Boston

Boston, Mass. Early efforts to introduce plays into Boston met with fierce puritanical opposition, and Othello, on its first showing, had to be presented as a ‘Moral Lecture against the Sin of Jealousy’. Plays continued to be disguised in this way even after the building of the first permanent playhouse in 1792. At least two more theatres were built before the end of the century, the Federal Street in 1794 and the Haymarket in 1796; the former, a brick building, was destroyed by fire in 1798, immediately rebuilt, and then survived until 1852. Its greatest rival for many years was the Tremont Street Theatre, which opened in 1827 and was destroyed by fire in 1852, having ceased to be used as a theatre in 1843. In 1832 the American Amphitheatre was opened, but it was also burned down in 1852. The best known and most successful theatre in the town was the Boston Museum. The first playhouse of this name opened in 1841, and proved so popular that in 1846 a much larger theatre was erected. It underwent major renovation in 1872, and survived until 1893, reaching the peak of its prosperity between 1873 and 1883, when it housed an excellent resident stock company with good visiting stars. In 1846 J. H. Hackett opened the Howard Athenaeum, and in 1854 the Boston Theatre was built to replace the Federal Street Theatre. With a seating capacity of 3,140 and an almost circular auditorium, it was one of the most advanced theatre buildings of its time. The centenary of the Federal Street Theatre saw the opening of the Castle Square Theatre. Situated at the junction of Tremont, Chandler, and Ferdinand Streets, it held 1,800. Boston's pre-eminence in theatre, however, has now waned, and it no longer ranks as one of the outstanding theatrical cities of the United States.