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Broadway Theatre (53rd Street)

The Broadway Theatre (formerly Universal's Colony Theatre, B.S. Moss's Broadway Theatre, Earl Carroll's Broadway Theatre, and Ciné Roma) is a Broadway theater at 1681 Broadway (near 53rd Street) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1924, the theater was designed by Eugene De Rosa for Benjamin S. Moss, who originally operated the venue as a movie theater. It has approximately 1,763 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. The Broadway Theatre is one of the few Broadway theaters that is physically on Broadway.

Address

1681 Broadway
New York City
United States

Broadway

1,763

December 25, 1924

1930
1986

1924–1930, 1947, 1952–1953 (movie theater)
1930–present (Broadway theater)

The Broadway's facade was originally designed in the Italian Renaissance style and was made of brick and terracotta. The modern facade of the theater is made of polished granite and is part of the office building at 1675 Broadway, completed in 1990. The auditorium contains an orchestra level, one balcony, and box seats. The modern design of the auditorium dates to a 1986 renovation, when Oliver Smith redecorated the theater in a reddish color scheme. The office building is cantilevered above the auditorium.


B.S. Moss's Colony Theatre opened on Christmas Day 1924 and was originally leased to Universal Pictures Corporation. Moss renovated the venue for legitimate shows and reopened it as the Broadway Theatre on December 8, 1930. The theater had several operators over the next decade, and it switched between hosting legitimate shows, movies, and vaudeville. Lee Shubert and Clifford Fischer took over the Broadway Theatre in December 1939, and the Shubert family bought the theater in 1940. Since then, the Broadway has largely been used as a legitimate theater, though it was briefly used for movies in 1947 and in 1952–1953. The Broadway was extensively rebuilt in the late 1980s. Over the years, it has hosted many long-running musicals that have transferred from other theaters, as well as other long-lasting shows such as Evita, Les Misérables, and Miss Saigon.

Description[edit]

Buildings[edit]

The Broadway Theatre is at the southwest corner of Broadway and 53rd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City.[1] It is one of the few active Broadway theaters that are physically on Broadway.[2][a]

List of Broadway theaters

Botto, Louis; Mitchell, Brian Stokes (2002). . New York; Milwaukee, WI: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books/Playbill. ISBN 978-1-55783-566-6.

At This Theatre: 100 Years of Broadway Shows, Stories and Stars

Bloom, Ken (2007). (1st ed.). New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-97380-9.

The Routledge Guide to Broadway

(PDF) (Report). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. November 17, 1987.

Mark Hellinger Theater Interior

Morrison, William (1999). Broadway Theatres: History and Architecture. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications.  0-486-40244-4.

ISBN

Stern, Robert A. M.; Fishman, David; Tilove, Jacob (2006). . New York: Monacelli Press. ISBN 978-1-58093-177-9. OCLC 70267065. OL 22741487M.

New York 2000: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Bicentennial and the Millennium

Wilmeth, Don B. (2007). . Cambridge University Press. pp. 128–129. ISBN 978-0-521-83538-1.

The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre

Official website

at the Internet Broadway Database

The Broadway Theatre

Playbill Vault