theatre building boom, Krapp remained with the Shuberts until 1963, supervising the maintenance and renovations of the existing venues. He also experimented with inventing; one of the tools he created
4720-580: 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;
4838-503: 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
Imperial Theatre - Misplaced Pages Continue
4956-561: The Ritz (now Walter Kerr) Theatre . The facade of the auditorium is made of buff-colored brick and faces 46th Street. This facade, being much wider, was used as a carriage entrance and exit, alleviating congestion on 45th Street. The design of the 46th Street facade contains diaper-patterned brick, similar to the facades of the Ambassador, the Ritz, and the now-demolished Morosco . A stage door
5074-476: 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
5192-409: 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
5310-647: The 41 Broadway theatres now standing, Krapp designed 13 and redesigned two. All, or nearly all, of the façades and interiors of his theatres have since been designated historic landmarks by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission . A graduate of Cooper Union , and an apprentice with the Herts & Tallant firm until 1915, Krapp began working in theatre architecture at the time when architects were just beginning to design "a playhouse's exterior and interior as
5428-536: 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,
5546-551: 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
5664-686: 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
5782-574: 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
5900-700: The Chanin brothers, Krapp began working directly with the Shubert brothers . His first independent commissions for them were the Broadhurst and the neighboring Plymouth Theatre (now known as the Schoenfeld ), which opened within two weeks of each other, and were designed as mirror images of each other. Krapp would eventually become their primary architect, designing the Lyceum , Shubert , Booth , New Amsterdam and Longacre Theatres , among many others. Krapp
6018-534: The Devil later the same year; both were coldly received. More successful were Cole Porter 's Leave It to Me! in 1938, where Mary Martin made her Broadway debut, and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart 's collaboration for Too Many Girls in 1939. Alfred J. Callahan bought the Imperial in 1940 after the Imperial Theatre Corporation defaulted on a mortgage, and Callahan sold the theater
SECTION 50
#17327732370126136-456: 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
6254-479: The Great Depression . During the 1900s and 1910s, many theaters in Midtown Manhattan were developed by the Shubert brothers , one of the major theatrical syndicates of the time. The Shuberts originated from Syracuse, New York , and expanded downstate into New York City in the first decade of the 20th century. The brothers controlled a quarter of all plays and three-quarters of theatrical ticket sales in
6372-451: The Imperial for a Christmas special in 2018, and the musical Ain't Too Proud opened in March 2019. Ain't Too Proud achieved the box office record for the Imperial Theatre, grossing $ 1,865,016.90 over eight performances for the week ending December 29, 2019. The theater closed on March 12, 2020 , due to the COVID-19 pandemic . In 2021, the Shuberts sold the air rights above the Imperial to Extell Development Company for $ 51 million, at
6490-457: The Imperial in 1925, incorporating it into the base of an 15-story residential building designed by Krapp, but this never occurred. The Imperial's next production, the 1926 musical Sweetheart Time , was moderately successful. The same year, the Imperial staged Oh, Kay! , featuring Victor Moore and Gertrude Lawrence with music from George and Ira Gershwin . The Imperial then hosted Sigmund Romberg 's operetta The New Moon in 1928, with
6608-544: The Imperial in 1963. Oliver! ran for a year and a half, also transferring to make way for the next production: Fiddler on the Roof , which opened in 1964. Fiddler , which featured Zero Mostel with a score by Jerry Bock , Joseph Stein , and Sheldon Harnick , stayed for nearly three years before it transferred as well. This was followed in 1967 by Cabaret , which came from the Broadhurst Theatre and ran for
6726-544: The Imperial's longest-running non-musical production. Most of the 1980s was dominated by a few musicals. Simon premiered They're Playing Our Song in December 1979; the production had 1,082 performances over two and a half years. The next production was Michael Bennett 's musical Dreamgirls , starring Jennifer Holliday with music by Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen , which opened at the end of 1981. Dreamgirls ended up running for 1,522 performances over four years. During
6844-651: The Imperial. This was followed by a year-long run of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in 2005; a short run of High Fidelity in 2006; and the productions of Coram Boy and August: Osage County in 2007. Billy Elliot the Musical opened in November 2008 and ran for slightly over three years. It was followed by Nice Work If You Can Get It in 2012; 700 Sundays in 2013; a revival of Les Misérables in 2014; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 in 2016; and Carousel in 2018. American Idol season 2 competitors Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken performed at
6962-457: 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
7080-604: 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
7198-535: 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
SECTION 60
#17327732370127316-528: The Roof , Dreamgirls , The Mystery of Edwin Drood , Les Misérables , and Billy Elliot the Musical . The Imperial has also hosted plays, with Chapter Two being the theater's longest-running play. The Imperial Theatre is on 249 West 45th Street, on the north sidewalk between Eighth Avenue and Broadway , near Times Square in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City . The land lot covers 13,350 square feet (1,240 m), with
7434-408: The Shubert Organization, the auditorium has 1,457 seats; meanwhile, The Broadway League cites a capacity of 1,443 seats and Playbill cites 1,424 seats. The physical seats are divided into 759 seats in the orchestra, 283 in the front balcony, 377 in the rear balcony, and 20 in the boxes. The orchestra seating includes 18 seats in the orchestra pit at the front of the stage. Originally, the theater
7552-463: The Shuberts in the New York metropolitan area . The O'Day Construction Company built the theater, and several other contractors were involved in the construction process. The Imperial is operated by the Shubert Organization . The theater includes a narrow wing extending south to 45th Street, though the auditorium is on 46th Street. The main entrance of the theater is through 45th Street, where there
7670-425: The Shuberts' Depression-era financial troubles. Ed Wynn staged the vaudeville-style The Laugh Parade in 1931, while Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz had a successful score the next year in the musical Flying Colors . Two productions by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind were shown in 1933: Of Thee I Sing and Let 'Em Eat Cake . Meanwhile, the theater had gone into receivership in March 1933, though
7788-669: The TV series Smash is scheduled to open at the theater in April 2025. Productions are listed by the year of their first performance. Broadway theatre Broadway theatre , or Broadway , is a theatre genre that consists of the theatrical performances presented in 41 professional theaters , each with 500 or more seats, in the Theater District and Lincoln Center along Broadway , in Midtown Manhattan , New York City . Broadway and London 's West End together represent
7906-527: The U.S. by 1925. The Shubert brothers had leased the Lyric Theatre for their musical productions in 1903, but they were looking for a replacement two decades later, as the Lyric was aging. The Shubert brothers decided to acquire lots along both 45th and 46th Street. While the 45th Street frontage was more desirable (being close to numerous existing theaters), the 46th Street frontage was cheaper. The site
8024-492: 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
8142-447: The balcony level, continues above the arch. The proscenium measures 25 feet 0 inches (7.62 m) high and 39 feet 7 inches (12.07 m) wide. The depth of the auditorium to the proscenium is 33 feet 8 inches (10.26 m), while the depth to the front of the stage is 40 feet 2 inches (12.24 m). A sounding board is placed on the ceiling above the proscenium arch. The sounding board contains
8260-435: 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
8378-476: 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
8496-550: 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
8614-440: The ceiling contains panels surrounded by decorative bands, with medallions in the center of each panel. The panels are divided by ribs with decorative bands. Chandeliers were originally suspended from the ceiling panels, and there is low relief decoration throughout. The modern ceiling has replacement chandeliers as well as air-conditioning grates. Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and
8732-422: 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
8850-598: The designations severely limited the extent to which the theaters could be modified. The lawsuit was escalated to the New York Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of the United States , but these designations were ultimately upheld in 1992. Jerome Robbins' Broadway closed in 1990. Les Misérables relocated to the Imperial in late 1990, playing there for the next decade. Les Misérables
8968-679: 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,
9086-422: 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. Herbert J. Krapp Of
9204-456: 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,
9322-467: 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
9440-798: The highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world . While the Broadway thoroughfare is eponymous with the district, it is closely identified with Times Square . Only three theaters are located on Broadway itself: Broadway Theatre , Palace Theatre , and Winter Garden Theatre . The rest are located on the numbered cross streets, extending from the Nederlander Theatre one block south of Times Square on West 41st Street, north along either side of Broadway to 53rd Street , and Vivian Beaumont Theater , at Lincoln Center on West 65th Street. While exceptions exist,
9558-557: 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
9676-551: The musical Pippin opened in 1972 with a score by Stephen Schwartz , and it ran for over four years before transferring. During that time, the Imperial hosted the 27th Tony Awards in 1973. By the late 1970s, it was becoming more expensive to produce Broadway musicals, so the Imperial saw fewer musicals. The Imperial's productions in 1977 included Eugene O'Neill 's play Anna Christie , featuring Liv Ullmann ; Victor Borge 's play Comedy with Music ; and Neil Simon 's play Chapter Two . With 857 performances, Chapter Two became
9794-420: 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
9912-471: The next year to the Dorsar Corporation. The Imperial consistently hosted popular musical productions during the 1940s. The first was Ryskind and Irving Berlin 's Louisiana Purchase in 1940, which had 444 performances. Next was Herbert and Dorothy Fields 's 1941 musical Let's Face It! , with a score by Porter, which ran for 547 performances. A transfer of the long-running Rosalinda from
10030-497: The north (left) wall are exit doors leading to 46th Street, above which is a frieze . The seating was arranged in a shallow, fan-shaped layout to increase acoustics. A crossover aisle divides the balcony into front and rear sections. The balcony's side walls contain flat pilasters , which split the walls into segmentally arched sections. The wall sections include panels with bas-reliefs of dancing figures, as well as doorways with Adam-style friezes. The balcony's walls are topped by
10148-557: 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
10266-419: The openings are rectangular plasterwork panels. Within these panels are depictions of winged fairy-like figures, holding theatrical masks that represent comedy and tragedy. Next to the boxes is a flat proscenium arch. The archway is surrounded by a band of floral designs in plasterwork. In addition, on either side of the archway are flat pilasters, topped by decorative capitals. The frieze and cornice, from above
10384-556: 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
10502-468: 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
10620-423: 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
10738-645: 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
10856-466: The receiver then deeded the theater to the Imperial Theatre Corporation. The Imperial hosted the musicals Say When in 1934 and Jubilee the next year, the latter of which ran 169 performances. These were succeeded in 1936 by the ballet-themed On Your Toes , as well as Leslie Howard 's revival of Shakespeare's Hamlet , which flopped after 39 performances. The Shuberts' operetta Frederika opened in 1937, as did Dietz and Schwartz's Between
10974-531: 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
11092-399: The run of Dreamgirls , the 1982 Tony Awards was hosted at the Imperial. The subsequent production was The Mystery of Edwin Drood , which opened in 1985 and ran for two years. The Imperial's final productions of the 1980s included a revival of Cabaret in 1987, Chess in 1988, and Jerome Robbins' Broadway in 1989. During the late 1980s, the Shuberts renovated the Imperial as part of
11210-473: 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
11328-470: 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
11446-629: The street increases box-office totals on the theaters there. The Imperial shares the block with the Richard Rodgers Theatre and Music Box Theatre to the east, as well as the New York Marriott Marquis to the east. Other nearby buildings include the Paramount Hotel and Lena Horne Theatre to the north; the Hotel Edison and Lunt-Fontanne Theatre to the northeast; One Astor Plaza to the southeast;
11564-434: 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
11682-534: 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
11800-481: 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
11918-461: The time a record high price for air rights in the area. The theater reopened on October 16, 2021, with performances of Ain't Too Proud , which ran until January 2022. The Imperial's next production, Andrew Lloyd Webber 's musical Bad Cinderella , opened in March 2023 and closed that June. The musical Water for Elephants opened at the theater in March 2024, and is scheduled to close in December 2024 after 301 performances. The musical adaptation of
12036-461: 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
12154-515: The travertine was subsequently replaced with red-brown and gray marble. The orchestra promenade has a pair of columns topped by Tuscan-style capitals , as well as a paneled ceiling with bands in the Adam style. Two staircases lead from the promenade to the balcony level above. The orchestra floor is raked , while its side walls curve inward toward the proscenium. The orchestra's side walls contain wainscoting on their lower sections, with paneling above. On
12272-568: 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 ,
12390-568: 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
12508-692: 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
12626-519: 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,
12744-539: 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
12862-461: Was Cole Porter's last Broadway production. Next to be presented was the Frank Loesser musical The Most Happy Fella in 1956, with Robert Weede and Jo Sullivan . By then, the Shuberts owned the Imperial again, but they operated nearly half of all legitimate theaters in New York City at the time, prompting the U.S. federal government to file an antitrust suit against the firm. As part of
12980-644: 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
13098-600: Was a hit that ran for 151 performances. The Moscow Art Theatre performed at the Imperial in May 1924. Another Oscar Hammerstein II score was featured in Rudolf Friml 's operetta Rose-Marie , which opened that September and eventually staged over 500 performances. Rose-Marie grossed enough to fund a dedicated memorial theater for Oscar Hammerstein I, which subsequently became Hammerstein's Theatre . The Shuberts proposed expanding
13216-562: Was acquired by A. H. Pincus and M. L. Goldstone, who in November 1922 began planning for a two-story office and three-story theater. The Shuberts hired Herbert Krapp to design the theater in January 1923. L. & A. Pincus helped finance the construction, along with the Shuberts and the 45th Street Leasing Company Inc. The Imperial Theatre was not named as such until December 1923, a few weeks before its opening. At that time, Arthur Hammerstein and Vincent Youmans 's production Mary Jane McKane
13334-441: Was booked for the theater, with a musical score by Oscar Hammerstein II . Arthur had been negotiating with Lee Shubert to name the Imperial Theatre after Arthur's late father Oscar Hammerstein I , but Shubert rejected the proposal. Mary Jane star Mary Hay formally dedicated the Imperial on December 21, 1923, and the Imperial had its first performance when Mary Jane premiered four days later, December 25. Ultimately, Mary Jane
13452-403: Was designed with 1,650 seats: 950 on the balcony and 700 in the orchestra. It is largely designed in the Adam style . A passageway from the 45th Street entrance, measuring 20 feet (6.1 m) wide, leads to a promenade at the rear (west) end of the orchestra. The entrance passageway was originally designed with a light-and-dark tiled floor, marble wainscoting , and white travertine wall panels;
13570-406: Was originally designed with boxes on orchestra level as well, though these have been removed. The fronts of the boxes are curved outward and contain molded decorations at the top and bottom. The boxes on each side are set into rectangular openings, which contain a pair of octagonal columns that divide the boxes. Each opening is surrounded by a band of foliate and geometric designs in plasterwork. Above
13688-600: Was the second-longest-running Broadway production ever when it closed in 2003; the closure was partially attributed to reductions in ticket sales caused by the September 11 attacks in 2001. The next production was The Boy from Oz , which opened in 2003 and ran for nearly one year. As part of a settlement with the United States Department of Justice in 2003, the Shuberts agreed to improve disabled access at their 16 landmarked Broadway theaters, including
13806-720: 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
13924-409: Was well known for his ability to use his building space to its fullest potential. For the Majestic Theatre , Krapp incorporated stadium seating into the plans for the orchestra level, creating better sightlines and allowing for the creation of larger lounge and lobby areas. He designed the Ambassador Theatre on a diagonal plan to fit it into a small site. Krapp renovated the Winter Garden Theatre and
#11988