|
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 |
|||
Neil Simon Theatre
Neil Simon Theatre, New York, on West 52nd Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue, a handsome building with an Adam-style interior seating 1,344. It opened in 1927 as the Alvin with the Gershwins' Funny Face, taking its name from the first syllables of the names of Alex A. Aarons and Vinton Freedley, who built it and retained control until 1932. It was used mainly for musical shows with such stars as the Astaires, Ginger Rogers, and Ethel Merman, but also for occasional straight plays, among them Mary of Scotland by Maxwell Anderson (1933). The Gershwins' folk opera Porgy and Bess was first seen there (1935), and Kaufman and Hart's I'd Rather be Right (1937) inaugurated a series of successful productions, including Rodgers and Hart's The Boys from Syracuse (1938) and the Lunts in Sherwood's There Shall be no Night (1940). In 1945 Margaret Webster produced The Tempest with the Negro actor Canada Lee as Caliban. Later successes were Ingrid Bergman in Maxwell Anderson's Joan of Lorraine (1946); Sidney Kingsley's dramatization of Koestler's novel Darkness at Noon (1951); Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962) and Company (1970); and The Great White Hope (1968) by Howard Sackler. The musical Annie began a long run in 1977, and in 1983, while Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs was playing there, the theatre was renamed. His Biloxi Blues followed in 1985, and in 1989 Vanessa Redgrave starred in Tennessee Williams's Orpheus Descending.
|
|
|
Cite this article
PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Neil Simon Theatre." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Neil Simon Theatre." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-NeilSimonTheatre.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Neil Simon Theatre." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-NeilSimonTheatre.html |
|
Neil Simon Theatre
Neil Simon Theatre (New York). A popular musical house located on the edge of the theatre district (West 52nd Street), the playhouse opened in 1927 as the Alvin Theatre, its name fashioned by the first syllables of the producers Alex Aarons and Vinton Freedley who built it. Herbert J. Krapp designed the 1,400‐seat theatre, which was in the style of the eighteenth‐century English playhouses. The opening production, the Gershwins' Funny Face (1927), was a hit; and over the years the Alvin saw many others, from Anything Goes (1934) and Lady in the Dark (1941) to Company (1970) and Annie (1977). The theatre is owned by the Nederlanders who in 1983 renamed it after Neil Simon whose hit Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983) was playing there at the time.
|
|
|
Cite this article
Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Neil Simon Theatre." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Neil Simon Theatre." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-NeilSimonTheatre.html Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Neil Simon Theatre." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-NeilSimonTheatre.html |
|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries:
HighBeam™ Research, Inc. © Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
The Encyclopedia.com advertising network includes:
