Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
Encyclopedia
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Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
theatre located at 236 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way
George Abbott Way
George Abbott Way is a section of West 45th Street northwest of Times Square in New York City, named for famed Broadway producer and director George Abbott...
) in midtown-Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
named for Gerald Schoenfeld
Gerald Schoenfeld
Gerald Schoenfeld was chairman of the Shubert Organization from 1972 until his death....
.
Designed by architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Herbert J. Krapp
Herbert J. Krapp
Herbert J. Krapp was a theatre architect and designer in the early part of the twentieth century.Krapp was an apprentice with the Herts & Tallant firm, where he was involved with designing the plans for the Lyceum, Shubert, Booth, New Amsterdam and Longacre Theatres, among others. He departed the...
to resemble the neighboring Shubert
Shubert Theatre
Shubert Theatre or Shubert Theater may refer to:Theatres*Shubert Theatre , New York City, built in 1913.*Shubert Theatre , Connecticut, built in 1914.*Shubert Theatre , California, demolished in 2002....
and Booth
Booth Theatre
The Booth Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 222 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan, New York City.Architect Henry B. Herts designed the Booth and its companion Shubert Theatre as a back-to-back pair sharing a Venetian Renaissance-style façade...
theatres designed by Henry B. Herts, the building was constructed by the Shubert brothers
Shubert family
The Shubert family of New York City, New York was responsible for the establishment of the Broadway district, in New York City, as the hub of the theatre industry in the United States...
in 1917-18, christened the Plymouth Theatre, and leased to producer Arthur Hopkins. He intended it to be a venue for legitimate plays starring notable actors like John
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
and Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
. The premiere production was A Successful Calamity, a comedy with William Gillette
William Gillette
William Hooker Gillette was an American actor, playwright and stage-manager in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who is best remembered today for portraying Sherlock Holmes....
and Estelle Winwood
Estelle Winwood
Estelle Winwood was an English stage and film actress who moved to the United States in mid-career and became celebrated for her longevity.-Early life and early career:...
.
After Hopkins died in 1948, control of the theatre returned to the Shuberts, who still own the property, which was designated a New York landmark
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The Commission was created in April 1965 by Mayor Robert F. Wagner following the destruction of Pennsylvania Station the previous year to make way for...
in 1987. The 1,080-seat house was renamed after Gerald Schoenfeld
Gerald Schoenfeld
Gerald Schoenfeld was chairman of the Shubert Organization from 1972 until his death....
, chairman of the Shubert Organization, in 2005.
Notable productions
- Bonnie & Clyde (November 2011)
- The Motherfucker With the HatThe Motherfucker With the HatThe Motherfucker With the Hat is a 2011 play by Stephen Adly Guirgis...
(April 2011-July 2011) - A Life in the TheatreA Life in the TheatreA Life in the Theatre is a 1977 play by David Mamet.It focuses on the relationship between two actors, the play's only characters. One, Robert, is a stage veteran while John is a young, promising actor...
(Sep 2010-Nov 2010) - A Behanding in SpokaneA Behanding in SpokaneA Behanding in Spokane is a 2010 black comedy by award-winning Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. It premièred at the Schoenfeld Theatre on Broadway in New York. It is McDonagh's first play set in the United States.-Plot synopsis:...
(2010) - A Steady RainA Steady RainA Steady Rain is a play by Keith Huff. With a plot similar to a real-life event involving Jeffrey Dahmer, it focuses on two Chicago policemen who inadvertently return a Vietnamese boy to a cannibalistic serial killer who claims to be the child's uncle...
(2009) - ImpressionismImpressionism (play)Impressionism is a 2009 play by Michael Jacobs about "an international photojournalist and a New York gallery owner whose unexpected brush with intimacy leads them to realize that there is an art to repairing broken lives."-Plot:...
(2009) - All My SonsAll My SonsAll My Sons is a 1947 play by Arthur Miller. The play was twice adapted for film; in 1948, and again in 1987.The play opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1947 and ran for 328 performances...
(2008 revival) - A Chorus LineA Chorus LineA Chorus Line is a 1975 musical about Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line. The book was authored by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante, lyrics were written by Edward Kleban, and music was composed by Marvin Hamlisch....
(2006 revival) - Chita RiveraChita RiveraChita Rivera is an American actress, dancer, and singer best known for her roles in musical theater. She is the first Hispanic woman to receive a Kennedy Center Honors award...
: A Dancer's Life (2006) - The Caine Mutiny Court-MartialThe Caine Mutiny Court-MartialThe Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is a two-act play by Herman Wouk, which he adapted from his own novel, The Caine Mutiny.Wouk's novel covered a long stretch of time aboard the USS Caine, a Navy minesweeper in the Pacific...
(2006) - Brooklyn the Musical (2004-2005)
- Match (2004)
- TabooTaboo (musical)Taboo is a stage musical with a book by Mark Davies , lyrics by Boy George, and music by George and Kevan Frost....
(2003) - Long Day's Journey into NightLong Day's Journey Into NightLong Day's Journey Into Night is a 1956 drama in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play is widely considered to be his masterwork...
(2003 revival) - The GraduateThe GraduateThe Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder...
(2002) - Thou Shalt NotThou Shalt Not (musical)Thou Shalt Not is a musical based on Émile Zola's novel Thérèse Raquin with music and lyrics by Harry Connick, Jr. and an adapted book by David Thompson. The musical deals with the consequences involved in the breaking of several Commandments, namely the sixth and seventh...
(2001) - Jekyll & HydeJekyll & Hyde (musical)Jekyll & Hyde is a musical based on the novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The original stage conception was by Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn. The music is by Wildhorn and the lyrics and book are by Leslie Bricusse.The musical ran on Broadway for 1,543...
(1997) - A Delicate Balance (1996)
- PassionPassion (musical)Passion is a musical adapted from Ettore Scola's film Passione d'Amore . The book is by James Lapine, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Central subjects include obsession, beauty, power, manipulation, passion, illness, and love...
(1994) - Dancing at LughnasaDancing at LughnasaDancing at Lughnasa is a 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel set in Ireland's County Donegal in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg. It is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans, the narrator...
(1991) - The Heidi ChroniclesThe Heidi ChroniclesThe Heidi Chronicles is a 1988 play by Wendy Wasserstein. The play won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.-Production history:A workshop production at Seattle Repertory Theatre was held in April 1988, directed by Daniel J. Sullivan....
(1989) - Burn ThisBurn ThisBurn This is a play by Lanford Wilson.-Plot:It begins shortly after the funeral of Robbie, a young gay dancer who drowned in a boating accident. In attendance were his roommates: choreographer Anna and ad man Larry...
(1988) - PygmalionPygmalion (play)Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts is a play by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of...
(1987 revival) - The House of Blue LeavesThe House of Blue LeavesThe House of Blue Leaves is a play by American playwright John Guare, first staged in 1966 by Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut....
(1986) - The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1985)
- The Real ThingThe Real Thing (play)The Real Thing is a play by Tom Stoppard, first performed in 1982. It examines the nature of honesty, and its use of a play within a play is one of many levels on which the author teases the audience with the difference between semblance and reality....
(1984) - The Life and Adventures of Nicholas NicklebyThe Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (play)The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby is an eight-hour stage play, presented over two performances, adapted from the Charles Dickens novel of the same name by David Edgar. Directed by John Caird and Trevor Nunn, it opened on 5 June 1980 at the Aldwych Theatre in London. The music and lyrics...
(1981) - Ain't Misbehavin' (1979)
- The Water EngineThe Water EngineThe Water Engine is a play by David Mamet that highlights the sometimes violent suppression of a disruptive alternative energy technology. The storyline setting of 1934 likely coincides with the real-life experiences of Texans Henry "Dad" and Charles H. Garrett who, in 1935, received a U.S. Patent...
(1978) - GodspellGodspellGodspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...
(1976) - EquusEquus (play)Equus is a play by Peter Shaffer written in 1973, telling the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses....
(1974) - The Gingerbread LadyThe Gingerbread LadyThe Gingerbread Lady is a 1970 play by Neil Simon, written specifically for actress Maureen Stapleton, who won both the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for her performance....
(1970) - Plaza SuitePlaza SuitePlaza Suite is a comedy play by Neil Simon.-Plot:The play is composed of three acts, each involving different characters but all set in Suite 719 of New York City's Plaza Hotel...
(1968) - The Star-Spangled GirlThe Star-Spangled GirlThe Star-Spangled Girl is a comedy written by Neil Simon. The play, set in the San Francisco in the 1960s, concerns three characters: Andy, Norman and Sophie. The original Broadway cast featured Anthony Perkins as Andy, Richard Benjamin as Norman and Connie Stevens as Sophie...
(1966) - The Odd CoupleThe Odd CoupleThe Odd Couple is a 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, followed by a successful film and television series, as well as other derivative works and spin offs, many featuring one or more of the same actors. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and...
(1965) - Irma La DouceIrma la DouceIrma la Douce/Irma la Dolce is a 1963 romantic comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, directed by Billy Wilder.It is based on the 1956 French musical Irma La Douce by Marguerite Monnot and Alexandre Breffort.-Plot:...
(1960) - From A to ZFrom A to ZFrom A to Z is a musical revue with a book by Woody Allen, Herbert Farjeon, and Nina Warner Hook and songs by Jerry Herman, Fred Ebb, Mary Rodgers, Everett Sloane, Jay Thompson, Dickson Hughes, Jack Holmes, Paul Klein, Norman Martin, William Dyer, and Charles Zwar.Although a critical and commercial...
(1960) - Romanoff and Juliet (1957)
- A Hatful of RainA Hatful of RainA Hatful of Rain is a 1957 dramatic film. The movie was a rarity for its time in its frank depiction of the effect of drug addiction.It is a medically and sociologically accurate account of the effects of morphine on an addict and his family ....
(1956) - The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (1954)
- Dial M for MurderDial M for MurderDial M for Murder is a 1954 American thriller film adapted from a successful stage play by Frederick Knott, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, and Robert Cummings. The movie was released by the Warner Bros...
(1952) - Private LivesPrivate LivesPrivate Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It focuses on a divorced couple who discover that they are honeymooning with their new spouses in neighbouring rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realise that they still have feelings for...
(1948) - Call Me MisterCall Me MisterCall Me Mister is a revue with sketches by Arnold Auerbach and words and music by Harold Rome. The title refers to returning soldiers who expected to be addressed as civilians instead of by their military rank....
(1947) - Present LaughterPresent LaughterPresent Laughter is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1939 and first staged in 1942 on tour, alternating with his lower middle-class domestic drama This Happy Breed...
(1946) - Lute SongLute Song (musical)Lute Song is a 1946 American musical with a book by Sidney Howard and Will Irwin, music by Raymond Scott, and lyrics by Bernard Hanighen. It is based on the 14th century Chinese play Pi-Pa-Ki by Kao-Tong-Kia and Mao-Tseo...
(1946) - Ten Little IndiansTen Little Indians"Ten Little Indians" is a children's rhyme. The song is usually performed to the Irish folk tune "Michael Finnegan". It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13512.-Lyrics:The modern lyrics are believed to be public domain and are as follows:...
(1945) - The Skin of Our TeethThe Skin of Our TeethThe Skin of Our Teeth is a play by Thornton Wilder which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It opened on October 15, 1942 at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, before moving to the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway on November 18, 1942...
(1942) - Abe Lincoln in IllinoisAbe Lincoln in Illinois (play)Abe Lincoln in Illinois is a play written by the American playwright Robert E. Sherwood in 1938. The play, in three acts, covers the life of President Abraham Lincoln from his childhood through his final speech in Illinois before he left for Washington. The play also covers his romance with Mary...
(1938) - Tovarich (1936)
- Dark VictoryDark VictoryDark Victory is a 1939 American drama film directed by Edmund Goulding and starring Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, and Ronald Reagan...
(1934) - HolidayHoliday (play)Holiday is a 1928 play by Philip Barry. It was adapted for film twice. First in 1930, directed by Edward H. Griffith with Ann Harding, Mary Astor, Edward Everett Horton, Robert Ames and Hedda Hopper...
(1928) - The Pirates of PenzanceThe Pirates of PenzanceThe Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
(1926) - What Price Glory?What Price Glory? (play)What Price Glory?, a comedy-drama written by Maxwell Anderson and critic/veteran Laurence Stallings was Anderson's first commercial success, with a long run on Broadway.The play depicted the rivalry between two U.S...
(1924) - The Hairy ApeThe Hairy Ape-Plot :The play tells the story of a brutish, unthinking laborer known as Yank, as he searches for a sense of belonging in a world controlled by the rich...
(1922) - A Doll's HouseA Doll's HouseA Doll's House is a three-act play in prose by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premièred at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month....
(1918 revival)
Box office record
The limited engagement drama A Steady Rain, which starred Daniel CraigDaniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
and Hugh Jackman
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters...
, achieved the box office record for the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. The production grossed $1,292,210 over eight performances, for the week ending December 6th, 2009.