The David T. Nederlander Theatre (formerly the Billy Rose Theatre and National Theatre, commonly shortened to the Nederlander Theatre) is a 1,232-seat Broadway theater located at 208 West 41st Street, in New York City. One of the Nederlander Organization's nine Broadway theaters, its legacy began with David Tobias Nederlander, for whom it is named. It is the southernmost theater in the theater district.
History
The commonly held history is that Walter C. Jordan built the theatre at a cost of $950,000. It opened September 1, 1921, as the National Theatre and seated 1,200 people. The Shubert Organization owned the venue until 1956, when Harry Fromkes purchased it as part of the settlement of the Shubert antitrust case. Fromkes died after a fall from his apartment, and his estate sold it to Billy Rose, who renamed it after himself in 1959. The Nederlander Organization purchased the venue in 1979 and briefly renamed it the Trafalgar Theatre before dubbing it the David T. Nederlander Theatre in 1980. It housed the Times Square Church before Nederlander sold the Mark Hellinger Theatre to the church's pastor, David Wilkerson. During the 2008 restoration of the venue, the owners discovered records indicating that the theatre was constructed as a carpenter's shop in 1920 before being converted to an entertainment venue the following year. This would mean that the Nederlander joins the Broadway and Winter Garden theatres as the only Broadway houses not originally built as such.
The venue has hosted a wide variety of shows, including the Mercury Theatre production of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, Noël Coward's Private Lives, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the Tony award winning Rent. Lena Horne won a 1981 Tony Award for her performance at the Nederlander in her eponymous Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music.
When RENT, set in the Alphabet City neighborhood of Manhattan's East Village, opened in 1996, the theater underwent remodeling of the façade and interior to resemble a downtown nightclub. When Rent closed in 2008, refurbishing quickly got underway for the new show, a revival of Guys and Dolls starring Oliver Platt and Lauren Graham. The show played only 147 performances and was a box office failure when it closed June 14, 2009. The Neil Simon plays Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound were to premiere at the theatre in the fall, and perform alternating shows. However, due to weak ticket sales for Brighton Beach Memoirs the show closed November 1, 2009 and the planned production of Broadway Bound was canceled.
The musical Million Dollar Quartet made its Broadway debut at the theatre April 11, 2010 and played through June 12, 2011. Following MDQ, Newsies opened for a limited engagement, which was subsequently converted to an open run. Newsies closed August 24, 2014, and began touring in October. A musical, Honeymoon in Vegas began previews November 18, 2014, with its official opening on January 15, 2015. Amazing Grace, played from the summer through the fall of 2015. A new musical, Disaster!, by Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick, began performances on February 9, 2016.
Notable productions
- 1939: The Little Foxes
- 1943: The Patriots (play)
- 1948: Lend an Ear
- 1955: Inherit the Wind
- 1957: The Square Root of Wonderful
- 1962: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- 1964: Conversation At Midnight
- 1996: Rent
- 2009: Guys and Dolls
- 2009: Brighton Beach Memoirs/Broadway Bound (billed as "The Neil Simon Plays")
- 2010: Million Dollar Quartet
- 2012: Newsies
- 2015: Honeymoon in Vegas, Amazing Grace
- 2016: Disaster!, Motown: The Musical
- 2017: War Paint
- 2018: Pretty Woman: The Musical
Box office record
Newsies achieved the box office record for the Nederlander Theatre. The production played to 101% capacity and grossed $1,024,516.60 for eight performances the week ending April 15, 2012.
This gross was surpassed by War Paint the week ending 4/23/17, when that show grossed $1,042,449 at 90.5% capacity with an average ticket price of $123.24
See also
- James L. Nederlander
References
External links
- Official site
