Theatre with the most hit shows?

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 4:32am

I know there are houses that are supposedly cursed, but are there any broadway houses that have had more hit shows open there than any other? Or does it pretty much pan out evenly across all the broadway houses? Kind of an odd question, but I enjoy knowing little things like this.

[Speed]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 6:45am

Well, that's sort of a trick question because if the show is a hit, it never closes and thus, no other show can move into that theater. Certainly, lightning has struck twice at the Winter Garden. And The Shubert has seen CHORUS LINE, CRAZY FOR YOU, and CHICAGO. I don't have a sense of the history of what played in the theaters that goes back further than that.

[magruder]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 6:51am

Yeah, there are a couple of theatre that could compete for that title, but I think generally, the Imperial is regarded as the theatre that has housed the most hit shows.

[RagtimeRay]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:35am

The St. James has had a fair number of hits over the years.

[magruder]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 8:48am

Yes, the St. James has housed a lot of hits. The difference, though, is that even the St. James has had the occasional Vieux Carre, Music Is, Carmelina, Rock 'n Roll The First 5000 Years, High Society, The Civil War, etc. If you look at the Imperial over its 80 year history, it hasn't housed that many shows, because so many of them were hits. And in the last 35 years, about the only two flops it has had are Minnie's Boys and Chess. And even THOSE flops are not without some virutes.

EDIT: There were also the two early 70s musical revival flops of On the Town and Lost in the Stars at the Imperial. Forgot about those. But reportedly, the On the Town revival was excellent. Ethan Mordden raves about it in his book on 70s musicals. Don't know much about the Lost in the Stars revival, but hey, it's Lost in the Stars. How bad could it have been?

Updated On: 12/30/04 at 08:48 AM

[Derek]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 11:31am

The Imperial

Annie Get Your Gun
The Boy From Oz
Carnival
Dreamgirls
Fiddler on the Roof
Les Miserables
The Most Happy Fella
Oliver!
Pippin
They're Playing Our Song

The Broadway

Candide
Carmen Jones
Evita
Gypsy
Les Miserables
Miss Saigon
The New Yorkers

The 46th Street / Richard Rodgers Theatre

Chicago
Damn Yankees
Finians Rainbow
Good News
Guys and Dolls
How To Succeed...
I Do I Do
New Girl In Town
Nine
Raisin
1776

[jjdude2000]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 11:33am

The Richard Rogers also has Movin' Out, I believe. That's been running for a while.

[magruder]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 11:40am

To the list of hits at the Imperial, you can also add:

The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Destry Rides Again
Silk Stockings
The Most Happy Fella
Call Me Madam
Song of Norway
Jamaica
Wish You Were Here
One Touch of Venus
Louisiana Purchase
On Your Toes
The New Moon
Oh, Kay!
Rose Marie

[AnothaPartofMe]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 11:41am

The Shubert may not have had the most hit shows, but has held some of the most meaningful shows in classic and modern Broadway history...

Kiss Me, Kate
The Pajama Game
Bells Are Ringing
Bye Bye Birdie
Stop the World, I Want to Get Off
Oliver!
A Little Night Music
A Chorus Line
Crazy for You
Big (the most anticipated hit-turned biggest flop)
Chicago
Gypsy

and the upcoming Spamalot

[magruder]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 11:45am

Several of those shows didn't originally open at the Shubert, though, AnothaPart. They moved to the Shubert as their second or third homes, usually for their last few months of life.

Kiss Me Kate originally opened and played most of its run at the (demolished) New Century Theatre that was up near Columbus Circle.

The Pajama Game moved to the Shubert after spending most of its run at the St. James.

Bye Bye Birdie ended its run at the Shubert after spending most of its life at the Martin Beck (now Al Hirschfeld) and the 54th Street Theatre (aka George Abbott/Craig/Adelphi, now demolished).

Oliver! moved to the Shubert after spending most of its life at the Imperial.

Updated On: 12/30/04 at 11:45 AM

[Broadway_Bound_Star]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 12:25pm

The winter garden theater had Cats...

[magruder]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 12:41pm

Yes, the Winter Garden has had a lot of hits, but it also had a pretty luckless '70s, with such shows as Jimmy, Georgy, Dr. Jazz, The Roast, Zoot Suit and Comin' Uptown, and the money losing runs of Follies and Pacific Overtures.

[VeuveClicquot]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 12:50pm

The Shubert is generally considered the "most desirable" theatre on Broadway.

As far as "hit shows" are concerned, I suspect that the runners up are the Majestic and the Imperial.

Of course, the most beautiful Broadway theatre is the Mark Hellinger. (Is that stupid church ever going to evacuate the Hellinger? I curse the Jujamcyns for that particular bit of stupidity. Why couldn't they have given up the Virginia instead?).

[NightLaughs]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 12:51pm

Why do shows move to the Shubert? Why do shows move in general? I always wondered.

[magruder]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 12:58pm

I still maintain the Imperial is the house with the best record of hits, as mentioned above. While the Shubert is no slouch as far as the hit shows that have played there, I still think the Imperial has it beat.

The Shubert has a great location, but it's a very problematic house, with its wildly cramped and uncomfortable backstage and that undesirable second balcony.

As far as the Mark Hellinger, it was a Nederlander house, not a Jujamcyn theatre. And the church bought it outright, so until they outgrow it (as has been rumored), it's theirs. I do hear rumors afoot about the Hellinger, however...

[AnothaPartofMe]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 1:00pm

I think shows move because their runs are so long and their contract with the theatre they're performing in expires and isn't renewed, but the show is profitable so they move to an untendered space.

[VeuveClicquot]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 1:01pm

Good question, Nightlaughs.

I understand when a show "downsizes" (like BEAUTY AND THE BEAST) and moves from a larger theatre to a smaller one.

But that's not always the case. GRAND HOTEL moved from the medium sized Martin Beck to the gigantic Gershwin, of all things (and it certainly wasn't selling out when it moved). Did somebody desperately want the Martin Beck that year? Why? I've always been curious about that.

[magruder]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 1:03pm

Yes. Guys & Dolls wanted the Martin Beck.

[VeuveClicquot]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 1:13pm

Thanks, magruder.

I still don't understand why GUYS & DOLLS so desperately wanted the Martin Beck. It's a lovely theatre, but it does have the disadvantage of being the only Broadway house west of 8th Avenue. And in the late 80's/early 90's, there were so many dark theatres to choose from. Why that one?

[magruder]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 1:30pm

That I think I can explain. Guys and Dolls was co-produced by Jujamcyn Theatres, and they must have wanted it in one of their houses. The St. James, their most desirable house, was home to The Secret Garden at the time.

Of their remaining houses, the Walter Kerr is too small for a big musical, and the O'Neill, with just over 1100 seats would have a small profit margin for a large musical. It could have gone to the Virginia (where Jelly's Last Jam opened that season), but the Martin Beck's 45th Street location, and 1400 seats must have seemed preferable to the less traveled 52nd Street, and the Virginia's smaller seating capacity of 1275. The Virginia was also a wildly ugly theatre at the time, covered floor to ceiling in black velour left over from Carrie.

So, with those options, the 1400 single balcony Martin Beck on active West 45th Street was their clear house of choice, despite being west of Eighth Avenue.

Updated On: 12/30/04 at 01:30 PM

[Derek]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 1:30pm

It is a very good house for musical comedy...where else do you think it could have went though?

[NightLaughs]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 1:42pm

Oh I understand. Thank you. :)