Booth Theatre
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Booth Theatre | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Address |
222 West 45th Street
|
| City | |
| Country | USA |
| Designation | Broadway theatre |
| Architect | Henry B. Herts |
| Owned by | The Shubert Organization |
| Capacity | 766 |
| Opened | October 16, 1913 |
| Production | Next to Normal |
| shubertorganization.com/theatres/booth.asp | |
The Booth Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 222 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in midtown-Manhattan, New York City.
Architect Henry B. Herts designed the Booth and its companion Shubert Theatre as a back-to-back pair sharing a Venetian Renaissance-style façade. Named in honor of famed 19th-century American actor Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth, the theater's 783-seat auditorium was intended to provide an intimate setting for dramatic and comedy plays. It opened on October 16, 1913 with Arnold Bennett's play The Great Adventure.
The venue was the second New York City theatre to bear this name. The first was built by Booth himself in 1869 on the corner of 23rd Street and 6th Avenue (see picture, below).
The Booth Theatre appeared in The West Wing episode Posse Comitatus. It hosted a fictitous charity performance of War of the Roses which an equally fictitious President Bartlet attended during the assassination of the Qumari Defence Minister Abdul ibn Shareef. [1]
The theatre is currently home to the critically acclaimed musical Next to Normal, starring Tony Award winner Alice Ripley and Tony nominees J. Robert Spencer and Jennifer Damiano.
[edit] Notable productions
- 1915: Our American Cousin
- 1936: You Can't Take It With You
- 1939: The Time of Your Life
- 1942: Blithe Spirit
- 1947: An Inspector Calls
- 1950: Come Back, Little Sheba
- 1954: Dial M for Murder
- 1956: The Matchmaker
- 1958: Two for the Seesaw
- 1961: A Taste of Honey
- 1964: Luv
- 1969: Butterflies Are Free
- 1972: That Championship Season
- 1974: Bad Habits
- 1975: Very Good Eddie
- 1979: The Elephant Man
- 1984: Sunday in the Park with George
- 1985: I'm Not Rappaport
- 1989: Shirley Valentine; Tru
- 1990: Once on This Island
- 1999: Dame Edna: The Royal Tour
- 2002: Bea Arthur on Broadway
- 2005: The Pillowman
- 2006: Butley
- 2007: The Year of Magical Thinking, The Seafarer
- 2008: Thurgood, Dividing The Estate
- 2009: Next to Normal
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.newsaic.com/ftvww65i.html FootnoteTV The West Wing Posse Comitatus
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Booth Theater Broadway Show Guide
- Booth Theatre at the Internet Broadway Database.
