Al Hirschfeld Theatre facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Al Hirschfeld Theatre

Martin Beck Theatre
Showing the musical Moulin Rouge! in 2019
Address	302 West 45th Street Manhattan, New York City United States
Coordinates	40°45′33″N 73°59′21″W / 40.7593°N 73.9892°W / 40.7593; -73.9892
Public transit	Subway: Times Square–42nd Street/Port Authority Bus Terminal
Owner	Jujamcyn Theaters
Type	Broadway
Capacity	1,424
Production	Moulin Rouge!
Construction
Opened	November 11, 1924
Years active	1924–present
Architect	G. Albert Lansburgh Albert Herter (interior)
New York City Landmark
Designated	November 4, 1987
Reference no.	1315
Designated entity	Facade
New York City Landmark
Designated	November 4, 1987
Reference no.	1316
Designated entity	Lobby and auditorium interior

The Al Hirschfeld Theatre is a famous Broadway theater in New York City. It's located at 302 West 45th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan. When it first opened in 1924, it was called the Martin Beck Theatre.

The theater was designed by G. Albert Lansburgh in a unique Moorish and Byzantine style. It was built for a vaudeville showman named Martin Beck. The theater has about 1,404 seats for audiences. Today, it is managed by Jujamcyn Theaters. Both the outside (facade) and the inside of the theater are protected as New York City landmarks.

The Al Hirschfeld Theatre has a special design where the front of the building and the stage area look like one big unit. At the bottom, there's a tall, arched walkway with stone columns. The main entrance, emergency exits, and stage entrance are all part of this arched area. The upper parts of the building are made of red brick. Inside, Albert Herter, a famous mural artist, helped with the decorations. The lobby has a cool arched ceiling, and the main seating area (auditorium) is decorated with fancy plasterwork. It has a sloped floor for the audience, a balcony level, and special box seats. The ceiling of the auditorium is octagonal and has a colorful dome.

Martin Beck first planned the theater in 1923. It opened on November 11, 1924, with a show called Madame Pompadour. It was special because it was the only theater in New York City owned completely without a loan. Over the years, many famous shows have played here. These include The Teahouse of the August Moon, Dracula, Into the Woods, Guys and Dolls, and Kinky Boots. In 2003, the theater was renamed after Al Hirschfeld, a famous Broadway artist.

Where is the Theater Located?

The Al Hirschfeld Theatre is at 302 West 45th Street. It's on the south side of the street, between Ninth and Eighth Avenues. This area is part of the Theater District and Hell's Kitchen in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The land it sits on is shaped like a rectangle. It covers about 13,389 square feet (1,243.9 square meters).

The Al Hirschfeld Theatre is the westernmost Broadway theater in the Theater District. This means it's the only one west of Eighth Avenue. When the theater was built in 1925, there were already eight other theaters on the block to the east. The spot where the theater now stands used to have seven three-story brownstone houses.

How Was the Theater Designed?

The Al Hirschfeld Theatre, originally the Martin Beck Theatre, was designed by Gustave Albert Lansburgh. He used Byzantine and Romanesque styles. The theater opened in 1924 and was built for Martin Beck. He was a vaudeville manager and named the theater after himself.

The Beck was the only Broadway theater designed in a Byzantine style. Most other Broadway theaters at that time looked more like ancient Greek or Roman buildings. Lansburgh was also known for designing large movie palaces on the West Coast of the United States. H. H. Oddie Inc. built the theater. Today, Jujamcyn Theaters runs the Al Hirschfeld.

The Outside Look (Facade)

The Al Hirschfeld's front (facade) is designed as one piece for both the audience area and the stage area. This is different from most other Broadway theaters. The bottom of the theater has a stone base and a tall, two-story arched walkway with stone columns. The rest of the front is made of red brick.

The Bottom Part

Doorways on the easternmost end of the facade

The arched walkway on the first two floors has eleven arches. The second arch from each end is taller and wider than the others. The columns are octagonal and have special tops (capitals) with Moorish and Byzantine designs. The arches have stone borders. This arched design makes the theater's outside look more three-dimensional than other flat Broadway theater fronts.

The three arches on the eastern side are the main entrance. The lobby door is set back inside the middle of these three arches. It has two bronze and glass double doors with cool grilles. To the left is a service door and a sign. To the right is a box office window where you buy tickets. Above the box office, it says "Martin Beck Theatre." A modern sign (marquee) sticks out above these three arches. On the second floor, there are brick walls with arched windows.

The five arches in the middle hide a stone fire-escape staircase. This staircase has arches underneath it. At the top of the staircase, there are two double metal doors from the balcony. Below that, there are two double metal doors from the main floor (orchestra level). One column near the bottom of the staircase has "Erected by Martin Beck 1924" carved into it.

The three arches on the western side have recessed brick walls, like the lobby entrance. The second arch from the west has a double metal door on the ground floor. The westernmost arch has a window. The second floor of these three arches also has arched brick windows.

The Upper Stories

Upper-story windows on the facade of the auditorium

Above the arched walkway, there are more stories with round-arched windows. Each window has two panes that slide up and down. The audience area (auditorium) has two stories above the arches. The stage area has three stories. Near the top, there's a decorative stone band with Romanesque-style arches. The upper parts of the stage area are set back from the main roof. In front of this, a large metal sign faces east toward Eighth Avenue. This sign shows the name of the current show.

Inside the Theater

Beck wanted the theater's inside to be more fancy than any other in the area. Albert Herter, a muralist who often worked with Lansburgh, was in charge of much of the interior design. Herter's decorations were mostly in the Moorish and Byzantine styles. Old descriptions say the designs showed different mythological scenes.

Lobbies

Right inside the main entrance is the square ticket lobby. It has stone walls and a vaulted ceiling with special Guastavino tiles. The walls have arched openings, and the western arches have ticket windows. There are iron lamps on the walls. Two double doors on the north wall lead from the street. Two glass and bronze double doors on the south wall lead to the inner lobby.

The inner lobby in 1925, facing south. The staircase to the mezzanine is at the southeast end, on the left. The doors to the orchestra, as well as the mezzanine lounge above it, are to the right.

The inner lobby is two stories tall and rectangular. A staircase to the balcony (mezzanine) is at the southeast end. It used to be decorated in a cream color. The north wall has a molded panel and a large arch with three smaller arched openings. The inner lobby has columns on the west and east walls with iron light fixtures. These columns support three round arches on each side. A lounge area for the mezzanine is behind the western arches. At the ground level, the western wall has decorative brackets and columns. There are also glass double doors in the two outer arches that lead to the main seating area. On the mezzanine level, both walls have railings with decorative bands. Three circular ceiling domes rise from the wall arches. One old description said the domes showed "figures in mediaeval costumes against a gold ground."

The mezzanine lounge is L-shaped. The shorter part is the staircase landing, and the longer part runs above the inner lobby's western wall. The columns in the lounge match those in the inner lobby. Their tops have leaf designs, supporting the ceiling with its vaulted sections. Iron light fixtures are on the columns. The south end of the lounge has a seating area with a marble water fountain. On the north end, a staircase with an iron railing goes down to the orchestra seating. The western wall has doors leading to the auditorium. This lounge is right below the top row of mezzanine seats. This means people don't have to climb all the way up to the top of the mezzanine before going down to their seats.

Auditorium

The auditorium has a main floor (orchestra level), a balcony (mezzanine level), special boxes, and a stage. The space is decorated with plaster designs that don't stick out too much. Playbill says the theater has 1,302 seats, while The Broadway League says 1,404 seats. Originally, it had 1,200 seats, 600 on each level. The first colors were red, blue, and orange, with some gold. Byzantine designs were used a lot, and three murals decorated the side and back walls. The seats were red with blue, and blue curtains surrounded the room.

Seating Areas

View from the mezzanine seating toward the proscenium arch

The orchestra level is accessible for wheelchairs through the main doors. The back of the orchestra has a walkway. This walkway originally had stained glass, bronze, marble, and tapestries from Martin Beck's collection. The orchestra level slopes down towards a pit in front of the stage where the orchestra plays. Near the front, stairs with iron railings lead up to the box seats. The side walls have exit doors, and the back wall has doors from the inner lobby. Iron light fixtures are on the orchestra walls.

The mezzanine level can only be reached by stairs. The mezzanine and boxes share a front railing with geometric plaster designs. The side walls have iron light fixtures. Metal railings are around the staircases to the orchestra and the walkways to the mezzanine lounge. Originally, the side walls also had tapestries. A technical booth is at the back of the balcony, and lights are on the front railing. The underside of the mezzanine has molded sections. Five of these sections have circular iron grilles with lights.

On each side of the stage opening (proscenium) is a box seat area on the mezzanine level. These boxes have a gentle S-curve. On the orchestra level, decorated columns support the bottom of the boxes. The front of the boxes has geometric plaster designs. Large groups of columns in the middle of each box support a fan-shaped ceiling. Inside each box, between the stage opening and the columns, there's an opening with four marble columns. These columns have Byzantine and Moorish tops and support three arches. Above these arches are half-domes that help with the sound. Between each box and the mezzanine seats is another opening.

Other Design Features

Auditorium ceiling, showing the painted chandelier hanging from the circular wooden dome

Next to the box seats is the proscenium, which is the arch around the stage opening. On each side of the proscenium are half-columns with geometric designs. These support four concentric arches. Each column is made of stone on a marble base and has a different Byzantine design. Albert Herter also designed the theater's first curtain, which hung across the stage opening. The curtain had the same red, orange, blue, and gold colors as the rest of the auditorium. The stage is very large, covering 2,914 square feet (270.7 square meters). It was Broadway's biggest stage before the Vivian Beaumont Theater was built in the 1960s.

A special plaster board that helps with sound curves onto the ceiling above the box seats, in front of the stage opening. The ceiling itself has moldings that divide it into recessed panels. The main part of the ceiling is an octagonal shape. In the center of the ceiling is a large, circular wooden dome. This dome hangs from the octagonal ceiling panel with canvas strips. The dome and strips are decorated in red, yellow, and green with geometric designs. A painted glass chandelier hangs from the center of the dome.

History of the Theater

The area around Times Square became the main place for big theater shows between 1900 and the Great Depression. New York City's theater district started moving from Union Square and Madison Square in the early 1900s. Most theaters built in the 1900s and 1910s were on side streets near Broadway. After World War II, the Broadway theater district grew westward to Eighth Avenue and eastward to Sixth Avenue.

Martin Beck was a vaudeville manager who ran the Orpheum Circuit. This was the biggest vaudeville circuit on the West Coast of the United States in the early 1900s. In the early 1910s, he came to the East Coast and built the Palace Theatre in New York City. He later lost it to a rival. Even though Beck was no longer the leader of the Orpheum Circuit in 1923, he wanted to keep working in the city. So, he planned to build a theater for live plays.

Martin Beck's Ownership

Building the Theater and Early Years

Daytime view of the Beck (later Hirschfeld), looking east

In July 1923, Martin Beck bought six houses at 302 to 312 West 45th Street. He planned to build a theater there. In September, he bought another house at 314 West 45th Street to make his site bigger. That same month, Oddie and Falk won the contract to build the theater, which would cost $1 million. The theater was planned to have 1,160 seats and a stage measuring 40 by 90 feet (12 by 27 meters). The old buildings on the site were torn down by November 1923. Beck's theater on 45th Street, and another planned on 52nd Street, were part of a plan to move the Theater District further west. Beck first wanted to open his theater with a play called The Tragedy of Man. But he changed his mind and decided to book the operetta Madame Pompadour after seeing it in Europe. Since Charles Dillingham had the rights to show Madame Pompadour in the United States, Beck convinced Dillingham to produce the operetta together at the new theater.

According to Martin Beck's wife, Louise, the Beck was the only theater in New York City that was owned completely without a loan when it was finished. The theater opened on November 11, 1924, with Madame Pompadour. This show ran for 80 performances. In 1925, a more popular show followed: a musical version of Captain Jinks. It starred J. Harold Murray and Joe E. Brown and ran for 167 performances. Then, A. H. Woods rented the theater for his show, The Shanghai Gesture. This play starred Florence Reed and ran for 210 performances in 1926. The next year, the Beck hosted James Gleason's comedy The Shannons of Broadway, which starred Gleason and his wife Lucile. It ran for 288 performances.

Late 1920s to 1930s Shows

In 1928, the Theatre Guild started using the Beck. Their first show there was Wings Over Europe, which opened at the end of that year. Next, the Guild put on Dynamo by Eugene O'Neill. It starred Glenn Anders and Claudette Colbert and ran for 66 performances in early 1929. Later that year, the theater hosted a Czech comedy and a Russian play called Red Rust. The latter was the first show by the Theatre Guild Acting Company, which later became the Group Theatre. In 1930, the Theatre Guild presented George Bernard Shaw's The Apple Cart, Philip Barry's Hotel Universe, and Sergei Tretyakov's Roar China! at the Beck.

The Theatre Guild brought Maxwell Anderson's play Elizabeth the Queen to the Beck in early 1931. It starred Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. The Group Theatre had its first show that September with The House of Connelly. Lunt and Fontanne returned to the theater later that year in the Guild's Reunion in Vienna.

The Abbey Irish Theatre Players performed at the Martin Beck Theatre in 1932–1933. This was their first time in New York City since 1911. Their shows included The Far-off Hills and Juno and the Paycock. The Abbey Theatre left in January 1933. The Beck then hosted the play The Lake, starring film star Katharine Hepburn, that same year. Sidney Howard's play Yellow Jack was presented next in 1934. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company started a season of Gilbert and Sullivan shows at the Beck in September 1934. They performed 11 operettas for 15 weeks. Next was a new production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in late 1934, starring Basil Rathbone and Katharine Cornell. Cornell and Burgess Meredith starred in two plays in 1935: The Barretts of Wimpole Street and Flowers of the Forest. Later in 1935, Anderson's Winterset opened at the Beck.

Cornell's husband, Guthrie McClintic, directed several plays at the Martin Beck Theatre in the mid-1930s. These included Romeo and Juliet and Winterset. He also directed Shaw's play Saint Joan, which opened in 1936. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company returned in August 1936 for more Gilbert and Sullivan shows. Another Anderson play, High Tor, opened in 1937 and ran for 171 performances. Also in 1937, the Beck hosted Barchester Towers. In 1938, the theater hosted Victoria Regina, starring Helen Hayes, for 87 performances. The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company had another season of Gilbert and Sullivan shows early the next year. Hayes returned later in 1939 in the drama Ladies and Gentlemen for 105 performances.

1940s to Early 1960s Shows

Ticket booth showing the still visible Martin Beck Theatre name above the window

The play Lady in Waiting ran at the Beck for 87 performances in 1940. Martin Beck died later that year. His wife Louise Beck and Louis A. Lotito then managed the theater. Lillian Hellman's A Watch on the Rhine opened in 1941 and ran for 378 performances. Lunt and Fontanne returned the next year with The Pirate, which had 176 performances. Members of the United States Army then presented five plays in August 1943. Richard Rodgers and Herbert Fields's musical A Connecticut Yankee opened that November. The next year, Jacobowsky and the Colonel opened at the Beck, running for 417 performances. The Beck hosted Foolish Notion with Tallulah Bankhead in 1945. Later that year, Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green's popular musical On the Town ran for six months.

Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer's musical St. Louis Woman was presented at the Beck in 1946. O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh was also staged that year. This was followed the next year by the musical Barefoot Boy with Cheek and a new production of Antony and Cleopatra, starring Katharine Cornell. New productions of Shaw's You Never Can Tell and Jerome Kern's Sally were presented at the Beck in 1948. That Lady with Cornell followed in 1949. Next, the Beck hosted The Wisteria Trees with Helen Hayes, and a translation of Jean Anouilh's Ring Round the Moon, in 1950. The next year, Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo starred Eli Wallach and Maureen Stapleton. Barefoot in Athens had a short run in 1951, as did Truman Capote's The Grass Harp in 1952. This was followed in 1953 by Arthur Miller's The Crucible.

The John Patrick comedy The Teahouse of the August Moon, starring David Wayne, opened in October 1953. It ran for 1,027 performances over two and a half years. The Beck then hosted a new production of Shaw's Major Barbara in 1956, and a musical version of Candide. Tennessee Williams's Orpheus Descending opened in 1957, but it only ran for 68 performances. In contrast, the Norman Krasna comedy Who Was That Lady I Saw You With? had 208 performances in 1958. Williams's Sweet Bird of Youth lasted for 375 performances in 1959. Other shows at the Beck in the late 1950s included performances from Israel's Inbal Dance Theater in 1958 and Les Ballets Africains in 1959. Louis Lotito's group, City Playhouses Inc., leased the theater for ten years in August 1958.

Charles Strouse and Lee Adams's first musical, Bye Bye Birdie, starring Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera, opened at the Beck in April 1960. It stayed for 607 performances. After that, the theater hosted Jerry Herman's musical Milk and Honey, which opened in 1961 and stayed for a year and a half. In 1963, the theater staged Mother Courage and Her Children with Anne Bancroft and Gene Wilder. It also hosted a transfer of Strange Interlude and Edward Albee's version of The Ballad of the Sad Café. The play The Physicists and the musical I Had a Ball both opened at the Beck in 1964. This was followed the next year by the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Marat/Sade.

Jujamcyn Takes Over

Late 1960s to 1980s Shows

Side view of the theater's facade

In December 1965, William L. McKnight, who led Jujamcyn Theaters, offered Louise Beck $1.5 million for the Martin Beck Theatre. McKnight also offered to buy out Lotito's lease. The sale was completed in February 1966. Under Jujamcyn, the Beck hosted the Albee play A Delicate Balance in 1966. The next year, the theater staged the musical Hallelujah, Baby!. In 1968, the musical Man of La Mancha moved to the Beck and stayed for three years.

Many shows at the Beck in the 1970s did not run for very long. In 1971, the Beck hosted Albee's All Over and the musical The Grass Harp. Two shows during this decade only had one performance. The British play Habeas Corpus was presented at the Beck in late 1975, running for 95 performances. In 1976, McKnight transferred the Beck and Jujamcyn's other theaters to his daughter Virginia and her husband James H. Binger. Finally, the theater had a big hit in 1977 with the play Dracula, starring Frank Langella. It ran for 925 performances.

In 1981, the Beck hosted the Lillian Hellman play The Little Foxes, starring Elizabeth Taylor. It also hosted the musical The First. This was followed in 1982 by the play Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean with Cher, and A Little Family Business with Angela Lansbury. The Royal Shakespeare Company returned in 1983 with All's Well That Ends Well. The musical The Rink with Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera was staged at the Beck in 1984, running for 204 performances. However, Requiem for a Heavyweight only had three performances in March 1985. The next hit at the Beck was Into the Woods, with music by Stephen Sondheim. It opened in 1987 and had 765 performances. Another popular show was Grand Hotel, which started in late 1989 and stayed two years.

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) began thinking about protecting the Beck as a city landmark in 1982. The LPC officially named both the outside and the inside as landmarks on November 4, 1987. This was part of a big effort in 1987 to make many Broadway theaters landmarks. Jujamcyn and other theater groups sued the LPC in 1988 to stop these landmark designations. They argued that the designations limited how much they could change the theaters. The lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, but the landmark designations were upheld in 1992.

1990s to Present Day Shows

After Grand Hotel closed in early 1992, the musical Guys and Dolls was brought back that year. It ran until 1995. After this, Laurie Metcalf starred in My Thing of Love, which ran for 13 performances in May 1995. That October, Ken Ludwig's Moon Over Buffalo opened at the Beck with Carol Burnett and Philip Bosco. It lasted for 308 performances. The Beck was renovated in 1996. This project added three rows to the front of the mezzanine level. Magician David Copperfield performed his show Dreams & Nightmares that year. Afterward, a new production of the musical Annie opened in March 1997, running for 238 performances. The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music was brought back to the Beck in 1998 for 533 performances. The musical Kiss Me, Kate was revived at the Beck in late 1999. It ran until the end of 2001, even after almost closing due to the September 11 attacks. This was followed in 2002 by the musical Sweet Smell of Success, which had 108 performances, and another production of Man of La Mancha.

In late 2002, Jujamcyn announced that the Martin Beck Theatre would be renamed after illustrator Al Hirschfeld the following June. This would celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday. This made Hirschfeld the first visual artist to have a Broadway theater named after him. Jujamcyn President Rocco Landesman said the renaming was "an important event for the history and heritage of Broadway." Hirschfeld died in January 2003, months before his 100th birthday, but he knew the theater would be renamed for him. A celebration and tribute to Hirschfeld were held on June 23, 2003. The Al Hirschfeld Theatre was renovated after Man of La Mancha closed. The theater got a new sign (marquee) with a lighted version of Hirschfeld's Self-Portrait as an Inkwell.

The Al Hirschfeld Theatre reopened on November 23, 2003, with a new production of the musical Wonderful Town. It ran for 497 performances. After Binger died in 2004, Landesman bought the Al Hirschfeld and Jujamcyn's four other theaters in 2005. Jordan Roth joined Jujamcyn as a producer that same year. The musical Sweet Charity opened at the Al Hirschfeld in May 2005 and stayed for 297 performances. In 2006, some of the air rights above the Al Hirschfeld were sold. The musical The Wedding Singer opened in 2006 and ran for 285 performances. This was followed in 2007 by Curtains for 511 performances. A musical version of A Tale of Two Cities had a short run in 2008. The musical Hair opened the next year with 519 performances. In 2009, Roth gained a 50 percent share in Jujamcyn and took over running the company.

Elf the Musical opened at the Al Hirschfeld in late 2010 for a short time. This was followed in 2011 by a new production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Next, the play Fela! had a short return to the Al Hirschfeld in July 2012, and Elf the Musical returned again that November. The musical Kinky Boots opened at the theater in April 2013. It ran for a very long time, with 2,507 performances over six years. The next show to play at the Al Hirschfeld was the musical Moulin Rouge!, which opened in 2019. Moulin Rouge! set a new record for the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, earning $2,716,892 in one week in December 2019. The theater closed on March 12, 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It reopened on September 24, 2021, with Moulin Rouge! returning. Jujamcyn and Ambassador Theatre Group agreed to combine their companies in early 2023. The new company will run seven Broadway theaters, including the Al Hirschfeld.

Famous Shows at the Theater

Here are some of the notable shows that have played at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, listed by when they first opened.

As the Martin Beck Theatre

As the Al Hirschfeld Theatre

See also

• List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets
• List of Broadway theaters