Majestic Theatre (New York City, New York)

 theatre, 1927_construction

5-story Neo-Classical/Spanish-modern theater completed in 1927. Designed by Herbert J. Krapp for the Charnin 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.

The Majestic, one of the largest Broadway theaters with 1,607 seats, traditionally has been used as a venue for major musical theater 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 theater has housed The Phantom of the Opera since it opened on January 26, 1988. With more than 8,000 performances, it presently is the longest-running production in Broadway history.

The Majestic Theater has an asymmetrically organized "modern Spanish" style facade, which is divided into two sections -- a major portion encompassing the entrance and auditorium which is wider than it is high, and a narrower and slightly higher portion incorporating the stage house. Both portions are linked by a continuous ground-floor base of rusticated terra-cotta. The stage house portion of the base, at the east end, has a metal service door. The entrance and auditorium portion of the base contains four sets of brass-and-glass entrance doors, below transoms at the west, and three openings at the east that were originally exit doors, now filled-in with poster boxes. A wide bronze marquee with foliate patterns extends over most of the ground floor. Large brass-framed sign boards are placed on the wall between the doors. Immediately flanking the doors are smaller sign boards set in brass frames, in turn set in terra-cotta frames with egg-and-dart moldings supporting cartouches, which are original to the design. The base is surmounted by a wide ovolo molding. Above the base the wall in both sections is faced with Roman brick of a golden hue laid in running bond. The entrance/auditorium section is dominated by two wrought-iron galleries, containing fire exits, covered with simulated Spanish tile roofs of sheet-metal. A terra-cotta band course links the galleries. The wall above the galleries is relieved by terra-cotta blocks set in a regular pattern. Set in the wall above the entrance is a blind stylized Palladian window of terra-cotta with twisted colonnettes and foliate pilasters carrying an arch encompassing a tympanum with foliate molding and surmounted by a finial. A large vertical sign with the name of the theater marks the division between the auditorium and the stage house portions of the facade. Simulated balconettes with ornamental panels carried on corbels are placed just below the roof line.

A terra-cotta coping partially carried on brackets is surmounted by a parapet with stylized finials and a stylized pediment with simulated balustrade, finials, and central arch form. Immediately above the base the brick wall of the stage house is partially covered by a large flat sign. The four floors above are punctuated by five regularly-spaced window openings with terra-cotta sills. An angled sign projects out between the 3rd-floor windows. The 6th-floor windows are outlined by terra-cotta arches with scrolled keystones and arched tympanum plagues above the windows. Pilasters with stylized Ionic columns flank the arches. A dentiled cornice at the roof line is surmounted by an ornate terra-cotta parapet with finials, of the same design as that above the auditorium.

www.shubertorganization.com/theatres/majestic.asp