It’s not possible to stroll right into a Broadway theatre, or just simply consider a Broadway theatre, with out instantly connecting a reminiscence to it. Each Broadway theatre is stuffed with a wealthy and colourful historical past, brimming over with tales of the celebs who graced its staged, legends that have been made inside its partitions, and the sentiments all of us have of trying again and pondering “I noticed a Tony profitable efficiency in that theater” or “I want I might seen that efficiency in that theater.”
Whether or not a theater has a historical past that is 100 years previous or nearer to forty, each Broadway theater tells a narrative, every one stuffed with enjoyable info you by no means knew!
With our new sequence, Theater Tales, we’re bringing you tidbits you’ll have by no means heard, tales you by no means thought to ask about and extra, providing you with a greater look into the historical past of Broadway theatres, in addition to a leg-up in your subsequent theater-trivia evening.
When was the American Airways Theatre Constructed?
The American Airways Theatre, initially referred to as the Selwyn, was in-built 1918 and designed by George Keister, who additionally designed the Belasco Theatre and the Apollo Theater. The theatre initially had 1,180 seats (it now seats 740) and featured separate smoking rooms for women and men, plus different novel options, together with dressing rooms geared up with a bathe and cellphone. After housing well-known performs and musicals within the early 1900s, the theatre was finally transformed to a cinema, and operated on and off as each a movie show and legit theatre for many years, housing productions resembling Wake Up and Dream (1929), Three’s a Crowd (1930) and extra. The theatre was briefly used within the early Nineties because the Occasions Sq. Guests Middle, and was additionally used as a reliable theatre for a restricted manufacturing of Eugene O’Neill‘s The Bushy Ape, however for essentially the most half, it stood vacant. In 1992, the Selwyn fell beneath the safety of the New forty second Avenue group, and it wasn’t till 1997 that The Roundabout Theatre Firm dedicated to renovating it. They renamed it the American Airways Theatre for its most important sponsor, and the theatre reopened in 2000 with a manufacturing of The Man Who Got here to Dinner starring Nathan Lane.
Is the American Airways theatre extra well-known for housing performs or musicals?
The American Airways Theatre all through its historical past, has primarily been recognized for housing performs! Among the most lauded performs to be carried out within the theatre embody Betrayal starring Juliette Binoche and Liev Schreiber, 2001 Tony Award Finest Revival of a Play Nominee; A Day within the Dying of Joe Egg starring Eddie Izzard and Victoria Hamilton, 2003 Tony Award Finest Revival of a Play Nominee; 12 Offended Males starring Boyd Gaines, James Rebhorn and extra, 2005 Tony Award Finest Revival of a Play Nominee; The Fixed Spouse starring Kate Burton and Lynn Redgrave, 2006 Tony Award Finest Revival of a Play Nominee; The 39 Steps starring Charles Edwards, Jennifer Ferrin and extra, 2008 Finest New Play Nominee; Les liaisons dangereuses starring Laura Linney, Ben Daniels and extra, 2008 Tony Award Finest Revival of a Play Nominee; and plenty of others! The latest performs to be housed within the American Airways Theatre embody A Troopers Play (2020) starring Blair Underwood, David Alan Grier and extra; The Rose Tattoo (2019) starring Marisa Tomei; All My Sons (2019) starring Tracy Letts, Annette Bening and extra; True West (2019) starring Ethan Hawke and Paul Dano; Bernhardt/Hamlet (2018) starring Janet McTeer; John Lithgow: Tales by Coronary heart (2018) plus many others!
[The Rose Tattoo, 2019 production starring Marisa Tomei]
What well-known musicals have taken the stage on the American Airways Theatre?
The musicals to have been introduced on the American Airways Theatre embody: The Boys from Syracuse (2002) Massive River (2003) starring Michael McElroy, Tony Award Finest Revival of a Musical Nominee, Tony Award Finest Revival of a Musical Nominee; The Pajama Recreation (2006) starring Harry Connick, Jr., Kelli O’Hara and extra, Tony Award Finest Revival of a Musical; On a regular basis Rapture (2010) starring Sherie Rene Scott; Violet (2014) starring Sutton Foster; On the Twentieth Century (2015) starring Kristin Chenoweth, Peter Gallagher and Andy Karl; and others!
[On the Twentieth Century, 2015 production starring Kristin Chenoweth, Andy Karl & Peter Gallagher]
What present holds the field workplace report on the American Airways Theatre?
The present that holds the field workplace report on the American Airways Theatre is The Pajama Recreation! The manufacturing grossed $477,030 for the week ending April 30, 2006. The 2006 Broadway revival of The Pajama Recreation was directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, and starred Harry Connick, Jr., making his Broadway debut, Kelli O’Hara, Michael McKean, Roz Ryan, and Megan Lawrence. The revival was nominated for 9 Tony awards, profitable Finest Revival of a Musical, and Finest Choreography for Kathleen Marshall.
[The Pajama Game, 2006 production starring Harry Connick Jr. and Kelli O’Hara]
What exhibits have been set to go into the theatre subsequent?
The American Airways Theatre is at present closed because of the Broadway shutdown. The exhibits that have been beforehand set to make their solution to the American Airways Theatre previous to the shutdown have been 1776, and Birthday Candles. Directed by Diane Paulus, the revival of 1776 held a Zoom workshop in April 2020, and featured a gender-inclusive solid, starring Nancy Anderson (George Learn of DE), Becca Ayers (Col. Thomas McKean of DE), Tiffani Barbour (Custodian Andrew McNair), Allison Blackwell (Robert Livingston of NY), Hannah Cruz (Choose James Wilson of PA), Allyson Kaye Daniel (Abigail Adams / Rev. Jonathan Witherspoon of NJ), Elizabeth A. Davis (Thomas Jefferson of VA), Mehry Eslaminia (Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Congress), and extra. The revival of 1776 is at present set for Spring 2022.
Birthday Candles is written by by Noah Haidle and directed by Vivienne Benesch, the brand new play will star Emmy Award winner Debra Messing as “Ernestine,” Andre Braugher as “Matt” and Enrico Colantoni as “Kenneth,” Crystal Finn as “Joan/Alex/Beth,” Susannah Flood as “Alice/Madeline/Ernie,” and Christopher Livingston as “Billy/John.” A brand new date for Birthday Candles has but to be introduced.
