The
Majestic Theatre is a Broadway
theatre located at 245 West 44th Street
in midtown Manhattan
.
The Majestic, one of the largest Broadway theatres with 1607 seats,
traditionally has been used as a venue for major
musical theatre productions. Among the
notable shows that have premiered at the Majestic are
Carousel (1945),
South Pacific (1949),
The Music Man (1957),
Camelot (1960),
A Little Night Music
(1973), and
The Wiz (1975). It was
also the second home of
42nd
Street and the third home of
1776. The theatre has housed
The Phantom
of the Opera since it opened on
January 26 1988. With a
record breaking 9,000 performances (as of September 15th, 2009), it
currently is the longest-running production in Broadway history.
History
Columbus Circle location
An earlier
theatre with the same name had been located at 5 Columbus Circle
, the present site of the Time Warner
Center
. Designed in 1903 by John Duncan, the architect of Grant's Tomb
, the theatre hosted original musicals, including
The Wizard of
Oz and Babes in
Toyland, and briefly served as a studio for NBC. It was renamed the Park Theatre in 1911 and
demolished in 1954 to make way for the New York Coliseum
which in turn was torn down to make way for
Time-Warner in 2000.
West 44th Street location
Designed by
architect Herbert J. Krapp, the
present-day Majestic was constructed by the Chanin Brothers as part
of an entertainment complex including the John Golden
Theatre
, the Bernard B.
Jacobs Theatre, and the Milford Plaza hotel. It opened on
March 28 1927 with the
musical
Rufus LeMaire's Affairs.
The Majestic was purchased by the
Shubert
brothers during the
Great
Depression and currently is owned and operated by the
Shubert Organization. Both the
interior and exterior were designated
New York City
landmarks in 1987.
Other notable productions
References
Broadway Theatres: History and Architecture by William
Morrison, published by Dover Publications (1999) ISBN
0-486-40244-4
External links
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