The Nederlander Theatre (formerly the National Theatre, the Billy Rose Theatre, and the Trafalgar Theatre) is a
Broadway theater at 208 West 41st Street 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 1921, it was designed by William Neil Smith for theatrical operator Walter C. Jordan. It has around 1,235 seats across two levels and is operated by the
Nederlander Organization
The Nederlander Organization, founded in 1912 by David T. Nederlander in Detroit, and currently based in New York City, is one of the largest operators of live theaters and music venues in the United States. Its first acquisition was a lease on ...
. Since 1980, it has been named for American theater impresario David Tobias Nederlander, father of theatrical producer
James M. Nederlander. It is the southernmost Broadway theater in the Theater District.
The facade is relatively plain and is made of brick, with a
fire escape at the center of the second and third floors. The auditorium was originally designed in the early Renaissance style, which has since been modified several times. Unlike other theaters operated by the
Shubert family, the interior contained little plaster decoration. The venue has hosted a variety of shows, including the plays ''
Cyrano de Bergerac'', ''
Inherit the Wind'', and ''
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?''; live performances, including those by
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of th ...
; and the musical ''
Rent'', which is the theater's longest-running production .
The modern-day Nederlander Theatre was developed as a carpenter's shop in 1920 before being converted into the National Theatre the following year. When the National opened on September 1, 1921, the Shubert family managed bookings on Jordan's behalf. The Shubert brothers bought the National in 1927 and operated it for three decades. In 1956, as part of a settlement in an antitrust lawsuit, the Shuberts sold the venue to Harry Fromkes, who died shortly thereafter. The National was acquired in 1958 by theatrical producer
Billy Rose
Billy Rose (born William Samuel Rosenberg; September 6, 1899 – February 10, 1966) was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainment, with sh ...
, who renovated the venue and renamed it after himself the next year. The Nederlander Organization and the Cooney-Marsh Organization acquired the theater in 1978, first renaming it the Trafalgar Theatre; the theater assumed its current name in 1980. Because there were few other Broadway theaters nearby, the Nederlander housed few productions in the late 20th century, becoming popular only after ''Rent'' opened.
Site
The Nederlander Theatre is on 208 West
41st Street, between
Seventh Avenue and
Eighth Avenue near the southern end of
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 41st Street and a depth of .
The Nederlander Theatre abuts a hotel and a parking garage, both of which have existed since before the theater was completed in 1921.
The city block is shared with
the New York Times Building to the west. Additionally, the building is near the
Candler Building,
Madame Tussauds New York,
Empire Theatre, and
Eleven Times Square to the northwest; the
New Amsterdam Theatre and
5 Times Square
5 Times Square is a 38-story office skyscraper at the southern end of Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Located on the western sidewalk of Seventh Avenue between 41st and 42nd Street, the building measures ...
to the north; and the
Times Square Tower
Times Square Tower, also known as 7 Times Square, is a 48-story office skyscraper at the southern end of Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Located on the city block bounded by Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway, ...
to the northeast.
The Nederlander is the southernmost
Broadway theater in the Theater District.
When the theater was built, the
Metropolitan Opera House and seven other theaters were to the south and east, although all of them were closed and demolished by the late 20th century.
The lack of other Broadway theaters nearby, and its location at the extreme south end of the Theater District, contributed to its relative unpopularity in the late 20th century.
This sharply contrasted with venues on 42nd Street, a major crosstown artery, and venues on
44th and
45th Streets, which benefited from tourist traffic around
Shubert Alley.
Design
The theater was designed by William Neil Smith for Walter C. Jordan.
[; ] The theater contains a floor area of , as well as of unused
air rights.
Facade
The brick facade is relatively plain, blending in with other buildings on 41st Street.
At ground level are entrances to the theater.
There is an iron fire escape on the second and third floors of the facade.
There are doors and windows on both levels that lead to the fire escape, and a metal canopy covers the fire escape. Above ground level, there are three arches on the facade: one to the left of the fire escape and two to the right. These archways originally contained windows at the second and third floors and are topped by
keystones. A
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 ...
with
modillions runs above the top of the facade.
Unlike other Broadway theaters, the Nederlander does not have a dedicated
stage door, so all performers use the main entrance.
When the theater was renamed the Billy Rose Theatre in 1959, the facade was repainted white, leading ''
Newsweek'' magazine to describe it as "an architect's memory of New Orleans' French Quarter".
During the production of the musical ''
Rent'' between 1996 and 2008, the facade was covered with fake graffiti.
Auditorium
The Nederlander Theatre has an orchestra level and one balcony.
The theater was built with 1,200 seats.
According to
the Broadway League, the theater has 1,235 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 ...
'' gives a figure of 1,168 seats.
Only the orchestra level is wheelchair-accessible; the other seating levels can only be reached by steps.
The restrooms are at the first balcony level.
The balcony is raked, sloping downward toward the stage. In contrast to other theaters, the underside of the balcony slopes upward, increasing visibility at the rear of the orchestra.
The orchestra level slopes down toward a
orchestra pit in front of the stage. To improve acoustics, the floor of the orchestra pit contained shards of glass, which were then laid atop a concrete slab.
Originally, the auditorium was designed in the early Renaissance style.
Unlike other theaters operated by the
Shubert family, the interior contained little plaster decoration.
The interior was made of concrete, which was decorated to resemble burnished Italian walnut panels decorated with gold.
The fake woodwork was decorated with "lyric and epic subjects", which protruded slightly from the walnut panels.
The walls and
balustrades were
grained to give the impression of woodwork.
Actual carved wood was used for
lintels and
sills.
There were 18 multicolored lights on the auditorium's ceiling,
and a crystal chandelier was suspended from the center of the ceiling.
At the rear of the auditorium was a
projector.
The
proscenium arch at the front of the auditorium is tall.
The arch contained a few classical details,
and its keystone was originally decorated with the letter "N".
The arch was initially flanked by one tier of
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 ...
in a streamlined style.
The stage itself is wide, with a height of from the floor to the overhead
gridiron
Gridiron may refer to:
Sports and games
* Gridiron, a term for the field marked with yard-lines on which American and Canadian codes of football are played
** Gridiron football, umbrella term used to refer to the several codes of football which ...
.
When
Billy Rose
Billy Rose (born William Samuel Rosenberg; September 6, 1899 – February 10, 1966) was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainment, with sh ...
renovated the theater in 1959, he made a variety of changes, including repainting the auditorium red, white, and gold.
The auditorium's light boxes were originally flanked by plaster
cornucopias, but Rose largely replaced them with
curlicues
A curlicue, or alternatively curlycue, in the visual arts, is a fancy twist, or curl, composed usually from a series of concentric circles. It is a recurring motif in architecture (as decoration to the lintel/ architrave above a door), in callig ...
.
In addition, the original lighting fixtures were replaced with 1950s-style chandeliers;
the central chandelier was surrounded by four smaller chandeliers.
The arch's keystone was replaced with an "R" keystone after Rose renovated the theater.
Rose added a second tier of Moorish-style boxes purely for decorative effect.
The carpet was redesigned in 1996 and again in 2008. Most of the original decoration was restored in 2008, when Rose's second tier of boxes was redesigned in a streamlined style.
The south wall of the auditorium contained emergency-exit doors to an alleyway,
which was converted into a smoking lounge in 1959.
Performers used this alleyway during
intermissions if they did not want to interact with members of the public.
The
backstage
Backstage most commonly refers to backstage (theatre), also in motion picture and television production.
Backstage may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Back Stage'' (1969 film), a silent film starring Oliver Hardy
* ''Back Stage'' (1942 fil ...
area contained
dressing rooms with bathrooms and windows, which local media described at the time as "the last word in utility and luxury".
The theater had been built as a fireproof structure with
skylights
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 ...
, water tanks, and hoses. The theater's offices were on the second floor, directly under the balcony, and were accessed from 41st Street.
During the 1959 renovation, Rose added a visitors' lounge for performers, and he replaced the roof and water tanks.
History
Development and early years
The Nederlander Theatre was constructed in 1920 as a carpenter's shop; plans filed with the New York City government called for a "3 sty
on-fireproofbrick Carpenter's shop and storage, club rooms, shower,
partmentsand tennis court".
It is one of a few Broadway theaters not constructed specifically to host Broadway shows.
In 1921, Walter C. Jordan acquired the building and spent $950,000 to convert it into a theater.
The stage house, mezzanine, proscenium, fire escape, and other theatrical equipment was built at a cost of $175,000.
Work was nearly completed by May 1921. The venue was originally supposed to be known as the Times Square Theatre, but this name was already being used by another structure at
217 West 42nd Street.
As such, Jordan renamed the structure the National Theatre at the end of July 1921,
shortly after booking ''Swords'' (
Sidney Howard's first play
) as the theater's first production.
The
Shubert brothers were hired as the theater's managers.
The theater opened on September 2, 1921, with ''Swords''.
John Willard's melodrama ''
The Cat and the Canary'', which opened at the National in February 1922,
was a major critical success
and ran for three months.
Walter Hampden leased the National for a year beginning in 1923,
paying $1 million, which at the time was a record for a Broadway theater.
Hampden presented a revival of the play
''Cyrano de Bergerac'',
which was a success, lasting for 250 performances.
The theater building was less successful, having gone into
receivership in November 1923 after Jordan failed to make payments on a mortgage.
When his lease expired, Hampden chose to instead operate his own theater.
The National then hosted the melodrama ''Silence'' in 1924, with
H. B. Warner
Henry Byron Warner (born Henry Byron Lickfold, 26 October 1876 – 21 December 1958) was an English film and theatre actor. He was popular during the silent era and played Jesus Christ in '' The King of Kings''. In later years, he successfu ...
, and the farce ''The Bride Retires'' in 1925, with
Lila Lee.
Later in 1925, the theater staged ''
The Gorilla'', which transferred from the
Selwyn,
as well as a revival of ''
Hamlet''.
During 1926, the National hosted live performances by magician
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...
;
[; ] the play ''The Half-Caste'', starring
Fredric March;
and
George M. Cohan's adaptation of the play ''Yellow''.
Jordan, who continued to own the theater, was charged with tax fraud in late 1926 after failing to pay the theater's property taxes.
Shubert management
1920s and 1930s
In February 1927, the Shubert brothers bought the National Theatre from the Sanjor Corporation, which had owned the theater for eight years.
Later that year, Willard staged a short-lived play, ''Fog'', at the theater.
This was followed in September 1927 by
Bayard Veiller
Bayard Veiller (January 2, 1869 – January 16, 1943) was an American playwright, screenwriter, producer and film director. He wrote for 32 films between 1915 and 1941.
Biography
He was born on January 2, 1869, in Brooklyn, New York to Phi ...
's melodrama ''
The Trial of Mary Dugan'', which ran at the National for nearly a year before relocating.
Subsequently, the
Martin Flavin play ''
The Criminal Code
''The Criminal Code'' is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic crime drama film directed by Howard Hawks and starring Walter Huston and Phillips Holmes. The screenplay, based on a 1929 play of the same name by Martin Flavin, was written by Fred Nib ...
'' opened at the National in 1929 and lasted for 174 performances.
A troupe led by Chinese actor
Mei Lanfang briefly performed at the theater in early 1930,
followed later that year by the play ''Grand Hotel'' (based on
Vicki Baum's book ''
Grand Hotel''),
which ran for 459 performances.
At the onset of 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 ...
, many Broadway theaters were impacted by declining attendance,
and the theater largely hosted
flops
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 ...
in 1932 and 1933.
Alfred E. Aarons and Harry J. Sommers leased the National for a year beginning in August 1933,
and they renovated the National's auditorium the next month.
Meanwhile, the Dry Dock Savings Bank took over the theater that September as a result of a foreclosure auction. By then, the National was in danger of being demolished because of a sharp increase in real-estate values.
The theater hosted
Sean O'Casey's play ''Within the Gates'' in 1934.
Subsequently,
Guthrie McClintic's production of the drama ''
Ethan Frome'' was presented there in January 1936,
as well as
Noel Coward
Noel or Noël may refer to:
Christmas
* , French for Christmas
* Noel is another name for a Christmas carol
Places
* Noel, Missouri, United States, a city
*Noel, Nova Scotia, Canada, a community
* 1563 Noël, an asteroid
*Mount Noel, Britis ...
's anthology of plays ''
Tonight at 8:30'' that November.
The
Mercury Theatre company, led by
John Houseman
John Houseman (born Jacques Haussmann; September 22, 1902 – October 31, 1988) was a Romanian-born British-American actor and producer of theatre, film, and television. He became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director ...
and
Orson Welles, performed revivals of the plays
''Julius Caesar'' and ''
The Shoemaker's Holiday
''The Shoemaker's Holiday or the Gentle Craft'' is an Elizabethan play written by Thomas Dekker. The play was first performed in 1599 by the Admiral's Men, and it falls into the subgenre of city comedy. The story features three subplots: an ...
'' at the National in 1937 and 1938.
[; ] The
Lillian Hellman drama ''
The Little Foxes'', starring
Tallulah Bankhead,
[; ] then opened in February 1939 and lasted for 410 performances.
1940s and 1950s
The
Emlyn Williams play ''
The Corn Is Green'' opened at the National in 1940,
starring
Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore (born Ethel Mae Blythe; August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regarde ...
for more than a year.
Margaret Webster's staging of ''
Macbeth
''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
'' then opened in late 1941.
''
The Patriots'' by
Sidney Kingsley opened at the National in 1943;
it was followed later the same year by
Lerner and Loewe's first Broadway musical, ''
What's Up?'',
which was a flop.
A revival of
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
's play ''
The Cherry Orchard'' was hosted at the National in 1944, with
Joseph Schildkraut and
Eva Le Gallienne,
[; ] and Barrymore appeared later that year in the play ''Embezzled Heaven''.
During the mid-1940s, the National hosted several productions with over one hundred performances each.
These included Lerner and Loewe's musical ''
The Day Before Spring'' in 1945;
[; ] the revue ''
Call Me Mister
''Call Me Mister'' is a revue with sketches by Arnold Auerbach and words and music by Harold Rome. The title refers to troops who are happily returning to civilian life and no longer want to be addressed by their military ranks.
The Broadway pr ...
'' in 1946;
and the tragedy ''
Medea'' with
Judith Anderson in 1947.
The next several shows were relatively short-lived, including an adaptation of
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
's novel ''
Crime and Punishment'' in 1947, as well as revivals of ''Tonight at 8:30'' and ''Macbeth'' in 1948.
The National's next hit was
Charles Gaynor Charles Beauclerk Gaynor (born April 3, 1907, Boston, Massachusetts – December 18, 1975, Washington, D.C.) was an American musical composer. His revues include ''Lend an Ear'' (1948) and '' Show Girl'' (1961), and he contributed songs to the 1973 ...
's revue ''
Lend an Ear
''Lend an Ear'' is a musical revue with a book, music, and lyrics by Charles Gaynor and additional sketches by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman.Gaynor, CharleLend an Ear:An Intimate Musical Revuegoogle books), Samuel French, Inc., 1948,
Producti ...
'' in late 1948.
This was followed the next year by
Clifford Odets's ''
The Big Knife'',
as well as a revival of ''
Caesar and Cleopatra'' with
Cedric Hardwicke and
Lilli Palmer.
In 1950, the theater featured live performances by Les Ballets de Paris
and a revival of ''
King Lear'' with
Louis Calhern.
A revival of ''
The Constant Wife'', featuring
Brian Aherne,
Katharine Cornell
Katharine Cornell (February 16, 1893June 9, 1974) was an American stage actress, writer, theater owner and producer. She was born in Berlin to American parents and raised in Buffalo, New York.
Dubbed "The First Lady of the Theatre" by critic A ...
, and
Grace George, arrived at the theater the following year.
[; ] Tennessee Williams's play
''Camino Real'' was staged at the National in early 1953,
and the comedy of manners ''
Sabrina Fair'' opened later the same year.
[; ] The National hosted the play ''
Inherit the Wind'' starting in 1955.
[; ] With 806 performances, ''Inherit the Wind'' was the theater's most successful non-musical to date,
as well as its longest-lasting production for several decades.
By the 1950s,
the Shubert Organization operated nearly half of all legitimate theaters in New York City, prompting the U.S. federal government to file an
antitrust
Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...
suit against the Shubert family. As part of a settlement made in February 1956, the Shuberts had to sell off some of their theaters.
In particular, the Shuberts had to sell the National Theatre within one year of the ruling, and they had to sell three other theaters within two years.
That September, the Shuberts sold the National to Harry Fromkes for an estimated $900,000; at the time, ''Inherit the Wind'' was still being staged at the theater.
Fromkes died after a fall from his apartment in February 1958,
prompting the closure of the play ''
Winesburg, Ohio
''Winesburg, Ohio'' (full title: ''Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small-Town Life'') is a 1919 short story cycle by the American author Sherwood Anderson. The work is structured around the life of protagonist George Willard, from the ...
'', which was being performed there at the time.
Fromkes's firm
defaulted on its mortgage after his death, and 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 ...
appointed a
receiver to manage the theater that March. The receiver booked the
Harry Kurnitz
Harry Kurnitz (January 5, 1908 – March 18, 1968) was an American playwright, novelist, and prolific screenwriter who wrote swashbucklers for Errol Flynn and comedies for Danny Kaye. He also wrote some mystery fiction under the name Marco ...
play ''
Once More, with Feeling!'', which opened in late 1958
and ran for 263 performances.
Rose management
Theatrical producer
Billy Rose
Billy Rose (born William Samuel Rosenberg; September 6, 1899 – February 10, 1966) was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainment, with sh ...
bought the National at a foreclosure auction in June 1958 for $849,500.
At the time, Rose worked for
William Zeckendorf's real-estate company
Webb and Knapp; this prompted Zeckendorf to sue Rose for ownership of the theater. Rose spent $500,000 to renovate the theater, hiring
Oliver Messel to redecorate the auditorium in a red, gold, and white color scheme.
The venue was renamed the Billy Rose Theatre and reopened on October 18, 1959, with the play ''
Heartbreak House'',
[; ] which had 112 performances.
The next year, the theater hosted ''
Dear Liar'',
which was notable as Katharine Cornell's last Broadway appearance,
[; ] as well as a drama based on
John Hersey's novel ''The Wall''.
The Billy Rose's next hit was
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), '' The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), '' A Delicate Balance'' (1966) ...
's play ''
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'', which opened in 1962
[; ] and ran for 660 performances over the next two years.
Throughout the 1960s, the theater was often empty for extended periods because of a lack of productions.
Albee's play ''
Tiny Alice'', featuring
John Gielgud and
Irene Worth, opened at the theater at the end of 1964,
but it was not successful.
The theater hosted a variety of
repertory productions in the late 1960s. These included
Yiddish theater performances by the Jewish State Theater of Poland and performances by the
Paul Taylor Dance Company in 1967. The Playwrights Repertory Theatre performed several plays by Albee and
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...
at the theater in 1968,
and the
Minnesota Dance Theatre performed two plays there later that year.
Following a performance by the
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in early 1969, the revival of Noel Coward's ''
Private Lives'' was presented later the same year.
The Billy Rose hosted two notable shows in 1971: the
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...
's version of Shakespeare's ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...
'',
as well as
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...
's drama ''
Old Times''.
The
City Center Acting Company performed four plays at the Billy Rose in late 1973 and early 1974, marking the company's first Broadway appearance. This was followed in 1974 by
Tom Stoppard's play ''
Jumpers'', which had 48 performances before closing.
The theater's backstage area was damaged by a storm later the same year and was not repaired; as a result, at least two productions were unable to lease the theater in 1975.
Several theatrical personalities alleged that the
Billy Rose Foundation (which had acquired the theater after Rose died), had allowed the structure to deteriorate. In response, foundation officials said that operating the theater was not its main priority.
The Taylor Dance Company returned to the Billy Rose in 1976.
The theater's first legitimate show in three years,
Gus Weill's ''The November People'', closed after a single performance in January 1978.
Nederlander management
Late 1970s and 1980s
Two theatrical operators, the
Nederlander Organization
The Nederlander Organization, founded in 1912 by David T. Nederlander in Detroit, and currently based in New York City, is one of the largest operators of live theaters and music venues in the United States. Its first acquisition was a lease on ...
and the Cooney-Marsh Organization (the latter of which was a partnership between producer
Ray Cooney and real-estate developer
Laurie Marsh), purchased the venue in December 1978.
The venue was immediately renamed the Trafalgar Theatre, a reference to the new owners' British backgrounds;
the owners hoped that the new name would evoke
Trafalgar Square in London or the
Battle of Trafalgar.
James M. Nederlander of the Nederlander Organization said: "We want to put big English hits in the theater".
The Trafalgar hosted two productions under its new name:
''
Whose Life Is It Anyway?'' in 1979
and ''
Betrayal'' in 1980.
James M. Nederlander renamed the theater again in 1980 in honor of his father, American theater impresario David T. Nederlander,
who had died thirteen years prior. The first show at the renamed Nederlander Theatre would have been the musical ''
One Night Stand
A one-night stand or one-night sex is a single sexual encounter in which there is an expectation that there shall be no further relations between the sexual participants. It draws its name from the common practice of a one-night stand, a single ...
'', which closed during previews in October 1980.
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of th ...
performed her solo show ''
Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music'' at the theater starting in May 1981;
[; ] the show lasted for more than a year.
In general, the Nederlander Theatre had difficulty securing bookings during the 1980s. The next several productions had relatively short runs,
including one show, ''
Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap'', which closed on its opening day in 1983.
The theater's productions in the mid-1980s included ''
84 Charing Cross Road
''84, Charing Cross Road'' is a 1970 book by Helene Hanff, later made into a stage play, television play, and film, about the twenty-year correspondence between the author and Frank Doel, chief buyer of Marks & Co antiquarian booksellers, locate ...
'', ''
Amen Corner'', ''
Strange Interlude'' and
''Raggedy Ann'',
[; ] as well as a live show taped by
Robert Klein in June 1986.
In addition,
Jerry Weintraub purchased a stake in the operation of the Nederlander Theatre in 1984.
The
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) had started considering protecting the Nederlander as a landmark in 1982, with discussions continuing over the next several years. While the LPC commenced a wide-ranging effort to grant landmark status to Broadway theaters in 1987, the Nederlander was among the few theaters for which the LPC denied either exterior or interior landmark status.
David Wilkerson, founding pastor of the
Times Square Church
Times Square Church is an interdenominational congregation located at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on 237 West 51st Street in the Theater District of Manhattan in New York City. Times Square Church was founded by Pastor David Wilkerson in 1987 and ...
, leased the theater in January 1988, a month after the play ''Sherlock's Last Case'' had closed. The theater quickly became overcrowded during church services;
by 1989, the 1,150-seat Nederlander Theatre was at
standing-room only capacity five days a week.
This prompted the Nederlanders to lease the
Mark Hellinger Theatre to the Times Square Church in February 1989;
the Times Square Church moved to the Hellinger the next month.
The Nederlander Theatre's next legitimate show, the musical ''Dangerous Games'', lasted four performances.
1990s and 2000s
The Shuberts, the Nederlanders, and Jujamcyn formed the Broadway Alliance in June 1990, wherein each company set aside one of its theaters to present dramas and comedies at reduced ticket prices. The program covered the
Belasco, Nederlander, and
Walter Kerr theaters. The Broadway Alliance's first show at the Nederlander Theatre was the play ''
Our Country's Good'', which lasted from April to June 1991.
More than one year elapsed before the Nederlander hosted its next production, the one-man show ''Solitary Confinement'' with
Stacy Keach, which ran for two weeks in November 1992.
The theater was still difficult to rent
and did not host any Broadway shows for over three years;
it cost around $250,000 a year to maintain, regardless of whether it was vacant.
The Nederlander hosted concerts by
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...
in April 1993 and by
Jackson Browne
Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States.
Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...
that November. The Nederlander Organization unsuccessfully tried to move
Cy Coleman
Cy Coleman (born Seymour Kaufman; June 14, 1929 – November 18, 2004) was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist.
Life and career
Coleman was born Seymour Kaufman in New York City, United States, to Eastern European Jewish parents ...
's musical ''
The Life'' there in 1994, but the theater instead hosted auditions for the musical ''
Busker Alley
''Busker Alley'' is a musical with music and lyrics by the Sherman Brothers and a book by AJ Carothers, based on the 1938 British film '' St. Martin's Lane''.
Tommy Tune led a 1995 touring production as Charlie Baxter, a street entertainer in pr ...
''.
The next year, the Nederlander hosted another audition, this time for the musical ''
The Capeman''.
Jonathan Larson's
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 musical ''
Rent'' was booked at the Nederlander in early 1996;
the musical's producers had selected the Nederlander Theatre specifically because of its dilapidated surroundings, which reflected the show's setting.
The theater's facade and interior were remodeled to resemble a
lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...
nightclub.
''Rent'' premiered in April 1996
and quickly became popular.
In contrast to many Broadway productions (in which tickets for seats at the rear of the theater were generally the cheapest), ''Rent'' producers reserved the first two rows for the cheapest tickets. This prompted fans to sleep outside the theater to wait for these tickets.
The opening of ''Rent'', as well as the renovation of the nearby New Amsterdam Theatre, contributed to the revitalization of the surrounding block of 41st Street.
''Rent'' ultimately ran for 5,140 performances through 2008,
becoming the theater's longest-running production
as well as the
seventh-longest-running Broadway show of all time.
After ''Rent'' closed, the Nederlander was refurbished to accommodate its next show.
Workers expanded the restrooms and restored the original design motifs (which had been largely removed during the 1961 renovation).
A revival of ''
Guys and Dolls'', starring
Oliver Platt and
Lauren Graham
Lauren Graham (born March 16, 1967) is an American actress and author. She is best known for her roles as Lorelai Gilmore on The WB/ CW television series ''Gilmore Girls'' (2000–2007), for which she received nominations for Screen Actors Guild ...
, opened in March 2009;
the show played 113 performances before closing that June.
The
Neil Simon plays ''
Brighton Beach Memoirs'' and ''
Broadway Bound'' were planned to be performed at the theater in late 2009, with alternating performances of each play.
Due to poor ticket sales for ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'', the show closed on November 1, 2009, one week after its opening.
Simon also canceled the planned production of ''Broadway Bound'', blaming the theater's location for the rapid closure of ''Brighton Beach Memoirs''.
2000s to present
The musical ''
Million Dollar Quartet'' made its Broadway debut at the theater in April 2010,
running for 489 performances
before moving
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 ...
in June 2011.
Disney's production of the musical ''
Newsies
''Newsies'' (released as ''The News Boys'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1992 American musical historical comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and directed by choreographer Kenny Ortega in his film directing debut. Loosely based on ...
'' opened in March 2012;
the show's run was extended because of its popularity,
and ''Newsies'' ultimately lasted until August 2014.
As part of a settlement with the
United States Department of Justice in 2014, the Nederlanders agreed to improve disabled access at their nine Broadway theaters, including the Nederlander Theatre. ''
Love Letters'' was originally scheduled to run at the Nederlander after ''Newsies'' closed.
Instead, the musical ''
Honeymoon in Vegas'' opened at the theater in January 2015,
followed by ''Amazing Grace'' that July.
The Nederlander hosted two short-lived shows in 2016. The musical ''
Disaster!
Disaster!: A Major Motion Picture Ride...Starring You! was a dark ride attraction at Universal Studios Florida. Set on a soundstage of a fictitious movie company, ''Disaster!'' was based on the park's former Earthquake: The Big One ride, which ...
'' made its Broadway debut at the theater that March, lasting two months,
while a revival of ''
Motown: The Musical'' opened that July and ran for less than a month.
The musical ''
War Paint War paint is paint ritually applied to the face and/or body prior to going into a battle.
War Paint or Warpaint may also refer to:
Music
* Warpaint (band), an American indie rock band from Los Angeles
** ''Warpaint'' (Warpaint album), 2014 album b ...
'' ran at the Nederlander from April to November 2017,
followed by ''
Pretty Woman: The Musical'' from August 2018 to August 2019.
The Nederlander then hosted two live appearances in late 2019:
Kristin Chenoweth's ''For The Girls'' in November
and
Harry Connick Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and television host. He has sold over 28million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top60 best-selling male artists in the Uni ...
's ''A Celebration of Cole Porter'' the following month.
''
The Lehman Trilogy'' was planned to open at the Nederlander in March 2020. The show was in previews
when all Broadway theaters were shut down on March 12, 2020, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The Nederlander reopened on September 25, 2021, with previews of ''The Lehman Trilogy'',
which ran from October 2021 to January 2022.
The musical ''
Mr. Saturday Night'' then ran from April to September 2022,
and it was followed by
Jefferson Mays's solo production of ''
A Christmas Carol
''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...
'' at the end of the year.
[ The musical comedy ''Shucked'' is scheduled to open at the Nederlander in April 2023.][
]
Notable productions
National Theatre
* 1921: '' Trilby''
* 1922: '' The Cat and the Canary''
* 1923: '' Cyrano de Bergerac''
* 1925: '' The Gorilla''
* 1925: '' Hamlet''
* 1925: '' The Monkey Talks''
* 1927: '' The Trial of Mary Dugan''
* 1929: ''The Criminal Code
''The Criminal Code'' is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic crime drama film directed by Howard Hawks and starring Walter Huston and Phillips Holmes. The screenplay, based on a 1929 play of the same name by Martin Flavin, was written by Fred Nib ...
''
* 1930: '' Grand Hotel''
* 1935: ''Seven Keys to Baldpate Seven Keys to Baldpate may refer to:
* '' Seven Keys to Baldpate'', a novel by Earl Derr Biggers
* ''Seven Keys to Baldpate'' (play), a 1913 play by George M. Cohan based on the novel
* ''Seven Keys to Baldpate'' (1916 film), a 1916 Australian si ...
''
* 1936: '' Ethan Frome''
* 1936: '' The County Chairman''
* 1936: '' Tonight at 8:30''
* 1937: '' Red Harvest''
* 1937: '' Brother Rat''
* 1938: ''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 ...
''
* 1938: ''The Shoemaker's Holiday
''The Shoemaker's Holiday or the Gentle Craft'' is an Elizabethan play written by Thomas Dekker. The play was first performed in 1599 by the Admiral's Men, and it falls into the subgenre of city comedy. The story features three subplots: an ...
''
* 1939: '' The Little Foxes''
* 1940: '' Journey to Jerusalem''
* 1940: '' The Corn Is Green''
* 1941: ''Macbeth
''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
''
* 1942: '' Billy the Kid''
* 1943: '' The Patriots''
* 1943: '' What's Up?''
* 1944: '' The Cherry Orchard''
* 1945: '' The Assassin''
* 1945: '' The Day Before Spring''
* 1946: ''Call Me Mister
''Call Me Mister'' is a revue with sketches by Arnold Auerbach and words and music by Harold Rome. The title refers to troops who are happily returning to civilian life and no longer want to be addressed by their military ranks.
The Broadway pr ...
''
* 1947: '' Anna Lucasta''
* 1947: '' Medea''
* 1947: '' Crime and Punishment''
* 1948: '' Tonight at 8:30''
* 1948: ''Macbeth
''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
''
* 1948: ''Lend an Ear
''Lend an Ear'' is a musical revue with a book, music, and lyrics by Charles Gaynor and additional sketches by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman.Gaynor, CharleLend an Ear:An Intimate Musical Revuegoogle books), Samuel French, Inc., 1948,
Producti ...
''
* 1949: '' The Big Knife''
* 1949: '' Caesar and Cleopatra''
* 1950: '' King Lear''
* 1951: '' The Constant Wife''
* 1952: '' Candida''
* 1953: '' The Bat''
* 1953: ''Camino Real
Camino may refer to:
Places
*Camino, California, United States, a census-designated place
*Camino, Piedmont, Italy, a town
*Camino, Veneto, Italy, a town
People
*Jaime Camino (1936–2015), Spanish film director and screenwriter
*Renae Camino ...
''
* 1953: '' Sabrina Fair''
* 1955: '' Inherit the Wind''
* 1957: '' The Tunnel of Love''
* 1958: ''Winesburg, Ohio
''Winesburg, Ohio'' (full title: ''Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small-Town Life'') is a 1919 short story cycle by the American author Sherwood Anderson. The work is structured around the life of protagonist George Willard, from the ...
''
* 1958: '' Once More, with Feeling!''
Billy Rose Theatre
*1959: '' Heartbreak House''
*1960: '' Dear Liar''
*1962: '' A Family Affair''
*1962: '' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?''
*1964: '' Tiny Alice''
*1965: ''The Right Honourable Gentleman
''The Right Honourable Gentleman'' is a 1962 play by Michael Dyne, first staged in 1964.
Plot
''The Right Honourable Gentleman'' is a dramatization of the rather complicated real-life Crawford scandal of Victorian England. Sir Charles Dilke, a ...
''
*1966: ''Threepenny Opera
''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with music b ...
''
*1966: '' The Rose Tattoo''
*1967: '' Mirele Efros''
*1967: '' Mother Courage and Her Children''
*1968: '' Here's Where I Belong''
*1968: ''Soldiers
A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer.
Etymology
The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...
''
*1968: '' Box'' & ''Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung
''Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung'' () is a book of statements from speeches and writings by Mao Zedong (formerly romanized as Mao Tse-tung), the former Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, published from 1964 to about 1976 and wid ...
''
*1968: '' The Death of Bessie Smith'' & '' The American Dream''
*1968: '' Krapp's Last Tape'' & '' The Zoo Story''
*1968: '' Happy Days''
*1968: '' The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui''
*1969: '' Private Lives''
*1971: ''A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...
''
*1971: '' Old Times''
*1972: '' The Country Girl''
*1972: '' Purlie''
*1973: '' The Three Sisters''
*1973: '' The Beggar's Opera''
*1973: ''Measure for Measure
''Measure for Measure'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604 and first performed in 1604, according to available records. It was published in the ''First Folio'' of 1623.
The play's plot features its ...
''
*1973: '' Scapin''
*1974: '' Jumpers''
Trafalgar Theatre/Nederlander Theatre
*1979: '' Whose Life Is It Anyway?''
*1980: '' Betrayal''
*1980: ''One Night Stand
A one-night stand or one-night sex is a single sexual encounter in which there is an expectation that there shall be no further relations between the sexual participants. It draws its name from the common practice of a one-night stand, a single ...
''
*1981: '' Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music''
*1982: ''84 Charing Cross Road
''84, Charing Cross Road'' is a 1970 book by Helene Hanff, later made into a stage play, television play, and film, about the twenty-year correspondence between the author and Frank Doel, chief buyer of Marks & Co antiquarian booksellers, locate ...
''
*1983: '' Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap''
*1983: '' Amen Corner''
*1985: '' Strange Interlude''
*1986: '' Robert Klein on Broadway''
*1986: '' Raggedy Ann''
*1991: '' Our Country's Good''
*1996: '' Rent''
[; ]
*2009: '' Guys and Dolls''
*2009: '' Brighton Beach Memoirs''
*2010: '' Million Dollar Quartet''
*2012: ''Newsies
''Newsies'' (released as ''The News Boys'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1992 American musical historical comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and directed by choreographer Kenny Ortega in his film directing debut. Loosely based on ...
''
*2015: '' Honeymoon in Vegas''
*2015: '' Amazing Grace''
*2016: ''Disaster!
Disaster!: A Major Motion Picture Ride...Starring You! was a dark ride attraction at Universal Studios Florida. Set on a soundstage of a fictitious movie company, ''Disaster!'' was based on the park's former Earthquake: The Big One ride, which ...
''
*2016: '' Motown: The Musical''
*2017: ''War Paint War paint is paint ritually applied to the face and/or body prior to going into a battle.
War Paint or Warpaint may also refer to:
Music
* Warpaint (band), an American indie rock band from Los Angeles
** ''Warpaint'' (Warpaint album), 2014 album b ...
''
*2018: '' Pretty Woman: The Musical''
*2019: '' Kristin Chenoweth: For The Girls''
*2019: '' Harry Connick, Jr.: A Celebration of Cole Porter''
*2021: '' The Lehman Trilogy''
*2022: '' Mr. Saturday Night''
*2022: ''A Christmas Carol
''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...
''
*2023: ''Shucked''
Box office record
''Rent'' set the Nederlander Theatre's box-office record for the week ending November 29, 2005, when it grossed $744,496 while playing to 97 percent capacity. ''Newsies'' achieved the box office record for the Nederlander Theatre in 2012, playing to 101 percent capacity and grossed $1,024,516.60 for eight performances the week ending April 15, 2012. This gross was surpassed by ''War Paint'' the week ending April 23, 2017, when that show grossed $1,042,449. The current gross record was set by ''Pretty Woman: The Musical'', which grossed $1,266,873 over eight performances for the week ending December 9, 2018.
See also
*James M. Nederlander Theatre
The James M. Nederlander Theatre is a theater located at 24 West Randolph Street in the Loop area of downtown Chicago, Illinois. Previously known as the Oriental Theatre, it opened in 1926 as a deluxe movie palace and vaudeville venue. Today ...
- Nederlander Organization theater in Chicago
*List of Broadway theaters
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
*
*
Nederlander Theatre
at the Internet Broadway Database
The Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It was conceived and created by Karen Hauser in 1996 and is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade assoc ...
{{Times Square
1921 establishments in New York City
Broadway theatres
Nederlander Organization
Theater District, Manhattan
Theatres completed in 1921