179-589: The Music Box Theatre is a Broadway theater at 239 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way ) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City . Opened in 1921, the Music Box Theatre was designed by C. Howard Crane in a Palladian -inspired style and was constructed for Irving Berlin and Sam H. Harris . It has 1,025 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization . Both
358-472: A 7:00 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. "curtain". The afternoon " matinée " performances are at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays and at 3:00 p.m. on Sundays. This makes for an eight-performance week. On this schedule, most shows do not play on Monday and the shows and theatres are said to be "dark" on that day. The actors and the crew in these shows tend to regard Sunday evening through Monday evening as their weekend. The Tony award presentation ceremony
537-510: A Lifetime and The Man Who Came to Dinner . After Harris died in 1941, Berlin and the Shuberts shared ownership of the theater, and the Music Box largely showed dramas rather than musicals. The theater hosted several plays by William Inge in the 1950s. Though the length of production runs declined in later years, the Music Box has remained in theatrical use since its opening. The Shuberts acquired
716-452: A Simple Melody " became the first of his famous "double" songs in which two different melodies and lyrics are counterpointed against one another. Variety called Watch Your Step the "first syncopated musical", where the "sets and the girls were gorgeous". Berlin was then 26, and the success of the show was riding on his name alone. Variety said the show was a "terrific hit" from its opening night. It compared Berlin's newfound status as
895-827: A Theater Advisory Council, which included Papp. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City , Broadway theaters closed on March 12, 2020, shuttering 16 shows that were playing or were in the process of opening. The Broadway League shutdown was extended first to April, then to May, then June, then September 2020 and January 2021, and later to June 1, 2021. Then-governor Andrew Cuomo announced that most sectors of New York would have their restrictions lifted on May 19, 2021, but he stated that Broadway theatres would not be able to immediately resume performances on this date due to logistical reasons. In May 2021, Cuomo announced that Broadway theaters would be allowed to reopen on September 14, and
1074-449: A booming economy and abundant creative talent kept Broadway hopping. To this day, the shows of the 1950s form the core of the musical theatre repertory." Kenrick notes that "the late 1960s marked a time of cultural upheaval. All those changes would prove painful for many, including those behind the scenes, as well as those in the audience." Of the 1970s, Kenrick writes: "Just when it seemed that traditional book musicals were back in style,
1253-663: A cast. There are still, however, performers who are primarily stage actors, spending most of their time "on the boards", and appearing in screen roles only secondarily. As Patrick Healy of The New York Times noted: Broadway once had many homegrown stars who committed to working on a show for a year, as Nathan Lane has for The Addams Family . In 2010, some theater heavyweights like Mr. Lane were not even nominated; instead, several Tony Awards were given for productions that were always intended to be short-timers on Broadway, given that many of their film-star performers had to move on to other commitments. According to Mark Shenton, "One of
1432-434: A challenge to the stage. At first, films were silent and presented only limited competition. By the end of the 1920s, films like The Jazz Singer were presented with synchronized sound, and critics wondered if cinema would replace live theatre altogether. While live vaudeville could not compete with these inexpensive films that featured vaudeville stars and major comedians of the day, other theatres survived. The musicals of
1611-526: A company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia , and opened with The Merchant of Venice and The Anatomist . The company moved to New York in 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida . During the Revolutionary War , theatre was suspended in New York City. But after
1790-564: A composer with that of the Times building: "That youthful marvel of syncopated melody is proving things in Watch Your Step , firstly that he is not alone a rag composer, and that he is one of the greatest lyric writers America has ever produced." Whitcomb also points out the irony that Russia, the country Berlin's family was forced to leave, flung itself into "the ragtime beat with an abandon bordering on mania". For example, Prince Felix Yusupov ,
1969-478: A cover of this song on his 1992 release The Future (Leonard Cohen album) . Written after his first daughter's birth, he distilled his feelings about being married and a father for the first time: "Blue days, all of them gone; nothing but blue skies, from now on." The song was introduced by Belle Baker in Betsy , a Ziegfeld production. It became a hit recording for Ben Selvin and one of several Berlin hits in 1927. It
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#17328516930862148-552: A discount of 20 to 50%. The TKTS booths are located in Times Square , in Lower Manhattan , and at Lincoln Center . This service is run by Theatre Development Fund . Many Broadway theatres also offer special student rates, same-day "rush" or "lottery" tickets, or standing-room tickets to help ensure that their theatres are as full—and their grosses as high—as possible. According to The Broadway League , total Broadway attendance
2327-896: A few exceptions, compared with London runs, until World War I . A few very successful British musicals continued to achieve great success in New York, including Florodora in 1900–01. In the early years of the twentieth century, translations of popular late-nineteenth century continental operettas were joined by the "Princess Theatre" shows of the 1910s, by writers such as P. G. Wodehouse , Guy Bolton , and Harry B. Smith . Victor Herbert , whose work included some intimate musical plays with modern settings as well as his string of famous operettas ( The Fortune Teller (1898), Babes in Toyland (1903), Mlle. Modiste (1905), The Red Mill (1906), and Naughty Marietta (1910)). Beginning with The Red Mill , Broadway shows installed electric signs outside
2506-415: A fire-escape staircase; it is flanked by windows in the outer bays. The auditorium contains Adam style detailing, a large balcony, and two outwardly curved box seats within ornate archways. The theater was also designed with a comparatively small lobby, a lounge in the basement, and mezzanine-level offices. Harris proposed the Music Box Theatre in 1919 specifically to host his productions with Berlin, and
2685-495: A great kid", and raved about him so much that Von Tilzer hired Berlin. In 1908, when he was 20, Berlin took a new job at a saloon named Jimmy Kelly's in the Union Square neighborhood. There, he was able to collaborate with other young songwriters, such as Edgar Leslie , Ted Snyder , Al Piantadosi , and George A. Whiting . In 1909, the year of the premiere of Israel Zangwill 's The Melting Pot , he got another big break as
2864-490: A hit twice (for Vincent Lopez and George Olsen ) in its first incarnation. There were four more hit versions in 1944–45. In 1959, Sammy Turner took the song to no. 2 on the R&;B chart. It became Patsy Cline 's postmortem anthem and hit no. 18 on the country chart in 1980, 17 years after her death, and a tribute musical called "Always... Patsy Cline", played a two-year Nashville run that ended in 1995. Leonard Cohen included
3043-527: A larger theatre. Other productions are first developed through workshops and then out-of-town tryouts before transferring to Broadway. Merrily We Roll Along famously skipped an out-of-town tryout and attempted to do an in-town tryout—actually preview performances —on Broadway before its official opening, with disastrous results. After, or even during, successful runs in Broadway theatres, producers often remount their productions with new casts and crew for
3222-512: A limited engagement in April 1991, and Park Your Car in Harvard Yard opened the same year with Judith Ivey and Jason Robards . The next year, the Music Box staged A Small Family Business , which ran for a little over one month. A more successful production was Blood Brothers , opening in 1993 and running 893 performances over the next two years. In addition, a plaque commemorating Irving Berlin
3401-433: A molded frame. A vertical sign hangs from the easternmost bay on the upper stories. The top of the facade has a frieze with rosette motifs, as well as a cornice with dentils and modillions . Above the facade is a sloping slate roof with several projecting dormers for windows. There is also a roof balustrade with cast-iron and wrought-iron railings. The auditorium has an orchestra level, one balcony, boxes , and
3580-521: A more experimental, challenging, and intimate performance than is possible in the larger Broadway theatres. Some Broadway shows, however, such as the musicals Hair , Little Shop of Horrors , Spring Awakening , Next to Normal , Rent , Avenue Q , In the Heights , Fun Home , A Chorus Line , Dear Evan Hansen , and Hamilton , began their runs Off-Broadway and later transferred to Broadway, seeking to replicate their intimate experience in
3759-539: A negative COVID-19 test (PCR within 72 hours or antigen within six hours of the performance start time). Beginning November 8, those ages 5–11 also had the option to provide proof of at least one vaccination shot. Effective December 14, in accordance with NYC's vaccination mandate, guests ages 5–11 were required to have at least one vaccination shot until January 29, 2022, where they had to be fully vaccinated. The vaccine mandate lasted until April 30, and attendees were also required to wear face masks until July 1. During
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#17328516930863938-1128: A new age of American playwright with the emergence of Eugene O'Neill , whose plays Beyond the Horizon , Anna Christie , The Hairy Ape , Strange Interlude , and Mourning Becomes Electra proved that there was an audience for serious drama on Broadway, and O'Neill's success paved the way for major dramatists like Elmer Rice , Maxwell Anderson , Robert E. Sherwood , Clifford Odets , Tennessee Williams , and Arthur Miller , as well as writers of comedy like George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart . Classical revivals also proved popular with Broadway theatre-goers, notably John Barrymore in Hamlet and Richard III , John Gielgud in Hamlet , The Importance of Being Earnest and Much Ado About Nothing , Walter Hampden and José Ferrer in Cyrano de Bergerac , Paul Robeson and Ferrer in Othello , Maurice Evans in Richard II and
4117-541: A partnership with Sam Harris to build the Music Box Theater . He maintained an interest in the theater throughout his life, and even in his last years was known to call the Shubert Organization , his partner, to check on the receipts. In its early years, the theater was a showcase for revues by Berlin. As theater owner, producer and composer, he looked after every detail of his shows, from the costumes and sets to
4296-416: A ragtime revue, Watch Your Step , which starred the couple and showcased their talents on stage. That musical revue became Berlin's first complete score with songs that "radiated musical and lyrical sophistication". Berlin's songs signified modernism , and they signified the cultural struggle between Victorian gentility and the "purveyors of liberation, indulgence, and leisure", says Furia. The song " Play
4475-500: A rate acceptable to the producers, they may continue to run in the expectation that, eventually, they will pay back their initial costs and become profitable. In some borderline situations, producers may ask that royalties be temporarily reduced or waived, or even that performers—with the permission of their unions—take reduced salaries, to prevent a show from closing. Theatre owners, who are not generally profit participants in most productions, may waive or reduce rents, or even lend money to
4654-468: A recent Oxford undergraduate of Russian noble lineage and heir to the largest estate in Russia, was described by his dance partner as "wriggling around the ballroom like a demented worm, screaming for 'more ragtime and more champagne ' ". My ambition is to reach the heart of the average American, not the highbrow nor the lowbrow but that vast intermediate crew which is the real soul of the country. The highbrow
4833-540: A revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1976, and it hosted a range of Stephen Sondheim songs in the musical Side by Side by Sondheim the next year. The theater's last production of the 1970s was Deathtrap , which opened in 1978. Deathtrap was ultimately transferred four years later and ran 1,793 total performances. The Music Box had a major hit in the early 1980s with the religious drama Agnes of God , which premiered in 1982 and had 599 performances with Geraldine Page and Amanda Plummer . By contrast,
5012-431: A run of 253 performances. The first theatre piece that conforms to the modern conception of a musical, adding dance and original music that helped to tell the story, is considered to be The Black Crook , which premiered in New York on September 12, 1866. The production was five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and
5191-408: A ship departing for China and became so entranced that he did not see a swinging crane, which knocked him into the river. When he was fished out after going down for the third time, he was still holding in his clenched fist the five pennies he earned that day. His mother took a job as a midwife , and three of his sisters worked wrapping cigars, common for immigrant girls. His older brother worked in
5370-481: A show to keep it running. Some Broadway shows are produced by non-commercial organizations as part of a regular subscription season— Lincoln Center Theatre , Roundabout Theatre Company , Manhattan Theatre Club , and Second Stage Theater are the four non-profit theatre companies that currently have permanent Broadway venues. Some other productions are produced on Broadway with "limited engagement runs" for several reasons, including financial issues, prior engagements of
5549-497: A single year". On April 1, 1917, after President Woodrow Wilson declared that America would enter World War I , Berlin felt that Tin Pan Alley should do its duty and support the war with inspirational songs. Berlin wrote the song "For Your Country and My Country", stating that "we must speak with the sword not the pen to show our appreciation to America for opening up her heart and welcoming every immigrant group." He also co-wrote
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5728-441: A song aimed at ending ethnic conflict, "Let's All Be Americans Now". At the grand finale... Sergeant Berlin led the entire 300-person cast off the stage, marching them down the theater's aisles, singing 'We're on Our Way to France,' all to tumultuous applause. The cast carried off their little producer like he was victor ludorum ... Tin Pan Alley had joined hands with real life — biographer Ian Whitcomb . In 1917, Berlin
5907-635: A songwriter in Tin Pan Alley and on Broadway . In 1911, Emma Carus introduced his first world-famous hit, " Alexander's Ragtime Band ", followed by a performance from Berlin himself at the Friars' Frolic of 1911 with Clifford Hess as his accompanist. He became an instant celebrity, and the featured performer later that year at Oscar Hammerstein 's vaudeville house, where he introduced dozens of other songs. The New York Telegraph described how two hundred of his street friends came to see "their boy" onstage: "All
6086-427: A songwriting star. From its first and subsequent releases, the song was near the top of the charts as others sang it: Bessie Smith , in 1927, and Louis Armstrong , in 1937; No. 1 by Bing Crosby and Connee Boswell; Johnny Mercer in 1945; Al Jolson , in 1947 and Nellie Lutcher in 1948. Add Ray Charles 's big-band version in 1959, and "Alexander" had a dozen hit versions in just under a half century. Initially
6265-481: A staff lyricist with the Ted Snyder Company . Installed as a staff lyricist with a leading Tin Pan Alley music publishing house, Berlin quickly established himself as one of that frantic industry's top writers of words to other composer's melodies. By 1910 he was already in demand and even appeared in a Shubert Broadway revue performing his own songs. It was purely by chance that Berlin started composing music to
6444-529: A stage behind the proscenium arch. The auditorium is wider than its depth, and the space is designed with plaster decorations in high relief . According to the Shubert Organization, the auditorium has 1,025 seats; meanwhile, The Broadway League cites a capacity of 1,009 seats and Playbill cites 984 seats. The discrepancy arises from the fact that there are 1,009 physical seats and 16 standing-only spots. The physical seats are divided into 538 seats in
6623-506: A stone fireplace mantel. Below the auditorium is a basement lounge. Its lavish design contrasted with the lounges of other Broadway theaters, which generally received little attention. Architecture and Building magazine described the lounge as being in the Queen Anne style , "developed more as if in a dwelling than in a club or public place". The staircase to the basement lounge is made of marble and contains an intermediate landing. A tapestry
6802-478: A sweatshop assembling shirts. Each evening, when the family came home from their day's work, Bergreen writes, "they would deposit the coins they had earned that day into Lena's outspread apron." Music historian Philip Furia writes that when "Izzy" began to sell newspapers in the Bowery , he was exposed to the music and sounds coming from saloons and restaurants that lined the crowded streets. Young Berlin sang some of
6981-556: A three-room tenement at 330 Cherry Street . His father, unable to find comparable work as a cantor in New York, took a job at a kosher meat market and gave Hebrew lessons on the side to support his family. He died a few years later when Irving was thirteen years old. With only a few years of schooling, eight-year-old Irving began helping to support his family. He became a newspaper boy, hawking The Evening Journal. One day while delivering newspapers, according to Berlin's biographer and friend, Alexander Woollcott , he stopped to look at
7160-565: A venue for plays under the name Burton's Theatre. The Astor Opera House opened in 1847. A riot broke out in 1849 when the lower-class patrons of the Bowery Theatre objected to what they perceived as snobbery by the upper-class audiences at Astor Place: "After the Astor Place Riot of 1849, entertainment in New York City was divided along class lines: opera was chiefly for the upper-middle and upper classes, minstrel shows and melodramas for
7339-661: Is American music." Berlin was born Israel Beilin on May 11, 1888, in the Russian Empire . Although his family came from the shtetl of Tolochin ( Yiddish : טאָלאָטשין ; today Talachyn, Талачын , in Belarus ), Berlin later learned that he was probably born in Tyumen , Siberia, where his father, an itinerant cantor , had taken his family. He was one of eight children of Moses (1848–1901) and Lena Lipkin Beilin (1850–1922). From Tyumen,
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7518-541: Is a double-height central colonnade at the second and third floors. According to theatrical historian Ken Bloom , the facade design was inspired by that of the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia . The easternmost side on 45th Street includes four pairs of glass and bronze doors leading to the ticket lobby. There are bronze sign boards on either side, and the entrance is topped by a marquee . Just west of
7697-425: Is accessed directly from the lobby, which measures 8 feet (2.4 m) wide and 25 feet (7.6 m) long. The lobby was decorated as a simple space, with pink marble baseboards , marble walls, and a plaster cornice. The cornice was decorated with neo-Georgian ornaments. A bronze box-office booth was placed in the lobby. The lobby has a box office because the theater had no dedicated box office when it opened. The floor
7876-674: Is also known as George Abbott Way , and foot traffic on the street increases box-office totals on the theaters there. The Music Box shares the block with the Richard Rodgers Theatre and Imperial Theatre to the north, as well as the New York Marriott Marquis to the east. Other nearby buildings include the Paramount Hotel to the north; the Hotel Edison and Lunt-Fontanne Theatre to the northeast; One Astor Plaza to
8055-470: Is an internationally prominent tourist attraction in New York City . According to The Broadway League , shows on Broadway sold approximately US$ 1.54 billion worth of tickets in both the 2022-2023 and the 2023–2024 seasons. Both seasons featured theater attendance of approximately 12.3 million each. Most Broadway shows are musicals . Historian Martin Shefter argues that "Broadway musicals, culminating in
8234-542: Is likely to be superficial, overtrained, supersensitive. The lowbrow is warped, subnormal. My public is the real people. — Irving Berlin Some of the songs Berlin created came out of his own sadness. For instance, in 1912 he married Dorothy Goetz , the sister of songwriter E. Ray Goetz . She died six months later of typhoid fever contracted during their honeymoon in Havana . The song he wrote to express his grief, "When I Lost You",
8413-412: Is mounted on the stair landing. The tapestry depicts a reclining figure of a nude woman next to a waterfall. A mirrored panel was hung on the lounge's wall, opposite the tapestry. Siena marble fireplace mantels, with mirrors above them, were placed at each end of the lounge. The basement also has the theater's restrooms. Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and
8592-409: Is slightly recessed behind the colonnade, creating a gallery , which is shielded by decorative iron railings between the columns. The recessed gallery contains the auditorium's fire escape, with stairs leading down to ground level. There are also three double doorways with stone surrounds, which exit onto the gallery. Above each doorway is a frieze with urns and swags; there is a triangular pediment in
8771-567: Is usually held on a Sunday evening in June to fit this schedule. In recent years, some shows have moved their Tuesday show time an hour earlier to 7:00 pm. The rationale for this move was that since fewer tourists take in shows midweek, Tuesday attendance depends more on local patrons. The earlier curtain makes it possible for suburban patrons to get home by a reasonable hour after the show. Some shows, especially those produced by Disney , change their performance schedules fairly frequently depending on
8950-537: The American Architect and the Architectural Review , which called the theater's design "remarkable" both in design and layout. The New-York Tribune called the facade "singularly successful in its expression of the interior", while Architecture and Building said the "delicacy of domestic architecture" was fitting for the Music Box's design. Among theatrical critics, Jack Lait referred to the Music Box as
9129-597: The American Theatre Wing , a service organization. While the League and the theatrical unions are sometimes at loggerheads during those periods when new contracts are being negotiated, they also cooperate on many projects and events designed to promote professional theatre in New York. Of the four non-profit theatre companies with Broadway theatres, all four ( Lincoln Center Theater , Manhattan Theatre Club , Roundabout Theatre Company , and Second Stage Theatre ) belong to
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#17328516930869308-505: The League of Resident Theatres and have contracts with the theatrical unions which are negotiated separately from the other Broadway theatre and producers. ( Disney also negotiates apart from the League, as did Livent before it closed down its operations.) The majority of Broadway theatres are owned or managed by three organizations: the Shubert Organization , a for-profit arm of the non-profit Shubert Foundation, which owns seventeen theatres;
9487-493: The Nederlander Organization , which controls nine theatres; and ATG Entertainment , which owns seven Broadway houses. Both musicals and straight plays on Broadway often rely on casting well-known performers in leading roles to draw larger audiences or bring in new audience members to the theatre. Actors from film and television are frequently cast for the revivals of Broadway shows or are used to replace actors leaving
9666-468: The Roaring Twenties , borrowing from vaudeville, music hall , and other light entertainment, tended to ignore plot in favor of emphasizing star actors and actresses, big dance routines, and popular songs. Florenz Ziegfeld produced annual spectacular song-and-dance revues on Broadway featuring extravagant sets and elaborate costumes, but there was little to tie the various numbers together. Typical of
9845-462: The Shubert family gained an ownership stake shortly after the Music Box opened. The theater initially hosted the partners' Music Box Revue nearly exclusively, presenting its first play, Cradle Snatchers , in 1925. Many of the Music Box's early productions were hits with several hundred performances. There were multiple productions by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman in the 1930s, including Once in
10024-404: The facade and the auditorium interior are New York City landmarks . The facade is made of limestone and is symmetrically arranged, with both Palladian and neo-Georgian motifs. At ground level, the eastern portion of the facade contains the theater's entrance, with a marquee over it, while the stage door is to the west. A double-height central colonnade at the second and third floors conceals
10203-568: The "daintiest theatre in America" in Variety magazine. Other reviewers said the theater was "unparalleled" in design and had "dignified architectural decorations" in contrast to other theaters. The comedian Sam Bernard said simply, "It stinks from class." In his autobiography, producer Moss Hart said that the Music Box was "everybody's dream of a theatre", enhancing the quality of the productions staged there. Film executive Joseph M. Schenck originally
10382-499: The 1900s and 1910s. According to one account, the name for the Music Box Theatre arose from a conversation between Sam H. Harris and Irving Berlin in 1919. Harris had suggested building a theater, to which Berlin suggested the name "Music Box". Harris liked the name and suggested that Berlin could write a song for the new theater. In March 1920, Harris and Berlin bought the properties at 239 to 245 West 45th Street from L. and A. Pincus and M. L. Goldstone. They then announced plans to build
10561-409: The 1920s were lighthearted productions such as Sally ; Lady Be Good ; Sunny ; No, No, Nanette ; Harlem ; Oh, Kay! ; and Funny Face . Their books may have been forgettable, but they produced enduring standards from George Gershwin , Cole Porter , Jerome Kern , Vincent Youmans , and Rodgers and Hart , among others, and Noël Coward , Sigmund Romberg , and Rudolf Friml continued in
10740-407: The 1930s. Immediately following Topaze was Hart and Kaufman's first-ever collaboration, Once in a Lifetime , which premiered in late 1930. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind collaborated in 1931 for Of Thee I Sing , the first Pulitzer Prize -winning musical, and Kaufman joined Edna Ferber the next year to produce Dinner at Eight , which ran 232 performances. The next year, Berlin and Hart staged
10919-603: The 1936 production Stage Door . This was followed the next year by a short run of Young Madam Conti with Constance Cummings , as well as a Kaufman-directed adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel Of Mice and Men . Two Hart and Kaufman productions were staged in 1938: a transfer of I'd Rather Be Right and the original Sing Out the News . The productions in 1939 began with the Noël Coward revue Set to Music , following which
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#173285169308611098-493: The 1946 film Blue Skies . The song was written in 1928 with a separate set of lyrics and was introduced by Harry Richman in a 1930 film of the same name. In 1939, Clark Gable sang it in the movie Idiot's Delight . In 1974 it was featured in the movie Young Frankenstein by Mel Brooks , and was a no. 4 hit for synth-pop artist Taco in 1982. In 2012 it was used for a flash mob wedding event in Moscow. This waltz-time song
11277-494: The Berlin estate's ownership stake in 2007. The Music Box Theatre is on 239 West 45th Street, on the north sidewalk between Eighth Avenue and Broadway , near Times Square in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City . The square land lot covers 10,050 square feet (934 m). The theater has a frontage of 100 feet (30 m) on 45th Street and a depth of about 100 feet. The adjoining block of 45th Street
11456-536: The Broadway national tour, which travels to theatres in major cities across the country. Sometimes when a show closes on Broadway, the entire production, with most if not all of the original cast intact, is relaunched as a touring company, hence the name "Broadway national tour". Some shows may even have several touring companies out at a time, whether the show is still running in New York or not, with many companies "sitting down" in other major cities for their own extended runs. For Broadway national tours of top-tier cities,
11635-543: The Broadway orchestra is governed by an agreement with the musicians' union (Local 802, American Federation of Musicians) and The Broadway League. For example, the agreement specifies the minimum size of the orchestra at the Minskoff Theatre to be eighteen, while at the Music Box Theatre it is nine. Most Broadway shows are commercial productions intended to make a profit for the producers and investors ("backers" or "angels"), and therefore have open-ended runs (duration that
11814-641: The COVID-19 shutdown, the Shubert Organization, the Nederlander Organization, and Jujamcyn had pledged to increase racial and cultural diversity in their theaters, including naming at least one theater for a Black theatrical personality. The August Wilson Theatre , owned by Jujamcyn, had been renamed after Black playwright August Wilson in 2005. The Shuberts announced in March 2022 that the Cort Theatre , which
11993-512: The Cakewalk (1898), and the highly successful In Dahomey (1902). Hundreds of musical comedies were staged on Broadway in the 1890s and early 1900s made up of songs written in New York's Tin Pan Alley involving composers such as Gus Edwards , John Walter Bratton , and George M. Cohan ( Little Johnny Jones (1904), 45 Minutes From Broadway (1906), and George Washington Jr. (1906)). Still, New York runs continued to be relatively short, with
12172-466: The Club in 1989. The decade ended with the hit A Few Good Men . Irving Berlin continued to co-own the theater until he died in 1989 at the age of 101; in his final years, Berlin would contact the Shuberts to ask them about the theater's receipts. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) had started to consider protecting the Music Box as a landmark in 1982, with discussions continuing over
12351-451: The Erlanger syndicate. During this time, the play Lightnin' by Winchell Smith and Frank Bacon became the first Broadway show to reach 700 performances. From then, it would go on to become the first show to reach 1,000 performances. Lightnin' was the longest-running Broadway show until being overtaken in performance totals by Abie's Irish Rose in 1925. The motion picture mounted
12530-524: The Great Depression . During the 1900s and 1910s, many theaters in Midtown Manhattan were developed by the Shubert brothers , one of the major theatrical syndicates of the time. Meanwhile, Sam H. Harris was a producer and Irving Berlin was a songwriter. Prior to the development of the Music Box Theatre, Harris had partnered with George Cohan in the development of several theaters and productions in
12709-490: The Imperial Theatre in 2008; and Superior Donuts in 2009. This was followed by Lend Me a Tenor and La Bête in 2010; Jerusalem and Private Lives in 2011; and One Man, Two Guvnors and Dead Accounts in 2012. The musical Pippin opened in 2013 and ran for two years. Further productions in the mid-2010s included The Heidi Chronicles and King Charles III in 2015, as well as Shuffle Along, or,
12888-454: The League confirmed that performances would begin to resume in the fall season. Springsteen on Broadway became the first full-length show to resume performances, opening on June 26, 2021, to 1,721 vaccinated patrons at the St. James Theatre . Pass Over then had its first preview on August 4, and opened on August 22, 2021, becoming the first new play to open. Hadestown and Waitress were
13067-703: The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed in 2016. The musical Dear Evan Hansen opened at the Music Box in December 2016. The theater closed on March 12, 2020 , due to the COVID-19 pandemic ; it reopened on December 11, 2021, with performances of Dear Evan Hansen . The theater also hosted a memorial service to the late Shubert chairman Philip J. Smith in March 2022. Due to poor ticket sales, Dear Evan Hansen closed in September 2022. The next month,
13246-420: The Music Box Theatre on the site. By that May, Crane had prepared plans for the theater. Harris planned to stage twice-yearly revues, and he subsequently ended his long-running partnership with George M. Cohan . Hassard Short was named as the first general stage director, spending over $ 240,000 on the first show. The Music Box ultimately cost more than $ 1 million, $ 400,000 for the building itself and $ 600,000 for
13425-435: The Music Box celebrated its 50th anniversary the next year, the theater was still largely successful. Berlin said at the time that he still held part-ownership in the Music Box for sentimental reasons. In 1974, the theater staged its first musical in 25 years: Rainbow Jones , which closed after its only performance. It was followed the same year by the comparatively more successful Absurd Person Singular . The Music Box staged
13604-468: The Music Box from the Royale Theatre in 1950. The same year, Marin sold her one-third ownership stake in the Music Box Theatre to Harris and the Shuberts. In 1952, the Music Box staged a transfer of the hit The Male Animal . The playwright William Inge had three highly successful plays during the 1950s, all of which had over 400 performances. First among these was Picnic , which opened in 1953. This
13783-464: The Music Box staged A Far Country , featuring Kim Stanley and Steven Hill . The next year saw the opening of the comedy The Beauty Part with Bert Lahr , which flopped during the city's newspaper strike despite critical acclaim. The Music Box staged a more successful production, Dear Me, the Sky Is Falling with Gertrude Berg , the next year. The theater's most successful play of the 1960s
13962-459: The Music Box staged Closer in 1999, with 173 performances. The Music Box's tendency for short production runs continued into the 2000s. A revival of the Shakespeare play Macbeth closed in June 2000 after 13 performances, and a more successful production came later that year with The Dinner Party , which ran 364 performances. The 19th-century drama Fortune's Fool was staged in 2002, as
14141-601: The Music Box's first 25 years. The Music Box Theater underwent several changes in operation during the 1940s. Sam Harris died in July 1941, and his ownership stake in the theater went to his widow Kathleen Marin, pursuant to his will. Additionally, independent producers began to lease the Music Box. The theater also pivoted away from hosting revues and musicals because of its relatively low seating capacity; instead, it mainly hosted small dramas. The burlesque revue Star and Garter opened in 1942, eventually running 609 performances. This
14320-592: The Opera at the Majestic Theatre became the longest-running Broadway musical, with 7,486 performances, overtaking Cats . The Phantom of the Opera closed on Broadway on April 16, 2023, soon after celebrating its 35th anniversary, after a total of 13,981 performances. Attending a Broadway show is a common tourist activity in New York. The TKTS booths sell same-day tickets (and in certain cases, next-day matinee tickets) for many Broadway and Off-Broadway shows at
14499-524: The Pelham's resident pianist Mike Nicholson, in 1907, receiving 33 cents for the publishing rights. The sheet music to the published song presented his name as "I. Berlin". Berlin continued writing and playing music at Pelham Cafe and developing an early style. He liked the words to other people's songs but sometimes the rhythms were "kind of boggy," and he might change them. One night he delivered some hits composed by his friend George M. Cohan , another kid who
14678-531: The Post was the first show to call itself a "musical comedy". Tony Pastor opened the first vaudeville theatre one block east of Union Square in 1881, where Lillian Russell performed. Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 ( The Mulligan Guard Picnic ) and 1890, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham . These musical comedies featured characters and situations taken from
14857-550: The Ritz ", " Cheek to Cheek ", " White Christmas ", " Happy Holiday ", " Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better) ", and " There's No Business Like Show Business ". His Broadway musical This Is the Army (1942) was adapted into the 1943 film of the same name . Berlin's songs have reached the top of the US charts 25 times and have been extensively re-recorded by numerous singers. Berlin died in 1989 at
15036-439: The Shubert Organization and Berlin's estate continued to operate the theater jointly. The unusual arrangement, which led to jokes that the Shuberts owned sixteen and a half theaters, continued until 2007, when the Berlin estate sold its interest to the Shuberts. The Music Box's productions at the end of the 2000s included Deuce and The Farnsworth Invention in 2007; a transfer of the long-running August: Osage County from
15215-577: The United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s, escaping discrimination, poverty and brutal pogroms . Other such families included those of George and Ira Gershwin , Al Jolson , Sophie Tucker , L. Wolfe Gilbert , Jack Yellen , Louis B. Mayer (of MGM ), and the Warner brothers . After their arrival in New York City, the Baline family lived briefly in a basement flat on Monroe Street, and then moved to
15394-559: The age of 101 . Composer Douglas Moore sets Berlin apart from all other contemporary songwriters, and includes him instead with Stephen Foster , Walt Whitman , and Carl Sandburg , as a "great American minstrel"—someone who has "caught and immortalized in his songs what we say, what we think about, and what we believe." Composer George Gershwin called him "the greatest songwriter that has ever lived", and composer Jerome Kern concluded that "Irving Berlin has no place in American music—he
15573-520: The age of thirteen, Berlin had few survival skills and realized that formal employment was out of the question. His only ability was acquired from his father's vocation as a singer, and he joined with several other youngsters who went to saloons on the Bowery and sang to customers. Itinerant young singers like them were common on the Lower East Side. Berlin would sing a few of the popular ballads he heard on
15752-488: The authors and also in numerous unlicensed productions). They were imitated in New York by American productions such as Reginald Dekoven 's Robin Hood (1891) and John Philip Sousa 's El Capitan (1896), along with operas, ballets, and other British and European hits. Charles H. Hoyt 's A Trip to Chinatown (1891) became Broadway's long-run champion when it surpassed Adonis and its 603 total performances in 1893, holding
15931-469: The balcony, and a technical booth is at the rear. The balcony's soffit , or underside, is divided into panels that contain plaster medallions with light fixtures, as well as air-conditioning vents. The auditorium was originally lit by five-armed sconces on the walls, which were replaced in the 1960s with imitation brass sconces. The original sconces were described in American Architect and Architecture as "Dutch brass with amber crystals". On either side of
16110-435: The beginning of the nineteenth century, the area that now comprises the Theater District was owned by a handful of families and comprised a few farms. In 1836, Mayor Cornelius Lawrence opened 42nd Street and invited Manhattanites to "enjoy the pure clean air." Close to 60 years later, theatrical entrepreneur Oscar Hammerstein I built the iconic Victoria Theater on West 42nd Street. Broadway's first "long-run" musical
16289-476: The biggest changes to the commercial theatrical landscape—on both sides of the Atlantic—over the past decade or so is that sightings of big star names turning out to do plays has [sic] gone up; but the runs they are prepared to commit to has gone down. Time was that a producer would require a minimum commitment from his star of six months, and perhaps a year; now, the 13-week run is the norm." The minimum size of
16468-537: The bill was not passed. The Save the Theatres campaign then turned their efforts to supporting the establishment of the Theater District as a registered historic district . In December 1983, Save the Theatres prepared "The Broadway Theater District, a Preservation Development and Management Plan", and demanded that each theater in the district receive landmark designation. Mayor Ed Koch ultimately reacted by creating
16647-518: The bitter-sweetness of the 1920s, it was Berlin who gave eloquence to their heartbreak by way of ' What'll I Do ' and 'Remember' and 'All Alone'". This ballad of love and longing was a hit record for Paul Whiteman and had several other successful recordings in 1924. Twenty-four years later, the song went to no. 22 for Nat King Cole and no. 23 for Frank Sinatra . Written when he fell in love with Ellin Mackay , who later became his wife. The song became
16826-473: The boxes is a flat proscenium arch. The archway is flanked by fluted columns and pilasters in the Corinthian style. The top of the archways contains an entablature with Adam-style decorations of urns, vines, fans, and reeds. The proscenium measures about 26 feet (7.9 m) high and 40 feet (12 m) wide. Due to a lack of space backstage, a counterweight system was installed to lift sets and other objects onto
17005-402: The casting and musical arrangements. According to Berlin biographer David Leopold, the theater, located at 239 West 45th St., was the only Broadway house built to accommodate the works of a songwriter. It was the home of Berlin's Music Box Revue from 1921 to 1925 and As Thousands Cheer in 1933 and today includes an exhibition devoted to Berlin in the lobby. By 1926, Berlin had written
17184-509: The center doors. The westernmost part of the facade contains a double door, a narrow sign board, and a single door. These doors, adjacent to the Imperial Theatre's entrance, constitute the stage doors. Above the ground floor is a horizontal band course with motifs of swags , urns , and vertical bars. At the second and third floors is a colonnade between a pair of outer bays. The colonnade has four fluted columns, which are topped by Corinthian -style decorative capitals . The auditorium facade
17363-459: The country". He wrote hundreds of songs, many becoming major hits, which made him famous before he turned thirty. During his 60-year career he wrote an estimated 1,500 songs, including the scores for 20 original Broadway shows and 15 original Hollywood films, with his songs nominated eight times for Academy Awards . Many songs became popular themes and anthems, including " Alexander's Ragtime Band ", " Blue Skies ", " Easter Parade ", " Puttin' on
17542-422: The decade ended with critics and audiences giving mixed signals." Ken Bloom observed that "The 1960s and 1970s saw a worsening of the area [Times Square] and a drop in the number of legitimate shows produced on Broadway." By way of comparison, in the 1950 to 1951 season (May to May) 94 productions opened on Broadway; in the 1969 to 1970 season (June to May) there were 59 productions (fifteen were revivals). In
17721-423: The decade". Composer George Gershwin , foreseeing its influence, said it was "the first real American musical work", adding, "Berlin had shown us the way; it was now easier to attain our ideal." Berlin was "flabbergasted" by the sudden international popularity of the song, and wondered why it became a sudden hit. He decided it was partly because the lyrics, "silly though it was, was fundamentally right ... [and]
17900-589: The dreams that shape our lives". Born in Imperial Russia , Berlin arrived in the United States at the age of five. He published his first song, "Marie from Sunny Italy", in 1907, receiving 33 cents for the publishing rights, and became known as the composer of numerous international hits, starting with 1911's " Alexander's Ragtime Band ". He also was an owner of the Music Box Theatre on Broadway . For much of his career, Berlin could not read sheet music, and
18079-609: The effort. At Papp's behest, in July 1982, a bill was introduced in the 97th Congress , entitled "H.R.6885, A bill to designate the Broadway/Times Square Theatre District in the City of New York as a national historic site". The legislation would have provided certain U.S. government resources and assistance to help the city preserve the district. Faced with strong opposition and lobbying by Mayor Ed Koch's Administration and corporate Manhattan development interests,
18258-572: The entire Broadway production is transplanted almost entirely intact and may run for many months (or years) at each stop. For example, the first U.S. tour of The Phantom of the Opera required 26 53-foot-long (16.1 m) semi-trailers to transport all its sets, equipment, and costumes, and it took almost 10 days to properly unload all those trucks and install everything into a theater. Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin ; Yiddish : ישראל ביילין ; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989)
18437-456: The everyday life of New York's lower classes and represented a significant step forward from vaudeville and burlesque, towards a more literate form. They starred high-quality professional singers ( Lillian Russell , Vivienne Segal , and Fay Templeton ), instead of the amateurs, often sex workers, who had starred in earlier musical forms. As transportation improved, poverty in New York diminished, and street lighting made for safer travel at night,
18616-534: The family returned to Tolochin, and from there, they travelled to Antwerp and left the old continent aboard the SS Rhynland from the Red Star Line . On September 14, 1893, the family arrived at Ellis Island in New York City. When they arrived, Israel was put in a pen with his brother and five sisters until immigration officials declared them fit to be allowed into the city. After the family's naturalization ,
18795-463: The first musicals to resume performances on September 2, 2021. The 74th Tony Awards were also postponed; the Tony nominations were announced on October 15, 2020, and took place on September 26, 2021. On July 30, 2021, it was announced that all Broadway theaters required attendees to provide proof of full COVID-19 vaccination . The rule applied to guests ages 12+. Those under age 12 were required to provide
18974-776: The highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world . While the Broadway thoroughfare is eponymous with the district, it is closely identified with Times Square . Only three theaters are located on Broadway itself: Broadway Theatre , Palace Theatre , and Winter Garden Theatre . The rest are located on the numbered cross streets, extending from the Nederlander Theatre one block south of Times Square on West 41st Street, north along either side of Broadway to 53rd Street , and Vivian Beaumont Theater , at Lincoln Center on West 65th Street. While exceptions exist,
19153-419: The land; the theater overran its original budget by about $ 300,000. The Music Box was one of the only Broadway theaters to be built for specific producers' work. The Music Box Theatre opened on September 22, 1921, with performances of Music Box Revue . The new theater was praised by both architectural and theatrical critics, and several architectural publications printed pictures of the theater. These included
19332-583: The landmark designations of 22 theaters, including the Music Box, on the merit that the designations severely limited the extent to which the theaters could be modified. The lawsuit was escalated to the New York Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of the United States , but these designations were ultimately upheld in 1992. In the 1990s, the Music Box continued to have many relatively short runs. The solo play Lucifer's Child with Julie Harris played
19511-424: The little writer could do was to finger the buttons on his coat while tears ran down his cheeks—in a vaudeville house!" Richard Corliss , in a Time profile of Berlin, described "Alexander's Ragtime Band" as a march, not a rag , "its savviest musicality comprised quotes from a bugle call and " Swanee River ". The tune revived the ragtime fervor that Scott Joplin had begun a decade earlier, and made Berlin
19690-537: The melody ... started the heels and shoulders of all America and a good section of Europe to rocking." In 1913, Berlin was featured in the London revue Hello Ragtime, where he introduced " That International Rag ", a song he had written for the occasion. Furia writes that the international success of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" gave ragtime "new life and sparked a national dance craze". Two dancers who expressed that craze were Vernon and Irene Castle . In 1914, Berlin wrote
19869-544: The middle-class, variety shows in concert saloons for men of the working class and the slumming middle-class." The plays of William Shakespeare were frequently performed on the Broadway stage during the period, most notably by American actor Edwin Booth who was internationally known for his performance as Hamlet . Booth played the role for a famous 100 consecutive performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1865 (with
20048-500: The name "Beilin" was changed to "Baline". According to biographer Laurence Bergreen , as an adult Berlin admitted to no memories of his first five years in Russia except for one: "he was lying on a blanket by the side of a road, watching his house burn to the ground. By daylight the house was in ashes." As an adult, Berlin said he was unaware of being raised in abject poverty since he knew no other life. The Berlins were one of hundreds of thousands of Jewish families who emigrated to
20227-501: The next several years. The LPC designated the Music Box's facade and interior as a landmark on December 8, 1987. This was part of the commission's wide-ranging effort in 1987 to grant landmark status to Broadway theaters. The New York City Board of Estimate ratified the designations in March 1988. The Shuberts, the Nederlanders , and Jujamcyn collectively sued the LPC in June 1988 to overturn
20406-420: The next sixteen years. However, smaller vaudeville and variety houses proliferated, and Off-Broadway was well established by the end of the nineteenth century. A Trip to Coontown (1898) was the first musical comedy entirely produced and performed by African Americans in a Broadway theatre (inspired largely by the routines of the minstrel shows ), followed by the ragtime -tinged Clorindy: The Origin of
20585-499: The next year by the similarly named Paris with Irène Bordoni . The last show in the 1920s was The Little Show , which premiered in 1929. The Music Box staged the French play Topaze with Frank Morgan in 1930, followed by the comedy The Third Little Show with Ernest Truex and Beatrice Lillie in 1931. The theater largely hosted works by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman , produced either individually or in partnership, during
20764-552: The number of potential patrons for the growing number of theatres increased enormously. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits and improved production values. As in England, during the latter half of the century, the theatre began to be cleaned up, with less prostitution hindering the attendance of the theatre by women. Gilbert and Sullivan 's family-friendly comic opera hits, beginning with H.M.S. Pinafore in 1878, were imported to New York (by
20943-446: The orchestra's aisles) has doorways with Corinthian-style piers , above which is an entablature in the Adam style . The north end of the promenade has a stair that rises to the balcony's foyer, as well as a double stair that leads down to a basement lounge. Both stairs have Adam-style railings. The orchestra and its promenade contain plasterwork panels on the walls. A standing rail is placed at
21122-409: The orchestra, 455 at the balcony, and 16 in the boxes. The orchestra seating includes 35 seats in the orchestra pit at the front of the stage. The original color scheme was ivory and dark green. The carpets and curtain were designed in a coral color. The rear (east) end of the orchestra contains a shallow promenade, and the orchestra level is raked . The rear wall of the promenade (corresponding with
21301-410: The outer doorways and scrolled pediment in the center doorway. A pair of pilasters flanks each of the outer bays, with Corinthian capitals atop each pilaster. The second-floor window of each outer bay is a Palladian window , which contains sash window panes. The tympanum is divided into three sections, with an arched tympanum above the center section. The third story has a rectangular sash window with
21480-523: The performers who appeared multiple times were the Brox Sisters , Clark and McCullough , Florence Moore , Grace Moore , Joseph Santley , and Ivy Sawyer . One notable performance was the 1924 edition, which featured Fanny Brice of the Ziegfeld Follies . Earl Carroll's Vanities was also staged in 1924, becoming the second production to be presented at the Music Box. Its producer, Earl Carroll ,
21659-556: The performers, or temporary availability of a theatre between the end of one production and the beginning of another. However, some shows with planned limited engagement runs may, after critical acclaim or box office success, extend their engagements or convert to open-ended runs. This was the case with 2007's August: Osage County , 2009's God of Carnage , 2012's Newsies , and 2022's Take Me Out . Historically, musicals on Broadway tend to have longer runs than "straight" (i.e., non-musical) plays. On January 9, 2006, The Phantom of
21838-464: The plays of George Bernard Shaw , and Katharine Cornell in such plays as Romeo and Juliet , Antony and Cleopatra , and Candida . In 1930, Theatre Guild 's production of Roar, China! was Broadway's first play with a majority Asian cast. As World War II approached, a dozen Broadway dramas addressed the rise of Nazism in Europe and the issue of American non-intervention. The most successful
22017-423: The production plays), meaning that the length of their presentation is not set beforehand, but depends on critical response, word of mouth, and the effectiveness of the show's advertising, all of which determine ticket sales. Investing in a commercial production carries a varied degree of financial risk. Shows need not make a profit immediately; should they make their "nut" (weekly operating expenses), or lose money at
22196-640: The productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein , became enormously influential forms of American popular culture " and contributed to making New York City the cultural capital of the world . New York City's first significant theatre was established in the mid-18th century, around 1750, when actor-managers Walter Murray and Thomas Kean established a resident theatre company at the Theatre on Nassau Street in Lower Manhattan , which held about 280 people. They presented William Shakespeare 's plays and ballad operas such as The Beggar's Opera . In 1752, William Hallam sent
22375-490: The proscenium is an archway with a single box at the balcony level. The boxes were described in American Architect as having "a very decided decorative charm to the motive of the proscenium treatment". Each box is semicircular and is cantilevered from the wall; they are accessed from stair halls leading from the orchestra. The boxes' archways are supported by six Corinthian columns, three on each side, and are additionally flanked by paired Corinthian pilasters. Within each archway,
22554-451: The rear of the orchestra. No boxes were installed at orchestra level per Harris and Berlin's request. The balcony level is raked and contains plasterwork panels on the walls. An Adam-style entablature runs above the top of the balcony wall, wrapping around to the tops of the boxes and proscenium. The balcony front curves outward and has vine and flower motifs, as well as medallions depicting female characters. Modern light boxes are in front of
22733-472: The revue As Thousands Cheer , which with 400 performances was lengthy for a Great Depression -era musical. Hart and Kaufman again partnered in 1934 for the play Merrily We Roll Along . Five plays were performed at the Music Box in 1935. These were Rain , Ceiling Zero , If This Be Treason , a theatrical version of Pride and Prejudice , and finally Kaufman and Katharine Dayton's collaboration First Lady . Kaufman and Ferber collaborated again in
22912-531: The run ending just a few months before Booth's brother John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln ), and would later revive the role at his own Booth's Theatre (which was managed for a time by his brother Junius Brutus Booth Jr. ). Other renowned Shakespeareans who appeared in New York in this era were Henry Irving , Tommaso Salvini , Fanny Davenport , and Charles Fechter . Theatre in New York moved from Downtown gradually to Midtown Manhattan , beginning around 1850, seeking less expensive real estate. At
23091-611: The scores to two editions of the Ziegfeld Follies and four annual editions of his Music Box Revue . These shows spanned the years of 1921–1926, premiering songs such as "Say It With Music", "Everybody Step", and "Pack Up Your Things and Go to the Devil". Life magazine called Berlin the "Lullaby Kid", noting that "couples at country-club dances grew misty-eyed when the band went into 'Always', because they were positive that Berlin had written it just for them. When they quarreled and parted in
23270-467: The season. This is done in order to maximize access to their target audience. Most Broadway producers and theatre owners are members of The Broadway League (formerly "The League of American Theatres and Producers"), a trade organization that promotes Broadway theatre as a whole, negotiates contracts with the various theatrical unions and agreements with the guilds, and co-administers the Tony Awards with
23449-453: The song was not recognized as a hit, however; Broadway producer Jesse Lasky was uncertain about using it, although he did include it in his "Follies" show. It was performed as an instrumental but did not impress audiences, and was soon dropped from the show's score. Berlin regarded it as a failure. He then wrote lyrics to the score, played it again in another Broadway review, and this time Variety news weekly called it "the musical sensation of
23628-449: The songs he heard while selling papers, and people would toss him some coins. He confessed to his mother one evening that his newest ambition in life was to become a singing waiter in a saloon. From this he stepped up to work as a song plugger and singing waiter in cafes and restaurants in the downtown areas of New York City. His first lyric, written with a café pianist, earned him a royalty of thirty-seven cents. However, before Berlin
23807-514: The songs were for the new dances then appearing, such as the grizzly bear , chicken walk , or foxtrot . After a Hawaiian dance craze began, he wrote "That Hula-Hula", and then did a string of Southern songs, such as "When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam". During this period, he was creating a few new songs every week, including songs aimed at the various immigrant cultures arriving from Europe. On one occasion, Berlin, whose face
23986-611: The southeast; the Gerald Schoenfeld , Booth , Shubert , and Broadhurst Theatres to the south; and the Majestic , Bernard B. Jacobs , and John Golden Theatres to the southwest. The Music Box Theatre was designed by C. Howard Crane in a Palladian -inspired style and was constructed from 1920 to 1921 for Irving Berlin and Sam H. Harris . The interior was decorated by Crane and William Baumgarten, with many Adam style details. The Longacre Engineering and Construction Company built
24165-461: The stage for 657 performances. Chinatown itself was surpassed by the musical Irene (1919) in 1921 as the longest-running Broadway musical, and even earlier, in March 1920, by Lightnin' (1918) as the longest-running Broadway show. In 1896, theatre owners Marc Klaw and A. L. Erlanger formed the Theatrical Syndicate , which controlled almost every legitimate theatre in the U.S. for
24344-423: The stage. The ceiling contains Adam-style moldings and friezes, which divide it into sections. There are also air-conditioning vents in the ceiling, and four chandeliers originally hung from it. Above the front of the balcony is a wide circular medallion. The rear of the ceiling contains a cove that curves downward onto the wall, supported by modillions at the entablature of the wall. The Music Box's rear promenade
24523-554: The street, hoping people would pitch him a few pennies. From these seamy surroundings, he became streetwise, with real and lasting education. Music was his only source of income, and he picked up the language and culture of the ghetto lifestyle. Berlin learned what kind of songs appealed to audiences, writes Bergreen: "well-known tunes expressing simple sentiments were the most reliable." He soon began plugging songs at Tony Pastor 's Music Hall in Union Square and, in 1906, when he
24702-434: The term "Broadway theatre" is used predominantly to describe venues with seating capacities of at least 500 people. Smaller theaters in New York City are referred to as off-Broadway , regardless of location, while very small venues with fewer than 100 seats are called off-off-Broadway , a term that can also apply to non-commercial, avant-garde , or productions held outside of traditional theater venues. The Theater District
24881-457: The theater hosted a limited run of Gabriel Byrne 's solo show Walking with Ghosts . A revival of Bob Fosse 's Dancin' opened at the Music Box in March 2023, running for two months; it was followed by the play Purlie Victorious that September. Following the closure of Purlie Victorious in February 2024, the musical Suffs opened at the theater in April 2024. Productions are listed by
25060-564: The theater mostly hosted flops during the mid-1980s. The Music Box hosted a revival of Hay Fever in 1985, followed the next year by a revival of Loot , which was Alec Baldwin 's first Broadway appearance. In 1987, the Music Box staged Sweet Sue with Mary Tyler Moore , as well as the Royal Shakespeare Company 's hit production Les Liaisons Dangereuses . This was followed by several short-lived productions, including Mail and Spoils of War in 1988, as well as Welcome to
25239-415: The theater, with M. X. C. Weinberger as consulting engineer. Numerous other contractors were involved in the theater's development. The Music Box is operated by the Shubert Organization . The facade is made of limestone. It is symmetrically arranged, though the theater is shorter than its width. For the design of the facade, Crane drew from both Palladian and neo-Georgian motifs. The facade's largest feature
25418-522: The theatres. Since colored bulbs burned out too quickly, white lights were used, and Broadway was nicknamed "The Great White Way". In August 1919, the Actors' Equity Association demanded a standard contract for all professional productions. After a strike shut down all the theatres, the producers were forced to agree. By the 1920s, the Shubert Brothers had risen to take over the majority of the theatres from
25597-474: The theatrical producer and director who established The Public Theater , led the "Save the Theatres" campaign. It was a not-for-profit group supported by the Actors Equity union to save the theater buildings in the neighborhood from demolition by monied Manhattan development interests. Papp provided resources, recruited a publicist and celebrated actors, and provided audio, lighting, and technical crews for
25776-399: The ticket-lobby entrance is a single doorway. The center of the ground story includes three pairs of glass and bronze doors from the auditorium. There are wood-and-glass sign boards on either side of the central doors, with colonettes on either side and sheet metal-wood pediments above them. A bronze fire-escape gate, accessed by two granite steps, and two wide sign boards are to the west of
25955-461: The time, the average age of theatergoers was 40.4; nearly two-thirds of the audience were women; and 29% identified as a racial minority. The classification of theatres is governed by language in Actors' Equity Association contracts. To be eligible for a Tony, a production must be in a house with 500 seats or more and in the Theater District, which are the criteria that define Broadway theatre. Off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway shows often provide
26134-558: The twenties, there were 70–80 theaters, but by 1969, there were 36 left. During this time, many Broadway productions struggled due to low attendance rates, which resulted in perceived mediocrity among such plays. For this reason, the Theatre Development Fund was created with the purpose of assisting productions with high cultural value that likely would struggle without subsidization, by offering tickets to those plays to consumers at reduced prices. In early 1982, Joe Papp ,
26313-479: The two center columns flank mirrored panels, which in turn are topped by broken pediments with urns. The fronts of the boxes contain Adam-style metal railings, originally ornamented in silver-gray. An entablature rises above the box seats, topped by a half-dome with a pastoral mural. These murals depict classical ruins. The half-domes are flanked by spandrels with decorations of eagles spreading their wings. Next to
26492-560: The vein of Victor Herbert. Live theatre has survived the invention of cinema. Leaving these comparatively frivolous entertainments behind and taking the drama a step forward, Show Boat premiered on December 27, 1927, at the Ziegfeld Theatre . It represented a complete integration of book and score, with dramatic themes, as told through the music, dialogue, setting, and movement, woven together more seamlessly than in previous musicals. It ran for 572 performances. The 1920s also spawned
26671-413: The vogue for "ragtime", but later inspired a major motion picture. 'Alexander's Ragtime Band' is a public menace....Hysteria is the form of insanity that an abnormal love for ragtime seems to produce. It is as much a mental disease as acute mania—it has the same symptoms. When there is nothing done to check this form it produces idiocy. — Dr. Ludwig Gruener German newspaper story Berlin rose as
26850-685: The war's end, theatre resumed in 1798, when the 2,000-seat Park Theatre was built on Chatham Street on present-day Park Row . A second major theatre, Bowery Theatre , opened in 1826, followed by others. By the 1840s, P.T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in Lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince Street, Niblo's Garden opened and soon became one of New York's premier nightspots. The 3,000-seat theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments. In 1844, Palmo's Opera House opened and presented opera for only four seasons before bankruptcy led to its rebranding as
27029-450: The words of his songs. A lyric he had submitted to a publisher was thought to be complete with music. Not wishing to lose the sale, Berlin quickly wrote a melody. It was accepted and published. The success of this first effort opened the door to his career as a composer of music as well as lyrics. In 1910, Berlin wrote a hit that solidly established him as one of Tin Pan Alley's leading composers. Alexander's Ragtime Band not only popularized
27208-401: The year of their first performance. The Music Box Revue , which has had multiple editions, is listed by the years of the first performances of each edition. Dear Evan Hansen achieved the box office record for the Music Box Theatre. The production grossed $ 2,119,371 over the eight performances during the week ending December 31, 2017. The same production had also achieved a record earlier in
27387-513: The year, making that record the highest gross for a Broadway house that seats under 1,000. Broadway theatre Broadway theatre , or Broadway , is a theatre genre that consists of the theatrical performances presented in 41 professional theaters , each with 500 or more seats, in the Theater District and Lincoln Center along Broadway , in Midtown Manhattan , New York City . Broadway and London 's West End together represent
27566-527: Was From Vienna , produced by the Refugee Artists Group. The last hit of the 1930s was Hart and Kaufman's The Man Who Came to Dinner , which had 739 performances through 1941. Irving Berlin subsequently recalled that he and Harris had almost lost control of the otherwise financially-successful Music Box Theatre during the Depression. In spite of this, all but three shows had at least 100 performances in
27745-492: Was Gentle Grafters in October 1926, while the second was Mozart that November. This was followed by the comedy Chicago , which premiered in late 1926 with Francine Larrimore and Charles Bickford , and a run of the melodrama The Spider in 1927, which transferred from a neighboring theater. By the end of 1927, Hassard Short had given up his stake in managing the Music Box. The play Paris Bound also premiered in 1927, followed
27924-507: Was Lillian Hellman 's Watch on the Rhine , which opened in April 1941. After the lean years of the Great Depression , Broadway theatre had entered a golden age with the blockbuster hit Oklahoma! , in 1943, which ran for 2,212 performances. According to John Kenrick 's writings on Broadway musicals, "Every season saw new stage musicals send songs to the top of the charts. Public demand,
28103-539: Was 14.77 million in 2018–2019, compared to 13.79 million in 2017–2018. The average age of the Broadway audience in the 2017–18 theater season was 40, the lowest it had been in nearly two decades. By 2018, about 20% of Broadway tickets were sold to international visitors, although many visitors reported not being able to use their tickets. In 2022–2023, the first full season since the COVID-19 pandemic, Broadway theaters sold 12.3 million tickets, of which 35% were to local residents and 17% to international visitors. At
28282-613: Was 18, got a job as a singing waiter at the Pelham Cafe in Chinatown . Besides serving drinks, he sang made-up " blue " parodies of hit songs to the delight of customers. Biographer Charles Hamm writes that in Berlin's free time after hours, he taught himself to play the piano. Never having had lessons, after the bar closed for the night, young Berlin would sit at a piano in the back and begin improvising tunes. He published his first song, "Marie from Sunny Italy", written in collaboration with
28461-531: Was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857. In 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square , and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square . Theatres arrived in the Times Square area in the early 1900s, and the Broadway theatres consolidated there after a large number were built around the square in the 1920s and 1930s. New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keene 's "musical burletta" The Seven Sisters (1860) shattered previous New York records with
28640-521: Was a hit for Rudy Vallée in 1929, and in 1937, updated to a four-quarter-time swing arrangement, was a top hit for Tommy Dorsey . It was on the charts at no. 13 in 1953 for The Four Tunes and at no. 15 for the Bachelors in 1965, 36 years after its first appearance. Rudy Vallée performed it on his radio show, and the song was a hit for George Olsen , Connee Boswell (she was still known as Connie), and Ozzie Nelson 's band. Aretha Franklin produced
28819-549: Was a partner in the Music Box Theatre with Berlin and Harris, though he transferred his stake to the Shubert brothers not long afterward. For the first three years of its operation, the Music Box exclusively hosted the Music Box Revue . The inaugural edition in 1921 starred Bernard and Berlin. Three subsequent editions of the Music Box Revue were hosted in as many years, and each subsequent edition gradually declined in quality. Among
28998-550: Was an American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook . Berlin received numerous honors including an Academy Award , a Grammy Award , and a Tony Award . He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Gerald R. Ford in 1977. Broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite stated he "helped write the story of this country, capturing the best of who we are and
29177-533: Was briefly jailed in November 1924 after showing "obscene" photos outside the Music Box. The comedy The Cradle Snatchers , with Humphrey Bogart , was the first play to be staged at the Music Box, opening in 1925. With close to 500 performances, it was a hit. More generally, of the productions staged in the Music Box in its first decade, only two flops with less than 100 performances were staged, both of which ran immediately after The Cradle Snatchers closed. The first
29356-482: Was drafted into the United States Army , and his induction became headline news, with one paper headline reading, "Army Takes Berlin!" But the Army wanted Berlin, now aged 30, to do what he knew best: write songs. While stationed with the 152nd Depot Brigade at Camp Upton , he then composed an all-soldier musical revue titled Yip Yip Yaphank , written as a patriotic tribute to the United States Army . The show
29535-505: Was followed by Bus Stop in 1955 and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs in 1957. Besides Inge's productions, the Music Box hosted a transfer of The Solid Gold Cadillac in 1954, as well as Separate Tables in 1956. The decade ended with the 1959 plays Rashomon , featuring Claire Bloom and Rod Steiger , and Five Finger Exercise , featuring Brian Bedford and Jessica Tandy . In 1961,
29714-460: Was followed in 1944 by a 713-performance run of the comedy I Remember Mama , which featured Marlon Brando in his Broadway debut. Another major production in the 1940s was Summer and Smoke , which premiered in 1948. The next year, the Music Box showed Lost in the Stars , which was the last musical staged at the Music Box until the 1970s. The long-running comedy Affairs of State transferred to
29893-603: Was fourteen his meager income was still adding less than his sisters' to the family's budget, which made him feel worthless. He then decided to leave home and join the city's ragged army of other young immigrants. He lived in the Bowery, taking up residence in one of the lodging houses that sheltered the thousands of other homeless boys in the Lower East Side . Bergreen describes them as being uncharitable living quarters, " Dickensian in their meanness, filth, and insensitivity to ordinary human beings." Having left school around
30072-449: Was getting known on Broadway with his own songs. When Berlin ended with Cohan's "Yankee Doodle Boy", notes Whitcomb, "everybody in the joint applauded the feisty little fellow." Max Winslow (c. 1883–1942), a staff member at music publisher Harry Von Tilzer Company, noticed Berlin's singing on many occasions and became so taken with his talent that he tried to get him a job with his firm. Von Tilzer said that Max claimed to have "discovered
30251-447: Was his first ballad. It was an immediate popular hit and sold more than a million copies. He began to realize that ragtime was not a good musical style for serious romantic expression, and over the next few years adapted his style by writing more love songs. In 1915 he wrote the hit "I Love a Piano", a comical and erotic ragtime love song. By 1918 he had written hundreds of songs, mostly topical, which enjoyed brief popularity. Many of
30430-407: Was installed at the Music Box in 1994. The musical Swinging on a Star opened in 1995. The next year, the Music Box staged the musical State Fair , the latter of which was the final Broadway show produced by David Merrick . Subsequently, Barrymore ran 238 performances in 1997, and The Diary of Anne Frank opened later that year, running through the next year with 221 performances. Finally,
30609-465: Was made of alternating gray and pink marble tiles. The lobby was separated from the auditorium itself by draped partitions, which removed the drafts that typically occurred behind the last row of seats. At the balcony level is a mezzanine. This level contained Berlin's studio, as well as ladies' retiring rooms, telephone rooms, and managers' offices. Berlin's studio was designed like an attic, with exposed ceiling rafters , as well as wainscoted walls and
30788-436: Was performed by Al Jolson in the first feature sound film, The Jazz Singer , that same year. In 1946, it returned to the top 10 on the charts with Count Basie and Benny Goodman . In 1978, Willie Nelson made the song a no. 1 country hit, 52 years after it was written. An instant standard with one of Berlin's most "intricately syncopated choruses", this song is associated with Fred Astaire , who sang and danced to it in
30967-603: Was short-lived comedy Amour . As part of a settlement with the United States Department of Justice in 2003, the Shuberts agreed to improve disabled access at their 16 landmarked Broadway theaters, including the Music Box. The Music Box hosted Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 2003 and Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance in 2004, as well as Antony Sher 's solo Primo and the musical In My Life in 2005. These were followed in 2006 by Festen and The Vertical Hour . Meanwhile,
31146-423: Was still not known, was on a train trip and decided to entertain the fellow passengers with some music. They asked him how he knew so many hit songs, and Berlin modestly replied, "I wrote them." An important song that Berlin wrote during his transition from writing ragtime to lyrical ballads was " A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody ", which became one of Berlin's "first big guns", says historian Alec Wilder . The song
31325-399: Was such a limited piano player that he could only play in the key of F-sharp; he used his custom piano equipped with a transposing lever when he needed to play in keys other than F-sharp. He was known for writing music and lyrics in the American vernacular: uncomplicated, simple and direct, with his stated aim being to "reach the heart of the average American," who he saw as the "real soul of
31504-453: Was taken to Broadway where it also included a number of hits, including " Mandy " and " Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning ", which Berlin performed himself. The shows earned $ 150,000 for a camp service center. One song he wrote for the show but decided not to use, he would introduce 20 years later: "God Bless America". Berlin returned to Tin Pan Alley after the war and in 1921 created
31683-466: Was the comedy Any Wednesday , which opened in 1964 and ran for 983 performances. The decade's other hits included Harold Pinter 's The Homecoming , which opened in 1967, and There's a Girl in My Soup , which opened later that year. The British play Sleuth opened in 1970, featuring Keith Baxter and Anthony Quayle ; it became the theater's longest-running production with 1,222 performances. When
31862-639: Was under renovation at the time, would be renamed after actor James Earl Jones . In June 2022, the Nederlanders announced that the Brooks Atkinson Theatre would be renamed after Lena Horne , The James Earl Jones Theatre was rededicated in September 2022, while the Lena Horne Theatre was rededicated that November. Although there are some exceptions, shows with open-ended runs generally have evening performances Tuesday through Saturday, with
32041-454: Was written for Ziegfeld 's Follies of 1919 and became the musical's lead song. Its popularity was so great that it later became the theme for all of Ziegfeld's revues, and the theme song in the 1936 film The Great Ziegfeld . Wilder puts it on the same level as Jerome Kern 's "pure melodies", and in comparison with Berlin's earlier music, says it is "extraordinary that such a development in style and sophistication should have taken place in
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