Century Theatre

Century Theatre, New York.

1. On Central Park West at 62nd Street, erected by Winthrop Ames, in association with Lee Shubert, to further his plan to establish a true repertory theatre in New York. It opened in 1909 as the New Theatre, but Ames's venture was not a success and it closed, to reopen as the Century in 1911. It housed mainly musical shows, but in 1916 Shakespeare's Tercentenary was celebrated by a fine production of The Tempest, and in 1921 Martin-Harvey appeared in Hamlet. In 1924 Reinhardt's production of Karl Vollmöller's spectacle-play The Miracle, with striking scenery by Norman Bel Geddes, was a great success. Reinhardt returned in 1927 with his productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hofmannsthal's version of Everyman, and Büchner's Dantons Tod. The theatre closed in 1929 and was demolished a year later. On the roof was a small theatre known as the Cocoanut Grove or the Century Grove which staged intimate revue and plays for children.

2. On 7th Avenue, between 58th and 59th Streets, large playhouse opened by the Shuberts as the Jolson in 1921. In 1923 it housed an epoch-making visit by the company of the Moscow Art Theatre under Stanislavsky which had a lasting influence on the American stage. The following year saw a visit from Gémier of the Paris Odéon and the opening of Romberg's famous musical The Student Prince, which had a long run. In 1932 a company called the Shakespeare Theatre gave 15 of Shakespeare's plays at low prices to a mainly student audience. The theatre, which from 1934 to 1937 was known as the Venice, also housed for a time the Federal Theatre Project. It was renamed the Century in 1944 and in 1946 saw a visit from the Old Vic company headed by Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson. Kiss Me, Kate, Cole Porter's musical, began a long run in 1948. The theatre was demolished in 1961.