Century Theatre

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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.

Century Theatre (New York). The playhouse on Seventh Avenue at 59th Street had almost as many names as it had tenants. It opened as Jolson's 59th Street Theatre in 1921, and over the next forty years was called the Century, the Shakespeare, the Venice, the Yiddish Art, the Molly Picon, and the New Century Theatre. Herbert J. Krapp designed the musical house for the Shuberts who named it after Al Jolson, who appeared in the inaugural production of Bombo (1921). The show was a hit, but Jolson never performed at the theatre again. Companies ranging from the Moscow Art Theatre to the Federal Theatre Project to the Old Vic were presented here, as well as such illustrious musicals as The Student Prince (1924) and (its longest tenant) Kiss Me, Kate (1948). The Century was used as a television studio in the 1950s then in 1962 was demolished to make room for an apartment building.