Empire Theatre

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Empire Theatre (New York). For many years the oldest and most prestigious playhouse in New York, it was built by Al Hayman and Charles Frohman and stood directly across Broadway from the Metropolitan Opera House, one door away from 40th Street. The architect was J. B. McElfatrick, and while his design was undistinguished it was nonetheless attractive. A long lobby, in later seasons hung with portraits of noted stars, led to a rococo auditorium decorated in rich reds and gold. The theatre opened in 1893 with The Girl I Left Behind Me and for the next twenty‐two years, until Frohman's death, served as his flagship. The producer was insistent that the theatre's first attraction be an American play on an American theme, but his penchant for English and French successes meant that its early bills were primarily importations. Thus, the house witnessed the American premieres of numerous works by Pinero, Henry Arthur Jones, Barrie, and Maugham. Peter Pan (1905) opened there, as did Captain Brassbound's Conversion (1907). The house was also the home of Frohman's most celebrated stars, such as Maude Adams, Ethel Barrymore, and John Drew. After Frohman's death the theatre continued to offer the greatest stars, often in fine plays: Barrymore in Déclassée (1919); Katharine Cornell in several plays, including her most famous vehicle, The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1930); Judith Anderson; Ruth Chatterton; Jane Cowl; Julie Harris; Doris Keane; Helen Menken; Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne; and Ethel Waters. The Empire was also home to America's longest‐running play, Life with Father (1939). For all its fame the theatre was threatened with the loss of its license in 1926 when it housed a controversial play about lesbianism, The Captive. Authorities closed the play but never otherwise penalized the theatre. Its last play was The Time of the Cuckoo (1952), starring Shirley Booth. The building was demolished in 1953.

Empire Theatre, New York, on the south-east corner of Broadway and 40th Street. Built for Charles Frohman, this handsome edifice with its red and gold rococo interior opened in 1893 with Belasco's The Girl I Left behind Me. Let in the summer months to visiting touring companies, it housed during the winter not only Frohman's stock company but also companies led by John Drew and Maude Adams, who in 1905 was seen as Barrie's Peter Pan. One of the most popular plays seen at the Empire was Kester's When Knighthood was in Flower (1901) with Julia Marlowe. Other famous actresses who visited this theatre were Ellen Terry in Shaw's Captain Brassbound's Conversion (1907); Ethel Barrymore in Pinero's Mid-Channel (1910) and Zoë Akins's Déclassée (1919); and Jane Cowl in Coward's Easy Virtue (1925). In 1926 the Empire was temporarily closed by the authorities after the production of The Captive, a translation of Edouard Bourdet's controversial play La Prisonnière. It soon reopened and continued its successful career, Katharine Cornell appearing in Besier's The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1931) and Shaw's Candida (1937). Two important productions were Elmer Rice's We, the People (1933), with settings by Aline Bernstein, and Ibsen's Ghosts (1936) with Nazimova. Hamlet (also 1936), with John Gielgud, ran for 132 performances, breaking the records set up by Edwin Booth and John Barrymore. In 1939 came Lindsay and Crouse's Life with Father, which occupied the theatre for six years. After its transfer in 1946 the Empire staged Rattigan's O Mistress Mine with the Lunts. The theatre was demolished in 1953.

Empire Theatre, Liverpool, see LIVERPOOL.