The Minskoff Theatre is a
Broadway theater on the third floor of the
One Astor Plaza office building in the
Theater District of
Midtown Manhattan in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Opened in 1973, it is operated by the
Nederlander Organization and is named after
Sam Minskoff and Sons, the building's developers. There are approximately 1,710 seats in the auditorium, spread across an orchestra level and a balcony. Over the years it has served as host to
musicals,
dance companies, and
concert
A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide var ...
s.
The Minskoff was designed by
Kahn and Jacobs
Ely Jacques Kahn (June 1, 1884September 5, 1972) was an American commercial architect who designed numerous skyscrapers in New York City in the twentieth century. In addition to buildings intended for commercial use, Kahn's designs ranged throug ...
, who designed One Astor Plaza. It was one of the first theaters constructed under the Special Theater District amendment of 1967. The theater's main entrances are from a passageway connecting 44th and 45th Streets, in the middle of a
city block between
Broadway to the east and
Eighth Avenue to the west. There are escalators leading from the ground floor to the lobby, where further escalators lead to the auditorium. One Astor Plaza's eastern section is directly above the theater and has to be supported entirely by the theater's roof.
One Astor Plaza was initially proposed in 1967 without any theaters. The Minskoff Theatre was added during the planning process; in exchange, One Astor Plaza's developers were allowed to erect a taller building with additional floor area. The first major production at the Minskoff, ''
Irene
Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), the Greek for "peace".
Irene, and related names, may refer to:
* Irene (given name)
Places
* Irene, Gauteng, South Africa
* Irene, South Dakota, United States
* Irene, Texas, United State ...
'', was followed by a series of short-lived productions in the 1970s. The theater subsequently hosted long runs such as ''
West Side Story'', ''
The Pirates of Penzance'',
''Black and Blue'', and
''Sunset Boulevard'' in the 1980s and 1990s. Though many of the Minskoff's early productions were unprofitable, since 2006 it has housed the musical ''
The Lion King'', which became the highest-grossing Broadway musical ever in 2014.
Design
The Minskoff Theatre is on the third floor of
One Astor Plaza, also known as 1515
Broadway, along
Times Square in the
Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
Der Scutt
Der Scutt (October 17, 1934 – March 14, 2010) was an American architect and designer of a number of major and notable buildings throughout New York City and the United States.
Scutt worked on Trump Tower next to the Tiffany & Co. fla ...
designed the Minskoff,
with
Ben Schlanger
Benjamin Schlanger (died May 3, 1971) was a theater architect. Some of the theaters he designed include: the Jewel Theater at 711 Kings Highway, Brooklyn, City Cinemas I-II, the Vistavision Todd-AO Patriot Theaters at Colonial Williamsburg, Grad ...
as a consulting architect.
Jo Mielziner was the consultant for the theater's original operator, Albert Selden.
The Minskoff,
Gershwin,
Circle in the Square, and
American Place theaters were all constructed under the Special Theater District amendment of 1967 as a way to give their respective developers additional floor area.
The theater is accessed from a covered arcade under the center of One Astor Plaza,
which connects 44th and 45th Streets.
The escalators from the arcade lead to the third-floor grand foyer, which has a glass wall overlooking Times Square. Additional escalators lead from here to the seating areas. The grand foyer has bars and coat checks.
The glass-walled lobby has also been used for weddings but, according to a 1977 feature in the ''New York Daily News'', weddings were not allowed during performances of shows.
Auditorium
The Minskoff Theatre has approximately 1,710 seats across two levels:
a steeply
raked orchestra level at the third story and a smaller mezzanine above.
When the theater opened in 1973, approximately 1,000 seats were placed on the orchestra level, while 640 were placed on the mezzanine.
Unlike other Broadway houses, the theater used a
continental seating layout, with no middle aisle.
Consequently, rows can have up to 52 seats between egresses. The Minskoff was the first fully wheelchair-accessible Broadway theater in New York City.
The ceiling of the auditorium contains crystal-basket light fixtures and is divided in two sections by a lighting grid. The mezzanine level has narrow protrusions on the side walls instead of
box seats. The
proscenium arch is designed with mesh panels that can be removed. The stage contains
traps at several locations, and the
fly system above the stage is placed on the upstage wall, rather than on the sides.
Unlike older theaters in New York City, the Minskoff and Gershwin theaters were subject to less stringent building codes. For example, the Minskoff was designed without fire curtains, since the city had allowed sprinkler systems to be installed in both theaters.
Structural features
One Astor Plaza's eastern section is directly above the theater and has to be supported entirely by the theater's roof. The steel was provided by
Bethlehem Steel
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succ ...
; its supervising engineer Thomas Connolly said One Astor Plaza's superstructure "would have been a snap from an engineering point of view", but the theater's presence made "a humdinger of an engineering feat".
The theater roof consists of a
Vierendeel truss
A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure.
In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembla ...
that rests on two
girder
A girder () is a support beam used in construction. It is the main horizontal support of a structure which supports smaller beams. Girders often have an I-beam cross section composed of two load-bearing ''flanges'' separated by a stabilizin ...
s, one weighing and the other weighing . These girders were the heaviest in any building at the time, and they had to be delivered in several pieces from the factory, itself an intricate operation.
According to Mielziner, the large trusses above the Minskoff's roof provided "a clear example of what expense a builder is willing to go to get that extra rentable space".
History
Construction
Sam Minskoff & Sons had hired Kahn and Jacobs to design One Astor Plaza in 1967,
having acquired the site the previous year.
At the time, city officials were encouraging the westward expansion of office towers in Manhattan. There were few efforts to preserve existing Broadway theaters, since theatrical experts believed the existing theaters (all built before World War II) were functionally obsolete.
Consequently, the plans for One Astor Plaza initially did not include a theater.
The Minskoffs had applied for
zoning amendments for their new tower, and a member of the
New Yaork City Planning Commission (CPC) notified the Urban Design Group (UDG) about the application. This brought the attention of New York City mayor
John Lindsay, a fan of Broadway theater. The UDG proposed that One Astor Plaza include a theater, a suggestion that the Minskoffs initially opposed. However, the Minskoffs ultimately relented after appealing to CPC chairman
Donald H. Elliott, then to mayor Lindsay.
In October 1967, the CPC proposed the Special Theater District Zoning Amendment, which gave zoning bonuses to office-building developers who included theaters.
The proposed legislation would directly allow theaters in One Astor Plaza and the
Uris Building,
which would be the first completely new Broadway theaters since the
Mark Hellinger Theatre
The Mark Hellinger Theatre (formerly the 51st Street Theatre and the Hollywood Theatre) is a church building at 237 West 51st Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, which formerly served as a cinema and a Broadway theat ...
was completed in 1930.
The CPC approved the theater amendment that November,
and the
New York City Board of Estimate gave final approval to the proposal the next month.
As planning progressed, members of the Broadway-theatre industry expressed concerns that theatrical experts had not been consulted in the design of One Astor Plaza's theater.
In March 1968, the CPC scheduled a public hearing to determine whether the Astor and Uris theater permits should be approved, including a second theater in the Uris Building.
Six parties testified in favor;
the Shubert Organization, the largest operator of Broadway theaters, was the only dissenting speaker.
The CPC approved the theater over the Shuberts' objections,
as did the Board of Estimate.
Albert W. Selden had tentatively agreed to lease the Broadway theater in One Astor Plaza.
Mayor Lindsay attended the
groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are ...
ceremony for One Astor Plaza on October 10, 1968.
The inclusion of the Broadway theater, and the complex engineering involved in the project, delayed the building's construction. Although Minskoff & Sons president Jerome Minskoff had agreed to the theater as "our way of paying the city back", he said this had increased costs by up to 30 percent, from $55 to $70 million.
Furthermore, Selden insisted that a modern technical system be installed in the new theater, which would add $400,000 to the cost.
By 1971, though the theater was almost complete, it was still not officially named. The next August, the theater's first production was announced: a revival of the comedy ''
Irene
Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), the Greek for "peace".
Irene, and related names, may refer to:
* Irene (given name)
Places
* Irene, Gauteng, South Africa
* Irene, South Dakota, United States
* Irene, Texas, United State ...
''. The developers informed Broadway producers that any production in the theater would need $21,000 a week to break even.
1970s
Theatrical historian
Ken Bloom
Ken Bloom is a New York-based, Grammy Award-winning theatre historian, playwright, director, record producer, and author.
He began his theatre career in the mid-'70s at the New Playwrights Theatre of Washington. Along with some friends, Bloo ...
described most of the Minskoff's earliest productions as "a series of concerts, ballets, and flop musicals".
The theater hosted several previews of ''Irene'' in early 1973 prior to the venue's official opening.
The Minskoff officially opened with that musical on March 13, 1973''.''
Within five months, several dancers reported being injured when they fell on the stage, and
Actors' Equity threatened to prohibit its dancers from performing there, prompting the theater's operators to make improvements to the stage. ''Irene'' lost money despite its popularity with audiences,
and it ultimately closed in September 1974 with 605 performances.
It was followed by two concerts in late 1974:
Charles Aznavour in a solo concert,
as well as
Tony Bennett and
Lena Horne performing together.
Henry Fonda's solo show ''Clarence Darrow'' arrived in March 1975,
followed by
Bette Midler's ''Clams on the Half Shell Revue'' that April
and
Pearl Bailey and
Billy Daniels
William Boone Daniels (September 12, 1915 – October 7, 1988) was an American singer active in the United States and Europe from the mid-1930s to 1988, notable for his hit recording of "That Old Black Magic" and his pioneering performances on e ...
's production of ''
Hello, Dolly!'' in November.
The Minskoff hosted the rock musical ''
Rockabye Hamlet Rockabye may refer to:
* ''Rockabye'' (1932 film), starring Constance Bennett and Joel McCrea
* ''Rockabye'' (1986 film), starring Jimmy Smits and Valerie Bertinelli
* "Rockabye" (song), a 2016 song by Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie ...
'', which flopped with seven performances in February 1976.
The
Dutch National Ballet made its United States debut at the Minskoff in November 1976, and the Chinese Acrobats of Taiwan performed the same month. The
Merce Cunningham Dance Company had a brief engagement in January 1977,
and the Minskoff hosted the final performances of the long-running musical ''
Pippin'', which transferred from the
Imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* Imperial, Texas
...
, later that year.
Further live appearances included
Cleo Laine's concert ''Cleo'' ''on Broadway'' in October 1977;
the laser-light show ''Star Wars Concert Live'' in December 1977;
and the Murray Louis Dance Company with
Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev ( ; Tatar/ Bashkir: Рудольф Хәмит улы Нуриев; rus, Рудо́льф Хаме́тович Нуре́ев, p=rʊˈdolʲf xɐˈmʲetəvʲɪtɕ nʊˈrʲejɪf; 17 March 19386 January 1993) was a Soviet ...
in April 1978.
Two short-lived musicals appeared at the Minskoff in 1978:
Peter Udell and
Gary Geld's
''Angel'', with five performances,
and
Jacob Brackman
Jacob Brackman (born 1943) is an American writer, journalist, and musical lyricist.
After graduating from Harvard University in 1965, he went to work for ''Newsweek'' as a journalist. He remained there for six months and was then hired by ''The ...
and
Peter Link
Peter Link is an American composer, lyricist, music producer, stage director, and presently CEO/Creative Director of Watchfire Music, an on-line Inspirational record company and music store.
During his career, which spans over 40 years, he has b ...
's
''King of Hearts'', with 48 performances.
That December, the theater hosted a short run of the ice-skating show ''Ice Dancing''.
Béjart Ballet performed at the Minskoff for three weeks in March 1979,
and the musical ''
Got Tu Go Disco
''Got Tu Go Disco'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Kenny Lehman, John Davis, Ray Chew, Nat Adderley, Jr., Thomas Jones, Wayne Morrison, Steve Boston, Eugene Narmore, Betty Rowland, Jerry Powell and a book by John Zodrow. It opened on Broa ...
'' ran for eight performances that June.
The Minskoff staged further live performances in late 1979,
including appearances from
Shirley Bassey in September,
Engelbert in November,
and the Chinese Acrobats & Magicians of Taiwan in December. At the time, because no hits had opened at the Minskoff Theatre after ''Irene'' closed, the Minskoff family was negotiating to have the Nederlander Organization take over the theater.
Ultimately, in November 1979, Jerome Minskoff and
James M. Nederlander agreed to jointly operate the theater.
1980s and 1990s
In 1980, the Minskoff hosted a revival of the musical ''
West Side Story'', which lasted for 333 performances.
The next year,
Irene Saez of Venezuela was crowned the winner of the
Miss Universe 1981 pageant at the Minskoff, and
David Merrick's musical ''
42nd Street'' was performed at the theater on
CBS's Miss Universe telecast. A revival of the musical
''Can-Can'' lasted five performances in April 1981,
and
Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp (born Joseph Papirofsky; June 22, 1921 – October 31, 1991) was an American theatrical producer and director. He established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in Lower Manhattan. There Papp created a ...
's production of ''
The Pirates of Penzance'' relocated from the Uris to the Minskoff that August,
running for a year and three months.
Alan Jay Lerner's musical ''
Dance a Little Closer
''Dance a Little Closer'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Charles Strouse. The story is an updated version of Robert E. Sherwood's 1936 antiwar comedy '' Idiot's Delight''.
Plot overview
The musical is set on N ...
'' closed on opening night in May 1983, and the musical ''
Marilyn: An American Fable'' fared little better, running for 16 performances that November.
When One Astor Plaza was sold in 1984 to
Tishman Speyer and the
Equitable Life Assurance Society, Jerome Minskoff and James Nederlander negotiated a long-term lease for the theater.
The musical ''
The Tap Dance Kid'' relocated from the Broadhurst to the Minskoff in March 1984, closing the next year after 669 total performances.
Subsequently, the Minskoff hosted three live appearances in early 1986:
the singer
Patti LaBelle,
the folk group
Peter, Paul and Mary,
and the vocal groups
The Temptations and
The Four Tops.
The musical ''
Sweet Charity'' opened in April 1986
and subsequently had 368 performances.
During the run of ''Sweet Charity'', the Minskoff hosted its first
Tony Awards, the
1986 edition. The musical ''
Teddy & Alice
''Teddy & Alice'' is a musical with a book by Jerome Alden, lyrics by Hal Hackady, and music adapted from the work of John Philip Sousa, with some new songs by Richard Kapp. In its very early stages, Alan Jay Lerner contributed material before he ...
'' lasted for 77 performances after opening in late 1987,
and the long-running
''Cabaret'' transferred from the Imperial early the next year.
The Minskoff then hosted the
1988 Tony Awards immediately after ''Cabaret'' ended that June.
The Minskoff's last show of the 1980s was the musical
''Black and Blue'', which opened in January 1989 and had 829 performances over two years.
The Minskoff once again hosted the Tony Awards in
1991, followed that November by a limited run of the musical ''
Peter Pan''.
The Polish musical
''Metro'' flopped in April 1992 with 24 performances,
and the theater was largely empty until February 1993, when it was used for a taping of a ''
Great Performances'' episode about ''Black and Blue''. A revival of
Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical ''
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' came to the theater in November 1993,
running for six months.
Another musical by Lloyd Webber,
''Sunset Boulevard'', opened at the Minskoff in November 1994.
During the run of ''Sunset Boulevard'', the
49th Tony Awards
The 49th Annual Tony Awards was held at the Minskoff Theatre on June 4, 1995, and broadcast by CBS. Hosts were Glenn Close, Gregory Hines, and Nathan Lane.
The ceremony
The musical sequence was "Broadway Songs We've Never Done, and Never Will" w ...
were hosted at the Minskoff in 1995. ''Sunset Boulevard'' ran for two years, closing in March 1997 with 977 performances.
The musical
''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' then opened at the Minskoff in November 1997.
After receiving negative criticism,
the producers revised the musical over eight days in October 1998; the modified musical ran through May 1999.
This was followed in October by ''
Saturday Night Fever'', which ran through December 2000.
2000s to present
The Minskoff's first production of the 21st century was ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'', which opened in April 2001 and failed after 21 performances.
The empty theater was used for a tribute to the late composer
Lee Strasberg in February 2002.
The Minskoff did not have another production until December 2002, when the musical ''
Dance of the Vampires'' opened. The show lost its entire $12 million investment, making it one of the most expensive flops in Broadway history,
and closed after 56 performances.
The Minskoff again stood empty until February 2004, when the musical ''
Fiddler on the Roof'' was revived;
it ran for 781 performances.
By then, some figures in the theatrical industry had begun to believe that the Minskoff was an unlucky theater, as it had rarely hosted a profitable show. Several of the longer-lasting shows, such as ''Irene'' and ''Sunset Boulevard'', had closed at a loss.
In November 2005, the long-running musical ''
The Lion King'' was booked for the Minskoff, having been forced to relocate after eight years at
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
's
New Amsterdam Theatre. The theater was then renovated to accommodate ''The Lion King'',
which changed theaters in June 2006. ''The Lion King'' has run continuously at the Minskoff since its relocation.
A new set within the Minskoff Theatre was created in 2007 for the syndicated news magazine ''
The Insider'', which broadcast there for a year.
In addition, starting in 2011, the Minskoff has hosted the
Jimmy Awards for high school students every June. ''The Lion King'' became
Broadway's highest-grossing musical ever in 2014, and it became the
third-longest-running Broadway production in 2015 after overtaking the previous record-holder, ''
Cats''.
As part of a settlement with the
United States Department of Justice in 2014, the Nederlanders agreed to improve disabled access at their nine Broadway theaters, including the Minskoff. Subsequently, the Nederlanders added restroom stalls in 2017; the renovation took place when ''The Lion King'' was running. ''The Lion King'' achieved the box office record for a show at the Minskoff Theatre, grossing $3,696,977 over twelve performances for the week ending January 2, 2019. The theater closed on March 12, 2020, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. It reopened on September 14, 2021, with performances of ''The Lion King''. The pandemic had also forced the cancellation of two Jimmy Awards ceremonies at the theater: the 2020 edition, which was scrapped entirely, and the 2021 edition, which was hosted online.
Notable productions
*1973: ''
Irene
Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), the Greek for "peace".
Irene, and related names, may refer to:
* Irene (given name)
Places
* Irene, Gauteng, South Africa
* Irene, South Dakota, United States
* Irene, Texas, United State ...
''
[; ]
*1974: ''
Charles Aznavour on Broadway''
*1974: ''
Tony &
Lena
Lena or LENA may refer to:
Places
* Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso
* Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada
* Lena, Norway, a village in ...
Sing''
*1975: ''
Bette Midler's Clams on the Half Shell Revue''
*1975: ''
Hello, Dolly!''
*1976: ''
Rockabye Hamlet Rockabye may refer to:
* ''Rockabye'' (1932 film), starring Constance Bennett and Joel McCrea
* ''Rockabye'' (1986 film), starring Jimmy Smits and Valerie Bertinelli
* "Rockabye" (song), a 2016 song by Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie ...
''
[; ]
*1976: ''
Debbie
Debbie (or Debby or Deb) is a feminine given name, commonly but not always short for Deborah (or Debra and related variants).
Notable people
*Debbie Allen, American actress, choreographer and film director
* Debbie Armstrong, American athlete
* ...
''
*1976, 1978: ''
Dutch National Ballet''
*1977: ''
Merce Cunningham Dance Company''
*1977: ''
Pippin''
*1977: ''
Cleo on Broadway''
*1978: ''
Angel
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles ...
''
*1978: ''
King of Hearts''
*1979: ''
Béjart
Béjart is the name of several French actors of the 17th century.
Family
The four actors listed here were children, and grandchildren, of Marie Hérve and Joseph Béjart (died 1643), the holder of a small government post. There were 10 children ...
: Ballet of the Twentieth Century''
*1979: ''
Shirley Bassey on Broadway''
*1979: ''
Engelbert on Broadway''
*1980: ''
West Side Story''
[; ]
*1981: ''
Miss Universe 1981''
*1981: ''
Can-Can''
*1981: ''
The Pirates of Penzance''
*1983: ''
Dance a Little Closer
''Dance a Little Closer'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Charles Strouse. The story is an updated version of Robert E. Sherwood's 1936 antiwar comedy '' Idiot's Delight''.
Plot overview
The musical is set on N ...
''
*1983: ''
Marilyn: An American Fable''
*1984: ''
The Tap Dance Kid''
*1986: ''
Patti LaBelle''
*1986: ''
Peter, Paul & Mary "From Bleecker to Broadway"''
*1986: ''
The Temptations and
The Four Tops''
*1986: ''
Sweet Charity''
*1987: ''
Teddy & Alice
''Teddy & Alice'' is a musical with a book by Jerome Alden, lyrics by Hal Hackady, and music adapted from the work of John Philip Sousa, with some new songs by Richard Kapp. In its very early stages, Alan Jay Lerner contributed material before he ...
''
*1988: ''
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...
''
*1989: ''
Black and Blue''
*1991: ''
Peter Pan''
*1992: ''
Metro''
*1993: ''
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat''
*1994: ''
Sunset Boulevard''
[; ]
*1997: ''
The Scarlet Pimpernel''
*1999: ''
Saturday Night Fever''
*2001: ''
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer''
*2002: ''
Dance of the Vampires''
*2004: ''
Fiddler on the Roof''
*2006: ''
The Lion King''
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
1973 establishments in New York City
Broadway (Manhattan)
Broadway theatres
Nederlander Organization
Theater District, Manhattan
Theatres completed in 1973