Biltmore gets a new name

[Smaxie]

Biltmore gets a new name#1

Posted: 6/18/08 at 6:11pm

It will be renamed for Broadway and film press agent Samuel J. Friedman. The lobby will carry a plaque honoring his associates, longtime press agents Shirley Herz and Bob Ullman.
NY Times - Big News! Press Agent Gets Name in Lights

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

[alfgiotir]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#2

Posted: 6/18/08 at 6:17pm

The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre just doesn't ring.

[LimelightMike]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#2

Posted: 6/18/08 at 6:19pm

Agreed.

"Come'on, I've got front row to see (insert show here) at the Freidman Friday night!" -- Doesn't fly wth me either.
Updated On: 6/18/08 at 06:19 PM

[CurtainPullDowner]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#3

Posted: 6/18/08 at 6:26pm

Bad as the Schonfield.

Where's the Merman?
The Porter?

[Belleof14thStreet]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#4

Posted: 6/18/08 at 6:29pm

Ummm ... it's not like The Biltmore is any more melodic.

[Smaxie]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#5

Posted: 6/18/08 at 6:32pm

Would you have preferred it to be called the Sprint? At least it will be named for someone who worked in the theatre ... and not a lawyer.

Personally, MTC could have called that theatre anything, as far as I'm concerned, and no one would have any right to complain. Broadway did nothing for 17 years while that theatre was nearly burned to the ground, taken over by vagrants and vandalized, then abandoned and left in a state of almost complete disrepair.

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

[Weez]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#6

Posted: 6/18/08 at 6:33pm

Biltmore sounds more like a garage than a theatre to me.

I blame Frank Loesser.

Notes from the Earlham Street Gutter

Updated On: 6/18/08 at 06:33 PM

[Mr Roxy]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#7

Posted: 6/18/08 at 6:46pm

Yawn

Better to call it the Broadway World Theater.

We are lucky the theater even exists after the years of neglect.

Poster Emeritus

Updated On: 6/18/08 at 06:46 PM

[jordangirl]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#8

Posted: 6/18/08 at 7:56pm

I've always liked the name. It reminds me of the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC.

Experience live theater. Experience paintings. Experience books. Live, look and listen like artists! ~ imaginethis
LIVE THAT LESSON!!!!!!

[EugLoven]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#9

Posted: 6/18/08 at 11:30pm

Doesn't exactly roll of the tongue, but what can ya do? Welcome The Friedman. That's a nice honor.

[RentBoy86]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#10

Posted: 6/19/08 at 12:25am

Will it get a new marquee too?

[scaryclowns223]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#11

Posted: 6/19/08 at 12:31am

You know, I thought "Schoenfeld" was a really Jewish name to put on a theatre...

But "Friedman?"

That takes the unleavened cake.

We're taking over, just watch!
Updated On: 6/19/08 at 12:31 AM

[titleofusername]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#12

Posted: 6/19/08 at 3:33am

I didn't think Schoenfeld was that bad...Friedman though? Ugh. I'm not looking forward to having to use that name. It sounds like some legal firm.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE: Passing Strange (7.17.08), [title of show] (7.18.08), [title of show (7.19.08 M), [title of show] (7.19.08 E), The 39 Steps (7.20.08 M), Damn Yankees (7.20.08 E)

[verynewyorkcurious]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#13

Posted: 6/19/08 at 3:50am

The Biltmore is really nicely decorated.

[CATSNYrevival]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#14

Posted: 6/19/08 at 3:51am

Schoenfeld is still my least favorite. I still don't even know how to correctly pronounce it.

[mallardo]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#15

Posted: 6/19/08 at 4:46am

So anyone with enough money to donate can get a theatre named after him/her?

Faced with these Loreleis, what man can moralize!

[Weez]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#16

Posted: 6/19/08 at 7:36am

We're taking over, just watch!

Honey, you had never NOT taken over.

Notes from the Earlham Street Gutter

[myManCape]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#17

Posted: 6/19/08 at 12:24pm

Would you have preferred this?

MANHATTAN Theater Club, one of New York's premiere non-profit theaters, is going through a financial crunch, according to several theater sources. To ease matters, the company is considering selling the name of its flagship Biltmore Theatre to the highest corporate bidder. Word is that Pepsi-Cola may grab the naming rights.
The Roundabout Theatre Co. did this a few years ago, thus its flagship theater in Times Square is called the American Airlines. Next door is the Hilton Theatre. A few blocks north is the Cadillac Winter Garden.
All of which brings to mind the late producer Alex Cohen's prediction that one day Broadway will see "The Campbell's Pork 'n' Bean Palace."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11242006/entertainment/theater/stoppard_wonders_theater_michael_riedel.htm?page=0

"Have they come yet?"

[RentBoy86]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#18

Posted: 6/19/08 at 12:55pm

I just wish the Schoenfeld would have a prettier marquee. I'd be offended if that were my marquee.

[wicked_beast4]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#19

Posted: 6/19/08 at 12:56pm

I LOVE the huge A Chorus Line lettering though.

"He found something that he wanted, had always wanted and always would want— not to be admired, as he had feared; not to be loved, as he had made himself believe; but to be necessary to people, to be indispensable." -F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise

[devonian.t]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#20

Posted: 6/19/08 at 1:05pm

I'm not fond of the Jacobs either.

How about the Sondheim or the Hammerstein?

[Smaxie]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#21

Posted: 6/19/08 at 1:20pm

Well, let's face it, there should also be a Miller, Williams, Porter, Merman, Kern, Berlin, Lerner, Loewe, in addition to Hammerstein or Sondheim. Even though there is a legacy attached to certain names of theatres, like the Imperial or the Majestic, I have to say I wouldn't complain if they wanted to rename the Imperial the Merman or the Majestic for Hammerstein. Or give new names to the St. James, Music Box, Longacre, Ambassador, Circle in the Square, Broadway or Studio 54.

It's a little more disturbing when theatres already named for someone get renamed, like the Martin Beck for Al Hirschfeld (not that he didn't deserve such an honor). Or the fact that we have not one, but TWO theatres named for drama critics, instead of playwrights (not to mention that I'm not really convinced that one of those critics deserved the honor, given his track record).

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

[teh_pretty]

re: Biltmore gets a new name#22

Posted: 6/19/08 at 1:25pm

At least it's not The Snapple.