This has for 50 years been my favorite Broadway theatre. I guess I just like the fact that it is so different from the other theatres, including its location, which sets it apart from the many other theatres very close to it. The look is so 'gothic' to me, for want of a better word, which results in a unique look among Broadway theatres. Also love the fact that the bathrooms are so large, and that the mezzanine lobby provides such a great history of the theatre. Finally, it is the only theatre on Broadway where I actually like sitting in the boxes, although admittedly I would not like the inside chairs.
My fist show there was Drat! The Cat!, which I saw in (I am guessing) 1965. I loved the show and remain amazed to this day that it was such a flop. I still listen to the CD that was recorded many years ago with a cast that included Elaine Stritch. The next show I saw there was also a musical flop, but I also loved it. It was Hallelujah! Baby!, which opened I believe in 1966. I saw it twice, once sneaking down o a box seat, which is where I discovered how good the box seats were in that theatre.
Other shows for which I have very fond memories include Dracula with Frank Langella, in the perfect theatre for that production; The Little Foxes with Elizabeth Taylor also from the boxes; a flop which I loved titled Saturday! Sunday! Monday!; A Small Family Business, with Angela Lansbury in a perfectly fun show that ran a week; Moon Over Buffalo with Carol Burnett and Philip Bosco; Nathan Lane and Faith Prince in Guys and Dolls; Grand Hotel; the Diane Paulus production of Hair; Kinky Boots; and of course my personal favorite of all productions I saw at the theatre: Moulin Rouge.
Not so great memories included Into the Woods, which I personally intensely disliked...to this day I do not like the score; Onward Victoria, one of the worst musicals I every saw; Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, which just wasn't very good; the acclaimed RSC production of All's Well That Ends Well, which convinced me that I really do not like Shakespeare beyond (well-done productions of) King Lear, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet; and finally, a highly acclaimed production of Habeus Corpus, during which I struggled to stay awake.
I know there are other shows I have seen at the Martin Beck -- er, I mean the Al Hierschfeld -- theatre, but these are the ones that I am remembering.
Bottom line: favorite productions are MR and Drat The Cat; least favorite are Into the Woods and Onward Victoria.
Updated On: 4/20/20 at 03:50 PM
