What Times Square Area Buildings Use To Be Theaters? — Page 7

Roxy and Smaxie you guys are the reason im on Broadway world, its great to hear the stories and the history.

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Re the Latin Quarter, on one side of the Marquee was a little stor that specialized in printing phony headlines on newspapers.Ah a lost art.

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Great shot.

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I remember the tragedy of losing the Morosco and Helen Hayes Theatres back in the early 1980's. We demonstrated and tried to prevent the loss of these two beautiful theatres but they demolished them anyway. There's one theatre that I am very curious about. I know it is still standing and I wonder if it might still be restored? It was called The MANHATTAN OPERA HOUSE and it's located at 322 West 35th Street. It had three balconies. Does anyone know what its' current use is and if there are any plans to save it? I haven't heard anything about this theatre for many years. I believe it's only five blocks south of the Nederlander Theatre.

So the Lunt use to had two balconies? When did it switch over? Seems like major construction. I don't think it's too pretty inside, but I find the lay-out to be so interesting. The dressing rooms/offices are on the street entrance, and it has all these roped off areas. It seems like an odd layout.

Also, so the New Victory could be a Broadway house if it added one more seat? I mean, I know it won't ever be, but that's interesting to know. Is it worth venturing inside?

The Lunt originally opened as the Globe in 1910 and was a legit house until the early 30s, when it was used for movies. Around 1958, the interior was gutted into the configuration you see now, and it returned as a legit house and was renamed the Lunt-Fontanne. From 1958 until around 1994, the interior was powder blue, with ceiling murals of cherubs flying around. Tacky, but sort of charming in a kitschy '50s way. Right before The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public, it was painted a hideous Milk of Magnesia shade of blue. It was absolutely the ugliest theatre on Broadway during that period - and maybe the ugliest Broadway theatre of all time. Right before Beauty and the Beast moved from the Palace, the interior got a makeover, which is what it looks like now ... probably the best it has looked since I've been going there. I think there's a massive disconnect between the building's exterior and interior. The facade promises that rococo style that you see in the 1910 interior photo, but that the "new" interior doesn't deliver. It's the same disorientation in reverse that you feel with the horrendous new exteriors for the Palace and the Broadway. But what can you do? The damage has been done.

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Smaxie thanks so much for all the great posts and information. Since you seem to be such a good source, I was wondering if you might have any information or sources for the early (or even later) building layouts, archibects plans, revisions of any of these theaters. I don't mean the seating plan, but plans for the layout of the whole building.

I've always been especially curious about the parts of the theater that the audicned doesn't get to see. Everything I've seen seems to indicate that the backstage/dressingroom/ workshop, etc. areas are a convoluted maze of oddball tiny spaces carved (and later recarved) out of some murky bedrock.

If you've got any sources for building plans, I'd love to see how the backstage spaces are organized, or may have been reorganized over time, since I'm sure they have been, probably over and over.

Again, thanks so much for all your posts.

> Everything I've seen seems to indicate that the backstage/dressingroom/ workshop, etc. areas are a convoluted maze of oddball tiny spaces carved (and later recarved) out of some murky bedrock.<

The dressing rooms for most of the Broadway theatres are stacks of floors usually adjacent to the stage area. They are usually 3-6 floors of dressing rooms that can range a lot in size and configuration, but the basic set-up for dressing rooms is fairly consistent. The spaces under the stage for wardrobe, wig electrics, properties and carpentry is where things frequently get a bit more unusual.

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There used to be a Broadway museum that was located in the breezeway at the Minskoff. Gone for some time, but it was attempted before.

I've read that the Liberty now has no backstage or dressing rooms because of the other stores and properties that are occupying space that used to belong to the theatre. Also, with no lobby or dedicated entrance and exit, it must be considered a potential fire hazard.

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Yes, the Gershwin is a museum of bad '70s architecture.

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I would love to see one of the unused theaters become a museum to Broadway. Seems like there might be a lot of people that would visit it.

Smaxie: Thank you for your great knowledge of theatre history. Thank you for the beautiful color photograph that you posted of The Manhattan Opera House (now called Manhattan Centre). Wow! It is beautiful. Does it still have an operational stage? I heard the stage was large and almost anything could be done on it but I didn't know if it had been preserved or torn out like so many former theatre spaces. Very curious about this space. I wish it would return to legit. status. They should award a Tony to people like you, Smaxie, as your knowledge is invaluable!