Broadhurst Theatre (New York City, New York)

 theatre, 1917_construction

4-story Adamsesque-style theater completed in 1917. Designed by Herbert J. Krapp, it was built back-to-back with the Plymouth (now the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre), and was meant to resemble the style of the neighboring Henry B. Herts-designed Shubert and Booth theaters, using less expensive brick and terra-cotta materials on the facades. Like all of Krapp's work during this period, it features minimal ornamentation, a single balcony, wide space, and excellent sightlines. While the two playhouses are nearly identical on the outside, the Broadhurst's interior employs Doric columns, and Greek-style cornices and friezes.

The Broadhurst Theater faces onto 44th Street and has a curved corner at the southeast section of the building which echoes the design of other Shubert Alley theaters. The facade is wider than it is high and, rising from a water table of grey-painted granite and vertically laid terra-cotta blocks, and is faced in light gray-white brick laid in Flemish bond with diaperwork framing and brick moldings. Symmetrically organized, the facade is punctuated by regularly spaced, aluminum-framed, bronze-and-glass doors, set below aluminum-framed transoms, at the ground floor. The doors are flanked by modern aluminum-framed display boxes. A modern marquee with signs extends above the doors and display boxes.

At the 2nd and 3rd floors, brick framed openings contain windows and exit doors leading onto the fire escape. The fire escape is enhanced with decorative cast-and wrought-iron railings which form balconies in front of these openings. Cast-iron shields supported by unfurled ribands adorn the 3rd-floor railing. Above the 3rd floor a terra-cotta cartouche with swags is centered on the facade. The curved corner at the eastern end of the facade provides access to the ticket lobby through an opening with double-doors surmounted by a pediment supported on consoles broken by an escutcheon with swags. The inscription "Broadhurst" is placed on the glass transom above the doors. Above the 3rd floor level a large escutheon bearing a fleur-de-lis and suspended from swags accents the curve and signals the presence of the main entrance. The entire facade is capped by a large but simple cornice which extends around the curve and supports a slightly stepped and raked, sheet-metal-coped parapet.

To the west is the 5-story stage house faced with the same brick as the main theater facade. At the ground floor are two metal doors and three window openings with decorative iron grilles. The four upper floors contain five window openings per floor, each with segmental brick arches. The windows have two-over-two kalamine sash and wire glass. Iron fire escapes are placed across the stage house facade, which terminates in a corbeled parapet.

The theater was named after George Howells Broadhurst, an Anglo-American dramatist who came to America in 1886. In addition to writing plays, he managed theatrers in Milwaukee, Baltimore, and San Francisco before he decided to open his own in association with the Shubert brothers. The theater was constructed to house both musicals and plays, which it has done successfully for a century.

The Broadhurst opened on September 27, 1917 with George Bernard Shaw's Misalliance, the first New York production of the philosophical 1910 comedy. It ran for only 52 performances and was not performed on Broadway again until 1953. Its last running tenant was Les Miserables, which began a special six-month return engagement on October 24, 2006, but had since been announced as a revival. The production eventually closed on January 6, 2008. The theater's next tenant is a revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof starring an all African-American cast.

www.shubertorganization.com/theatres/broadhurst.asp