Music Box Theatre (New York City, New York)
USA /
New Jersey /
West New York /
New York City, New York /
West 45th Street, 239
World
/ USA
/ New Jersey
/ West New York
World / United States / New York
theatre, 1921_construction
3-story Neo-Georgian theater completed in 1921. Designed by C. Howard Crane and E. George Kiehler specifically to house Irving Berlin's famed Music Box Revues, it hosted a new musical production every year until 1925, when it presented its first play, Cradle Snatchers, starring Humphrey Bogart. The following year, Chicago, the Maurine Dallas Watkins play that served as the basis for the hit musical, opened here. It housed a string of hits for the playwriting team of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, from their first collaboration Once in a Lifetime to their smash hit The Man Who Came to Dinner. Cole Porter and George and Ira Gershwin also presented shows here. In the 1950s, playwright William Inge found a home at the Music Box, where he had success with Picnic, Bus Stop, and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.
One of the smaller Broadway houses, with a seating capacity of 860, the theater was co-owned by Berlin's estate and the Shubert Organization until the latter assumed full ownership in 2007. Its box seats are notable for being unusually large and round, and Dame Edna lovingly described them as "ashtrays" during her successful run there. The lobby features a plaque and wall exhibit commemorating its rich history.
The Music Box Theater has a symmetrically-organized facade which is wider than it is high. The ground floor, which is of stone (with concrete infill and patches) is dominated by its doorways. Four pairs of original bronze and glass doors adorned with curvilinear motifs lead into the ticket lobby at the right (east). These are flanked by original bronze-painted wood and glass signboards, framed by colonnettes with grotesques and crowned by stylized pediments (of sheet-metal over wood) composed of waves flanking lyres in wreath surrounds. A modern marquee extends out over the entrance doors. Three pairs of original bronze and glass exit doors from the auditorium are flanked by similar signboards of bronze-painted iron, and doorways, that to the east with a single door, and that to the west with a decorative painted wrought-iron gate at the foot of the fire stairs. Decorative iron railings flank the two granite steps leading from the gate. Two large original iron signboards are placed on the wall adjacent to the recessed paired bronze stage doors. A single bronze stage door in an iron frame is at the western end. These two stage door openings flank a single original signboard. The ground floor is surmounted by a cornice with a wide Adamesgue frieze containing vertical ribs, urns, and swags.
The major portion of the facade, rising from the ground floor base, is faced with stone and is organized into a colonnaded center section with flanking end bays. Double-height fluted columns with Corinthian capitals are linked by wrought-iron railings with cast-iron panels that shield a recessed portion of the facade. The gallery thus created serves as the exit for a set of fire stairs at the east and for the three doorways from the balcony level of the auditorium. These doorways have paneled doors and are surmounted by entablatures with urn- and swag-adorned friezes supporting triangular pediments (at the outer doors) and a scrolled broken pediment with pineapple finial (at the center door). Three wrought-iron and glass lanterns are suspended from the ceiling of the gallery. The end
bays are flanked by pilasters with Corinthian capitals. A Palladianesque window with fan-filled tympanum is placed at the 2nd
floor of each bay. At the 3rd floor of each bay is a window with a simple molded surround. A vertical sign projects from the wall of
the eastern bay. An entablature with rosette-adorned frieze, dentils, and modillioned cornice spans the facade. This is surmounted by a slate-covered sloping roof punctuated by round-arched sheet-metal dormers. Wrought- and cast-iron railings are placed above the cornice and at the roof line.
www.shubertorganization.com/theatres/music_box.asp
archive.org/details/americanarchite121newyuoft/page/165...
One of the smaller Broadway houses, with a seating capacity of 860, the theater was co-owned by Berlin's estate and the Shubert Organization until the latter assumed full ownership in 2007. Its box seats are notable for being unusually large and round, and Dame Edna lovingly described them as "ashtrays" during her successful run there. The lobby features a plaque and wall exhibit commemorating its rich history.
The Music Box Theater has a symmetrically-organized facade which is wider than it is high. The ground floor, which is of stone (with concrete infill and patches) is dominated by its doorways. Four pairs of original bronze and glass doors adorned with curvilinear motifs lead into the ticket lobby at the right (east). These are flanked by original bronze-painted wood and glass signboards, framed by colonnettes with grotesques and crowned by stylized pediments (of sheet-metal over wood) composed of waves flanking lyres in wreath surrounds. A modern marquee extends out over the entrance doors. Three pairs of original bronze and glass exit doors from the auditorium are flanked by similar signboards of bronze-painted iron, and doorways, that to the east with a single door, and that to the west with a decorative painted wrought-iron gate at the foot of the fire stairs. Decorative iron railings flank the two granite steps leading from the gate. Two large original iron signboards are placed on the wall adjacent to the recessed paired bronze stage doors. A single bronze stage door in an iron frame is at the western end. These two stage door openings flank a single original signboard. The ground floor is surmounted by a cornice with a wide Adamesgue frieze containing vertical ribs, urns, and swags.
The major portion of the facade, rising from the ground floor base, is faced with stone and is organized into a colonnaded center section with flanking end bays. Double-height fluted columns with Corinthian capitals are linked by wrought-iron railings with cast-iron panels that shield a recessed portion of the facade. The gallery thus created serves as the exit for a set of fire stairs at the east and for the three doorways from the balcony level of the auditorium. These doorways have paneled doors and are surmounted by entablatures with urn- and swag-adorned friezes supporting triangular pediments (at the outer doors) and a scrolled broken pediment with pineapple finial (at the center door). Three wrought-iron and glass lanterns are suspended from the ceiling of the gallery. The end
bays are flanked by pilasters with Corinthian capitals. A Palladianesque window with fan-filled tympanum is placed at the 2nd
floor of each bay. At the 3rd floor of each bay is a window with a simple molded surround. A vertical sign projects from the wall of
the eastern bay. An entablature with rosette-adorned frieze, dentils, and modillioned cornice spans the facade. This is surmounted by a slate-covered sloping roof punctuated by round-arched sheet-metal dormers. Wrought- and cast-iron railings are placed above the cornice and at the roof line.
www.shubertorganization.com/theatres/music_box.asp
archive.org/details/americanarchite121newyuoft/page/165...
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_box_theater
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 40°45'31"N 73°59'13"W
- Arenson Prop Center 1.2 km
- Atlantic Stage 2 2.4 km
- New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ 15 km
- Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts 50 km
- Open Air Theatre at W. C. S. P. 89 km
- Destinta Theaters 89 km
- Penn's Peak 144 km
- Boardwalk Hall 161 km
- Hotel du Pont/DuPont Building 174 km
- The Playhouse on Rodney Square 174 km
- Theatre District 0.2 km
- Midtown (North Central) 0.4 km
- Hell's Kitchen (Clinton) 0.8 km
- Midtown (Manhattan, NY) 1 km
- Chelsea 1.7 km
- Manhattan 2.8 km
- North Bergen, New Jersey 4.7 km
- Hudson County, New Jersey 7.8 km
- Queens 15 km
- The Palisades 23 km