Broadway Theatre (53rd Street)

This article is about an individual theatre of this name. For theatre district and the collection of 500+ seat theatres in New York City that are referred to as "Broadway", see Broadway theatre.
Broadway Theatre
Universal's Colony Theatre
B.S. Moss' Broadway Theatre
Early Carroll's Broadway Theatre
Ciné Roma

The Broadway Theatre in 2010, when it played host to Promises, Promises
Address 1681 Broadway
New York City
United States
Coordinates 40°45′49″N 73°59′01″W / 40.763481°N 73.983492°W / 40.763481; -73.983492Coordinates: 40°45′49″N 73°59′01″W / 40.763481°N 73.983492°W / 40.763481; -73.983492
Owner The Shubert Organization
Type Broadway
Capacity 1,761
Production Fiddler on the Roof
Construction
Opened December 25, 1924
Rebuilt 1956
1986
Architect Eugene De Rosa
Website
www.shubert.nyc/theatres/broadway
Entrance, showing The Color Purple
The Broadway Theatre during the run of Sister Act, ca. 2011.

The Broadway Theatre (formerly Universal's Colony Theatre, B.S. Moss' Broadway Theatre, Earl Carroll's Broadway Theatre, and Ciné Roma) is a Broadway theatre located in midtown Manhattan. It has a large seating capacity of 1,761, and unlike most Broadway theaters, it is actually located on Broadway, at number 1681.

Designed by architect Eugene De Rosa for Benjamin S. Moss, it opened as B.S. Moss's Colony Theatre on Christmas Day 1924 as a venue for vaudeville shows and motion pictures. The theater has operated under many names and owners. It was renamed Universal's Colony Theatre, B.S. Moss' Broadway Theatre, and Earl Carroll's Broadway Theatre before becoming a legitimate theater house simply called Broadway Theatre on December 8, 1930. In 1937, known as Ciné Roma, it showed Italian films.[1] For a short time during the 1950s it showed Cinerama films.[2]

On November 18, 1928 the first Mickey Mouse cartoon released to the public, Steamboat Willie, debuted at the Colony. Producer Walt Disney returned on November 13, 1940 to debut the feature film Fantasia in Fantasound, an early stereo system.

The legitimate theater opened in 1930 with The New Yorkers by Cole Porter. Stars such as Milton Berle, Alfred Drake, José Ferrer, Eartha Kitt, Vivien Leigh, Zero Mostel, and Mae West have appeared on stage.[1]

The Shubert Organization bought the theater in 1939 and renovated it extensively in 1956 and 1986. It has long been a popular theatre for producers of musicals because of large seating capacity, and the large stage, which is nearly sixty feet deep. Often plays that have become successful in smaller theaters have transferred to the Broadway Theatre.[1]

Notable productions

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The Broadway Theatre". New York Show Tickets. New York TV Show Tickets Inc. 2008. Retrieved February 14, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Broadway Theater History". New York City Theater. 2011. Retrieved February 14, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Sexaholix". Playbill Vault. 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2015.

External links

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