Gershwin Theatre (New York City, New York)

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Art-Noveau style theater completed in 1971. Designed by Ralph Alswang, it was built at the same time and attached to the office tower to the east, now named Paramount Plaza. At the time of completion the tower was known as the Uris Building (for the developer, Uris Brothers), and this theater was the Uris Theatre. It It has the highest seating capacity of any Broadway theatre, with 1,933 seats; the opening show was a performance of the musical Via Galactica starring Raul Julia on November 28, 1972. It proved to be an inauspicious start for the venue, with the first show to lose a million dollars closing after only seven performances.

On June 5, 1983, during the Tony Awards ceremony, the theater was renamed the Gershwin Theatre to honor composer George Gershwin and lyricist Ira Gershwin. The American Theatre Hall of Fame is located in the lobby. The Gershwin has been home to the blockbuster musical Wicked since 2003.

The exterior facade on both 50th & 51st Street is faced in stark white limestone, above a 3-bay ground floor of black steel. A projecting black steel bank caps the ground floor, with two vertical beams (framing the two eastern bays) reaching halfway up the stone facade of the upper floors. At the middle bay of both facades, a driveway cuts through the building, linking the north and south ends and providing access to the underground parking garage; the east bay has a similar pedestrian corridor that accesses the main entrances and box office. The main level of the theater is at the 2nd floor, above the corridor. The west bay at both facades has loading docks.

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