Jujamcyn Theaters LLC , formerly the Jujamcyn Amusement Corporation, is a theatrical producing and theatre-ownership company in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. For many years Jujamcyn was owned by James H. Binger, former Chairman of

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...

, and his wife, Virginia McKnight Binger. The organization is now held by its President,

Jordan Roth Jordan Roth (born November 13, 1975) is an American theater producer. He is the president and majority owner of Jujamcyn Theaters in New York City. Roth oversees five Broadway theatres including the St. James, Al Hirschfeld, August Wilson, Eugen ...

, and President Emeritus, Rocco Landesman. The third-largest theatre owner on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, behind the

Shubert Organization The Shubert Organization is a theatrical producing organization and a major owner of theatres based in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by the three Shubert brothers in the late 19th century. They steadily expanded, owning many theaters ...

and 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 ...

, Jujamcyn owns five of the 41 Broadway theaters.

History

William L. McKnight William L. McKnight (November 11, 1887 – March 4, 1978) was an American businessman and philanthropist who served his entire career in the 3M corporation, rising to chairman of the board from 1949 to 1966. He founded the McKnight Founda ...

, former chairman of 3M, owned several theatres, two in New York and one in Boston. McKnight's daughter, Virginia McKnight Binger and her husband, James H. Binger, a top executive at

, shared a love of theatre. In 1976 when William McKnight wanted to sell his theatres, Binger stepped in to assist. He found the business fascinating, and after paying the gift tax and selling the Colonial Theatre in Boston, he and Virginia agreed to own and later expand the operation on Broadway. Jujamcyn derives its name from the names of McKnight's grandchildren, the Bingers' children: Ju ith Jam s and Cyn hia Over time Binger expanded Jujamcyn to five theatres to create the third-largest theatre-owning company on Broadway. The five Jujamcyn theatres are: # St. James Theatre (acquired in 1957 by McKnight) # Al Hirschfeld Theatre (formerly the Martin Beck Theatre, acquired in 1966 by McKnight) # August Wilson Theatre (formerly the Virginia Theatre, acquired in 1981) # Eugene O'Neill Theatre (acquired in 1982) #

Walter Kerr Theatre The Walter Kerr Theatre, previously the Ritz Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 219 West 48th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed for the Shub ...

(formerly the Ritz Theatre, acquired in 1981) In 1987 Binger brought in Rocco Landesman to run Jujamcyn. Landesman was a successful theatrical producer and was friendly with Binger from previous theatrical productions and a shared interest in racehorses. Over the next 17 years, Landesman, Binger and the Jujamcyn organization would produce and house a successful string of Broadway hits. Including box office juggernaut ''The Producers'', which won a record 12

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

s in 2001.

After Bingers' death

Virginia Binger died in 2002, and James Binger died in 2004. Rocco Landesman, producer and President of Jujamcyn since 1987, announced that he planned to buy Jujamcyn Theatres, telling the

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

that he had a long-standing understanding with Binger that he would buy Jujamcyn's five playhouses. The theatres had an estimated net asset value of about $30 million. Landesman closed the deal in February 2005 for $30M, but then tried to sell a 50% stake in the group for $50M to enable investment in the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

team - his group lost out to Robert Castellini. In 2009 after 22 years with Jujamcyn, Landesman was tapped by the

Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

administration to take a position in Washington as chairman of the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

. That year, Landesman sold a half interest in Jujamcyn to

, a successful 33-year-old theatrical producer who had joined the company in 2005 as resident producer and vice president. Roth, as president, assumed full control of Jujamcyn as Landesman departed for the NEA."A New Force on Broadway" New York Times, Sept 8, 2009
/ref> From his first year, Roth began identifying a new era of shows for the company’s theaters with his first hits including, '' Spring Awakening'', with eight

s, ''

Grey Gardens ''Grey Gardens'' is a 1975 American documentary film by Albert and David Maysles. The film depicts the everyday lives of two reclusive, upper-class women, a mother and daughter both named Edith Beale, who lived in poverty at Grey Gardens, a ...

'', with three, and his 2009 revival of ''Hair''. In 2013, Roth bought the majority stake of Jujamcyn, making him the youngest principal owner of a Broadway theatre chain. Since Roth took over, Jujamcyn theaters have been home to notable shows including Tony-award winners '' The Book of Mormon, Springsteen on Broadway, Kinky Boots,

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder ''A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder'' is a musical comedy, with the book and lyrics by Robert L. Freedman and the music and lyrics by Steven Lutvak. It is based on the 1907 novel '' Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal'' by Roy Horni ...

,'' and ''

Clybourne Park ''Clybourne Park'' is a 2010 play by Bruce Norris written as a spin-off to Lorraine Hansberry's play '' A Raisin in the Sun'' (1959). It portrays fictional events set during and after the Hansberry play, and is loosely based on historical event ...

'' among many others. As part of a settlement with the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

in 2021, Jujamcyn agreed to improve disabled access at its five Broadway theaters.

List of theaters

Former theaters

Morris A. Mechanic Theatre The Morris A. Mechanic Theatre was a playhouse at 1 South Charles Street that was part of the Charles Center of Baltimore, Maryland. The theatre was built by and named for owner Morris A. Mechanic who operated a number of theatres in the city ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

(1995–2000) sold to SFX Theatricals[articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-07-28/features/1995209001_1_jujamcyn-theaters-mechanic-1995-1996-season N.Y. producers expected to restore luster as pre-Broadway theater New deal can help Mechanic clean up its act]Twin Cities-based show producer Jujamcyn is sold to N.Y. giant SFX
/ref> * Royal George Theatre,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

(1993–1997) sold to Reading Entertainment * Weidner Center,

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea le ...

(1995–1998) producing partner) * Orpheum Theatre and State Theatre,

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

(1995–2000) producing partner, sold to SFX Theatricals * Orpheum Theater,

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest c ...

(1995–2000) producing partner, sold to SFX Theatricals * Portland Civic Auditorium,

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

(1994–2000) producing partner, sold to SFX Theatricals * Ordway Music Theatre, St. Paul (1992–1996)

References

Notes

External links