Broadway “opera house”

Would a theater on Broadway rotating beloved productions ever work? If they did a season of iconic productions like Marianne Elliot’s Company, and then Maria Friedman’s Merrily, Jamie Lloyd’s Sunset Blvd, Michael Arden’s Parade. What happened to all the scenery and costumes?

The Beaumont was created as a rep house. That's one of the reasons why it's so big backstage.

I'd like someone to try doing shows in rep, commercially or nonprofit, since it's been attempted so rarely in modern history. But the finances are tricky. It's also not really an appropriate model for bringing back so-called "beloved" productions.

While not a designated rep theatre, was the 2002 Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration the last major repertory effort?

I tried to keep it more recent. I also could have said Kathleen Marshall’s Anything goes, Sam Mendes’ Cabaret, Bart Sher’s South Pacific, Randy Skinner’s 42nd Street, Diane Paulus’ Pippin, Jerry Zacks’ Hello Dolly. What are your example’s of iconic productions?

Updated On: 11/9/25 at 05:11 PM

Does any theater in the world do that? I would think it would be a logistically nightmare Especially if you're wanting to do it on that level. Summer Stock very much still exists.

I think the closest we got was Is This a Room and Dana H playing in rep, though that was because they were both extremely small and simple set-wise

chrishuyen said: "I think the closest we got was Is This a Room and Dana H playing in rep, though that was because they were both extremely small and simple set-wise"

It was also that post-Covid moment when people were throwing anything at the wall and seeing if it would stick.

The Mark Rylance Shakespeare rep season was an exciting experiment which recouped, but TWELFTH NIGHT sold better than RICHARD III. They probably would have made more money had they only transferred TWELFTH NIGHT.

In the 90s-early 2000s, Tony Randall's National Actors Theatre attempted both rep and being "in residence" in a Broadway theatre for multiple short runs per season. But it was a passion project (ego project?) with a spotty track record and stayed afloat because Randall and Laura Pels poured money into it.

TotallyEffed said: "She escaped again, your honor."

This made me laugh but I actually think it is a fine question.

I've often myself wondered, as we get further and further from the golden age musicals, if for example Lincoln Center's best revivals could ever have a home where they play in rep the way the opera productions do. It's kind of wonderful that I got to go on a date to see the same production of La Boheme I grew up seeing in Moonstruck.

Not happening in this landscape, obviously.

Scarywarhol said: "TotallyEffed said: "She escaped again, your honor."

This made me laugh but I actually think it is a fine question.

I've often myself wondered, as we get further and further from the golden age musicals, if for example Lincoln Center's best revivals could ever have a home where they play in rep the way the opera productions do. It's kind of wonderful that I got to go on a date to see the same production of La Boheme I grew up seeing in Moonstruck.

Not happening in this landscape, obviously."


I’m glad to make you laugh but I’m afraid I also have to be the bearer of bad news: the production of La Boheme featured in Moonstruck is not the famous Zeffirelli production that has played for decades at The Met.

It would be nice to see Bart Sher’s South Pacific, The King and I, and My Fair Lady playing in rep. It would probably make bank during the holidays just like Nutcracker at the ballet or The Magic Flute at the opera

Given the thrust of most of the replies to this thread, it seems like the only way this would work would be if you picked the biggest successes of the Encores! series (like Chicago's level of production values) and ran those, because a concert setting with some light dressing (set or otherwise) is probably the easiest way to pull off an idea like this.

Kad said: "The logistics of doing something like an opera rep make it impossible in a Broadway house. These theaters just don't have the space to accommodate or store the tech elements of multiple huge productions, which means there would need to be a full-scale load out and load in and tech run every time productions switched over. For instance, just this week at the Met, there are four entirely different productions running, including two different productions on the same day. Even a far less demanding version- a different production a month, say- would be a massive and costly undertaking.

There's a reason why the repertory productions that have played Broadway have been either very small or simple in scale (Rylance's Shakespeare productions were both performed on the same unit set, Is This a Room and Dana H were both minimalist)or have been multiple parts of one cohesive whole (Coast of Utopia, Norman Conquests)."

Or never finished opening at all due to the financial challenges, like Brighton Beach Memoirs/Broadway Bound some years back. That was the last time I can recall this being attempted with some ostensibly commercial-minded material.

IIRC Broadway Bound never performed at all!