Broadway Theatre
1681 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10019
1681 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10019
9 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 63 comments
Don’t forget the Gallo Opera House became Studio 54. The place to be. They also did a renos of the Crescent, Carlton, Floral, Williston and Suffolk Theatres to be catering halls.
Looks nothing like it, but sort of brings to my mind when they renovated the Palladium (former Academy of Music) from a theater into a nightclub in the late ‘80’s.
Worked for me. Wonder how the public will receive the production.
A four-page article, with five large color photos, can be found in “Out With the Velvet Seats, in With the Dance Floor” in the June 19-July 2 issue of New York Magazine. This link might not work for everyone, but worth a try: Click here
Union dispute regarding Byrne’s upcoming show was resolved as of June 9th.
https://variety.com/2023/music/news/david-byrne-broadway-union-agreement-here-lies-love-1235639414/
we’ll presume you mean the original run of Candide and not the revival?
If that kind of reno is a thing worth nothing, then a similar renovation took place for the show that opened June 17, 2023 - “ Here Lies Love” From Broadway.org “Here Lies Love is based on former Filipina First Lady Imelda Marcos' astonishing rise to power and subsequent fall at the hands of the Philippine People Power Revolution. From the minds of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, Here Lies Love transforms the theatre into a dance club where the audience is immersed in the story.”
Opening night is July 20th, it has an open ended run. ( correcting my faux pas in original posting)
Another major reno not mentioned in the overview was the one for the stage production of Candide. All the seats were removed. The audience sat in a balcony that ran around the entire theatre. The show was performed below in the entire space.
Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie debuted here in October 1928, when it was still known as the Colony.
That info shown is this video of the Main St Cinema in Disneyland at 1:33 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRpTc_LJD8A
Ok I was just trying to figure out the point of CC’s post.
vindanpar, CC’s above comment has been removed, but it is still present under the photo. I stated above that it was “on stage”, but did not do so on the photo description. The notification is what alerted members to the addition of the photo, so it is moot.
CC I’m not sure if you are reproaching Zornig or just repeating what he already said.
Circa 1963 photo added courtesy of Neil Marsolek. “The Girl Who Came To Supper” premiered on stage at the Broadway Theatre December 8th, 1963.
My parents may have taken me to see Fantasia as a child. We went to a lot of movies in the city. Finally got to see it many years later on the CinemaScope screen of my local theater.
As cited in my retrospective article, the Broadway Theatre held the longest-running roadshow engagement of Disney’s “Fantasia” and was among only eleven venues that presented the film in Fantasound.
More info here – http://incinerama.com/ctbroadway.htm when it was a Cinerama theatre.
Walt Disney’s “Fantasia” premiered here on this date in 1940. Happy 75th! And here’s a retrospective article to mark the occasion. Included is a historian interview and a breakdown of where the film played in its initial roadshow release.
Incredible December 1928 photo as the Colony added courtesy of the Eyes Of A Generation.com Facebook page.
Hammerstein Theatre, now the Ed Sullivan Theatre in the background. Below copy/history of the Hammerstein also courtesy of the Eyes Of A Generation.com Facebook page.
Tomorrow is David Letterman’s last day in this grand theater that was built in 1927. This photo shows “Good Boy” playing at what was then The Hammerstein Theater in December of 1928. The famous song at this link was first performed here and was the first “hit” event in the theater’s history. https://youtu.be/rI275t9BNJo?t=42s
The song is “I Want To Be Loved By You.” and is sung by Helen Kane, who’s voice and style was the inspiration for the famous cartoon character Betty Boop. In 1931, bankruptcy forced the sale, and the theater was bought by Billy Rose. After a few more years of legitimate theater ventures, Rose entered a long term lease with CBS in 1936. The debut radio show from here was “The Major Bowes Amateur Hour,” and the venue was known as CBS Radio Playhouse.
In 1950, the theater was converted to television and became CBS Studio 50. The first big production from Studio 50 was “The Jackie Gleason Show” in the fall of 1950. In ‘52, Ed Sullivan’s “Toast Of The Town” show was moved from The Maxine Elliot Theater to Studio 50, and joined Gleason there. Tomorrow night, another chapter ends, and a new one will begin again soon at 1697 Broadway.
Does anyone know the size of the screen installed at the Broadway for the premiere of “This Is Cinerama”?
Coincidentally, this pic, also from October, 1931, and posted back in May of 2012, shows the marquee advertising what appears to be essentially the same bill. Barto & Mann seem to be listed on the marquee in place of Al Trahan?
Wow… 1931! I wonder how big that “giant” television screen was – not to mention how grainy or fuzzy the image was, at that size!
Note the CINE ROMA verticle sign at the far near corner of the marquee. This name and concept moved around between the Ambassador, Piccadilly and Broadway in the late thirties.
“Steamboat Willie” opened at this Colony. The 79th Street was not named Colony until 1937.
I’ve found some websites that say that “Steamboat Willie” premiered at the Broadway Theatre in 1928 when it was the Colony and other websites that say it premiered at the 79th Street Theatre which later was renamed the Colony. I am curious to know which is correct.
In addition to the renovations mentioned in the opening the Broadway “suffered” a major modification when Candide played there. Basically it was converted to an arena with a large portion of the orchestra seating replaced by the stage.
Great photos on that site! Thanks for sharing, CWalczak! I love the surreptitious shots of the screen during the film… Really gives an idea as to how overwhelming the image must have been, particularly to those who had until that time been used to standard Academy ratio for so long!