Helen Hayes Theatre

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Helen Hayes Theatre, New York.

1. On West 46th Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue. Originally a theatre restaurant which failed, it was remodelled and opened as the Fulton Theatre, seating 1, 160, in 1911. Its first success was Hazelton and Benrimo's The Yellow Jacket; equally successful was Brieux's Damaged Goods (1913). Abie's Irish Rose (1922) by Anne Nichols began its long run there before moving, and among later productions were Lonsdale's The High Road (1928), the Stokes's Oscar Wilde (1938) with Robert Morley, and Kesselring's Arsenic and Old Lace (1941). A play on the Negro problem, Deep are the Roots (1945) by Arnaud d'Usseau and James Gow, was also seen. In 1955 the Fulton was renamed in recognition of the stage jubilee of Helen Hayes, who appeared there in 1958 as Nora in O'Neill's A Touch of the Poet. In 1961 Jean Kerr's Mary, Mary started a three-year run, to be followed by the same author's Poor Richard (1964). An adaptation of Muriel Spark's novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1968) starred Zoë Caldwell, and Alec McCowen played the title-role in Peter Luke's Hadrian VII (1969). The Me Nobody Knows (1970) was an unusual musical based on the writings of New York tenement children. Later productions included Royce Ryton's Crown Matrimonial (1973), a revival of George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber's The Royal Family (1975), and Strider: The Story of a Horse (1979), a musical based on a short story by Tolstoy. The theatre was demolished in 1982, together with the nearby Morosco Theatre.

2. On West 44th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. Built by Winthrop Ames as a try-out theatre, it opened as the Little Theatre in 1912. Productions in the first year included Schnitzler's Anatol with John Barry-more, Prunella by Laurence Housman and Harley Granville-Barker, Shaw's The Philanderer, and a revival of Clyde Fitch's Truth. The Shuberts later took control, enlarging the seating capacity from 300 to 600, but the theatre was never very successful and after several changes of name and use the New York Times bought it in 1941 and used it for lectures, recitals, and television. In 1963 it reverted to live theatre, and in 1964, when Frank D. Gilroy's The Subject was Roses was transferred there, the name was changed to the Winthrop Ames Theatre; but a year later it reverted to its original name and was used for television. It became a theatre again in 1974 and Albert Innaurato's Gemini ran from 1977 until the early 1980s. The name was changed in 1983 during the run of Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy.

Helen Hayes Theatres (New York). The famous actress has had her name attached to two Broadway theatres, which seems only right for one of the American theatre's most beloved stars. The first was a structure on West 46th Street that opened in 1911 as a restaurant‐theatre called the Folies‐Bergère, but the plan to copy the famous Paris attraction quickly failed, so it was remodeled into a legit theatre called the Fulton a few months later. The Henry Herts‐ and Tallant‐designed playhouse had only 1,000 seats and featured a pastel‐colored interior that was deemed one of the loveliest on Broadway. Although it switched to films a few times during the Depression, the Fulton was a favorite venue for plays, and it was renamed after Helen Hayes in 1955. Despite many protests, the old theatre was torn down in 1982 to make way for the Marriott Marquis Hotel, which included a new, larger theatre for musicals. The developers offered to name the new venue after Hayes, but she politely declined the offer. Instead the Little Theatre on West 44th Street was renamed after her in 1983, and it remains the Helen Hayes Theatre today. The Little was built by Winthrop Ames in 1912 as a small space (299 seats) in the colonial style for new and innovative plays. The venture failed and a balcony was added in 1916 to make it a more traditional Broadway house. With twice as much seating, the Little found tenants until it became a lecture hall in 1931 and a television studio in 1959. It returned as a legit house in 1963 and was renamed the Winthrop Ames Theatre for two years. Today the intimate little space is ideal for small or one‐person shows and has been frequently booked.