Broadhurst Theatre


235 West 44th St. / New York City


Architect: Herbert J. Krapp
Owned by: The Shubert Organization
Capacity: 1,156
Opened: September 27, 1917
www.shubertorganization.com/theatres/broadhurst.asp

The Broadhurst Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 235 West 44th Street in midtown Manhattan.

It was designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, a well-known theatre designer who had been working directly with the
Shubert brothers; the Broadhurst opened 27 September 1917. Built back-to-back with the Plymouth, it was meant to
resemble the style of the neighboring Shubert and Booth theaters designed by Henry B. Herts, using less expensive
brick and terra cotta materials on the discreetly neoclassical facades. Like all of Krapp's work during this period, it
features minimal ornamentation, a single balcony, wide space, and excellent sightlines.

It was named after George Howells Broadhurst, an Anglo-American dramatist who came to America in 1886. In addition
to writing plays, he managed theaters in Milwaukee, Baltimore, and San Francisco before he decided to open his own in
association with the Shubert brothers. The theatre was constructed to house both musicals and plays, which it has done
successfully for nearly ninety years. It has been designated a New York City landmark.


The Broadhurst opened on September 27, 1917 with George Bernard Shaw's Misalliance, the first New York production
of the philosophical 1910 comedy. It ran for only 52 performances and was not performed on Broadway again until 1953.

Other tenants include Les Miserables, which in October 2006 began an intended six-month-long return engagement that
finally closed in January 2008; and 2008 revivals of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, with an all-African American cast including
Terrence Howard, Anika Noni Rose, James Earl Jones, and Phylicia Rashad, and Equus, starring Daniel Radcliffe and
Richard Griffiths.

Other productions: 1918: George and Ira Gershwin's "The Real American Folk Song" is in Ladies First
      (the first time one of their co-written tunes is heard on Broadway)
1919: Jane Cowl writes and stars in her popular romantic drama Smilin' Through (175 performances)
1924: Dixie to Broadway, starring Florence Mills, is the first all-Black show to have a real Broadway production.
1924: Beggar on Horseback, a George S. Kaufman-Marc Connelly collaboration, stars Roland Young. 1928: The Henderson-De Sylva-Brown musical Hold Everything starred Bert Lahr
1929: June Moon, a comedy by George S. Kaufman and Ring Lardner.
1931: Raymond Massey plays the prince in Hamlet.
1932: Leslie Howard produces and stars in Philip Barry's The Animal Kingdom opposite Ilka Chase.
1933: Sidney Kingsley's Men in White stars Luther Adler and Morris Carnovsky and wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
1935: Robert E. Sherwood's classic, The Petrified Forest, features Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart
1935: Helen Hayes and Vincent Price enjoy a 517-performance run in Victoria Regina.
1939: The Streets of Paris has an unlikely attraction - Carmen Miranda.
1940: Boys and Girls Together was an Ed Wynn carnival.
1942: One of America's top leading ladies, Eva La Gallienne, starred in Uncle Harry.
1943: Early To Bed had a score by Fats Waller.
1944: Agatha Christie arrives on Broadway with Ten Little Indians.
1945: Follow the Girls completed its 888-performance run at the Broadhurst.
1946: Anita Loos' comedy hit, Happy Birthday, wins star Helen Hayes the first Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.
1948: Make Mine Manhattan was a musical revue starring Sid Caeser.
1949: Along Fifth Ave. was a short-lived musical for Nancy Walker and Jackie Gleason.
1949: Ralph Bellamy stars in the police station thriller Detective Story.
1951: Barbara Cook makes her Broadway debut in the short-lived Flahooley.
1951: Olivia de Haviland stars in Romeo and Juliet.
1952: Pal Joey revival runs for 540 performances and wins Tony Award for Helen Gallagher.

1956: Rosalind Russell has the title role in Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's Auntie Mame.
1958: France Nuyen and William Shatner co-star in Paul Osborn's The World of Suzie Wong.
1959: Fiorello! (Bock-Sheldon Harnick score; directed by George Abbott) stars Tom Bosley, and wins a Tony and the Pulitzer.
1963: 110 in the Shade has a 330-performance run with Robert Horton, Will Geer, Lesley Ann Warren, and Inga Swenson.
1964: Oh, What a Lovely War! garners 4 Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical, and wins the Theatre World Award.
1966: Jill Haworth, Joel Grey, Jack Gilford, Lotte Lenya, and Bert Convy invite you to Kander-Ebb Cabaret 1,165 times.
1967: More Stately Mansions (Eugene O'Neill) has an all-star cast including Ingrid Bergman and Colleen Dewhurst.
1969: Woody Allen, Tony Roberts, and Diane Keaton forsake the screen to star in Allen's Play It Again, Sam
      The Fig Leaves Are Falling closes after only 4 performances.
1970: Cry for Us All, a musical adaptation of the hit off-Broadway play Hogan's Goat closes after 9 performances.
1971: 70, Girls, 70 was an unsuccessful collaboration by Kander and Ebb.
1972: Alan Arkin directs Jack Albertson and Sam Levene in Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys
1974: Marlo Thomas makes her Broadway debut in Herb Gardner's Thieves, directed by Charles Grodin.
1976: Katharine Hepburn and Christopher Reeve co-star in Enid Bagnold's drama A Matter of Gravity.
1976: Larry Gelbart's Sly Fox stars George C. Scott, Jack Gilford, Gretchen Wyler, and Hector Elizondo.
1978: Ann Reinking and Wayne Cilento star in director and choreographer Bob Fosse's Dancin'.
1980: Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, with Ian McKellen, Tim Curry, and Jane Seymour, settles in for a 1181-performance run. 1983: Alfonso Ribeiro plays the title role in The Tap Dance Kid with Hinton Battle, who wins a Tony.
1984: Dustin Hoffman is the toast of Broadway as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
1986: Linda Lavin wins a Tony in Neil Simon's Broadway Bound, co-starring Jason Alexander and Phyllis Newman.
1990: Aspects of Love proves to be one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's least successful shows.
1993: The McNally-Kander-Ebb Tony-winning musical Kiss of the Spider Woman stars Chita Rivera.
1996: Sarah Jessica Parker stars in a revival of the musical Once Upon a Mattress.
1998: Jerry Seinfeld delivered his final performance of his original stand-up act, I'm Telling You for the Last Time.
1999: Fosse is a revue featuring dance numbers from Chicago, Sweet Charity, and Pippin, among others.
2002: Vanessa Williams plays the Witch in a revival of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods.
2003: A musical adaptation of the film Urban Cowboy fails to find an audience.
2005: Lennon, featuring the former Beatle's music and lyrics, runs for 42 previews and 49 performances.
2006: Alan Bennett's The History Boys transfers from London with its cast intact.
2007: The Revival of Les Misérables stars Alexander Gemignani as Jean Valjean.
2008: A revival of Equus stars Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths.
2009 A production of Schiller's Mary Stuart stars Janet McTeer as Mary of Scots, Harriet Walter as Elizabeth of England.

(from www.flickr.com/)

Programs available from this theatre:

  • Fiorello! (1960)
  • Pal Joey (souvenir program / 1952)
  • Victoria Regina (1936)
  • The Merchant of Venice (1928)

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