Broadway Theatre

Broadway Theatre, New York.

1. At 326 Broadway. Modelled on the Haymarket Theatre in London, and resplendent in gold and white, this theatre opened in 1847 with Henry Wallack in Sheridan's The School for Scandal, his nephew Lester Wallack making his first appearance in New York in the after-piece. When the old Park Theatre was destroyed by fire in 1848 the Broadway took its place as a home for visiting stars. Edwin Forrest was appearing there during the riot at the Astor Place Opera House. This theatre also saw the first production of Boker's epoch-making Francesca da Rimini (1855). Shortly afterwards excavations next door caused the theatre to collapse, and although it was quickly rebuilt it never regained its former eminence. It turned to equestrian drama and finally closed in 1859.

2. At Broadway and West 41st Street. This opened as the Metropolitan Casino in 1880 and was rebuilt and renamed the Broadway, opening with Fanny Davenport in Sardou's Tosca in 1888. Several productions, including Ben-Hur (1899), adapted from Lew Wallace's novel, and an English pantomime imported from London in 1901, had long runs; but in 1907 all the theatre's previous records were broken by the immense popularity of Frances Hodgson Burnett's Little Lord Fauntleroy. Among the European visitors who played at this theatre were Modjeska and Salvini; Helen Hayes also appeared there as a child. It became a cinema early in 1913 and was demolished in 1929.

3. A cinema at 1681 Broadway and 53rd Street which opened in 1924 is now used as a theatre, and since 1930 (with the exception of 1937–40) has been known as the Broadway. From 1930 to 1935 it housed a musical, The New Yorkers, Earl Carroll's Vanities, and vaudeville. In 1943, after another period as a cinema, it was again used for musicals, with Carmen Jones; in 1959 Gypsy, starring Ethel Merman, began a long run; Cabaret moved in from the Imperial Theatre in 1968. Later successes included Candide (1974), based on Voltaire, The Wiz (1977), transferred from the Majestic, Evita (1979) by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Les Misérables (1987).

A building at 410 Broadway, originally called the Euterpean Hall, was named the Broadway Theatre for a brief period in 1837, as were Wallack's Lyceum in its last years, and Daly's Theatre at 1221 Broadway in 1877–8.