The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (formerly the Royale Theatre and the John Golden Theatre) is a
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
theater at 242 West 45th Street (
George Abbott Way
George Abbott Way is a section of West 45th Street west of Times Square between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in New York City, named for Broadway producer and director George Abbott. It is just east of Restaurant Row.
Notable buildings
The are ...
) in the
Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing several of a city's theatres.
Places
*Theater District, Manhattan, New York City
*Boston Theater District
*Buffalo Theater District
*Cleveland Theater ...
of
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Opened in 1927, the theater was designed by
Herbert J. Krapp in a Spanish style and was built for real-estate developer
Irwin S. Chanin. It has 1,100 seats across two levels and is operated by
The Shubert Organization
The Shubert Organization is a theatrical producing organization and a major owner of theatres based in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by the three Shubert brothers in the late 19th century. They steadily expanded, owning many theaters ...
. Both the
facade and the auditorium interior are
New York City landmarks
These are lists of New York City landmarks designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission:
* New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan:
** List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan below 14th Street
** List o ...
.
The facade is designed in a Spanish style with golden brick,
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
, and stone and is divided into two sections. The western portion of the facade contains the theater's entrance, with five double-height arched windows and a curved
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedimen ...
above. The eastern portion is the stage house and is topped by a
loggia
In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...
. The auditorium contains Spanish-style detailing, a large balcony, and an expansive vaulted ceiling. The auditorium's interior features murals by
Willy Pogany
William Andrew Pogany (born Vilmos András Pogány; August 24, 1882 – July 30, 1955) was a prolific Hungarian illustrator of children's and other books. His contemporaries include C. Coles Phillips, Joseph Clement Coll, Edmund Dulac, Harvey Du ...
as well as several
box
A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...
seats.
The Royale,
Majestic, and
Masque (now John Golden) theaters, along with the
Lincoln Hotel, were all developed by the Chanin brothers and designed by Krapp as part of a theater/hotel complex. The Royale was the first of the three theaters to be completed, opening on January 11, 1927. The
Shubert family
The Shubert family was responsible for the establishment of the Broadway district, in New York City, as the hub of the theater industry in the United States. They dominated the legitimate theater and vaudeville in the first half of the 20th cen ...
took over the Royale in 1930 but subsequently went into
receivership
In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in ca ...
, and producer
John Golden
John Lionel Golden (June 27, 1874 – June 17, 1955) was an American actor, songwriter, author, and theatrical producer. As a songwriter, he is best-known as lyricist for "Poor Butterfly" (1916). He produced many Broadway shows and four films.
...
leased the theater in 1932. Golden renamed the theater after himself in 1934, but the Shuberts took over in 1936 and leased the theater to
CBS Radio
CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...
. The Royale was restored as a legitimate theater under its original name in 1940. The theater was renamed for longtime Shubert Organization president
Bernard B. Jacobs in 2005.
Site
The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre is at 242 West 45th Street, on the south side between
Eighth Avenue and
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
, near
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
in the
Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing several of a city's theatres.
Places
*Theater District, Manhattan, New York City
*Boston Theater District
*Buffalo Theater District
*Cleveland Theater ...
of
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
The nearly rectangular
land lot
In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner(s). A plot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property (meaning practically the same thing) in ...
covers , with a
frontage
Frontage is the boundary between a plot of land or a building and the road onto which the plot or building fronts. Frontage may also refer to the full length of this boundary. This length is considered especially important for certain types of ...
of on 44th Street and a depth of .
The Golden Theatre shares the
city block
A city block, residential block, urban block, or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design.
A city block is the smallest group of buildings that is surrounded by streets, not counting any type of thoroughfare within t ...
with the
Row NYC Hotel
Row NYC Hotel is a hotel at 700 Eighth Avenue, between 44th and 45th Streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The hotel is 27 stories tall with 1,331 rooms. Designed by Schwartz & Gross, with Herbert J. Krapp as consult ...
to the west. It adjoins six other theaters: the
Gerald Schoenfeld
Gerald Schoenfeld (September 22, 1924 – November 25, 2008) was chairman of The Shubert Organization from 1972 to 2008.
Career
After graduating from the University of Illinois, Schoenfeld fought in World War II. On his return, he obtained a law ...
and
Booth
Booth may refer to:
People
* Booth (surname)
* Booth (given name)
Fictional characters
* August Wayne Booth, from the television series ''Once Upon A Time''
*Cliff Booth, a supporting character of the 2019 film ''Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'' ...
to the east, the
Broadhurst and
Shubert to the southeast, the
Majestic to the south, and the
Golden
Golden means made of, or relating to gold.
Golden may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
*Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall
*Golden Cap, Dorset
*Golden Square, Soho, London
*Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershir ...
to the west. Other nearby structures include the
Music Box Theatre
The Music Box Theatre is a Broadway theater at 239 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1921, the Music Box Theatre was designed by C. Howard Crane in a Palladian-inspir ...
and
Imperial Theatre
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 fo ...
to the north; the
New York Marriott Marquis
The New York Marriott Marquis is a Marriott hotel on Times Square, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Designed by architect John C. Portman Jr., the hotel is at 1535 Broadway, between 45th and 46th Streets. With 1,9 ...
to the northeast;
One Astor Plaza
One Astor Plaza, also known as 1515 Broadway and formerly the W. T. Grant Building, is a 54-story office building on Times Square in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Der Scutt o ...
to the east; and
Sardi's
Sardi's is a Continental food, continental restaurant located at 234 West 44th Street, between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eighth Avenue, in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Manhattan, New Yo ...
restaurant, the
Hayes Theater
The Hayes Theater (formerly the Little Theatre, New York Times Hall, Winthrop Ames Theatre, and Helen Hayes Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 240 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Named for actress ...
, and the
St. James Theatre one block south.
The Jacobs is part of the largest concentration of Broadway theaters on a single block.
The adjoining block of 45th Street is also known as
George Abbott Way
George Abbott Way is a section of West 45th Street west of Times Square between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in New York City, named for Broadway producer and director George Abbott. It is just east of Restaurant Row.
Notable buildings
The are ...
, and foot traffic on the street increases box-office totals for the theaters there.
The Majestic, Masque (Golden), and Royale (Jacobs) theaters and the Lincoln Hotel (Row NYC Hotel) had all been developed concurrently.
The site of all four buildings had previously occupied by twenty brownstone residences.
The site was part of the
Astor family
The Astor family achieved prominence in business, society, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. With ancestral roots in the Italian Alps region of Italy by way of Germany,
the Astors settle ...
estate from 1803
to 1922, when it was sold to Henry Claman.
The plots collectively measured wide along Eighth Avenue, along 44th Street, and along 45th Street.
Design
The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, originally the Royale Theatre, was designed by
Herbert J. Krapp in a Spanish style and was constructed from 1926 to 1927 for the Chanin brothers.
It was part of an entertainment complex along with the Lincoln Hotel and the Majestic and Masque theaters, which were also designed by Krapp in a Spanish style.
[; ] The Royale was designed to be the medium-sized theater of the complex, with about 1,200 seats initially.
The Chanin Realty and Construction Company constructed all four structures.
The Jacobs is operated by
the Shubert Organization
The Shubert Organization is a theatrical producing organization and a major owner of theatres based in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by the three Shubert brothers in the late 19th century. They steadily expanded, owning many theaters ...
.
Facade
The facade contains two sections. The western section is wider and is symmetrical, containing the auditorium entrance. The eastern section, which contains the
stage house
Stage or stages may refer to:
Acting
* Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions
* Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage"
* ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper
* Sta ...
, is narrower and taller than the western section. In both sections, the ground floor is clad in
rusticated blocks of
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
above a granite
water table
The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated.
T ...
.
At ground level, the auditorium entrance includes five pairs of glass and aluminum doors, which lead to the ticket office and auditorium. There are also rectangular aluminum-framed sign boards beside the openings. The entrance is topped by a
marquee. Four sets of aluminum doors lead from the stage house portion of the facade. A terracotta
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
runs above the base. The stage door is at 270 West 45th Street (next to the Golden Theatre) and is shared with the Majestic and Golden theaters.
The upper stories contain gold-colored,
bonded Roman brick.
The brick facade was designed to relate to the adjacent theaters and hotel.
On the upper stories, the auditorium section has a set of five arches on the second and third stories. The arches rise above terracotta
piers Piers may refer to:
* Pier, a raised structure over a body of water
* Pier (architecture), an architectural support
* Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name)
* Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...
that contain
Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to:
*Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible:
**First Epistle to the Corinthians
**Second Epistle to the Corinthians
**Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox)
*A demonym relating to ...
-style
capitals
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
. Each arch contains iron-framed
sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...
s with multiple panes, separated by horizontal
transom
Transom may refer to:
* Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar
* Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet
* Operation Tran ...
bars.
A similar, narrower arcade exists on the neighboring Golden Theatre.
A sign with the theater's name is placed between the auditorium and stage sections. The
parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...
of the auditorium facade contains a terracotta
coping
Coping refers to conscious strategies used to reduce unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviours and can be individual or social.
Theories of coping
Hundreds of coping strategies have been proposed in an attempt to ...
.
Above the center portion of the facade, there is a rounded
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedimen ...
with
finial
A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature.
In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...
s and an ornamental
lunette
A lunette (French ''lunette'', "little moon") is a half-moon shaped architectural space, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void.
A lunette may also be segmental, and the arch may be an arc take ...
.
The stage house has five
sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...
s on each of the second through fifth stories. These windows contain
sills made of terracotta. At the fifth story, the three center windows are placed within a
loggia
In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...
, which in turn is placed on
brackets
A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...
. The loggia has paired columns with decorative capitals, which support a Spanish tile roof.
There is a pyramidal tile roof above the stage house.
The Jacobs's loggia complements a similar one on the Golden Theatre.
Auditorium
The Jacobs's interior was designed with a red, orange, and gold color scheme.
The layout was part of an effort by
Irwin Chanin
Irwin Salmon Chanin (October 29, 1891 – February 24, 1988) was an American architect and real estate developer, best known for designing several Art Deco towers and Broadway theaters.
Biography
Irwin Chanin was born to a Jewish family, the son ...
, one of the developers, to "democratize" the seating arrangement of the theater. The Jacobs was designed with a single balcony rather than the typical two, since Chanin had perceived the second balcony to be distant. The Chanin brothers wanted the three theaters' interior designs to be distinct while still adhering to a Spanish motif, in the belief that beautiful and comfortable theaters would be able to compete against other performing-arts venues.
Roman Melzer was credited for the overall design, while
Willy Pogany
William Andrew Pogany (born Vilmos András Pogány; August 24, 1882 – July 30, 1955) was a prolific Hungarian illustrator of children's and other books. His contemporaries include C. Coles Phillips, Joseph Clement Coll, Edmund Dulac, Harvey Du ...
painted murals and
Joseph Dujat created plasterwork.
By the 2010s, the Jacobs was designed with a red and gray color palette.
The auditorium has an orchestra level, one balcony,
boxes, and a
stage
Stage or stages may refer to:
Acting
* Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions
* Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage"
* ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper
* Sta ...
behind the
proscenium
A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...
arch. The auditorium's width is greater than its depth, and the space is designed with plaster decorations in high
relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
.
According to the Shubert Organization, the auditorium has 1,092 seats,
while according to
The Broadway League
The Broadway League, formerly the League of American Theatres and Producers and League of New York Theatres and Producers, is the national trade association for the Broadway theatre industry based in New York, New York. Its members include thea ...
, there are 1,078 seats.
The physical seats are divided into 636 seats in the orchestra, 168 at the front of the balcony, 252 at the rear of the balcony, and 16 in the boxes. There are 20 standing-only spots.
Below the orchestra are restrooms and drinking fountains.
The Jacobs and the neighboring Schoenfeld are two of the most desired theaters among producers because of their good sightlines from the seating areas.
Seating areas
The rear of the orchestra contains a promenade with two columns supporting the balcony level. The orchestra floor is
raked. The orchestra and its promenade contain walls with paneled
baseboard
In architecture, a baseboard (also called skirting board, skirting, wainscoting, mopboard, trim, floor molding, or base molding) is usually wooden or vinyl board covering the lowest part of an interior wall. Its purpose is to cover the joint b ...
s, above which are rough
stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
blocks. The side walls contain doors, above which are
exit sign
An exit sign is a pictogram or short text in a public facility (such as a building, aircraft, or boat) denoting the location of the closest emergency exit to be used in case of fire or other emergency that requires rapid evacuation. Most rele ...
s within
bracketed panels.
The rearmost row has a standing rail behind it.
Two staircases lead between the orchestra and the balcony. These staircases have metal railings and elaborate
balustrade
A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...
s.
In front of the orchestra level is an orchestra pit, which is placed below the stage.
The orchestra level is wheelchair-accessible but there are no elevators to the balcony.
The balcony level is divided into front and rear sections by an aisle halfway across the depth.
The walls consist of paneled stucco blocks. Above the wall is a
frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
with
rosettes, which forms the wall's
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
.
Light fixtures and square panels with
arabesque
The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...
s are placed at the front of the balcony's
soffit
A soffit is an exterior or interior architectural feature, generally the horizontal, aloft underside of any construction element. Its archetypal form, sometimes incorporating or implying the projection of beams, is the underside of eaves (to ...
, or underside. Behind this, the center of the soffit is decorated with a medallion containing a light fixture and acanthus-leaf motifs. The outer portions of the soffit are divided into rhombus-shaped panels, which contain latticework and arabesques surrounded by acanthus-leaf and rope moldings. In front of the balcony are moldings of
swags and rosettes. The soffit has been modified with the installation of air-conditioning grilles, while lights have been installed in front of the balcony.
On either side of the stage is an elliptically arched wall section with two boxes at the balcony level. The front box on either side is lower than the rear box.
Each wall section is surrounded by a rope molding. In front of each box is a railing with shield motifs; the center motif is flanked by
griffin
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...
s. The underside of each box is decorated with a medallion containing a light fixture, as well as acanthus-leaf motifs.
The coved ceilings above the boxes contain Spanish-inspired brass chandeliers.
Other design features
Next to the boxes is an elliptical proscenium arch. The archway is surrounded by rope moldings, above which is a wide band, consisting of four-part leaves surrounded by a
guilloche motif.
The proscenium measures about high and wide.
A
sounding board
A sounding board, also known as a tester and abat-voix is a structure placed above and sometimes also behind a pulpit or other speaking platform that helps to project the sound of the speaker. It is usually made of wood. The structure may be spe ...
curves onto the ceiling above the proscenium arch. The sounding board has a large decorated latticework panel in the center, which is surrounded by a molding that depicts overlapping leaves. The rest of the sounding board was originally decorated with Spanish-style motifs and is surrounded by moldings on all sides.
The depth of the auditorium to the proscenium is , while the depth to the front of the stage is .
The ceiling consists of a groin vault that extends over the balcony.
The vault is surrounded by a molding with laurel leaves. The ceiling is divided into ribs, containing laurel-leaf and talon moldings. The center of the ceiling contains a latticework grille with arabesques, marking the convergence of the ribs.
In addition, there are two arches along the walls on either side of the vault; they contain a set of murals by Willy Pogany, entitled ''Lovers of Spain''.
These arches each depict a woman in a procession of musicians.
The arches are surrounded by molded
acanthus leaves
The acanthus ( grc, ἄκανθος) is one of the most common plant forms to make foliage ornament and decoration, and even as the leaf distinguishing the heraldic coronet of a manorial lord from other coronets of royalty or nobility, which us ...
and shells, and there are square panels with rosettes on the arches' outer reveals.
According to a contemporary account, the arches measured across.
History
Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and
the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. During the 1900s and 1910s, many theaters in Midtown Manhattan were developed by the
Shubert brothers
The Shubert family was responsible for the establishment of the Broadway district, in New York City, as the hub of the theater industry in the United States. They dominated the legitimate theater and vaudeville in the first half of the 20th cen ...
, one of the major theatrical syndicates of the time. The Chanin brothers developed another grouping of theaters in the mid-1920s.
Though the Chanins largely specialized in real estate rather than theaters, Irwin Chanin had become interested in theater when he was an impoverished student at the
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...
. He subsequently recalled that he had been "humiliated" by having to use a separate door whenever he bought cheap seats in an upper balcony level.
By October 1926, the Chanins had decided to construct and operate a theatrical franchise "in New York and half a dozen other large cities in the United States".
Herbert Krapp had already designed the
46th Street,
Biltmore, and
Mansfield
Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...
theaters for the Chanins in 1925 and 1926.
Development and early years
Chanin operation
The Chanin brothers had acquired the Klaman site in May 1925.
The Chanins planned to build a hotel on Eighth Avenue and three theaters on the side streets.
In March 1926, Krapp filed plans with the
New York City Department of Buildings
The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) is the department of the New York City government that enforces the city's building codes and zoning regulations, issues building permits, licenses, registers and disciplines certain construction tra ...
for the hotel and theaters, which were projected to cost $4.5 million.
Local news media reported that there would be a large theater on 44th Street and a medium-sized theater and a small theater on 45th Street.
The brownstones on the site were razed starting in May,
and the site was cleared by the next month.
That July, the Chanin brothers received a $7.5 million loan for the four developments from S. W. Straus & Co.
Irwin Chanin launched a competition the same month, asking the public to suggest names for the three theaters.
The names of the three theaters were announced in December 1926.
The large theater became the Majestic;
the mid-sized theater, the Royale;
and the small theater, the Masque.
The following month, the Chanins gave
A. L. Erlanger
Abraham Lincoln Erlanger (May 4, 1859 – March 7, 1930) was an American theatrical producer, director, designer, theater owner, and a leading figure of the Theatrical Syndicate.
Biography
Erlanger was born to a Jewish family exclusive control over bookings at the three new theaters and their five existing houses.
The Royale Theatre was the first of the three theaters to open, showing the play ''Piggy'' on January 11, 1927. The opening of the Majestic, Masque, and Royale signified the westward extension of the traditional Broadway theater district, as well as an expansion of the Chanins' theatrical developments. Each of the Chanin theaters was intended for a different purpose: the 1,800-seat Majestic for "revues and light operas", the 1,200-seat Royale for "musical comedies", and the 800-seat Masque for "intimate" plays.
By developing a small, medium, and large theater concurrently, the Chanins were able to lower their development costs.
Burns Mantle
Robert Burns Mantle (December 23, 1873February 9, 1948) was an American theater critic. He founded the ''Best Plays'' annual publication in 1920.Chansky, Dorothy (2011)"Burns Mantle and the American Theatregoing Public" in ''Theatre History Stu ...
wrote for the ''
New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
'' that the Royale had "a handsome auditorium with a Willy Pogany interior, well proportioned stage, and the established atmosphere of a hospitable and well-run theatre". ''Piggy'' (renamed mid-run to ''I Told You So'') had a weak script, but comedian
Sam Bernard
Sam Bernard (born Samuel Barnett, 5 June 1863 – 16 May 1927) was an English-born American vaudeville comedian who also performed in musical theatre, comic opera and burlesque and appeared in a few silent films.
Life and career
Bernard was bor ...
carried the show for 79 performances.
The Royale next hosted ''Judy'' with
Queenie Smith
Queenie Smith (September 8, 1898 – August 5, 1978) was an American stage, television, and film actress.
Life and career
Smith was born in Texas. Her family moved from Texas to New York shortly before Smith began studying at the Metropol ...
.
[; ; ] This was followed by the short-running ''Oh, Ernest!'',
though the Chanins unsuccessfully tried to prevent the producers from relocating prematurely. The Black revue ''
Rang Tang
''Rang Tang'' is a musical that premiered July 12, 1927, on Broadway at the Royale Theater and ran for 119 performances, including a 14-week overrun, during which, the production moved September 12, 1927, to the Majestic – finishing October 24 ...
'' also played at the Royale in 1927,
as did three
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...
works: ''
The Mikado
''The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan, operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, whe ...
'',
''
Iolanthe
''Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri'' () is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1882. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert ...
'',
and ''
The Pirates of Penzance
''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 ...
''.
The Royale's productions in 1928 included ''The Madcap'',
[; ] as well as ''Sh! The Octopus'', its first
straight play
A play is a work of drama, usually consisting mostly of dialogue between characters and intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. The writer of a play is called a playwright.
Plays are performed at a variety of levels, from ...
. Later that year, the Royale had its first major hit,
[; ; ] the
Mae West
Mae West (born Mary Jane West; August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American stage and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, singer, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned over seven decades. She was known for her breezy ...
play ''
Diamond Lil
Diamond Tooth Lil was an American cultural figure popular in the early 20th century as an icon of wealth and libertine burlesque. Several individuals called themselves "Diamond Lil" or "Diamond Tooth", creating an amalgamated legacy clouded b ...
''.
It was followed in 1929 by the
flop
In computing, floating point operations per second (FLOPS, flops or flop/s) is a measure of computer performance, useful in fields of scientific computations that require floating-point calculations. For such cases, it is a more accurate meas ...
''Woof, Woof'',
[; ; ] then by the moderately successful comedy ''Kibitzer''.
In July 1929, the Shubert brothers bought the Chanin brothers' half-ownership stakes in the Majestic, Masque, and Royale theaters for a combined $1.8 million.
In exchange, the Shuberts sold a parcel of land on the
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...
to the Chanins,
[ who bought several adjacent lots and developed the Century apartment building there.]
Great Depression and ownership changes
The Shuberts obtained the exclusive rights to operate the Royale in 1930. Under Shubert management, the Royale hosted '' Second Little Show'' in 1930, which was followed by ''Lew Leslie's Blackbirds
African-American musical theater includes late 19th and early 20th century musical theater productions by African Americans, African Americans in New York City and Chicago. Actors from troupes such as the Lafayette Players also crossed over i ...
'' and ''Stepping Sisters''.[; ] Another Mae West play, ''Constant Sinner'', was presented at the Royale in 1931, along with numerous unsuccessful productions. After West unsuccessfully tried to show a revival of ''Macbeth'', the Royale hosted the Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) is a non-profit, professional theater company located at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. Its more than six hundred annual performances performed 48 weeks of the year include its critically acclaimed Shakespeare s ...
for two weeks in late 1931. By then, the Shuberts were in receivership
In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in ca ...
and were forced to give up the Royale, though they kept the Majestic and Masque. In July 1932, producer John Golden
John Lionel Golden (June 27, 1874 – June 17, 1955) was an American actor, songwriter, author, and theatrical producer. As a songwriter, he is best-known as lyricist for "Poor Butterfly" (1916). He produced many Broadway shows and four films.
...
granted the right to lease the Royale for 21 months, despite objections from Lee Shubert
Lee Shubert (born Levi Schubart; March 25, 1871– December 25, 1953) was a Lithuanian-born American theatre owner/operator and producer and the eldest of seven siblings of the theatrical Shubert family.
Biography
Born to a Jewish family, the so ...
. That November, Golden officially signed a 21-month lease with the theater's receiver. At the time, Golden had recently lost the right to operate his eponymous theater on 58th Street.
The Royale hosted Golden's comedy ''When Ladies Meet'' in late 1932, and the Theatre Guild
The Theatre Guild is a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 by Lawrence Langner, Philip Moeller, Helen Westley and Theresa Helburn. Langner's wife, Armina Marshall, then served as a co-director. It evolved out of the work of the W ...
next hosted two productions: ''Both Your Houses
''Both Your Houses'' is a 1933 play written by American playwright Maxwell Anderson. It was produced by the Theatre Guild and staged by Worthington Miner with scenic design by Arthur P. Segal. It opened at the Royale Theatre on March 5, 1933 and r ...
'' (1933)[; ] and ''They Shall Not Die'' (1934). Otherwise, the Royale's productions during this time were largely flops. After the Royale hosted the comedy ''Every Thursday'', Golden renewed his lease in September 1934 and renamed the Royale for himself. The first productions at the renamed theater included ''Small Miracle
''Small Miracle'' is a 1934 play by Norman Krasna, presented on Broadway with Joseph Calleia in the featured role. Directed by George Abbott with a single setting designed by Boris Aronson, the three-act melodrama opened September 26, 1934, at the ...
''[; ; ] and ''Rain from Heaven''. The Irish group Abbey Theatre Players started hosting repertory productions in November 1934, changing the shows every week. This was followed in 1935 by ''The Bishop Misbehaves'' and ''A Touch of Brimstone.'' Afterward, the Golden (Royale) hosted several short-lived productions in 1936, among them ''Three Wise Fools'', ''Ghosts
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
'', and ''Double Dummy''.
The Broadway theater industry declined during the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, and the Majestic, Masque, and Golden (Royale) were auctioned in November 1936 to satisfy a $2 million mortgage against the theaters. A representative of the Shubert family bought the rights to operate the theaters for $700,000, but the Bankers Securities Corporation Bankers Securities Corporation (B.S.C.) was a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based investment company formed in 1927, by Albert M. Greenfield for general investment banking and trading in securities. It eventually became the parent company for virtuall ...
retained a half interest. John Golden, undeterred by the auction proceeding, moved his production to the Masque and renamed that theater after himself. The Shuberts leased the former Royale to CBS Radio
CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...
the following month, and CBS started operating the studio in January 1937 as CBS Radio Theatre No. 1. At the time, CBS had converted several theaters around Times Square into broadcast studios. The studio closed in May 1940 due to a lack of programming, and the theater reverted to the Shuberts. The Magoro Operating Corporation, on behalf of the Shuberts, took over the Royale in October 1940 after CBS's lease ended, and the theater assumed its previous name.
Shubert operation
1940s to 1970s
The Royale Theatre reopened on October 21, 1940, with ''Du Barry Was a Lady
''Du Barry Was a Lady'' is a Broadway musical, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and the book by Herbert Fields and Buddy DeSylva. ''. The Royale subsequently hosted several productions relocated from other theaters,[; ] including ''Flight to the West'' and ''The Corn Is Green
''The Corn Is Green'' is a 1938 semi-autobiographical play by Welsh dramatist and actor Emlyn Williams. The play premiered in London at the Duchess Theatre in September 1938; with Sybil Thorndike as Miss Moffat and Williams himself portraying Mo ...
'' in 1941.[; ] Some of the subsequent productions were hits with several hundred performances, including ''Counsellor-at-Law'' in 1942,[; ] as well as ''Ramshackle Inn'' with ZaSu Pitts
Zasu Pitts (; January 3, 1894 – June 7, 1963) was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas, including Erich von Stroheim's epic 1924 silent film ''Greed'', and comedies, transitioning successfully to mostly comedy films with the ...
;[; ; ] ''School for Brides'' with Roscoe Karns
Roscoe, also spelled Rosco or Roscow, may refer to:
People
* Roscoe (name)
Places United States
* Roscoe, California (disambiguation)
*Roscoe Township (disambiguation)
* Roscoe, Georgia, an unincorporated community
*Roscoe, Illinois, a village
* ...
;[; ; ] and ''Catherine Was Great
''Catherine Was Great'' is a 1944 play written by and starring Mae West. The play was a dramatisation of the life of the Russian monarch Catherine the Great. The play ran for 191 performances and then went on tour. It was produced by theater and f ...
'' with Mae West in 1944. Less successful were the 1945 productions of ''Good Night, Ladies'' and ''Strange Fruit
"Strange Fruit" is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropol (under his pseudonym Lewis Allan) and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in 1937. The song protests the lynching of Black ...
'', which both ran for less than a hundred performances before ending.[; ] In addition, the Shubert brothers bought the Majestic, John Golden (Masque), and Royale theaters from the Bankers Securities Corporation in 1945, giving the family full ownership of these theaters.
The productions in 1946 included ''The Magnificent Yankee'', featuring Louis Calhern
Carl Henry Vogt (February 19, 1895 – May 12, 1956), known professionally as Louis Calhern, was an American stage and screen actor. Well known to film noir fans for his role as the pivotal villain in 1950's ''The Asphalt Jungle'', he was n ...
and Dorothy Gish
Dorothy Elizabeth Gish (March 11, 1898June 4, 1968) was an American actress of the screen and stage, as well as a director and writer. Dorothy and her older sister Lillian Gish were major movie stars of the silent era. Dorothy also had great ...
; ''The Glass Menagerie
''The Glass Menagerie'' is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his Histrionic persona ...
''; ''The Front Page
''The Front Page'' is a Broadway comedy about newspaper reporters on the police beat. Written by former Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, it was first produced in 1928 and has been adapted for the cinema several times.
Plot
The ...
''; and ''Fatal Weakness'', featuring Ina Claire
Ina Claire (born Ina Fagan; October 15, 1893February 21, 1985) was an American stage and film actress.
Early years
Ina Fagan was born October 15, 1893 in Washington, D.C. After the death of her father, Claire began doing imitations of fellow bo ...
. Subsequently, ''The Importance of Being Earnest
''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...
'', ''Love for Love
''Love for Love'' is a Restoration comedy written by British playwright William Congreve. It premiered on 30 April 1695 at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre. Staged by Thomas Betterton's company the original cast included Betterton as Valentine ...
'', and ''Medea
In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...
'' were all produced in 1947.[; ] The comedy ''Light Up the Sky'' ran over 200 performances in 1948, and ''The Madwoman of Chaillot
''The Madwoman of Chaillot'' (french: La Folle de Chaillot) is a play, a poetic satire, by French dramatist Jean Giraudoux, written in 1943 and first performed in 1945, after his death. The play is in two acts. The story concerns an eccentric woma ...
'' played the Royale the next year. The following decade began with productions of '' The Devil's Disciple'' and ''The Lady's Not for Burning
''The Lady's Not for Burning'' is a 1948 play by Christopher Fry.
A romantic comedy in three acts, in verse, it is set in the Middle Ages ("1400, either more or less or exactly"). It reflects the world's "exhaustion and despair" following Worl ...
'' in 1950, as well as a relocated production of ''Darkness at Noon'' in 1951.[; ] Following that was ''Borscht Capades'' and a series of short-lived productions. The Royale then hosted ''New Faces of 1952
''New Faces of 1952'' is a musical revue with songs and comedy skits. It ran on Broadway for nearly a year in 1952 and was then made into a motion picture in 1954. It helped launch the careers of several young performers including Paul Lynde, Alic ...
'', which turned out to be the last popular Broadway revue for several years due to the growing popularity of television.
''The Immoralist
''The Immoralist'' (french: L'Immoraliste) is a novel by André Gide, published in France in 1902.
Plot
''The Immoralist'' is a recollection of events that Michel narrates to his three visiting friends. One of those friends solicits job search ...
'' played at the Royale in 1954,[; ; ] as did ''The Boy Friend'', the latter of which featured Julie Andrews
Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Fi ...
's Broadway debut. The same year saw the shortest production at the Royale on record: a single performance of ''The Starcross Story'', which had premiered just before ''The Immortalist''. In 1955, the Royale featured ''The Matchmaker
''The Matchmaker'' is a 1954 play by Thornton Wilder, a rewritten version of his 1938 play ''The Merchant of Yonkers''.
History
The play has a long and colorful history. John Oxenford's 1835 one-act farce ''A Day Well Spent'' had been extende ...
'',[; ; ] which was adapted from a flop but had 486 performances. Other popular productions during the decade were ''The Tunnel of Love'' in 1957[; ; ] and '' The Entertainer'' in 1958. Following a screening of the film '' Gigi'' in May 1958, the Royale again hosted theatrical productions that November with ''La Plume de Ma Tante
' is a 1955 musical theatre, musical comedy, written, devised, and directed by Robert Dhéry, with music by Gérard Calvi, and English lyrics by Ross Parker (songwriter), Ross Parker. The play consisted of a number of short sketches in English, F ...
'', which ran over 800 performances.
In the early 1960s, the Royale hosted numerous productions including ''Becket
''Becket or The Honour of God'' (french: Becket ou l'honneur de Dieu) is a 1959 play written in French by Jean Anouilh. It is a depiction of the conflict between Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England leading to Becket's assassination in 117 ...
in'' 1960,
''From the Second City'' in 1961,[; ] ''The Night of the Iguana
''The Night of the Iguana'' is a stage play written by American author Tennessee Williams. It is based on his 1948 short story. In 1959, Williams staged it as a one-act play, and over the next two years he developed it into a full-length play, pr ...
'' in 1961,
and ''Lord Pengo'' in 1962. The Royale additionally presented a four-week engagement of the Karmon Israeli Dancers in May 1963. Following were ''The Rehearsal'' in 1963 and ''The Chinese Prime Minister'',[; ] ''The Subject Was Roses
''The Subject Was Roses'' is a Pulitzer Prize-winning 1964 play written by Frank D. Gilroy, who also adapted the work in 1968 for a film with the same title.
Background
The play premiered on Broadway at the Royale Theatre on May 25, 1964, s ...
'', and ''Hughie
''Hughie'' is a short two-character play by Eugene O'Neill set in the lobby of a small hotel on a West Side street in Midtown Manhattan, New York, during the summer of 1928. The play is essentially a long monologue delivered by a small-time hus ...
'' in 1964. For much of the rest of the decade, the Royale was taken up by '' Cactus Flower'', which premiered in 1965 and ran for 1,234 performances.[; ] ''Man in the Glass Booth'', which premiered in 1968, was the Royale's last major production of the 1960s. The Royale hosted '' Child's Play'' in 1970 and ''Moonchildren
''Moonchildren'' (originally titled ''Cancer'') is a play by Brooklyn-based playwright Michael Weller. The play chronicles a year in the life of the "moonchildren" referred to in the title: eight college students living communally together in an ...
'' in 1972. From 1972 to 1980, the Royale hosted the musical '' Grease.''[; ; ] The production became the longest-running show on Broadway, and the set was peeling by the time ''Grease'' stopped playing at the Royale.
1980s and 1990s
In February 1980, '' Whose Life is it Anyway?'' opened at the Royale,[; ] with Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore (December 29, 1936 – January 25, 2017) was an American actress, producer, and social advocate. She is best known for her roles on ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' (1961–1966) and ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977), which ...
playing what had previously been a male starring role. This was followed the same year by ''A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine
''A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine'' is a musical comedy consisting of two essentially independent one-act plays, with a book and lyrics by Dick Vosburgh and music by Frank Lazarus. Additionally, songs by other composers are incorporat ...
'', a double bill with 588 performances. The Royale then hosted ''Duet for One'' with Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft (born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano; September 17, 1931 – June 6, 2005) was an American actress. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, tw ...
and Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow ( , ; born Carl Adolf von Sydow; 10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020) was a Swedish-French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television ...
for a month, followed by ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' (often colloquially known as ''Joseph'') is a sung-through musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the character of Joseph from the Bible's Book of Genesis. Thi ...
'', which also ran for over a year. Besides Broadway productions, the Royale also held college commencements.
In the mid-1980s, the Royale had some brief runs, including '' The Human Comedy'' in 1984 and ''Home Front'' and ''Pack of Lies
''Pack of Lies'' is a 1983 play by English writer Hugh Whitemore, itself adapted from his ''Act of Betrayal'', an episode of the BBC anthology series ''Play of the Month'' transmitted in 1971.
Based on a true story, the plot centres on Bob an ...
'' in 1985.
The Royale next presented the two-act show ''Song and Dance
''Song and Dance'' is a musical comprising two acts, one told entirely in "Song" and one entirely in "Dance", tied together by a unifying love story.
The "Song" act is ''Tell Me on a Sunday'', with lyrics by Don Black and music by Andrew Ll ...
'' in 1985, which ran for 474 performances.[; ] This was followed by a four-performance revival of the play ''Broadway'' in 1987 to celebrate George Abbott
George Francis Abbott (June 25, 1887 – January 31, 1995) was an American theatre producer, director, playwright, screenwriter, film director and producer whose career spanned eight decades.
Early years
Abbott was born in Forestville, New Yo ...
's 100th birthday.[; ] Other flops included '' Roza'' in 1987 and the New York Shakespeare Festival
Shakespeare in the Park (or Free Shakespeare in the Park) is a theatrical program that stages productions of Shakespearean plays at the Delacorte Theater, an open-air theater in New York City's Central Park. The theater and the productions are ...
's off-Broadway production ''Serious Money
''Serious Money'' is a satirical play written by Caryl Churchill first staged in London in 1987. Its subject is the British stock market, specifically the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE). Often considered ...
'' in 1988.[; ] The decade ended with two hits: ''Speed-the-Plow
''Speed-the-Plow'' is a 1988 play by David Mamet that is a satirical dissection of the American movie business. As stated in ''The Producer's Perspective'', "this is a theme Mamet would revisit in his later films ''Wag the Dog'' (1997) and ''St ...
'', which opened in 1988 and played 287 performances, and ''Lend Me a Tenor
''Lend Me a Tenor'' is a comedy by Ken Ludwig. The play was produced on both the West End (1986) and Broadway (1989). It received nine Tony Award nominations and won for Best Actor (Philip Bosco) and Best Director (Jerry Zaks). A Broadway re ...
'', which ran for over a year following its opening in 1989.
During the 1980s, the Shuberts renovated the Royale as part of a restoration program for their Broadway theaters.
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
(LPC) had started considering protecting the Royale as a landmark in 1982, with discussions continuing over the next several years. The LPC designated the Royale's facade and interior as a landmark in December 1987. 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
The New York City Board of Estimate was a governmental body in New York City responsible for numerous areas of municipal policy and decisions, including the city budget, land-use, contracts, franchises, and water rates. Under the amendments effec ...
ratified the designations in March 1988. The Shuberts, the Nederlanders
The Dutch (Dutch language, Dutch: ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Netherlands. They share a common history and culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, ...
, and Jujamcyn
Jujamcyn Theaters LLC , formerly the Jujamcyn Amusement Corporation, is a theatrical producing and theatre-ownership company in New York City. For many years Jujamcyn was owned by James H. Binger, former Chairman of Honeywell, and his wife, Virg ...
collectively sued the LPC in June 1988 to overturn the landmark designations of 22 theaters, including the Royale, on the merit that the designations severely limited the extent to which the theaters could be modified. The lawsuit was escalated to the New York Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...
and the Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
, but these designations were ultimately upheld in 1992.
The first hit at the Royale in the 1990s was the 1992 play ''Conversations with My Father
''Conversations with My Father'' is a play by Herb Gardner. The play, which ran on Broadway in 1992 to 1993, was a finalist for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Overview
The play focuses on Eddie Ross (born Goldberg), who is a Russian immigran ...
'', which ran for over a year. London's Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...
presented ''An Inspector Calls
''An Inspector Calls'' is a play written by English dramatist J. B. Priestley, first performed in the Soviet Union in 1945 and at the New Theatre in London the following year. It is one of Priestley's best-known works for the stage and is con ...
'' in 1994, which ran 454 performances. The National Actors Theatre The National Actors Theatre (NAT) was a theatre company founded in 1991 by Tony Randall, whose dream it was to create such an organization. He was chairman until his death in 2004, when the theatre also subsequently closed down. At first the company ...
was the next occupant of the Royale, presenting a revival of ''Inherit the Wind''. The Royal National Theatre also produced ''Skylight'' at the Royale in 1996, and ''Triumph of Love'' premiered in 1997. The play ''Art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
'' opened in 1998,[; ] running through the following year with 600 performances. The Royale's final production of the 1990s was a revival of ''The Price'' in 1999.
2000s to present
The Royale hosted a revival of the play ''Copenhagen'' in 2000, which ran 326 performances. The theater then staged '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' and John Leguizamo
John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (; ; born July 22, 196013:04) is an American actor, comedian, and film producer. He has appeared in over 100 films, produced over 20 films and documentaries, made over 30 television appearances, and has produced ...
's solo show ''Sexaholix'' in 2001, as well as ''The Elephant Man
Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890), often erroneously called John Merrick, was an English man known for having severe deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "the Elephant Man" and then wen ...
'' and Jackie Mason
Jackie Mason (born Yacov Moshe Maza; yi, יעקב משה מזא; June 9, 1928 – July 24, 2021) was an American stand-up comedian and actor.
His 1986 one-man show ''The World According to Me!'' won a Special Tony Award, an Outer Critics Cir ...
's solo comedy ''Prune Danish'' the next year. As part of a settlement with the United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
in 2003, the Shuberts agreed to improve disabled access at their 16 landmarked Broadway theaters, including the Royale. Also in 2003, the Royale hosted the short-lived revivals ''Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
''Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'' is a 1982 play – one of the ten-play Pittsburgh Cycle by August Wilson, and the only one not set in Pittsburgh – that chronicles the 20th-century African-American experience. The play is set in a recording stu ...
'' and '' "Master Harold"...and the Boys'', as well as the more successful ''Anna in the Tropics
''Anna in the Tropics'' is a play by Nilo Cruz. It won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Plot
The play is set in Ybor City, a section of Tampa and the center of the cigar industry. When Cuban immigrants brought the cigar-making industry to Flori ...
''. The next year, the Royale held the productions ''A Raisin in the Sun
''A Raisin in the Sun'' is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem "Harlem" (also known as "A Dream Deferred") by Langston Hughes. The story tells of a black family's experiences in south Chi ...
'' and '' 'night, Mother''.
In September 2004, the Shubert Organization's board of directors voted to rename the Royale for its longtime president Bernard B. Jacobs, as well as the neighboring Plymouth for then-current president Gerald Schoenfeld
Gerald Schoenfeld (September 22, 1924 – November 25, 2008) was chairman of The Shubert Organization from 1972 to 2008.
Career
After graduating from the University of Illinois, Schoenfeld fought in World War II. On his return, he obtained a law ...
. The two theaters were officially renamed with a marquee replacement ceremony on May 9, 2005. While Jacobs's family was "thrilled", the renaming was controversial among producers and theatrical fans, despite the longstanding tradition of renaming Broadway houses after their producers. The play ''Glengarry Glen Ross
''Glengarry Glen Ross'' is a play by David Mamet that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. The play shows parts of two days in the lives of four desperate Chicago real estate agents who are prepared to engage in any number of unethical, illegal acts ...
'' opened just before the renaming and had 137 performances. This was followed in 2006 by the short-running drama ''Three Days of Rain
''Three Days of Rain'' is a play by Richard Greenberg that was commissioned and produced by South Coast Repertory in 1997. The title comes from a line from W. S. Merwin's poem, "For the Anniversary of My Death" (1967). The play has often been call ...
'' and Martin Short
Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, and writer. He has received various awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. In 2019 Short became an Officer of the Order of Canada.
He ...
's biographical revue ''Fame Becomes Me''; the Jacobs also hosted a memorial for Lloyd Richards
Lloyd George Richards (June 29, 1919 – June 29, 2006) was a Canadian-American theatre director, actor, and dean of the Yale School of Drama from 1979 to 1991, and Yale University professor emeritus.
Biography
Richards was born in Toront ...
the same year. Further productions of the late 2000s included ''Frost/Nixon'' and ''Rock 'n' Roll'' in 2007; ''The Country Girl'' and ''13'' in 2008; and ''God of Carnage
''God of Carnage'' (originally in French ''Le Dieu du carnage'') is a play by Yasmina Reza that was first published in 2008. It is about two sets of parents; the son of one couple has hurt the son of the other couple at a public park. The paren ...
'' in 2009.
The Jacobs hosted ''Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
''Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson'' is a rock musical with music and lyrics written by Michael Friedman and a book written by its director Alex Timbers.
The show is a comedic historical rock musical about the founding of the Democratic Party. It r ...
'' in 2010, as well as ''That Championship Season
''That Championship Season'' is a 1972 play by Jason Miller. It was the recipient of the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1973 Tony Award for Best Play.
Plot synopsis
The setting is 1972 at the Coach's home in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
O ...
'' and ''The Mountaintop
''The Mountaintop'' is a play by American playwright Katori Hall. It is a fictional depiction of Martin Luther King Jr.'s last night on earth set entirely in Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel on the eve of his assassination in 1968.
Historical b ...
'' in 2011. The musical ''Once'' opened at the Jacobs in 2012 and was a hit, running for nearly three years. ''Once'' was followed by the comedy ''It's Only a Play
''It's Only a Play'' is a play by Terrence McNally. The play originally opened off-off-Broadway in 1982. It was revived off-Broadway in 1986, and on Broadway in 2014. The plot concerns a party where a producer, playwright, director, actors and th ...
'' in 2015. The Jacobs hosted two musicals over the following two years: ''The Color Purple
''The Color Purple'' is a 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker which won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction. '' (2015) and ''Bandstand
A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an orname ...
'' (2017). Following were the dramas ''The Iceman Cometh
''The Iceman Cometh'' is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1946, the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 9, 1946, directed by Eddie Dowling, where it ran for 136 perfo ...
'' and '' The Ferryman'' in 2018, as well as ''Betrayal
Betrayal is the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals, between organizations or between individuals and organizations. Ofte ...
'' in 2019. The theater closed on March 12, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. It reopened on November 15, 2021, with previews of ''Company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...
'', which ran until July 2022. Following the closure of ''Company'', the theater hosted ''Almost Famous
''Almost Famous'' is a 2000 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe, and starring Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, and Patrick Fugit. It tells the story of a teenage journalist writing for ''Rolling Stone'' ...
'' starting in November 2022.[
]
Notable productions
Royale Theatre/John Golden Theatre
* 1927: ''Rang Tang
''Rang Tang'' is a musical that premiered July 12, 1927, on Broadway at the Royale Theater and ran for 119 performances, including a 14-week overrun, during which, the production moved September 12, 1927, to the Majestic – finishing October 24 ...
''
* 1927: ''The Mikado
''The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan, operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, whe ...
''
* 1927: ''Iolanthe
''Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri'' () is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1882. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert ...
''
* 1927: ''The Pirates of Penzance
''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 ...
''
* 1928: ''Diamond Lil
Diamond Tooth Lil was an American cultural figure popular in the early 20th century as an icon of wealth and libertine burlesque. Several individuals called themselves "Diamond Lil" or "Diamond Tooth", creating an amalgamated legacy clouded b ...
''
* 1930: '' Second Little Show''
* 1930: ''Lew Leslie's Blackbirds
African-American musical theater includes late 19th and early 20th century musical theater productions by African Americans, African Americans in New York City and Chicago. Actors from troupes such as the Lafayette Players also crossed over i ...
''
* 1931: ''Dracula
''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
''
* 1931: ''Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'', ''Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
'',
''The Merchant of Venice
''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock.
Although classified as ...
''
* 1933: ''Both Your Houses
''Both Your Houses'' is a 1933 play written by American playwright Maxwell Anderson. It was produced by the Theatre Guild and staged by Worthington Miner with scenic design by Arthur P. Segal. It opened at the Royale Theatre on March 5, 1933 and r ...
''
* 1934: ''Small Miracle
''Small Miracle'' is a 1934 play by Norman Krasna, presented on Broadway with Joseph Calleia in the featured role. Directed by George Abbott with a single setting designed by Boris Aronson, the three-act melodrama opened September 26, 1934, at the ...
''
* 1936: ''Mulatto
(, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese is ...
''
* 1936: '' Star Spangled''
* 1936: ''Ghosts
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
''
* 1940: ''Du Barry Was a Lady
''Du Barry Was a Lady'' is a Broadway musical, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and the book by Herbert Fields and Buddy DeSylva. ''
* 1941: ''The Corn Is Green
''The Corn Is Green'' is a 1938 semi-autobiographical play by Welsh dramatist and actor Emlyn Williams. The play premiered in London at the Duchess Theatre in September 1938; with Sybil Thorndike as Miss Moffat and Williams himself portraying Mo ...
''
* 1942: '' The Flowers of Virtue''
* 1943: ''The World's Full of Girls
''The World's Full of Girls'' is a play in three acts by Nunnally Johnson which was adapted from Thomas Bell's 1943 novel ''Till I Come Back to You''. The work premiered on Broadway on December 6, 1943 at the Royale Theatre. The cast included Thom ...
''
* 1944: ''Catherine Was Great
''Catherine Was Great'' is a 1944 play written by and starring Mae West. The play was a dramatisation of the life of the Russian monarch Catherine the Great. The play ran for 191 performances and then went on tour. It was produced by theater and f ...
''
* 1945: ''Strange Fruit
"Strange Fruit" is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropol (under his pseudonym Lewis Allan) and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in 1937. The song protests the lynching of Black ...
''
* 1946: ''The Glass Menagerie
''The Glass Menagerie'' is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his Histrionic persona ...
''
* 1946: ''The Front Page
''The Front Page'' is a Broadway comedy about newspaper reporters on the police beat. Written by former Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, it was first produced in 1928 and has been adapted for the cinema several times.
Plot
The ...
''
* 1947: ''The Importance of Being Earnest
''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...
''
* 1947: ''Love for Love
''Love for Love'' is a Restoration comedy written by British playwright William Congreve. It premiered on 30 April 1695 at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre. Staged by Thomas Betterton's company the original cast included Betterton as Valentine ...
''
* 1947: ''Medea
In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...
''
* 1949: ''The Madwoman of Chaillot
''The Madwoman of Chaillot'' (french: La Folle de Chaillot) is a play, a poetic satire, by French dramatist Jean Giraudoux, written in 1943 and first performed in 1945, after his death. The play is in two acts. The story concerns an eccentric woma ...
''
* 1950: '' The Devil's Disciple''
* 1950: ''Affairs of State
''Affairs of State'' is a 1950 Broadway comedy written and directed by Louis Verneuil. It opened at the Royale Theatre, then moved to the Music Box Theatre and played for a total of 610 performances.
It was the first play Verneuil wrote in Engli ...
''
* 1950: ''The Lady's Not for Burning
''The Lady's Not for Burning'' is a 1948 play by Christopher Fry.
A romantic comedy in three acts, in verse, it is set in the Middle Ages ("1400, either more or less or exactly"). It reflects the world's "exhaustion and despair" following Worl ...
''
* 1952: ''One Bright Day
''One Bright Day'' is the fourth album by Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, released in 1989. It won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album
The Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was ...
''
* 1952: ''New Faces of 1952
''New Faces of 1952'' is a musical revue with songs and comedy skits. It ran on Broadway for nearly a year in 1952 and was then made into a motion picture in 1954. It helped launch the careers of several young performers including Paul Lynde, Alic ...
''
* 1954: ''The Immoralist
''The Immoralist'' (french: L'Immoraliste) is a novel by André Gide, published in France in 1902.
Plot
''The Immoralist'' is a recollection of events that Michel narrates to his three visiting friends. One of those friends solicits job search ...
''
* 1954: ''Sabrina Fair
''Sabrina Fair'' (subtitled "''A Woman of the World''") is a romantic comedy written by Samuel A. Taylor and produced by the Playwrights' Company. It ran on Broadway for a total of 318 performances, opening at the
National Theatre on November 11 ...
''
* 1954: '' The Boy Friend''
* 1955: ''The Matchmaker
''The Matchmaker'' is a 1954 play by Thornton Wilder, a rewritten version of his 1938 play ''The Merchant of Yonkers''.
History
The play has a long and colorful history. John Oxenford's 1835 one-act farce ''A Day Well Spent'' had been extende ...
''
* 1957: '' Miss Isobel''
* 1958: '' The Entertainer''
* 1958: ''La Plume de Ma Tante
' is a 1955 musical theatre, musical comedy, written, devised, and directed by Robert Dhéry, with music by Gérard Calvi, and English lyrics by Ross Parker (songwriter), Ross Parker. The play consisted of a number of short sketches in English, F ...
''
* 1960: ''Becket
''Becket or The Honour of God'' (french: Becket ou l'honneur de Dieu) is a 1959 play written in French by Jean Anouilh. It is a depiction of the conflict between Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England leading to Becket's assassination in 117 ...
''
* 1961: ''The Night of the Iguana
''The Night of the Iguana'' is a stage play written by American author Tennessee Williams. It is based on his 1948 short story. In 1959, Williams staged it as a one-act play, and over the next two years he developed it into a full-length play, pr ...
''
* 1964: ''The Subject Was Roses
''The Subject Was Roses'' is a Pulitzer Prize-winning 1964 play written by Frank D. Gilroy, who also adapted the work in 1968 for a film with the same title.
Background
The play premiered on Broadway at the Royale Theatre on May 25, 1964, s ...
''
* 1964: ''A Severed Head
''A Severed Head'' is a satirical, sometimes farcical 1961 novel by Iris Murdoch. It was Murdoch's fifth published novel.
Primary themes include marriage, adultery, and incest within a group of civilised and educated people. Set in and around ...
''
* 1964: ''Hughie
''Hughie'' is a short two-character play by Eugene O'Neill set in the lobby of a small hotel on a West Side street in Midtown Manhattan, New York, during the summer of 1928. The play is essentially a long monologue delivered by a small-time hus ...
''
* 1965: '' All in Good Time''
* 1965: '' And Things That Go Bump in the Night''
* 1965: ''The Owl and the Pussycat
"The Owl and the Pussy-cat" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published in 1870 in the American magazine '' Our Young Folks: an Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls'' and again the following year in Lear's own book ''Nonsense Songs, S ...
''
* 1965: '' Cactus Flower''
* 1970: '' Child's Play''
* 1971: ''How the Other Half Loves
''How the Other Half Loves'' is a 1969 play in two acts by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn. It is a farce following the consequences of an adulterous affair between a married man and his boss’s wife and their attempts to cover their tracks ...
''
* 1971: ''The Incomparable Max
''The Incomparable Max'' is a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. It is based on the stories "Enoch Soames" and "A.V. Laider" in ''Seven Men'' by Max Beerbohm.
Enoch Soames is a minor poet who makes a pact with the devil to spend a few ho ...
''
* 1972: ''Moonchildren
''Moonchildren'' (originally titled ''Cancer'') is a play by Brooklyn-based playwright Michael Weller. The play chronicles a year in the life of the "moonchildren" referred to in the title: eight college students living communally together in an ...
''
* 1972: ''Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
''Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris'' is a musical revue of the songs of Jacques Brel. Brel's songs were translated into English by Eric Blau and Mort Shuman, who also provided the story. The original 1968 Off-Broadway prod ...
''
* 1972: '' Grease''
* 1980: '' Whose Life is it Anyway?''
* 1980: ''A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine
''A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine'' is a musical comedy consisting of two essentially independent one-act plays, with a book and lyrics by Dick Vosburgh and music by Frank Lazarus. Additionally, songs by other composers are incorporat ...
''
* 1982: ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' (often colloquially known as ''Joseph'') is a sung-through musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the character of Joseph from the Bible's Book of Genesis. Thi ...
''
* 1983: '' You Can't Take It with You''
* 1984: '' The Human Comedy''
* 1985: ''Pack of Lies
''Pack of Lies'' is a 1983 play by English writer Hugh Whitemore, itself adapted from his ''Act of Betrayal'', an episode of the BBC anthology series ''Play of the Month'' transmitted in 1971.
Based on a true story, the plot centres on Bob an ...
''
* 1985: ''Song and Dance
''Song and Dance'' is a musical comprising two acts, one told entirely in "Song" and one entirely in "Dance", tied together by a unifying love story.
The "Song" act is ''Tell Me on a Sunday'', with lyrics by Don Black and music by Andrew Ll ...
''[; ]
* 1987: '' Sweet Sue''
* 1987: ''Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
''
* 1987: '' Roza''
* 1988: ''Serious Money
''Serious Money'' is a satirical play written by Caryl Churchill first staged in London in 1987. Its subject is the British stock market, specifically the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE). Often considered ...
''
* 1988: ''Speed-the-Plow
''Speed-the-Plow'' is a 1988 play by David Mamet that is a satirical dissection of the American movie business. As stated in ''The Producer's Perspective'', "this is a theme Mamet would revisit in his later films ''Wag the Dog'' (1997) and ''St ...
''
* 1989: ''Lend Me a Tenor
''Lend Me a Tenor'' is a comedy by Ken Ludwig. The play was produced on both the West End (1986) and Broadway (1989). It received nine Tony Award nominations and won for Best Actor (Philip Bosco) and Best Director (Jerry Zaks). A Broadway re ...
''
* 1992: ''Conversations with My Father
''Conversations with My Father'' is a play by Herb Gardner. The play, which ran on Broadway in 1992 to 1993, was a finalist for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Overview
The play focuses on Eddie Ross (born Goldberg), who is a Russian immigran ...
''
* 1993: ''The Kentucky Cycle
''The Kentucky Cycle'' is a series of nine one-act plays by Robert Schenkkan that explores American mythology, particularly the mythology of the West, through the intertwined histories of three fictional families struggling over a portion of land ...
''
* 1994: ''An Inspector Calls
''An Inspector Calls'' is a play written by English dramatist J. B. Priestley, first performed in the Soviet Union in 1945 and at the New Theatre in London the following year. It is one of Priestley's best-known works for the stage and is con ...
''
* 1996: '' Inherit the Wind''
* 1996: ''Skylight
A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes.
History
Open ...
''
* 1997: '' Triumph of Love''
* 1998: ''Art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
''
* 1999: '' The Price''
* 2000: ''Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
''
* 2001: '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest''
[
* 2002: '']The Elephant Man
Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890), often erroneously called John Merrick, was an English man known for having severe deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "the Elephant Man" and then wen ...
''
* 2003: ''Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
''Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'' is a 1982 play – one of the ten-play Pittsburgh Cycle by August Wilson, and the only one not set in Pittsburgh – that chronicles the 20th-century African-American experience. The play is set in a recording stu ...
''
* 2003: '' "Master Harold"...and the Boys''
* 2003: ''Anna in the Tropics
''Anna in the Tropics'' is a play by Nilo Cruz. It won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Plot
The play is set in Ybor City, a section of Tampa and the center of the cigar industry. When Cuban immigrants brought the cigar-making industry to Flori ...
''
* 2004: ''A Raisin in the Sun
''A Raisin in the Sun'' is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem "Harlem" (also known as "A Dream Deferred") by Langston Hughes. The story tells of a black family's experiences in south Chi ...
''
* 2004: '' 'night, Mother''
* 2005: ''Glengarry Glen Ross
''Glengarry Glen Ross'' is a play by David Mamet that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. The play shows parts of two days in the lives of four desperate Chicago real estate agents who are prepared to engage in any number of unethical, illegal acts ...
''
[
]
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
* 2006: ''Three Days of Rain
''Three Days of Rain'' is a play by Richard Greenberg that was commissioned and produced by South Coast Repertory in 1997. The title comes from a line from W. S. Merwin's poem, "For the Anniversary of My Death" (1967). The play has often been call ...
''
* 2006: ''Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me''
* 2007: ''Frost/Nixon''
* 2007: ''Rock 'n' Roll''
* 2008: ''The Country Girl''
* 2008: ''13''
* 2009: ''God of Carnage
''God of Carnage'' (originally in French ''Le Dieu du carnage'') is a play by Yasmina Reza that was first published in 2008. It is about two sets of parents; the son of one couple has hurt the son of the other couple at a public park. The paren ...
''
* 2010: ''Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
''Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson'' is a rock musical with music and lyrics written by Michael Friedman and a book written by its director Alex Timbers.
The show is a comedic historical rock musical about the founding of the Democratic Party. It r ...
''
* 2011: ''That Championship Season
''That Championship Season'' is a 1972 play by Jason Miller. It was the recipient of the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1973 Tony Award for Best Play.
Plot synopsis
The setting is 1972 at the Coach's home in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
O ...
''
* 2011: ''The Mountaintop
''The Mountaintop'' is a play by American playwright Katori Hall. It is a fictional depiction of Martin Luther King Jr.'s last night on earth set entirely in Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel on the eve of his assassination in 1968.
Historical b ...
''
* 2012: ''Once''
* 2015: ''It's Only a Play
''It's Only a Play'' is a play by Terrence McNally. The play originally opened off-off-Broadway in 1982. It was revived off-Broadway in 1986, and on Broadway in 2014. The plot concerns a party where a producer, playwright, director, actors and th ...
''
* 2015: ''The Color Purple''
* 2017: ''Bandstand''
* 2018: ''The Iceman Cometh
''The Iceman Cometh'' is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1946, the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 9, 1946, directed by Eddie Dowling, where it ran for 136 perfo ...
''
* 2018: ''The Ferryman''
* 2019: ''Betrayal''
* 2021: ''Company''
* 2022: ''Almost Famous
''Almost Famous'' is a 2000 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe, and starring Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, and Patrick Fugit. It tells the story of a teenage journalist writing for ''Rolling Stone'' ...
''
Box office record
''Once'' achieved the box office record for the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. The production grossed $1,447,598 over nine performances, for the week ending December 30, 2012.
See also
* List of Broadway theatres
There are 41 active Broadway theaters listed by The Broadway League in New York City, as well as eight existing structures that previously hosted Broadway theatre. Beginning with the first large long-term theater in the city, the Park Theatre ...
*
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
1927 establishments in New York City
Broadway theatres
New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan
New York City interior landmarks
Shubert Organization
Theater District, Manhattan
Theatres completed in 1927