The Al Hirschfeld Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 302 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.
Designed by architect G. Albert Lansburgh for vaudeville promoter Martin Beck, the theatre opened as the Martin Beck Theatre with a production of Madame Pompadour on November 11, 1924. It was the only theater in New York that was owned outright without a mortgage. It was designed to be the most opulent theater of its time, and has dressing rooms for 200 actors. The theatre has a seating capacity of 1,292 for plays and 1,282 for musicals.
Famous appearances include Basil Rathbone as Romeo to the Juliet of Katharine Cornell in December 1934; Frank Langella in Dracula; Christina Applegate as the title role in Sweet Charity; David Hyde Pierce as Lt. Coffi in the musical Curtains; Will Swenson in Hair.
On June 21, 2003, it was renamed the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in honor of the caricaturist famous for his drawings of Broadway celebrities, and reopened on November 23, 2003, with a revival of the musical Wonderful Town.
Notable productions
- 1934: The Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado
- 1934: Romeo and Juliet
- 1935: Winterset
- 1937: High Tor
- 1939: Ladies and Gentlemen
- 1940: Cabin in the Sky
- 1941: Watch on the Rhine
- 1942: My Sister Eileen
- 1943: The Corn is Green
- 1945: On the Town
- 1946: The Iceman Cometh
- 1951: The Rose Tattoo
- 1953: The Crucible
- 1956: Candide
- 1959: Sweet Bird of Youth
- 1960: Bye Bye Birdie
- 1961: Milk and Honey; The Happiest Girl in the World
- 1964: I Had a Ball
- 1965: Oliver!
- 1966: A Delicate Balance
- 1967: Hallelujah, Baby!
- 1968: Man of La Mancha (Transferred to the Martin Beck from the ANTA Washington Square Theatre, where it had been playing since 1965. The ANTA theatre was demolished in 1968.)
- 1977: Dracula
- 1980: Onward Victoria
- 1981: The Little Foxes
- 1984: The Rink
- 1987: Into the Woods
- 1989: Grand Hotel
- 1992: Guys and Dolls
- 1995: Moon Over Buffalo
- 1998: The Sound of Music
- 1999: Kiss Me, Kate
- 2002: Man of La Mancha
- 2003: Wonderful Town
- 2005: Sweet Charity
- 2006: The Wedding Singer
- 2007: Curtains
- 2008: A Tale of Two Cities
- 2009: Hair
References
- Who's Who in the Theatre, edited by John Parker, tenth edition, revised, London, 1947, p.1184.
External links
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