|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries: |
Research categories | Follow us on Twitter |
Research categories
View all topics in the newsView all reference sources at Encyclopedia.com |
|||
Biltmore Theatre
Biltmore Theatre (New York). This problem‐plagued theatre on West 47th Street was nearly lost after years of flops and neglect but in 2003 became the latest restored Broadway house. It was built in 1925 by the speculating Chanin Brothers, but because the Herbert J. Krapp–designed house had fewer than a thousand seats, it was difficult to book and the brothers lost it during the Great Depression. The Federal Theatre Project used the theatre for some of its famous “Living Newspaper” productions in the 1930s, and in the 1940s it housed several shows by George Abbott. The Biltmore became a television studio in 1951, returned to legit status in 1961, then floundered until 1987 when it closed. Years of neglect and vandalism made restoring the small theatre uneconomical, but in 2003 it was restored as part of a new apartment complex and, the auditorium reduced to 650 seats, it reopened as the Broadway home for the nonprofit Manhattan Theatre Club.
|
|
|
Cite this article
Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Biltmore Theatre." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Biltmore Theatre." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-BiltmoreTheatre.html Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Biltmore Theatre." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-BiltmoreTheatre.html |
|
Biltmore Theatre
Biltmore Theatre, New York, on West 47th Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue. Seating 994, it opened in 1925 and had an undistinguished career until 1928, when Pleasure Man by Mae West was closed by the police after three performances. In 1936 the Federal Theatre Project presented its experimental Living Newspaper, Triple-A Plowed Under. Warner Brothers then bought the theatre, and George Abbott staged for them a number of successful shows. Later productions included My Sister Eileen (1940), based on stories by Ruth McKenny. The theatre was used for broadcasting, 1952–62, but in 1963 Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park began a long run, and in 1968 came the epoch-making hippie musical Hair, revived in 1977. William Douglas Home's The Kingfisher, starring Rex Harrison, was staged in 1978. The theatre has been dark since 1987.
|
|
|
Cite this article
PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Biltmore Theatre." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Biltmore Theatre." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-BiltmoreTheatre.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Biltmore Theatre." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-BiltmoreTheatre.html |
|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries:
HighBeam™ Research, Inc. © Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
The Encyclopedia.com advertising network includes:
