Belasco Theatre

Belasco Theatre (New York). Producer‐playwright David Belasco built this up‐to‐date theatre in 1907 on West 44th Street with a modern stage lighting system to show off his realistic productions. Since he already had another theatre named the Belasco, he called this one the Stuyvesant, but three years later Belasco renamed it after himself when he lost the earlier house. George Keister designed the 1,100‐seat theatre that boasted a complex dimmer board, an elevator stage, and a private apartment overhead for Belasco. It opened with A Grand Army Man, cowritten and directed by the owner, and later featured such famous Belasco productions as The Return of Peter Grimm (1911), Kiki (1921), Lulu Belle (1926), and The Governor's Lady (1912) in which he recreated Child's restaurant onstage. The house became an NBC broadcasting studio in 1950 but three years later regained its legitimate status and has been in use as a theatre ever since. In 1991 the Shubert‐owned house became the home of Tony Randall's National Actors Theatre, but other tenants have used it as well.