Lunt-Fontanne Theatre

Cigarette trading card showing the Globe Theatre, c. 1910s

Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, showing Beauty and the Beast, 2003

The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 203-217 West 46th Street in midtown-Manhattan.

Designed by the architectural firm of Carrere and Hastings, it was built by producer Charles Dillingham and opened as the Globe Theatre, in honor of London's Shakespearean playhouse, on January 10, 1910 with a musical entitled The Old Town. Although it was situated on 46th street with a grand Beaux-Arts facade, it also had a small entrance on Broadway between 46th and 47th Streets. Most of the Globe's early shows were dramatic plays, including two revivals of La Dame aux Camélias. In the late teens and 1920s, the focus shifted to musicals.

The original design and construction called for the ceiling and the roof 20 feet above it to roll back to reveal starlight and keep the theatre cooler in summer. No other Broadway theatre had such a design. There is no record of it ever actually opening. Other innovations included seats being individually cooled by ice or heated by hot air from vents underneath.^[1]

In the 1930s, the Globe was converted into a movie house operated by the Brandt chain. City Playhouses Inc. (which consisted of developers Robert W. Dowling and William Zeckendorf) bought it in 1957 and had the firm Roche and Roche gut renovate it. Major changes were made, including the removal of the second balcony level, the Broadway entrance, and much of the original decor. It was rechristened the Lunt-Fontanne in honor of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne and reopened on May 5, 1958 with Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Visit, starring the distinguished theatrical couple. The theatre, which seats 1415, presently is owned by the Nederlander Organization.

Trivia & Facts

• The Theatre's lobby was painted with all the names of those who traveled on the Titanic, during the Titanic:The Musical 's run at the theatre.
• To date, Disney's Beauty and the Beast is the theatre's longest running show since its opening. However, it did not spend all 13 years at the theatre, but the last 9.
• To make room for The Little Mermaid, Disney decided to close Beauty and the Beast at this theatre. Ironically, The Little Mermaid closed to make room for The Addams Family.
• The Theatre was home to Smile, the "lost" musical of Marvin Hamlisch and Howard Ashman, which closed after 48 performances.

Notable productions

• 1918: Ziegfeld Follies
• 1920: George White's Scandals
• 1925: Aren't We All?; No, No, Nanette
• 1928: She's My Baby with Clifton Webb as Clyde Parker^[2]
• 1931: The Cat and the Fiddle
• 1958: Goldilocks
• 1959: The Sound of Music
• 1962: Little Me
• 1964: Ben Franklin in Paris
• 1965: Skyscraper
• 1966: Walking Happy
• 1967: How Now, Dow Jones
• 1970: The Rothschilds
• 1972: Ambassador
• 1973: 6 Rms Riv Vu
• 1974: The Sunshine Boys
• 1979: Beatlemania
• 1980: Peter Pan
• 1981: Sophisticated Ladies
• 1986: Smile (musical)
• 1997: Titanic
• 1999: Beauty and the Beast
• 2007: The Little Mermaid
• 2010: The Addams Family

References

1. ^ Streetscapes/The Lunt-Fontanne; 1910 Theater, Once the Globe, Could Open to the Sky - New York Times - February 1, 1998
2. ^ Parker, John (ed), Who's Who in the Theatre, 10th revised edition, London, 1947: 1430

• Broadway Theatres: History and Architecture, William Morrison, 1999, Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-40244-4

External links

• Official website
• Lunt-Fontanne Theatre at the Internet Broadway Database
• New York City Architecture website
• Broadway Show Guide