New Victory Theater

The New Victory Theater is a theater at 209 West 42nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, near Times Square. Built in 1900 as the Republic Theatre (also Theatre Republic), it was designed by Albert Westover and developed by Oscar Hammerstein I as a Broadway theater. The theater has been known by several names over the years, including the Belasco Theatre, Minsky's Burlesque, and the Victory Theatre. The theater is owned by the city and state governments of New York and leased to New 42nd Street, which has operated the venue as a children's theater since 1995. The New Victory presents theater, dance, puppet shows, and other types of performance art from around the world.

The New Victory Theater's modern design dates to a 1995 renovation; its facade reflects its appearance in 1900, while the interior incorporates details that were added when David Belasco took over the theater in 1902. The theater has a brick and brownstone facade with a central stoop leading to the second floor. Inside the entrance is a lobby and reception area, as well as a basement with the theater's restrooms, lockers, and concessions. The New Victory Theater's auditorium seats 499 people on three levels, although it originally accommodated over 900 guests. The auditorium is designed in a red-and-gold palette, with green and purple accents, and contains box seats and a decorative domed ceiling. The backstage areas were initially extremely small, but they were expanded into a new wing in 1995.

The theater opened on September 27, 1900, with the play ''Sag Harbor''. Two years later, David Belasco leased the theater, renamed it for himself, and completely reconstructed the interior. Although Belasco restored the Republic Theatre name in 1910, he continued to operate it until 1914. A. H. Woods then leased the theater until 1922, when Oliver D. Bailey took over, hosting the play ''Abie's Irish Rose'' at the theater for five years. Due to a lack of theatrical productions, Billy Minsky converted the Republic into a burlesque house in 1931, and his family operated it as such until 1942. Afterward, the Republic became a movie theater, the Victory, operated by the Brandt family. The theater became the first adult movie theater on 42nd Street in 1972. New 42nd Street took over the Times Square and several neighboring theaters in 1990. Plans for the children's theater were announced in 1993, and Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates restored the theater, which reopened on December 11, 1995, as the New Victory.

Site

The New Victory Theater is at 207 West 42nd Street, on the northern sidewalk between Eighth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, at the southern end of Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building occupies a rectangular land lot covering , with a frontage of on 42nd Street and a depth of . The theater abuts 3 Times Square to the east and northeast, as well as the Lyric Theatre to the west and northwest. It also shares the block with the Hotel Carter building, the American Airlines Theatre, and the Times Square Theater to the west. Other nearby buildings include 255 West 43rd Street, the St. James Theatre, and the Hayes Theater to the northwest; 229 West 43rd Street and 1501 Broadway to the north; 5 Times Square and the New Amsterdam Theatre to the south; and the Candler Building to the southwest.

The surrounding area is part of Manhattan's Theater District and contains many Broadway theaters. In the first two decades of the 20th century, eleven legitimate theaters were built within one block of West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. The New Amsterdam, Harris, Liberty, Eltinge, and Lew Fields theaters occupied the south side of the street. The original Lyric and Apollo theaters (combined into the current Lyric Theatre), as well as the Times Square, Victory, Selwyn (now American Airlines), and Victoria theaters, occupied the north side. These venues were mostly converted to movie theaters by the 1930s, and many of them were showing pornography by the 1970s.

Design

Designed by architect Albert Westover, the theater was previously known as the Theatre Republic, Belasco Theatre, and Victory Theatre.Theatre Republic (New Victory)
at the Internet Broadway Database The New Victory Theater's current design dates to a 1995 renovation by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates (HHPA). The design of the facade reflects its appearance in 1900, when Oscar Hammerstein I developed the theater. The interior design incorporates details that were added when David Belasco took over the theater in 1902. The theater's interior was intended to be completely fireproof, with marble stairways, artificial stone, and plaster surfaces with wire-net lathing.

Facade

The facade is made of brick and brownstone and was inspired by Venetian architecture. When the theater was completed in 1900, the main facade measured tall and wide. The ''New-York Tribune'' described it as being made of "iron, brownstone, and Powhatan brick". The front of the theater contains a brownstone stoop, which rises from ground level to the second story. This stoop consists of two staircases, as well as ten wrought-iron street lights. The current stoop is a replica of the theater's original stoop, which led to the auditorium's second balcony level; the original lobby was below the original stoop. The original stoop was removed in 1910 before being restored in 1995. The New York City government had to approve the installation of the current stoop because it extends onto the sidewalk of 42nd Street.

When Belasco renovated the theater in 1902, he installed a wrought iron and glass canopy in front of the entrance, which was also eliminated in 1910. Prior to the New Victory's restoration, there had been an Art Deco-style marquee in front of the entrance, dating from 1932. This was also removed in 1995, along with a piece of the neighboring Lyric Theatre's marquee.

Above the cornice of the theater building are capital letters spelling out "New Victory". Although the theater was originally topped by a colonnade with arches, it was not rebuilt in the 1995 restoration. The modern-day "New Victory" sign occupies the site of the former colonnade. The roof of the theater contained the Paradise Roof Garden, an extension of a garden atop the neighboring Victoria Theatre. It operated until about 1914 or 1915. The garden originally contained a "Swiss farm", which was replaced with a "Dutch farm" in 1905. According to ''The New York Times'', the "Dutch farm" contained a replica of a Dutch village "complete with water mill, a rooftop space where patrons dined and danced".

Interior

Lobby and lounges

The theater originally had a "tomblike" reception area, which was replaced with a lobby in 1902. The original lobby had oak panelling and wrought-iron doors to the auditorium, Three doors under the original stoop led to a box office, cab office, check room, and information bureau, and two more doors led to the orchestra-level seats. Two staircases with carved balustrades led from the lobby to the first balcony level. By the 1930s, the lobby had been removed, and the main entrance doors led directly to the theater's orchestra level. When the theater was renovated in 1995, the rearmost rows of seating were removed from the auditorium, creating space for the present lobby. A wall was installed between the auditorium and lobby, reducing disruption caused by noise from the street.

A staircase and an elevator connect the lobby to other stories. Because there was so little space within the theater, the elevator had to be built within an alleyway at the eastern end of the theater building. The basement contains the theater's restrooms, lockers, and concessions. During the theater's restoration in 1995, part of the underlying bedrock was excavated to make way for the basement. Prior to its restoration, the Victory Theatre had never been equipped with adequate lounges, concessions, or restrooms.

Auditorium

=Seating areas

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The original capacity of the Victory Theatre is unclear, with numbers ranging from to 936 to 1,100 given across various sources, although this has since been reduced to an off-Broadway capacity of 499 seats. Seating is across three levels. The decreased capacity reflects the fact that part of the former seating area is occupied by the lobby. In addition, the present-day children's theater did not need a high seating capacity, and modern audiences generally required wider seats. The modern auditorium is a cube measuring around on each side. When it opened as the Theatre Republic in 1900, the auditorium was decorated in green, white, and gold. Belasco repainted the auditorium red, green, and brown in 1902. The New Victory Theater was repainted in a red-and-gold palette, with green and purple accents, during the 1995 renovation. The modern color palette resembles the color scheme introduced in Belasco's 1902 renovation, with lighter tones.

The seating areas were originally so steeply raked that ''The New York Times'' said "the big-hat question", in which some patrons' large hats obstructed other guests' views, "will never be raised in that house". When Belasco replaced the seats in 1902, he installed seat coverings with bee motifs, a reference to his last initial. The modern-day seats are flanked by wrought-iron stanchions, both with bee motifs. The modern seat coverings are similar in design to those that Belasco installed. HHPA created a custom design for the current carpets in 1995; the original carpets could not be restored due to a lack of documentation.

The auditorium is decorated with woodwork and plaster decorations, which resemble the original decorations in the theater. The auditorium contained extensive gilding, which was covered in 1902 before HHPA restored the gilding in 1995. The modern-day decorations consist of motifs such as fleurs-de-lis and laurels, which are made of glazed Dutch metal. At the rear of the second balcony level are control booths. The rear wall of the orchestra and first balcony level, as well as the control booths on the second balcony level, contain sound-absorbing acoustical panels. In addition, the entrance from the lobby and the auditorium's emergency exits contain soundproof doors. When Belasco owned the theater, he had installed autumn-themed tapestries on the rear and side walls of the auditorium. He also placed a rosewood partition at the rear of the auditorium. Behind this screen was originally a men's smoking room, as well as one women's lounge on each of the three levels. These rooms were outfitted with then-modern amenities such as telephones and carriage calls.

There are triple-height boxes flanking the stage, above which are golden domes. Originally, the orchestra and first balcony levels contained two boxes on either side of the stage, while the second balcony level contained one box. The boxes are topped by lighting fixtures, similar to those that had been installed when Belasco owned the theater. On the ceiling is a large dome that features lyre-playing putti perched on its rim; these putti were removed in 1902 before being restored in 1995. The dome is divided by ribs, with a central motif of a lyre and cherubs at the intersection of the ribs. It contains a glazed surface that is painted amber and ocher, as well as an LED chandelier and uplights. The dome also includes ventilation openings. Above the auditorium is the theater's heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment; to minimize vibrations, the HVAC equipment is mounted on girders spanning the auditorium's ceiling.

=Other design features

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The proscenium arch in front of the stage is ocher with gold highlights, while the stage curtain is rose-colored. As built, the proscenium arch measured across and was ornately decorated. The top of the arch was decorated with a golden lyre, flanked by figures representing harmony and melody. When the theater opened, the proscenium arch was topped by a balcony for musicians, since there was no orchestra pit at the orchestra level of seating. The balcony was removed in 1902. During that renovation, an orchestra pit was placed in front of the stage, with platforms at different heights. It was expanded and deepened during the 1995 renovation.

The stage measures and contains a sprung floor. For most of the 20th century, the stage lacked sufficient wing space and was relatively small, measuring only . In 1902, Belasco added three dressing rooms and a greenroom backstage, as well as traps and a stage elevator. The stage elevator, measuring across, formed much of the surface of the stage itself and required excavation into the underlying bedrock. In addition, there were footlights in front of the stage. The current configuration of the stage dates to 1995, when dressing rooms on the auditorium's stage were demolished to make way for expanded wing space. The stage area contains 276 dimmers and 300 lights in total, and the fly system consists of 30 sets of counterweights. The counterweight system replaced an older system that used sandbags.

Backstage area

Originally, the Victory Theatre was surrounded on all sides by other buildings, and it had neither backstage areas nor a stage door. During the 1995 renovation, the New Victory Theater organization acquired two low-rise tenement buildings on 43rd Street. One of the wings was demolished to make way for a loading dock. The other building was preserved and converted into a dressing room wing. The rear wing contains 40 dressing rooms, as well as a wardrobe room, green room, security office, and offices for visiting theatre companies. During the development of the adjacent 3 Times Square in 1998, the Rudin family acquired the loading dock and demolished it. The Rudins constructed loading docks within 3 Times Square, reserving one loading dock for the New Victory.

History

Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and the Great Depression. Manhattan's theater district had begun to shift from Union Square and Madison Square during the first decade of the 20th century. From 1901 to 1920, forty-three theaters were built around Broadway in Midtown Manhattan. George M. Jansen filed plans with the New York City Department of Buildings for a music hall and cafe at 207–211 West 42nd Street, to be designed by John E. Kerby, in June 1899. It would have been three stories tall with a raised basement and would have cost $200,000. Had the theater been built, it would have contained a Moorish-style auditorium with three balconies. That December Oscar Hammerstein I filed revised plans for a theater, at the same site, to be known as the Republic. The structure would be built at a cost of $200,000 and would complement Hammerstein's Victoria Theatre next door. By constructing the Republic, Hammerstein could extend the roof garden atop the Victoria to the new theater.

Early history

1900s

The Theatre Republic opened on September 27, 1900, with James Herne's play ''Sag Harbor'', starring Lionel Barrymore. It was the third theater built on this block of West 42nd Street, as well as the seventh theater developed by Hammerstein. The ''New-York Tribune'' called the Republic a "small but prettily arranged house". The theater hosted three additional plays during its inaugural season, including ''In the Palace of the King'', which featured Viola Allen for four months. The theater was relatively small, so it could only accommodate dramas and comedies. During the theater's 1901–1902 season, the venue was rented out to producers, who presented such shows as ''Under Southern Skies'', ''The Happy Hypocrite'', and '' Mistress Nell''.

Theatrical operator David Belasco agreed in January 1902 to lease the Republic from Hammerstein, after the latter had visited Belasco's Carnegie Hall office to lament that "the Theatrical Syndicate is trying to crush me out of business". Belasco planned to present productions starring silent-film actress Mrs. Leslie Carter. Belasco filed plans for major renovations to both the auditorium and the stage, and he took over the theater in April 1902. He hired the firm of Bigelow, Wallis & Cotton to conduct the renovations, and he hired Rudolph Allen as the interior designer. Belasco initially planned to spend only $15,000 to $20,000, but he eventually gutted the entire interior, spending $150,000. The stage and auditorium were entirely reconstructed, and a basement was excavated underneath the stage to accommodate trap doors and the stage elevator. Belasco also built an apartment for himself and Mrs. Carter above the auditorium. As workers were excavating an area under the stage, they hit a spring by mistake, flooding the site. Belasco's assistant, Louis Hartmann, convinced him to add a laboratory directly above the dome to test out lighting and stage effects.

Belasco renamed the theater after himself, and it reopened on September 29, 1902, with the play ''Du Barry'' featuring Mrs. Carter. One of the renovated theater's early successes was Belasco's play ''The Darling of the Gods'', which opened in December 1902 and lasted for 182 performances.
Belasco's play '' Sweet Kitty Bellairs'' opened at the theater in December 1903, running for more than 300 performances, followed by ''The Music Master'' the next year. The theater's other plays included '' The Girl of the Golden West'' in 1905; ''The Rose of the Rancho'' in 1906; '' The Warrens of Virginia'' in 1907; and ''The Devil'' in 1909. Although Belasco was involved in many of these productions, the extent of his involvement varied widely. George Arliss, Cecil B. DeMille, Mary Pickford, and Tyrone Power Sr. were among the other actors who appeared at the Belasco in its early years. By 1906, Belasco was unsure whether he would be able to renew his lease on his namesake theater, so he decided to develop the Stuyvesant Theatre on 44th Street, incorporating many of the innovations that he had developed at the 42nd Street theater.

1910s

Belasco's lease was again scheduled for renewal in 1910, prompting him to rename the theater yet again that July. The 42nd Street theater became the Republic, while the 44th Street theater became the Belasco. The renamed theater's first production was ''Bobby Burnit'', which opened in August 1910. The New York City government announced the same year that it would widen 42nd Street, requiring that the Republic Theatre's stoop be demolished. Around that time, Hammerstein also indicated his intent to sell the theater. The Republic hosted the plays ''Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'' in 1910, '' The Woman'' in 1911, and ''The Governor's Lady'' in 1912; all of these shows lasted for several months. In January 1914, Belasco leased the Republic to the Universal Film Company for use as a cinema. Hammerstein, who feared that people would boycott the theater, sued Belasco, claiming that the lease only permitted Belasco to use the theater for "first-class theatrical performances".

Hammerstein won his lawsuit against Belasco and Universal in March 1914, prompting Belasco to give up his lease. A. H. Woods leased the Republic Theatre at the end of that month. Woods's first production at the theater was ''The High Cost of Loving'', which opened that August.
Cleves Kinkead's '' Common Clay'' opened at the theater in 1915, running for over 300 performances, and Clare Kummer's play ''Good Gracious, Annabelle'' was staged at the Republic the next year. Afterward, Woods began to lease out the theater, as he could not produce all of these shows by himself. Among the Republic's plays in 1917 were Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin's ''Lilac Time'', John N. Raphael's '' Peter Ibbetson'', and Lou Tellegen and Willard Mack's ''Blind Youth