The Cort to become The James Earl Jones Theatre? — Page 2

You ain’t making the point you think you’re making.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Shubert-Organization-Will-Rename-the-Cort-Theatre-After-James-Earl-Jones-20220302

It's official! Congradulations, Mr. Jones! What a lovely quote from him as well!

May generations of exceptional Black talent perform on this stage in his honor.

Yay. And regarding the full name/last name issue, bear in mind that quite a few theatres that we regularly refer to by truncated names are actually full name theatres. e.g., most confusingly, the Ethel Barrymore.

fashionguru_23 said: "For me, there are some theatre names that have become legendary and very much a part of Broadway and would be gutted to lose: St. James, Palace, Majestic, and Winter Garden."



The St James is named after an actor that actress Susan St James is a relative of

This quote in the Broadway Briefing is so deliciously petty and speaks to the general industry sentiment that BTU has tried to play its hand WAY too heavily and is a source of irritation to the powerbrokers who are trying to make change in their own time. (As we also know from Michael Riedel's piece where several folks spoke off the record.)

"Although the decision to rename the theatre was not made in response to BTU’s New Deal, Shubert is pleased that its goals align with those of Black Theatre United," the spokesperson said.

Its funny- the other day when reading posts about what plays are going where and what show is going to reopen the Cort, it occurred to me the Cort would make sense to re-name if the Shuberts wanted to name a theatre for a POC. New signage is going to be needed anyway, so it can be/has been ordered with the new name. I don't mean any disrespect by saying that, its just a case of given the Cort is being re-done, if you are going to rename a theatre, its a good candidate. I'm aware JEJ made his Broadway debut there, but he has connections to other Shubert Theatres as well (he's appeared twice at the Golden, for example).

Definitely deserved, and always nice to have this done while he's still with us. (Hopefully he'll continue to be with us for a while, but the man is 91). No disrepect to John Cort, but he's not someone who made enough of a contribution to "Today's Broadway" to be generally known withing the theatre community. As someone else is pointed out, "Cort Theatre" is engraved on the front of the building. That should stay there, both for history and to give Mr. Cort at least some recognition for building the theatre and for his work as a producer back at the time it was built.

Interestingly- I was checking something for writing this post and noticed Wikipedia now lists it as the James Earl Jones Theatre, Shubert's web page still calls it the Cort.

A few things re: recent posts:

– The theatre will have an official renaming ceremony at the time of its opening. Hence why Shubert still lists The Cort on its own website. But its own social channels were slow to report the news. I would not read into this at all. (The press release is on Shubert's home page.)

– John Cort's name likely has to remain carved into the building because it is a registered historic landmark.

– The timing and choice of Cort is probably more related to its renovation, and less related to the fact that he made his Bway debut there. A happy coincidence, tho.


Also, some more info on the renovation:

– Renderings of the new Cort Annex (incl. lobbies and rehearsal studio) can be found here. Is the Annex constructed yet? I haven't been by the Cort in a while...

– Details about what's being done to the existing theatre: "At the historic theater proper, Francesca Russo, Shubert’s go-to preservation architect for the last 25 years, will restore the facade, update the venue’s oft-maligned seating (though only make it more comfortable, not expand or reduce its 1,082-seat capacity), restore the original proscenium arch, improve accessibility, and modernize the stage to allow for more technically-demanding productions."

Updated On: 3/2/22 at 01:03 PM

EDSOSLO858 said: "May generations of exceptional talent perform on this stage in his honor."



There -- fixed that for you.

“There -- fixed that for you.”

Put down the keyboard liver spot.

I would LOVE if they put his signature up on the marquee the way they did Sondheim's.

^It's not that it sounds too plain - like I said, it makes sense to casually refer to as "the Jones," but to make that the official title name (minus "James Earl" distances it from the person being honored, especially for a common name like "Jones." Just curious - do you know offhand who The Jones is named after in your town? (maybe you do, but you see my point, right?)

In any case, it's probably moot, because I expect like most theatres named after a person, his full name will be used for the official title.