Theatre Facades

I've always been intrigued by the actual theatre themselves. Most of them have interesting facades with stairways, windows, door, etc. Do most of these still "work" per say and what where they used for back in the day?

I guess by law they have to work, but i was standing under the majestic one day checking it out and it does not look too safe to me, and some are ridiculously high up, like the ones at the back of the New Amsterdam

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I read an articls once (cant remember where) that spoke to how the layout of the city affected theatre construction and how most of the theatres are similar in that they go along the street (there are only a few that go back from the street) and unlike someplace like London, most only have one facade.

the 3 that most fascinate me from the outside are the 3 new ones: Minskoff, Marquis and Gershwin. Where does the theatre end and the rest of the building start? Where are the large loading doors/dock?

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I did come accross a book that had a diagram of the building for the minskoff. When I was there last though, I looked all over the Marquis to find the loading dock for that one and couldnt find anything, so I assumed it is behind a billboard or something. It has to be high up and not street level cause the stage is quite high. I also thought it strange that unlike the Minskoff, the Marquis's stage backs onto broadway.

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