Biltmore gets a new name

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

Bad as the Schonfield.

Where's the Merman?
The Porter?

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.

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Yawn

Better to call it the Broadway World Theater.

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

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

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

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

The Biltmore is really nicely decorated.

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

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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

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I LOVE the huge A Chorus Line lettering though.

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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).

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