The Broadway Theatre (formerly Universal's Colony Theatre, B.S. Moss's Broadway Theatre, Earl Carroll's Broadway Theatre, and Ciné Roma) is a Broadway theater at 1681 Broadway (near 53rd Street) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1924, the theater was designed by Eugene De Rosa for Benjamin S. Moss, who originally operated the venue as a movie theater. It has approximately 1,763 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. The Broadway Theatre is one of the few Broadway theaters that is physically on Broadway.
The Broadway's facade was originally designed in the Italian Renaissance style and was made of brick and terracotta. The modern facade of the theater is made of polished granite and is part of the office building at 1675 Broadway, completed in 1990. The auditorium contains an orchestra level, one balcony, and box seats. The modern design of the auditorium dates to a 1986 renovation, when Oliver Smith redecorated the theater in a reddish color scheme. The office building is cantilevered above the auditorium.
B.S. Moss's Colony Theatre opened on Christmas Day 1924 and was originally leased to Universal Pictures Corporation. Moss renovated the venue for legitimate shows and reopened it as the Broadway Theatre on December 8, 1930. The theater had several operators over the next decade, and it switched between hosting legitimate shows, movies, and vaudeville. Lee Shubert and Clifford Fischer took over the Broadway Theatre in December 1939, and the Shubert family bought the theater in 1940. Since then, the Broadway has largely been used as a legitimate theater, though it was briefly used for movies in 1947 and in 1952–1953. The Broadway was extensively rebuilt in the late 1980s. Over the years, it has hosted many long-running musicals that have transferred from other theaters, as well as other long-lasting shows such as Evita, Les Misérables, and Miss Saigon.
The Broadway Theatre is at the southwest corner of Broadway and 53rd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City.[1] It is one of the few active Broadway theaters that are physically on Broadway.[2][a]
Its original exterior was designed in the Italian Renaissance style and was made of brick and terracotta.[5] The exterior contained a double-height electric sign.[6] The original building covered 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2); there was 1,150 square feet (107 m2) of office space above the theater's lobby and two stores on Broadway.[7] In addition, there was a wrought-iron ticket booth.[8] There were 18 exits, allowing it to be evacuated within three minutes.[7] Due to the presence of the now-demolished Sixth Avenue elevated line on 53rd Street, the theater had soundproof double doors on that street.[9]
The modern facade of the theater (which has its own address at 1681 Broadway) is part of the 1675 Broadway office building,[5] completed in 1990.[10] The facade of 1675 Broadway, designed by Fox & Fowle, consists of polished granite in deep-green and greenish-gray hues.[5][11] The seven-story facade on Broadway, which contains the entrance, was refaced in a similar material, with contemporary and Art Deco-style decorations.[11][12] There is an Art Deco marquee in front of the theater as well. The massing consists of several horizontal and vertical setbacks, inspired by the massing of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The lower stories have recessed windows; the upper-story windows are surrounded by flame-finished granite panels, which give the impression of depth.[12] When 1675 Broadway was constructed, the theater's air rights were used to increase the height of the office building.[12][13]
The office building's seventh and eighth stories contain large trusses above the theater, which cantilever the upper stories over the theater at a depth of 45 feet (14 m).[11] There are six trusses spanning the theater from north to south; the largest truss weighs 200 short tons (180 long tons; 180 t).[12] The office building's ninth and tenth stories each contain 28,000 square feet (2,600 m2) of space, while the next ten stories each contain 24,000 square feet (2,200 m2).[11][12] The upper floors taper to 16,000 square feet (1,500 m2).[11] The building has 35 stories and 750,000 square feet (70,000 m2) in total.[12][14] There was mixed architectural commentary of the current building's design. Although Paul Goldberger called the building "exceptionally handsome, even dignified", another critic described the structure as "unpleasantly monolithic".[12]
The Broadway Theatre has an orchestra, one mezzanine-level balcony, and boxes. According to the Shubert Organization, the theater has 1,763 seats.[15] Meanwhile, Ken Bloom describes the theater as having 1,765 seats;[16] The Broadway League gives a contrasting figure of 1,761 seats;[17] and Playbill cites 1,738 seats.[18] The physical seats are divided into 909 seats in the orchestra, 250 at the front of the mezzanine, 584 at the rear of the mezzanine, and 20 in the boxes.[15] In the early 20th century, the theater had 2,500 seats.[7][9] When the theater opened, the balcony level was carried by a 40-short-ton (36-long-ton; 36 t) girder, supported solely by the side walls. This allowed the entire theater to be a column-free space.[19]
The Broadway Theatre was decorated ornately with marble and bronze.[5][7] The color scheme was largely composed of gold, white, bronze, and gray decorations.[7] One critic described the theater as having pink and gold decorations, crystal lighting, and soft carpets.[20] In the mid-20th century, the theater was repainted in a blue color scheme, which set designer Oliver Smith likened to "a coal mine".[21] Smith redecorated the theater in a reddish color scheme in 1986, since he felt red was the "color that arouses emotion".[21] At the front of the theater was an organ that could be raised or lowered, as well as a projector in the orchestra pit.[8] In the 2000s, the Broadway's orchestra pit was one of the largest in a Broadway theater.[22]
The proscenium opening measures about 46 feet 6 inches (14.17 m) wide and 27 feet (8.2 m) tall. The depth of the auditorium to the proscenium is 54 feet 3 inches (16.54 m), while the depth to the front of the stage is 57 feet 4 inches (17.48 m).[15] The stage was originally 20 feet (6.1 m) deep, but it was expanded in 1930 to 55 feet (17 m) deep by 90 feet (27 m) wide.[9] Following these modifications, the stage also had three lifts. There were dressing rooms for 200 performers, as well as space for up to 50 stage crew members.[23] The Broadway has long been a popular theater for producers of musicals because of its large seating capacity, and the large stage. Successful shows in smaller theaters have frequently transferred to the Broadway Theatre.[24]
Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and the Great Depression.[25] Manhattan's theater district had begun to shift from Union Square and Madison Square during the first decade of the 20th century.[26][27] From 1901 to 1920, forty-three theaters were built around Broadway in Midtown Manhattan.[28] Additionally, movie palaces became common in the 1920s between the end of World War I and the beginning of the Great Depression.[29][30] The Colony Theatre, as the current Broadway Theatre on 53rd Street was originally known, was developed as a movie palace by B. S. Moss, who had previously operated the now-demolished Broadway Theatre on 41st Street.[16][31]
In 1923, the Neponsit Building Company acquired the five-story Standard Storage Warehouse[32] and three dwellings at the corner of Broadway and 53rd Street.[33] That July, Eugene de Rosa filed plans for a theater and office building on the site, which was to cost $350,000.[32][34] The site measured 56 feet (17 m) on Broadway and 112 feet (34 m) on 53rd Street, with a wing extending 18 feet (5.5 m) along 52nd Street.[32][33] The theater was to be used for vaudeville and films.[32] By mid-1924, Moss was developing the theater, which still had no name.[35][36] Moss announced in mid-December 1924 that the theater would be named the Colony,[37] and Edwin Franko Goldman was hired to lead the Colony's orchestra.[8][38] The theater cost $2 million to complete and was originally leased to Universal Pictures Corporation.[23]
B. S. Moss's Colony Theatre opened on December 25, 1924, with the film The Thief of Bagdad.[20][39] Soon after the theater opened, Moss installed an automated air-cooling system in the theater.[40] The Colony began screening movies during early mornings in October 1925, starting with The Freshman.[41] In its early years, the Colony screened Universal films such as Friendly Enemies,[42] A Woman's Faith,[43] The Flaming Frontier,[44] and The Cat and the Canary.[45] Additionally, the theater hosted a weekly "lingerie revue" with fashion models.[46] Moss left the vaudeville business in late 1927, retaining the Colony as his only theater.[47]
In early 1928, WABC announced that it would begin broadcasting concerts from the venue on Sundays.[48] After the film We Americans flopped in April 1928, the Colony closed temporarily, and Moss considered leasing it for vaudeville.[49] Theatrical operator Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. was negotiating to lease the Colony that June,[50] but he initially balked because he considered the $225,000 annual rent to be too expensive.[51] By that August, Ziegfeld had tentatively agreed to lease the Colony for musical productions and renovate the theater.[52] Meanwhile, the Colony resumed screenings during late 1928. Among those were Steamboat Willie, screened that November as the first Mickey Mouse cartoon to be released to the public,[53] and a documentary about the New York Stock Exchange, screened that December.[54]
Moss took back the Colony Theatre in February 1930 and announced that he would begin hosting musicals there.[55][56][57] He expanded the Colony into an adjacent parcel;[9][58] according to The New York Times, "the theatre was gutted until only its four walls remained."[23] The auditorium was also expanded to 2,000 seats.[56][57] The venue became Moss's Broadway Theatre, since that name had been freed up by the demolition of the old Broadway Theatre on 41st Street.[57][59] The Broadway's first legitimate show, The New Yorkers by Cole Porter, opened on December 8, 1930;[60][61] at the time, it was the largest Broadway theater.[61] Moss claimed that the theater would only host shows with "a price scale that is within the reach of every man's pocketbook", but tickets for The New Yorkers cost up to $5.50, which during the Great Depression was unaffordable for many people.[62] The New Yorkers closed in May 1931,[63] after which the theater stood dark for several months.[64]
In September 1931, Moss announced that he would simultaneously present musical revues and talking pictures at the Broadway for twelve weeks.[65][66] The theater then reverted to live shows.[64][67] Moss sold the theater in July 1932 to Amalgamated Properties Inc.[68] The same year, Earl Carroll took over the theater,[69] which was renamed Earl Carroll's Broadway Theatre.[70] The Broadway hosted The Earl Carroll Vanities,[60] which featured Milton Berle, Helen Broderick, and Harriet Hoctor and ran for 11 weeks.[71] By February 1933, Associated Artists Productions was hosting an opera series at the Broadway.[72][73] Stanley Lawton then leased the theater, and the Broadway began showing vaudeville that November.[74] The theater once again hosted opera performances in 1934.[75] The Broadway's next legitimate show was the operetta The O'Flynn, which opened in December 1934[76][77] and closed after a week.[78] The Broadway Theatre was leased to the Chasebee Theatre Corporation in August 1935 as part of a receivership proceeding against the Prudence Company.[79]
The theater then switched once more to showing films,[80] reopening as B. S. Moss's Broadway Theatre on October 12, 1935.[70][81] The Broadway screened double features accompanied by short stage shows.[81][82] The vaudevillian Gus Edwards leased the Broadway in March 1936 and renamed the theater Gus Edwards' Sho-Window.[83][84] Edwards began showing vaudeville at the Broadway the next month,[85][86] but it only lasted for two weeks.[87] The Nuvo Mondo Motion Pictures Corporation then leased the Broadway Theatre in February 1937.[88][89] The venue was renamed the Ciné Roma and began showing Italian films.[70] Lee Shubert and Clifford Fischer took over the Broadway Theatre in December 1939, renovating the theater to accommodate the Folies Bergère revue,[90][91] which only ran until February 1940.[92]
The Broadway then hosted long-running musicals that had transferred from other theaters,[93] beginning with Rodgers and Hart's Too Many Girls in April 1940.[94] To raise money for British soldiers during World War II, Walt Disney showed his feature film Fantasia in November 1940;[95][96] it was the first Disney film rendered in Fantasound, an early stereo system.[97] This was followed in 1942 by the Irving Berlin musical This Is The Army;[98][99] a season of productions from the New Opera Company;[100] and a transfer of the comedy My Sister Eileen.[101] In 1943, the Broadway hosted the musical Lady in the Dark,[102][103] the operetta The Student Prince,[104][105] and performances by the San Carlo Opera Company in repertory.[93][106] The same year, theatrical operator Michael Todd reneged on a plan to lease the Broadway,[107][108] and the Yaw Theatre Corporation took over the theater.[109][110] The Shubert family's Trebuhs Realty Company acquired the Broadway in July 1943.[109] That December, Billy Rose brought his operetta Carmen Jones to the Broadway Theatre;[111] it ran for 503 performances.[112][113]
The play The Tempest[114][115] and the musical Memphis Bound! had brief runs in 1945,[116][117] followed by a transfer of Up in Central Park that June,[93][118] which lasted nine months.[119] In mid-1946, the Shuberts acquired the 25-foot-wide (7.6 m) plot at the corner of Broadway and 53rd Street; the theater building had already been extended into the corner lot, but that part of the theater had previously been leased from the landowner.[120][121] Also in 1946, the Broadway hosted transfers of the operetta Song of Norway[122][123] and the play A Flag Is Born;[124] a season of ballet;[125] and Duke Ellington and John La Touche's musical Beggar's Holiday.[126][127]
After Beggar's Holiday closed in March 1947,[128] United Artists leased the Broadway as a movie theater,[129] paying $5,000 a week for one year.[130] The first film UA screened at the theater was Charlie Chaplin's Monsieur Verdoux that April.[131] The Broadway Theatre was unprofitable and closed in July 1947 due to lack of films,[130] but it reopened in September for the New York premiere of the banned film The Outlaw starring Jane Russell.[130][132] The Cradle Will Rock relocated to the Broadway in early 1948,[133] followed the same year by a limited repertory engagement by the Habimah Players,[134][135] a three-week concert series,[136] and a transfer of High Button Shoes.[137][138] The Spanish revue Cabalgata opened at the theater in July 1949,[139] running for three months.[140]
The Katherine Dunham Company performed at the Broadway in 1950,[141][142] followed by Olsen and Johnson's musical Pardon Our French, which flopped after 100 performances.[143][144] In 1951, the Broadway hosted transfers of the musical Where's Charley? and the play The Green Pastures,[135] as well as a limited engagement of the musical Oklahoma!.[145][146] Mae West's Diamond Lil had a brief run later that year.[147][148] It was followed in early 1952 by Kiss Me, Kate,[149][150] ANTA's version of Four Saints in Three Acts[151][152] and the all-Black revue Shuffle Along.[153][154] Lee Shubert leased the theater in mid-1952 to Cinerama Productions, which added a wide screen for Cinerama films.[155][156] The Broadway reopened as a Cinerama theater on September 30, 1952, with the film This Is Cinerama,[157][158] which transferred to the Warner Theatre in February 1953.[159] The venue returned to legitimate use in June 1953,[135]