25-797: The Minetta Lane Theatre is a 391-seat off-Broadway theatre at 18 Minetta Lane in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City . The theatre is owned by Liberty Theatres, a subsidiary of Reading International , which also owns the Orpheum in the East Village, Manhattan . Notable productions include Marvin's Room in 1992, Jeffrey in 1994, and The Last Five Years in 2002. In June 2018, British playwright Dennis Kelly 's one-woman play Girls & Boys , directed by Lyndsey Turner and starring Carey Mulligan , had
50-454: A film adaptation by Paramount Pictures was directed by Peter Glenville , and starred Laurence Harvey , Rita Moreno , and Geraldine Page reprising her role as Alma. A television version was produced in 1972, starring Lee Remick , David Hedison , and Barry Morse . Another production, titled Eccentricities of a Nightingale , starring Blythe Danner and Frank Langella , aired as an episode of
75-515: A highly strung, unmarried minister's daughter, and the spiritual/romance that nearly blossoms between her and John Buchanan Jr., a young doctor who grew up next door. She, ineffably refined, identifies with the Gothic cathedral, "reaching up to something beyond attainment"; her name, as Williams makes clear during the play, means "soul" in Spanish; by contrast Buchanan, a doctor and sensualist, defies her with
100-589: A new production starring Patsy Ferran , directed by Rebecca Frecknall and designed by Tom Scutt. After a successful run and several five-star reviews, the production was transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre . The play returned to Off-Broadway in the spring of 2018. It was performed by the Classic Stage Company , with Nathan Darrow and Marin Ireland in the lead roles. It was directed by Jack Cummings III. In 1961,
125-417: A production staged by Margo Jones and designed by Jo Mielziner with Tod Andrews, Margaret Phillips , Monica Boyar and Anne Jackson . The play ran for 102 performances, and at the time, represented a comparative failure for Williams following his success with A Streetcar Named Desire . In 1952, Geraldine Page played the lead role in a revival directed by José Quintero at the newly founded Circle in
150-799: A run at the Minetta, to good reviews, after premiering at the Royal Court Theatre in London in February of that year. Audiobook company Audible uses the theatre for staged readings. This article about a building or structure in Manhattan is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a theater building in the United States is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre
175-642: A street intersecting Broadway in Midtown Manhattan 's Theater District , the hub of the American theatre industry. It later became defined by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers as a professional venue in Manhattan with a seating capacity of at least 100, but not more than 499, or a production that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Previously, regardless of
200-606: Is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres , but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer than 100. An "off-Broadway production" is a production of a play , musical , or revue that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Some shows that premiere off-Broadway are subsequently produced on Broadway. The term originally referred to any venue, and its productions, on
225-508: Is based on the capacity given for the respective theatre at the Internet Off-Broadway Database . Summer and Smoke Summer and Smoke is a two-part, thirteen-scene play by Tennessee Williams , completed in 1948. He began working on the play in 1945 as Chart of Anatomy , derived from his short stories "Oriflamme" and "Yellow Bird", the latter still a work-in-progress. The phrase "summer and smoke" probably comes from
250-556: The Hart Crane poem "Emblems of Conduct" in the 1926 collection White Buildings . After a disappointing Broadway run in 1948, the play was a hit Off-Broadway in 1952. Williams continued to revise Summer and Smoke in the 1950s, and in 1964 he rewrote the play as The Eccentricities of a Nightingale . Summer and Smoke is set in Glorious Hill, Mississippi, from the "turn of the century through 1916", and centers on Alma Winemiller,
275-530: The Lucille Lortel Award (created in 1985 by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres & Producers), and the Drama League Award . Although off-Broadway shows are not eligible for Tony Awards , an exception was made in 1956 (before the rules were changed), when Lotte Lenya won Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for the off-Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera . Capacity
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#1733085501078300-725: The Morosco Theatre . In 1991, Gilles Gleizes translated in French, with Roberta Bailey, Summer and Smoke , and directed the play in France, Théâtre de Rungis et CDN de Limoges . In 1996, the play was revived at the Criterion Center Stage Right in New York, in a production directed by David Warren , with Harry Hamlin and Mary McDonnell . Laila Robins and Amanda Plummer have been notable Almas in regional productions. It
325-758: The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, presented a revival starring Amanda Plummer and Kevin Anderson , directed by Michael Wilson. In May 2008, the Off-Broadway group The Actors Company Theatre (TACT) presented a revival of the 1964 revision of the play, titled The Eccentricities of a Nightingale , which received a favorable notice in The New York Times . In 2017, the Almeida Theatre announced
350-461: The 1961 film opposite Laurence Harvey , earning an Academy Award nomination, as did Una Merkel playing her mother. Additional Oscar nominations went to the Art Direction and Elmer Bernstein's evocative musical score. In 1963, Peter Boyle starred in the play during the opening season of Wayside Theatre . The Broadway premiere of the revised version titled The Eccentricities of a Nightingale
375-1120: The Park with George , Rent , Grey Gardens , Urinetown , Avenue Q , The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee , Rock of Ages , In the Heights , Spring Awakening , Next to Normal , Hedwig and the Angry Inch , Fun Home , Hamilton , Dear Evan Hansen , Hadestown , and Kimberly Akimbo . In particular, two that became Broadway hits, Grease and A Chorus Line , encouraged other producers to premiere their shows off-Broadway. Plays that have moved from off-Broadway houses to Broadway include Doubt , I Am My Own Wife , Bridge & Tunnel , The Normal Heart , and Coastal Disturbances . Other productions, such as Stomp , Blue Man Group , Altar Boyz , Perfect Crime , Forbidden Broadway , Nunsense , Naked Boys Singing , Bat Boy: The Musical , and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change have had runs of many years off-Broadway, never moving to Broadway. The Fantasticks ,
400-559: The Square Theatre , which was then in its Sheridan Square Playhouse location in lower Manhattan. Her performance has been credited with helping to launch the Off-Broadway movement, putting both herself and Quintero on the map and vindicating the play. In 1953, Page starred opposite Richard Kiley in an hour-long adaptation of the play on the radio series Best Plays , recordings of which still exist. She also portrayed Alma Winemiller in
425-646: The longest-running musical in theatre history, spent its original 42-year run off-Broadway and had another off-Broadway run from 2006 to 2017. Off-Broadway shows, performers, and creative staff are eligible for the following awards: the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award , the Outer Critics Circle Award , the Drama Desk Award , the Obie Award (presented since 1956 by The Village Voice ),
450-644: The salary requirements of the union for Broadway theatres. The adoption of the 499-seat criterion occurred after a one-day strike in January 1974. Examples of off-Broadway theatres within the Broadway Box are the Laura Pels Theatre and The Theater Center . The off-Broadway movement started in the 1950s as a reaction to the perceived commercialism of Broadway and provided less expensive venues for shows that have employed many future Broadway artists. An early success
475-506: The size of the venue, a theatre was considered a Broadway (rather than off-Broadway) house if it was within the "Broadway Box", extending from 40th Street north to 54th Street and from Sixth Avenue west to Eighth Avenue , including Times Square and West 42nd Street . This change to the contractual definition of "off-Broadway" benefited theatres satisfying the 499-seat criterion because of the lower minimum required salary for Actors' Equity performers at Off-Broadway theatres as compared with
500-404: The soulless anatomy chart. By the play's end, Buchanan and Alma have traded places philosophically. She has been transformed. She throws herself at him, saying "she doesn't exist any more, she died last summer — suffocated in smoke from something on fire inside her". But he has changed, he is engaged to marry a respectable, younger girl, and as he tries to convince Alma that what their relationship
525-457: The time, however, that "Broadway is just as eclectic – and just as footless – as 'Off-Broadway'." Theatre Row , on West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues in Manhattan, is a concentration of off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theatres. It was developed in the mid-1970s and modernized in 2002. Many off-Broadway shows have had subsequent runs on Broadway, including such musicals as Hair , Godspell , Little Shop of Horrors , Sunday in
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#1733085501078550-460: Was Circle in the Square Theatre 's 1952 production of Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams . According to theatre historians Ken Bloom and Frank Vlastnik, off-Broadway offered a new outlet for "poets, playwrights, actors, songwriters, and designers. ... The first great Off-Broadway musical was the 1954 revival" of The Threepenny Opera , which proved that off-Broadway productions could be financially successful. Critic John Gassner argued at
575-547: Was indeed a "spiritual bond", she realizes that it is too late to rescue it. In the final scene, Alma accosts a young traveling salesman in the park and follows him to enjoy the entertainment at Moon Lake Casino, where she had resisted Buchanan's love the previous summer. On 6 October 1948, after an opening run in Dallas, Texas, Summer and Smoke received its first Broadway performance at the Music Box Theatre in New York City in
600-624: Was nearly 60 years before the London premiere of Summer and Smoke . It opened at the Apollo Theatre on 17 October 2006. The production, directed by Adrian Noble , and starring Rosamund Pike and Chris Carmack , opened at the Nottingham Playhouse in September and then transferred to London. It closed 10 weeks short of its planned 16-week run due to disappointing ticket sales. In January 2007,
625-787: Was staged in 1976. The production was directed by Edwin Sherin , with scenery by William Ritman, costumes by Theoni V. Aldredge , lighting by Marc B. Weiss and original music by Charles Gross . It was produced in conjunction with Marc W. Jacobs. The production stage manager was Henry Banister and press was by Seymour Krawitz, Patricia McLean Krawitz and Louise Ment. The show starred Betsy Palmer (Alma), Shepperd Strudwick (Rev. Winemiller), Grace Carney (Mrs. Winemiller), Nan Martin (Mrs. Buchanan), Peter Blaxill (Roger Doremus), Jen Jones (Mrs. Bassett), Patricia Guinan (Rosemary), W.P. Dremak (Vernon), Thomas Stechschulte (Traveling Salesman) and David Selby (Dr. Buchanan). The production ran for 24 performances at
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