The Anthony Street Theatre was an early New York City theatre which operated intermittently from 1812 to 1821. It opened as the Olympic Theatre in May 1812 and had multiple names during its brief existence. Portrait of Edmund Kean as Richard III (4673545)

Portrait of Edmund Kean as Richard III (4673545)

Olympic Theatre Ad NY Evening Post 6 May 1812 p2

The Wonder Anthony St Theatre NY Evening Post Nov 20 1820

History

The theatre was converted from a circus building used by Pepin and Breschard and located at 79-85 Anthony Street (which is now

Worth Street Worth Street is a two-way street running roughly northwest-southeast in Manhattan, New York City. It runs from Hudson Street, TriBeCa, in the west to Chatham Square in Chinatown in the east. Past Chatham Square, the roadway continues as Oliver ...

) in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. (The circus appears to have relocated to Broadway at the corner of White Street.Guernsey, Rocellus Sheridan
New York City and Vicinity During the War of 1812-15, Vol. I
p. 51 (1889) However, there is much confusion among old sources between these two locations.) The first serious competition to the Park Theatre, the venue opened on May 22, 1812, managed by John Dwyer and Donald McKenzie as the

Olympic Theatre The Olympic Theatre, sometimes known as the Royal Olympic Theatre, was a 19th-century London theatre, opened in 1806 and located at the junction of Drury Lane, Wych Street and Newcastle Street. The theatre specialised in comedies throughout ...

. The first performance was ''

The Way to Get Married ''The Way to Get Married'' is a 1796 comedy play by the British writer Thomas Morton. The play was frequently revived well into the nineteenth century. The original cast included William Thomas Lewis as Tangent, John Quick as Toby Allspice, ...

'', followed by "grand feats of horsemanship by Mr. Breschard and Company", and a farce called ''The Spoild Child''.(22 May 1812)
Advertisement
''New York Evening Post'' (appears to report that a May 20 planned debut had not occurred due the primary actors suffering travel problems getting to New York)(18 May 1812)
Advertisement
''New York Evening Post'' (advertisement states that planned opening date of May 18 has been postponed to May 20, and that ''The Way to Get Married'' will be performed)Ireland, Joseph Norto
Records of the New York Stage: From 1750 to 1860, Vol. I
pp. 286 (1866) By July 1812 the theatre came under the management of

actor-manager An actor-manager is a leading actor who sets up their own permanent theatrical company and manages the business, sometimes taking over a theatre to perform select plays in which they usually star. It is a method of theatrical production used co ...

William Twaits, along with

Alexander Placide Alexander Placide (1750–1812), was an American (originally French) actor and theatre manager.Robin O. Warren, Women on Southern Stages, 1800-1865: Performance, Gender and Identity He debuted in France in 1770 and was active in Saint-Domingue unt ...

(but who died on July 26) and Breschard (who was still managing the horses);Kimberly Poppiti
''A History of Equestrian Drama in the United States: Hippodrama’s Pure Air and Fire''
Routledge (2018) - Google Books Twaits and Placide had come to New York after the disastrous Richmond Theatre fire in Richmond, Virginia where they had been co-managers. Under Twaits, the Olympic was due to open with a production led by

Charlotte Melmoth Mrs Charlotte Melmoth (c. 1749 – 1823) was an 18th-century English actress, the estranged spouse of British actor/writer Samuel Jackson Pratt ("Courtney Melmoth"), and known as "The Grande Dame of Tragedy on the Early American Stage". After a ...

and Twaits, but while travelling to fulfil this engagement Melmoth was involved in a carriage accident, resulting in a severe fracture to her arm that failed to heal, forcing her to give up her acting career.John Green: ''Theatre in Belfast 1736–1800''
/ref> Circus acts continued to appear here as well.Greenwood, Isaac J
The Circus: Its Origin and Growth Prior to 1835
pp. 108-10 (1909) The popular equestrian drama ''

Timour the Tartar ''Timour the Tartar'' is an 1811 hippodrama play by English dramatist Matthew Lewis. The equestrian drama was a popular success.Gamer, MichaelA Matter of Turf: Romanticism, Hippodrama, and Satire in ''Nineteenth-Century Contexts'', Vol. 28, No ...

'' debuted in America at the Olympic in September 1812. The theatre was renovated and redecorated in 1813 when it was named the Anthony Street Theatre, the Commonwealth Theatre in 1814, and the Pavilion Theatre in 1816, before reverting to the Anthony Street Theatre name in 1820.

Final season

During the 1820–1821 season, the theatre was the home of the acting company of the Park Theatre while their own theatre was being rebuilt after having burnt down. With this company

Edmund Kean Edmund Kean (4 November 178715 May 1833) was a celebrated British Shakespearean stage actor born in England, who performed, among other places, in London, Belfast, New York, Quebec, and Paris. He was known for his short stature, tumultuo ...

made his first appearance to much acclaim in New York in November 1820 in '' Richard III''.Law, Jonathan
''The Methuen Drama Dictionary of the Theatre''
Bloomsbury (2011), Google Books, p. 23 Of Kean's performance, manager Edmund Simpson wrote, "Kean is with us and playing to great business, he averages about $1,000 a night. The people don't know exactly what to make of him. His strange manner surprises them, but his style gains more converts every night and before he leaves us I expect they will be unanimous in calling him, as they express it, the greatest creation they ever saw."(23 November 1913)
City Coveted Park Row
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' '' Virginius'' by

James Sheridan Knowles James Sheridan Knowles (12 May 1784 – 30 November 1862) was an Irish dramatist and actor. Biography Knowles was born in Cork. His father was the lexicographer James Knowles (1759–1840), cousin of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The family mo ...

was first performed in America at the theatre on September 25, 1820. Henry John Wallack had his New York debut at the theatre in the role of Young Norval on May 9, 1821.Dimmick, Ruth Crosby
Our Theatres To-day and Yesterday, Volume 10
p. 26 (1913) The season wrapped on July 6, 1821 with a benefit for Mr. Moreland, a performance of ''

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civi ...

'' and '' Falls of Clyde''.(6 July 1821)
Advertisement
''New York Evening Post'', p. 3., col. 1 The theatre was demolished in 1821 shortly after the Park Theatre company left, and the plot was bought for the Christ Episcopal Church.(15 August 1880)
Some Forgotten Theatres
''New York Sun'', p. 5 (some dates in this article may be incorrect)(4 March 1871). Reminiscences of the New York Stage, from 1820 to 1825, ''Evening Telegram'', p. 2 (last performance was on July 6, 1821)

References

External links

* {{coord, 40.717, -74.005, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NY, display=title 1812 establishments in New York (state) Demolished theatres in New York City Former theatres in Manhattan Theatres completed in 1812 Buildings and structures demolished in 1821