The John Golden Theatre, formerly the Theatre Masque and Masque Theater, is a
Broadway theater at 252 West 45th Street (
George Abbott Way) in the
Theater District 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. Opened in 1927, the Golden Theatre was designed by
Herbert J. Krapp
Herbert J. Krapp (1887, New York City, - 1973, Florida) was a theatre architect and designer in the early part of the twentieth century.
Krapp was an apprentice with the Herts & Tallant firm until 1915. Between 1912 and 1916 Krapp began working d ...
in a Spanish style and was built for real-estate developer
Irwin S. 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 so ...
. It has 800 seats across two levels and is operated by
The Shubert Organization. Both the
facade and the auditorium interior are
New York City landmarks.
The facade is designed in a Spanish style with golden brick,
terracotta, and stone. The ground floor, which contains the theater's entrance, is clad in
rusticated blocks of
terracotta above a granite
water table. Above are a set of three double-height arches, as well as two terracotta plaques. The facade is topped by a
loggia. The auditorium contains Spanish-style detailing, a large balcony, and a rib-arched ceiling. Due to the theater's small size, it lacks
box seats. The balcony,
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, and exit arches are ornately decorated, with geometric panels and twisting
colonette A colonnette is a small slender column, usually decorative, which supports a beam or lintel. Colonettes have also been used to refer to a feature of furnishings such as a dressing table and case clock, and even studied by archeologists in Roman ce ...
s.
The Golden,
Majestic, and
Bernard B. Jacobs
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 ...
theaters, along with the
Lincoln Hotel, were all developed by Chanin and designed by Krapp as part of a theater/hotel complex. The Masque opened on February 24, 1927, and was the second of the three theaters to open. The
Shubert family took over the Masque in 1930 but subsequently went into
receivership, and producer
John Golden leased the theater in 1936. Golden renamed the theater after himself in 1937, and the Shuberts regained full control in 1945. The Golden has mostly remained in legitimate use since then, except from 1946 to 1948, when it was used as a cinema. Over the years, the Golden has largely been used for productions with small casts, as well as
revues.
Site
The John Golden Theatre is on 252 West 45th Street, on the south sidewalk between
Eighth Avenue and
Seventh Avenue, near
Times Square in the
Theater District 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.
The 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 with the
Row NYC Hotel to the west. It adjoins six other theaters: the
Bernard B. Jacobs
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 ...
,
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 to the east; the
Broadhurst and
Shubert to the southeast; and the
Majestic to the south. Other nearby structures include the
Music Box Theatre and
Imperial Theatre 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 to the east; and
Sardi's restaurant, the
Hayes Theater, and the
St. James Theatre
The St. James Theatre, originally Erlanger's Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 246 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, it was designed by Warren and Wetmore in a neo-Georgian style a ...
one block south.
The Golden 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, and foot traffic on the street increases box-office totals for the theaters there.
The Majestic, Masque (Golden), and Royale (Bernard B. 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 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 John Golden Theatre, originally the Theatre Masque, was designed by
Herbert J. Krapp
Herbert J. Krapp (1887, New York City, - 1973, Florida) was a theatre architect and designer in the early part of the twentieth century.
Krapp was an apprentice with the Herts & Tallant firm until 1915. Between 1912 and 1916 Krapp began working d ...
in the Spanish style and was constructed from 1926 to 1927 for the Chanin brothers.
The theater is named after producer
John Golden (1874–1955). It was part of an entertainment complex along with the Lincoln Hotel and the Majestic and Royale theaters, which were also designed by Krapp in a Spanish style.
The Masque was designed to be the smallest theater in that complex, with about 800 seats.
The Chanin Realty and Construction Company constructed all four structures.
The Golden is operated by
the Shubert Organization.
Facade
The facade is symmetrically arranged. The ground floor is clad in
rusticated blocks of
terracotta above a granite
water table. At ground level, the auditorium entrance includes four pairs of glass and aluminum doors. There is a modern bronze-framed sign board to the left, or east, of the doors. In addition, there are two display boxes on either side of the doors, with
volutes on one of the boxes and stylized lions on the other box on either side. A plaque memorializing the theater's namesake is placed beside the doors. The entrance is topped by a
marquee. 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 ...
and a
band course run above the ground floor.
The stage door is to the right, or east, of the main facade and is shared with the Majestic and Bernard B. Jacobs theaters.
The upper stories contain gold-colored,
bonded Roman brick.
The brick facade was designed to relate to the adjacent theaters and hotel.
The center of the facade has a set of three arches spanning the second and third stories.
The arches have molded
Della Robbia foliate decoration, placed on terracotta
piers that contain
Corinthian-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 ...
. On the second story, there are metal-framed
casement window
A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a cas ...
s with multiple panes, above which is a horizontal rope molding. The arches do not have windows on the third story.
A similar, wider arcade exists on the neighboring Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre.
A sign with the theater's name is placed in front of the center arch. Toward the top of the facade, there are terracotta medallions depicting fictional beasts and foliate decorations. The
parapet of the facade contains a terracotta
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 ...
. Above the center portion of the facade is a
loggia, which in turn is placed on a balustrade and console
brackets. The loggia has six single columns with decorative capitals, which support a cornice with
modillion
A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a cornice which it helps to support. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally translated as small teeth). All ...
s, as well as a Spanish-tile
hip roof.
The Golden's loggia complements a similar one on the stage-house wing of the Bernard B. Jacobs.
Auditorium
The original color scheme was red and blue, accented with gray,
while the seat coverings were colored burnt orange.
The interior is laid out in a similar Spanish style to the exterior.
The layout was part of an effort by
Irwin Chanin, one of the developers, to "democratize" the seating arrangement of the theater. The Golden 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.
Following a 2013 renovation, the theater has had an orange/red and blue/green color scheme, resembling the original.
The auditorium has an orchestra level, one balcony, and a
stage 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.
According to the Shubert Organization, the auditorium has 802 seats;
meanwhile,
Playbill
''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's pr ...
cites 787 seats
and
The Broadway League cites 805 seats.
The physical seats are divided into 465 seats in the orchestra, 110 at the front of the balcony, and 227 at the rear of the balcony.
The Golden does not have
boxes
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 ...
.
There are restrooms and drinking fountains below the orchestra.
An article from 1927 noted that the theater had 800 seats, which were slightly wider than seats in typical Broadway theaters of the time.
Seating areas
The rear of the orchestra contains doors from the ticket lobby, which leads to a promenade behind a modern wall. There are decorative
exit signs above the doorways, which are at the center of the rear wall.
The orchestra floor is
raked, and the eastern wall is curved inward due to the presence of the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre next door.
The orchestra and its promenade contain walls with 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.
Lighting
sconces are mounted onto the wall.
Two staircases lead between the orchestra and the balcony.
The orchestra level is wheelchair-accessible, but there are no elevators to the balcony.
On either side of the front section of the orchestra, there are pointed arches with two pairs of doors. The doors are flanked by twisting columns and contain decorative exit-sign frames above them. There are also shields on the walls, high above the arches.
The doorways originally had red velour curtains, which were restored during a 2013 renovation.
The balcony level is divided into front and rear sections by an aisle halfway across its depth, where ornate metal railings surround the staircases.
The front section curves forward toward the walls and contains decorative metal balustrades.
As at the orchestra level, the walls contain lighting sconces.
The walls consist of paneled stucco blocks with low relief Moorish designs. There are arched doorways with exit doors at the front of the balcony. Above the wall is a geometric
frieze, 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 ...
. Geometric-patterned panels are placed along the front and underside of the balcony. Lights have been installed in front of the balcony.
Other design features
Next to the arched exits at orchestra level is an elliptical proscenium arch.
The archway is flanked by a pair of twisted columns, above which are
colonette A colonnette is a small slender column, usually decorative, which supports a beam or lintel. Colonettes have also been used to refer to a feature of furnishings such as a dressing table and case clock, and even studied by archeologists in Roman ce ...
s that rise to the
imposts of the arch. There is a band with geometric patterns along the arch itself.
The
coved ceiling is composed of arched ribs, which separate the auditorium into sections. The arches are supported on
corbels on each wall, with twisting colonettes beside each corbel, while the ribs themselves have low-relief
cameos, shields, and geometric patterns. A frieze with geometric patterns runs just below the ceiling. At the rear of the auditorium, the ceiling has a flat surface with a technical booth surrounded by grilles.
The depth of the auditorium to the proscenium is , while the depth to the front of the stage is .
History
Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and
the Great Depression. During the 1900s and 1910s, many theaters in Midtown Manhattan were developed by the
Shubert brothers, one of the major theatrical syndicates of the time. The 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 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 Theatre Masque opened on February 24, 1927, with the play ''Puppets of Passion.''
The Masque was the second of the three new Chanin theaters to open.
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.
The Chanin brothers were especially optimistic about the Masque, which was the closest of their theaters to the new
Eighth Avenue subway line.
Brooks Atkinson of ''
The New York Times'' said the "Theatre Masque is pleasing and comfortable",
while
Burns Mantle of 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 ...
'' said that he "liked particularly the curtain and the carpet".
However, both men disliked ''Puppets of Passion'',
which
flopped after twelve performances.
[; ; ]
The Masque mostly hosted flops in its first two years.
[; ] ''Puppets of Passion'' was followed by ''The Comic'', which lasted just 15 performances,
[; ] then by a revival of the
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 ...
operetta
''Patience'', which ran a similarly short 16 performances.
In August 1927, Robert Milton leased the Masque for several years.
The rest of 1927 was taken up by three short-running productions: ''Revelry'', ''The King Can Do No Wrong'', and ''Venus''.
The Masque fared not much better in 1928, when it hosted eight productions.
[; ] ''Relations'', a comedy by
Edward Clark,
[; ] was the only production in 1928 to run more than 100 performances, though ''Scarlet Fox'' and ''Young Love'' both came close.
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 to the Chanins,
[ who bought several adjacent lots and developed the Century apartment building there.] The Masque's first major hit was ''Rope's End'' in 1929,[; ; ] subsequently adapted into the A. S. Hitchcock
Albert Spear Hitchcock (September 4, 1865 – December 16, 1935) was an American botanist and agrostologist.
Hitchcock graduated from the Iowa Agricultural College with bachelor's degree in 1884 and M.S. in 1886. From 1892 to 1901 he was a prof ...
film ''Rope''.[; ] John Drinkwater's ''Bird in Hand'' premiered at the Masque that December, and it relocated within a month, eventually playing 500 performances.
1930s and early 1940s
The Shuberts obtained the exclusive rights to operate the Masque in 1930, though the productions of that decade largely flopped. The first production of that year was a transfer of Martin Flavin's hit ''Broken Dishes'', which had transferred from the Ritz Theatre.[; ]
Also in 1930, the Masque presented Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett's play ''Up Pops the Devil'',[; ; ] with 146 performances.[; ] It was succeeded the next year by the DuBose Heyward drama ''Brass Ankle''; a short run of '' The Venetian''; and Norman Krasna's comedy ''Louder, Please
''Louder, Please'' is a play by Norman Krasna, the first of Krasna's plays to be produced on Broadway. It was heavily influenced by ''The Front Page'' and also ''Five Star Final''. He wrote it while working as a press agent at Warner Bros. and man ...
''.[; ; ] The original romance ''Goodbye Again'', with Osgood Perkins, opened in 1932 and ran for 212 performances.[; ] ''Tobacco Road'', another eventual hit, premiered at the Masque in 1933 and relocated the next month. The Masque's other successes of the mid-1930s included ''Post Road'' in 1934, ''Laburnum Grove'' in 1935, and ''Russet Mantle'' in 1936, all of which had over 100 performances.
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 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 retained a half interest. ''The Holmeses of Baker Street'', which opened in December 1936, was the last show to be produced at the Masque before the theater changed names.[; ] At the end of the month, producer John Golden leased the Masque, with plans to renovate the theater and rename it after himself. The name "John Golden Theatre" had previously been applied to the neighboring Royale in 1934, but Golden had lost the right to operate the Royale in the 1936 auction. The Theatre Masque became the John Golden Theatre on January 26, 1937, and the flop ''And Now Goodbye'' became the first production in the newly renamed theater the next week.
The Golden continued to host flops after its renaming.[; ] One especially short run was ''Curtain Call'' in 1937, which had four performances before closing. The Golden's next hit was Paul Vincent Carroll
Paul Vincent Carroll (10 July 1900 – 20 October 1968) was an Irish dramatist and writer of movie scenarios and television scripts.
Carroll was born in Blackrock, County Louth, Ireland and trained as a teacher at St Patrick's College, Dublin ...
's '' Shadow and Substance'',[; ; ] which opened in 1938 and ran for 206 performances.[; ] Another play by Carroll, ''The White Steed
''The White Steed'' is a play in three acts written in 1939 by Paul Vincent Carroll. It won the 1939 New York Drama Critics' Circle award for Best Foreign Play.
Setting
The setting of the play is the present-day village of Lorcan, County Louth, Ir ...
'', was moderately successful after relocating to the Golden in 1939. A major hit opened in 1941 with the premiere of ''Angel Street'',[; ; ] which ran nearly 1,300 performances over the next three years.[; ] ''Angel Street'' became the Golden's longest-running production, despite initial expectations of failure: only three days' worth of playbills were ordered for the initial run.[; ] It was followed in 1944 by Rose Franken's comedy ''Soldier's Wife'',[; ; ] which had a successful run of 255 performances.
Later Shubert operation
Mid-1940s to 1960s
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. During the mid-1940s, the Golden presented numerous mediocre plays,[; ] including ''The Rich Full Life'' and ''Dunnigan's Daughter'' in 1945, as well as ''January Thaw'' and ''I Like It Here'' in 1946. In July 1946, the Golden was leased for five years to the Super Cinema Corporation. The lessee planned to show Italian films there, but the Golden instead showed the British film ''Henry V'' for nearly a year. The theater was used as a cinema until February 1948, when Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor and entertainer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", "Louise", " Mimi", and "Thank Hea ...
opened a solo show there.[; ] The Golden then hosted several short-run shows with live performers.[; ] The cinema's lease did not expire until 1950. That year, the Golden hosted a moderate hit, ''The Velvet Glove'' with Grace George and Walter Hampden,[; ] as well as the flop '' Let's Make an Opera'', which had five performances. Other works during the early 1950s included '' The Green Bay Tree''; ''To Dorothy, A Son''; and '' The Fourposter''.
Victor Borge's one-man show ''Comedy in Music
''Comedy in Music'' is an original Broadway comedy by Victor Borge, with no additional cast involved, performed as a one-man show.
Production
''Comedy in Music'' opened at the John Golden Theatre in New York City on October 2, 1953. It became the ...
'', which opened in 1953 and ran 849 performances during the next three years.[; ; ] By sharp contrast, even though Bert Lahr and E. G. Marshall were acclaimed for their performances in the 1956 play '' Waiting for Godot'', it had only 59 performances. The same year, Menasha Skulnik starred in ''Uncle Willie'' during its 141-performance run.[; ] '' Look Back in Anger'' was also a minor hit when it was staged at the Golden for six months in 1958. Starting in the late 1950s, the Golden hosted numerous revues with two performers. First among them was '' A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green'', featuring the duo of Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who premiered in 1958[; ; ] and returned in 1959. Also presented in 1959 were '' The Billy Barnes Revue'', as well as ''At the Drop of a Hat
''At the Drop of a Hat'' is a musical revue by Flanders and Swann, described by them as "an after-dinner farrago". In the show, they both sang on a nearly bare stage, accompanied by Swann on the piano. The songs were linked by contemporary socia ...
'' with Michael Flanders and Donald Swann. ''An Evening With Mike Nichols and Elaine May
Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American comedian, filmmaker, playwright, and actress. She has received numerous awards including an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and a Tony. She made her initial impact in the 1950s with her ...
'' premiered in 1960 and ran for 306 performances,[; ] followed the next year by ''An Evening with Yves Montand''.
The Golden hosted a transfer of '' Sunday in New York'' with Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...
in 1962. '' Beyond the Fringe'' premiered later that year, ultimately running over 600 performances. Victor Borge again played the Golden in 1964 with 192 performances of his solo ''Comedy in Music, Opus 2''. This was followed in 1966 by the South African revue '' Wait a Minim!'', which ran more than twice as long, with 457 performances. For the most part, the Golden's other productions during the 1960s were short-lived. Seven productions followed ''Wait a Minim!'' in the late 1960s,[; ] including ''After the Rain''[; ] and ''Brief Lives'' in 1967.
1970s and 1980s
The first success in the 1970s was '' Bob and Ray—The Two and Only'',[; ; ] a comedy that starred Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding
Raymond Walter Goulding (March 20, 1922 – March 24, 1990) was an American comedian, who, together with Bob Elliott formed the comedy duo of Bob and Ray.
He was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, the fourth of five children of Thomas Goulding, a ...
for 158 performances. The following year, the off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
hit '' You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown'' ran at the Golden, though its 32-performance Broadway run was far shorter than its off-Broadway run. In 1972, The Public Theater presented David Rabe's '' Sticks and Bones'',[; ] starring Elizabeth Wilson and Tom Aldredge for 245 performances. Sammy Cahn featured in the revue ''Words and Music'' in 1974, while Shirley Knight appeared the next year in '' Kennedy's Children''.[; ] Two major productions opened in 1977: ''Dirty Linen & New-Found-Land'', a pair of plays by Tom Stoppard,[; ] and '' The Gin Game'', a Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
-winning tragicomedy by Donald L. Coburn
Donald L. Coburn (born August 4, 1938) is an American dramatist. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1978 for his play ''The Gin Game''."D ...
with 517 performances.[; ; ] By contrast, '' Murder at the Howard Johnson's'' was a notable failure with only four performances in 1979.
In 1980, the Golden hosted a short revival of ''Watch on the Rhine'', followed by the premiere of the double bill ''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 ...
''. ''Hollywood/Ukraine'' relocated in June 1980 and the Golden underwent a renovation. The theater reopened that October with '' Tintypes'', a revue that transferred from off-Broadway.[; ] The following year, the Golden hosted another off-Broadway transfer, the Pulitzer-winning '' Crimes of the Heart'', which ran for 535 performances. Two other Pulitzer-winning productions were then staged at the Golden: ''night, Mother
''night, Mother'' is a play by American playwright Marsha Norman. The play won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play.
The play is about a daughter, Jessie, and her mother, Thelma. It begins with J ...
'' in 1983[; ; ] and ''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 ...
''. This set a record for the number of Pulitzer-winning productions on Broadway, with four such productions in seven years. A revival of Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard, Hon. , (born 11 June 1932), is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director widely regarded as South Africa's greatest playwright. He is best known for his political and penetrating plays opposing the system of apart ...
's '' Blood Knot'' opened at the Golden in 1985, which was followed in 1987 by '' Stepping Out'' and ''All My Sons
''All My Sons'' is a three-act play written in 1946 by Arthur Miller. It opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1949, and ran for 328 performances. It was directed by Elia Kazan (t ...
''. The New York International Festival of the Arts premiered ''Juno and the Paycock
''Juno and the Paycock'' is a play by Seán O'Casey. Highly regarded and often performed in Ireland, it was first staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924. It is set in the working-class tenements of Dublin in the early 1920s, during the Ir ...
'' on Broadway in 1988, and '' Eastern Standard'' premiered the next year, featuring Richard Greenberg in his Broadway debut. During the 1980s, the Shuberts renovated the Golden as part of a restoration program for their Broadway theaters.
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) had started considering protecting the John Golden Theatre as an official city landmark in 1982, with discussions continuing over the next several years. The LPC designated both the facade and the interior as landmarks on November 17, 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 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 collectively sued the LPC in June 1988 to overturn the landmark designations of 22 theaters, including the Golden, 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, but these designations were ultimately upheld in 1992.
1990s to present
In 1990, Michael Feinstein performed at the Golden with his show ''Concert: Piano and Voice''. This was followed by '' Falsettos'' (1992), which had 487 performances,[; ] and by the drama ''Mixed Emotions'' (1993) with Katherine Helmond, which had 55 performances. The comedian 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 ...
subsequently starred at the Golden in ''Politically Incorrect'', which opened in 1994 and ran for over 340 performances.
It was followed the next year by '' Master Class'',[; ] which ran for about 600 performances through 1997.
Also successful was a limited engagement of '' The Chairs'' in 1998,[ ] as well as a transfer of the off-Broadway production '' Side Man'' later that year,[; ] which then ran until 1999. Mason returned at the end of 1999 for ''Much Ado About Everything''.
The first hit of the 2000s was ''Stones in His Pockets
''Stones in His Pockets'' is a two-hander written in 1996 by Marie Jones for the DubbleJoint Theatre Company in Dublin, Ireland.
The play is a tragicomedy about a small rural town in Ireland where many of the townspeople are extras in a Hollywo ...
'' in 2001, which ran for 198 performances. This was followed by '' The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?'' in 2002,
as well as '' Vincent in Brixton'' in 2003. As part of a settlement with the United States Department of Justice in 2003, the Shuberts agreed to improve disabled access at their 16 landmarked Broadway theaters, including the Golden. The musical ''Avenue Q
''Avenue Q'' is a musical comedy featuring puppets and human actors with music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and book by Jeff Whitty. It won Best Musical, Book, and Score at the 2004 Tony Awards. The show's format is a parody of PBS' ...
'', transferred from off-Broadway, opened at the Golden on July 31, 2003, and became a major hit, recovering its production cost within a year. By the time ''Avenue Q'' transferred back off-Broadway in 2009, it had become the Golden's longest-running production with over 2,500 performances. Subsequently, the Golden hosted ''Oleanna'' in late 2009; ''Red'' and ''Driving Miss Daisy'' in 2010; '' The Normal Heart'' and ''Seminar'' in 2011; and ''Anarchist'' in 2012. The Shuberts hired Francesca Russo to renovate the John Golden Theatre in 2013. Russo's company removed many later modifications, and they also restored the original appearance using historical pictures, as well as details inspired by structures such as the Taj Mahal.
The John Golden Theatre continued to host small productions in the mid-2010s. These included '' Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike'' and ''A Time to Kill'' in 2013; ''Mothers and Sons'' and ''A Delicate Balance'' in 2014, ''Skylight'' and a revival of ''The Gin Game'' in 2015; and ''Eclipsed'' and ''The Encounter'' in 2016. Subsequently, the Golden hosted '' A Doll's House, Part 2'' in 2017; ''Three Tall Women
''Three Tall Women'' is a two-act play by Edward Albee, written in 1990, which won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Albee's third Pulitzer.
Characters
* A: A is a 92-year-old woman. She is thin, autocratic, proud, and wealthy, with "encroachi ...
'' and '' The Waverly Gallery'' in 2018; and '' Hillary and Clinton'' and '' Slave Play'' in 2019. The theater closed on March 12, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The production '' Hangmen'', which was supposed to open in mid-2020, did not officially open at that time due to the pandemic. The Golden Theatre reopened October 13, 2021, with performances of ''Thoughts of a Colored Man ''Thoughts of a Colored Man'' is a play written by Keenan Scott II that opened on Broadway on October 13, 2021. It is Scott's Broadway debut, and the play is the first Broadway show that was written and directed by Black men (Steve Broadnax III) ...
'', which closed at the end of the year. This allowed ''Hangmen'' to be booked for a limited run from April to June 2022,[ followed by '' Topdog/Underdog'' for a limited run from October 2022 to January 2023.][ The play '']Prima Facie
''Prima facie'' (; ) is a Latin expression meaning ''at first sight'' or ''based on first impression''. The literal translation would be 'at first face' or 'at first appearance', from the feminine forms of ''primus'' ('first') and ''facies'' (' ...
'' is then scheduled to open at the theater in April 2023.
Notable productions
* 1927: '' Patience''
* 1929: '' Rope's End''
* 1931: '' The Venetian''
* 1931: ''Louder, Please
''Louder, Please'' is a play by Norman Krasna, the first of Krasna's plays to be produced on Broadway. It was heavily influenced by ''The Front Page'' and also ''Five Star Final''. He wrote it while working as a press agent at Warner Bros. and man ...
''
* 1933: ''Tobacco Road
Tobacco Road may refer to:
Prose
* ''Tobacco Road'' (novel) (1932), by Erskine Caldwell
** ''Tobacco Road'' (play) (1933), by Jack Kirkland
** ''Tobacco Road'' (film) (1941), directed by John Ford
Music
* "Tobacco Road" (song) (1960s), by John D. ...
''
* 1935: '' Eden End''
* 1938: '' Shadow and Substance''
* 1938: '' Lightnin''
* 1939: ''The White Steed
''The White Steed'' is a play in three acts written in 1939 by Paul Vincent Carroll. It won the 1939 New York Drama Critics' Circle award for Best Foreign Play.
Setting
The setting of the play is the present-day village of Lorcan, County Louth, Ir ...
''
* 1941: '' Angel Street''
* 1948: ''Maurice Chevalier in an evening of Songs and Impressions Maurice may refer to:
People
* Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr
* Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor
* Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and ...
''
* 1949: '' Goodbye, My Fancy''
* 1950: '' Let's Make an Opera''
* 1951: '' The Green Bay Tree''
* 1951: '' To Dorothy, A Son''
* 1952: '' The Fourposter''
* 1953: ''Comedy in Music
''Comedy in Music'' is an original Broadway comedy by Victor Borge, with no additional cast involved, performed as a one-man show.
Production
''Comedy in Music'' opened at the John Golden Theatre in New York City on October 2, 1953. It became the ...
''
* 1956: '' Someone Waiting''
* 1956: '' Waiting for Godot''
* 1957: '' The Potting Shed''
* 1958: '' Look Back in Anger''
* 1958: '' Epitaph for George Dillon''
* 1958: '' A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green''
* 1959: '' Requiem for a Nun''
* 1959: '' The Billy Barnes Revue''
* 1959: ''At the Drop of a Hat
''At the Drop of a Hat'' is a musical revue by Flanders and Swann, described by them as "an after-dinner farrago". In the show, they both sang on a nearly bare stage, accompanied by Swann on the piano. The songs were linked by contemporary socia ...
''
* 1960: ''An Evening With Mike Nichols and Elaine May
Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American comedian, filmmaker, playwright, and actress. She has received numerous awards including an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and a Tony. She made her initial impact in the 1950s with her ...
''
* 1961: ''An Evening with Yves Montand''
* 1962: '' Sunday in New York''
* 1962: '' Beyond the Fringe''
* 1966: '' Wait a Minim!''
* 1967: ''After the Rain After the Rain may refer to:
Film and television
* ''After the Rain'' (film), a 1999 film by Takashi Koizumi
* ''After the Rain'' (TV series), a 2000 Iranian series
* ''After the Rain'' (TV special), a 2009 Christmas special by Regine Velasquez
* A ...
''
* 1967: '' Brief Lives''
* 1968: ''Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights
''Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights'' is an American play about a young Jewish man who insists on becoming a slave to an African-American law student as a personal penance for the years of wrongs whites have done to blacks.
The 1968 Broadway pr ...
''
* 1968: ''''
* 1970: '' Bob and Ray—The Two and Only''
* 1971: '' You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown''
* 1972: '' Sticks and Bones''
* 1975: ''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 ...
'' and Duet
* 1975: ''P. S. Your Cat Is Dead!
''P.S. Your Cat Is Dead'' is a novel by James Kirkwood Jr., originally published in 1972, adapted from his play. The book and play later were adapted to film in 2002.
Synopsis
Abandoned by his girlfriend on New Year's Eve, and still unaware th ...
''
* 1975: '' Kennedy's Children''
* 1976: '' Going Up''
* 1977: '' Dirty Linen & New-Found-Land''
* 1977: '' The Gin Game''
* 1979: '' Murder at the Howard Johnson's''
* 1980: '' Watch on the Rhine''
* 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 ...
''
* 1980: '' Tintypes''
* 1981: '' Crimes of the Heart''
* 1983: ''night, Mother
''night, Mother'' is a play by American playwright Marsha Norman. The play won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play.
The play is about a daughter, Jessie, and her mother, Thelma. It begins with J ...
''
* 1984: ''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 ...
''
* 1985: '' Blood Knot''
[; ]
* 1987: '' Stepping Out''
* 1987: ''All My Sons
''All My Sons'' is a three-act play written in 1946 by Arthur Miller. It opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1949, and ran for 328 performances. It was directed by Elia Kazan (t ...
''
* 1988: ''Juno and the Paycock
''Juno and the Paycock'' is a play by Seán O'Casey. Highly regarded and often performed in Ireland, it was first staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924. It is set in the working-class tenements of Dublin in the early 1920s, during the Ir ...
''
* 1989: '' Eastern Standard''
* 1992: '' Falsettos''
* 1995: '' Master Class''
* 1998: '' The Chairs''
* 1998: '' Side Man''
* 2001: ''Stones in His Pockets
''Stones in His Pockets'' is a two-hander written in 1996 by Marie Jones for the DubbleJoint Theatre Company in Dublin, Ireland.
The play is a tragicomedy about a small rural town in Ireland where many of the townspeople are extras in a Hollywo ...
''
* 2002: '' The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?''
* 2003: '' Vincent in Brixton''
* 2003: ''Avenue Q
''Avenue Q'' is a musical comedy featuring puppets and human actors with music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and book by Jeff Whitty. It won Best Musical, Book, and Score at the 2004 Tony Awards. The show's format is a parody of PBS' ...
''
* 2009: '' Oleanna''
* 2010: '' Red''
* 2010: '' Driving Miss Daisy''
* 2011: '' The Normal Heart''
* 2011: '' Seminar''
* 2013: '' Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike''
* 2013: '' A Time to Kill''
* 2014: '' Mothers and Sons''
* 2014: '' A Delicate Balance''
* 2015: ''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 ...
''
* 2015: '' The Gin Game''
* 2016: '' Eclipsed''
* 2017: '' A Doll's House, Part 2''
* 2018: ''Three Tall Women
''Three Tall Women'' is a two-act play by Edward Albee, written in 1990, which won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Albee's third Pulitzer.
Characters
* A: A is a 92-year-old woman. She is thin, autocratic, proud, and wealthy, with "encroachi ...
''
* 2018: '' The Waverly Gallery''
* 2019: '' Hillary and Clinton''
* 2019: '' Slave Play''
* 2021: ''Thoughts of a Colored Man ''Thoughts of a Colored Man'' is a play written by Keenan Scott II that opened on Broadway on October 13, 2021. It is Scott's Broadway debut, and the play is the first Broadway show that was written and directed by Black men (Steve Broadnax III) ...
''
* 2022: '' Hangmen''
* 2022: '' Topdog/Underdog''
* 2023: ''Prima Facie
''Prima facie'' (; ) is a Latin expression meaning ''at first sight'' or ''based on first impression''. The literal translation would be 'at first face' or 'at first appearance', from the feminine forms of ''primus'' ('first') and ''facies'' (' ...
''
See also
* List of Broadway theatres
* List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golden, John, Theatre
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