This article is about the theater in New York City. For the Chicago theater, seeMusic Box Theatre (Chicago). For the Los Angeles theater formerly with the name, seeThe Fonda Theatre.
The facade is made of limestone and is symmetrically arranged, with both Palladian and neo-Georgian motifs. At ground level, the eastern portion of the facade contains the theater's entrance, with amarquee over it, while the stage door is to the west. A double-height centralcolonnade at the second and third floors conceals a fire-escape staircase; it is flanked by windows in the outer bays. The auditorium containsAdam style detailing, a large balcony, and two outwardly curvedbox seats within ornate archways. The theater was also designed with a comparatively small lobby, a lounge in the basement, and mezzanine-level offices.
Harris proposed the Music Box Theatre in 1919 specifically to host his productions with Berlin, and theShubert family gained an ownership stake shortly after the Music Box opened. The theater initially hosted the partners'Music Box Revue nearly exclusively, presenting its first play,Cradle Snatchers, in 1925. Many of the Music Box's early productions were hits with several hundred performances. There were multiple productions byMoss Hart andGeorge S. Kaufman in the 1930s, includingOnce in a Lifetime andThe Man Who Came to Dinner. After Harris died in 1941, Berlin and the Shuberts shared ownership of the theater, and the Music Box largely showed dramas rather than musicals. The theater hosted several plays byWilliam Inge in the 1950s. Though the length of production runs declined in later years, the Music Box has remained in theatrical use since its opening. The Shuberts acquired the Berlin estate's ownership stake in 2007.
The Music Box Theatre was designed byC. Howard Crane in aPalladian-inspired style and was constructed from 1920 to 1921 forIrving Berlin andSam H. Harris.[3][8] The interior was decorated by Crane and William Baumgarten, with manyAdam style details.[9][10][11] The Longacre Engineering and Construction Company built the theater, with M. X. C. Weinberger as consulting engineer. Numerous other contractors were involved in the theater's development.[10] The Music Box is operated bythe Shubert Organization.[12][13]
The facade is made of limestone.[8][14] It is symmetrically arranged, though the theater is shorter than its width.[15] For the design of the facade, Crane drew from both Palladian and neo-Georgian motifs.[8][10] The facade's largest feature is a double-height centralcolonnade at the second and third floors.[10][14][15] According to theatrical historianKen Bloom, the facade design was inspired by that of theChestnut Street Theatre inPhiladelphia.[11]
The easternmost side on 45th Street includes four pairs of glass and bronze doors leading to the ticket lobby. There are bronze sign boards on either side, and the entrance is topped by amarquee. Just west of the ticket-lobby entrance is a single doorway. The center of the ground story includes three pairs of glass and bronze doors from the auditorium. There are wood-and-glass sign boards on either side of the central doors, withcolonettes on either side and sheet metal-woodpediments above them. A bronze fire-escape gate, accessed by two granite steps, and two wide sign boards are to the west of the center doors. The westernmost part of the facade contains a double door, a narrow sign board, and a single door.[16] These doors, adjacent to the Imperial Theatre's entrance, constitute the stage doors.[16][12] Above the ground floor is a horizontalband course with motifs ofswags,urns, and vertical bars.[16]
At the second and third floors is a colonnade between a pair of outer bays. The colonnade has fourfluted columns, which are topped byCorinthian-style decorativecapitals. The auditorium facade is slightly recessed behind the colonnade, creating agallery, which is shielded by decorative iron railings between the columns.[16] The recessed gallery contains the auditorium's fire escape, with stairs leading down to ground level.[16][17] There are also three double doorways with stone surrounds, which exit onto the gallery. Above each doorway is afrieze with urns and swags; there is a triangular pediment in the outer doorways and scrolled pediment in the center doorway.[16] A pair of pilasters flanks each of the outer bays,[8][9] with Corinthian capitals atop each pilaster.[16] The second-floor window of each outer bay is aPalladian window,[15] which containssash window panes. The tympanum is divided into three sections, with an archedtympanum above the center section. The third story has a rectangular sash window with a molded frame. A vertical sign hangs from the easternmost bay on the upper stories.[16]
The top of the facade has afrieze withrosette motifs, as well as acornice withdentils andmodillions.[16] Above the facade is a slopingslate roof with several projectingdormers for windows.[15] There is also a roof balustrade with cast-iron and wrought-iron railings.[16]
Auditorium as seen from balcony level, looking toward the left-hand box
The auditorium has an orchestra level, one balcony,boxes, and a stage behind theproscenium arch.[18] The auditorium is wider than its depth, and the space is designed with plaster decorations in highrelief.[19] According to the Shubert Organization, the auditorium has 1,025 seats;[13] meanwhile,The Broadway League cites a capacity of 1,009 seats[20] andPlaybill cites 984 seats.[12] The discrepancy arises from the fact that there are 1,009 physical seats and 16 standing-only spots. The physical seats are divided into 538 seats in the orchestra, 455 at the balcony, and 16 in the boxes. The orchestra seating includes 35 seats in theorchestra pit at the front of the stage.[13] The original color scheme was ivory and dark green.[9][21] The carpets and curtain were designed in a coral color.[10][17]
The rear (east) end of the orchestra contains a shallow promenade, and the orchestra level israked. The rear wall of the promenade (corresponding with the orchestra's aisles) has doorways with Corinthian-stylepiers, above which is an entablature in theAdam style.[22] The north end of the promenade has a stair that rises to the balcony's foyer, as well as a double stair that leads down to a basement lounge.[23] Both stairs have Adam-style railings.[23] The orchestra and its promenade contain plasterwork panels on the walls. A standing rail is placed at the rear of the orchestra.[24] No boxes were installed at orchestra level per Harris and Berlin's request.[14][21]
The balcony level is raked and contains plasterwork panels on the walls. An Adam-style entablature runs above the top of the balcony wall, wrapping around to the tops of the boxes and proscenium. The balcony front curves outward and has vine and flower motifs, as well as medallions depicting female characters. Modern light boxes are in front of the balcony, and a technical booth is at the rear. The balcony'ssoffit, or underside, is divided into panels that contain plaster medallions with light fixtures, as well as air-conditioning vents.[24] The auditorium was originally lit by five-armedsconces on the walls, which were replaced in the 1960s with imitation brass sconces.[9] The original sconces were described inAmerican Architect and Architecture as "Dutch brass with amber crystals".[14]
Box detail
On either side of the proscenium is an archway with a single box at the balcony level.[21] The boxes were described inAmerican Architect as having "a very decided decorative charm to the motive of the proscenium treatment".[14][21] Each box is semicircular and is cantilevered from the wall; they are accessed from stair halls leading from the orchestra.[19] The boxes' archways are supported by six Corinthian columns, three on each side, and are additionally flanked by paired Corinthian pilasters.[22] Within each archway, the two center columns flank mirrored panels, which in turn are topped bybroken pediments with urns.[23] The fronts of the boxes contain Adam-style metal railings,[25] originally ornamented in silver-gray.[14][21] An entablature rises above the box seats, topped by a half-dome with a pastoral mural.[26] These murals depict classical ruins.[23] The half-domes are flanked byspandrels with decorations of eagles spreading their wings.[22]
Next to the boxes is a flat proscenium arch.[18] The archway is flanked by fluted columns and pilasters in the Corinthian style. The top of the archways contains an entablature with Adam-style decorations of urns, vines, fans, and reeds.[22] The proscenium measures about 26 feet (7.9 m) high and 40 feet (12 m) wide.[13] Due to a lack of space backstage, acounterweight system was installed to lift sets and other objects onto the stage.[14] The ceiling contains Adam-style moldings and friezes, which divide it into sections. There are also air-conditioning vents in the ceiling,[23] and four chandeliers originally hung from it.[27] Above the front of the balcony is a wide circular medallion. The rear of the ceiling contains acove that curves downward onto the wall, supported by modillions at the entablature of the wall.[23]
The Music Box's rear promenade is accessed directly from the lobby,[14] which measures 8 feet (2.4 m) wide and 25 feet (7.6 m) long.[28] The lobby was decorated as a simple space, with pink marblebaseboards, marble walls, and a plaster cornice. The cornice was decorated with neo-Georgian ornaments. A bronze box-office booth was placed in the lobby.[17] The lobby has a box office because the theater had no dedicated box office when it opened.[29] The floor was made of alternating gray and pink marble tiles.[17] The lobby was separated from the auditorium itself by draped partitions, which removed thedrafts that typically occurred behind the last row of seats.[14][17]
At the balcony level is a mezzanine. This level contained Berlin's studio, as well as ladies' retiring rooms, telephone rooms, and managers' offices. Berlin's studio was designed like an attic, with exposed ceilingrafters, as well as wainscoted walls and a stone fireplace mantel.[17]
Stair from the basement lounge to the foyer
Below the auditorium is a basement lounge. Its lavish design contrasted with the lounges of other Broadway theaters, which generally received little attention.[27]Architecture and Building magazine described the lounge as being in theQueen Anne style, "developed more as if in a dwelling than in a club or public place".[10] The staircase to the basement lounge is made of marble and contains an intermediate landing.[10][14][23] A tapestry is mounted on the stair landing.[10][17][23] The tapestry depicts a reclining figure of a nude woman next to a waterfall.[23] A mirrored panel was hung on the lounge's wall, opposite the tapestry. Siena marble fireplace mantels, with mirrors above them, were placed at each end of the lounge.[17] The basement also has the theater's restrooms.[12]
Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 andthe Great Depression.[30] During the 1900s and 1910s, many theaters in Midtown Manhattan were developed by theShubert brothers, one of the major theatrical syndicates of the time.[31] Meanwhile, Sam H. Harris was a producer and Irving Berlin was a songwriter. Prior to the development of the Music Box Theatre, Harris had partnered withGeorge Cohan in the development of several theaters and productions in the 1900s and 1910s.[32]
According to one account, the name for the Music Box Theatre arose from a conversation between Sam H. Harris and Irving Berlin in 1919. Harris had suggested building a theater, to which Berlin suggested the name "Music Box".[33][29] Harris liked the name and suggested that Berlin could write a song for the new theater.[29] In March 1920, Harris and Berlin bought the properties at 239 to 245 West 45th Street from L. and A. Pincus and M. L. Goldstone.[34][35][36] They then announced plans to build the Music Box Theatre on the site.[34][37] By that May, Crane had prepared plans for the theater.[5] Harris planned to stage twice-yearly revues,[38] and he subsequently ended his long-running partnership withGeorge M. Cohan.[39]Hassard Short was named as the first general stage director,[40][41] spending over $240,000 on the first show.[8] The Music Box ultimately cost more than $1 million, $400,000 for the building itself and $600,000 for the land;[8][42] the theater overran its original budget by about $300,000.[43] The Music Box was one of the only Broadway theaters to be built for specific producers' work.[8][44]
The Music Box Theatre opened on September 22, 1921, with performances ofMusic Box Revue.[45][46][47] The new theater was praised by both architectural and theatrical critics, and several architectural publications printed pictures of the theater.[48] These included theAmerican Architect and the Architectural Review, which called the theater's design "remarkable" both in design and layout.[14][48]The New-York Tribune called the facade "singularly successful in its expression of the interior",[17] whileArchitecture and Building said the "delicacy of domestic architecture" was fitting for the Music Box's design.[10][48] Among theatrical critics,Jack Lait referred to the Music Box as the "daintiest theatre in America" inVariety magazine.[47][48] Other reviewers said the theater was "unparalleled" in design and had "dignified architectural decorations" in contrast to other theaters.[48] The comedianSam Bernard said simply, "It stinks from class."[49] In his autobiography, producerMoss Hart said that the Music Box was "everybody's dream of a theatre", enhancing the quality of the productions staged there.[50][51]
View of the auditorium
Film executiveJoseph M. Schenck originally was a partner in the Music Box Theatre with Berlin and Harris,[8][43] though he transferred his stake to the Shubert brothers not long afterward.[8] For the first three years of its operation, the Music Box exclusively hosted theMusic Box Revue.[52] The inaugural edition in 1921 starred Bernard and Berlin.[46][47][11] Three subsequent editions of theMusic Box Revue were hosted in as many years, and each subsequent edition gradually declined in quality. Among the performers who appeared multiple times were theBrox Sisters,Clark and McCullough,Florence Moore,Grace Moore,Joseph Santley, andIvy Sawyer.[11] One notable performance was the 1924 edition, which featuredFanny Brice of theZiegfeld Follies.[11][53]Earl Carroll's Vanities was also staged in 1924, becoming the second production to be presented at the Music Box.[54][55] Its producer,Earl Carroll, was briefly jailed in November 1924 after showing "obscene" photos outside the Music Box.[56]
The comedyThe Cradle Snatchers, withHumphrey Bogart, was the first play to be staged at the Music Box, opening in 1925.[42][52] With close to 500 performances, it was a hit.[57][58] More generally, of the productions staged in the Music Box in its first decade, only twoflops with less than 100 performances were staged, both of which ran immediately afterThe Cradle Snatchers closed.[42] The first wasGentle Grafters in October 1926,[59][60] while the second wasMozart that November.[59][61] This was followed by the comedyChicago, which premiered in late 1926 withFrancine Larrimore andCharles Bickford,[52][62] and a run of the melodramaThe Spider in 1927, which transferred from a neighboring theater.[42][63] By the end of 1927, Hassard Short had given up his stake in managing the Music Box.[64] The playParis Bound also premiered in 1927,[52][65] followed the next year by the similarly namedParis withIrène Bordoni.[52][66] The last show in the 1920s wasThe Little Show,[52] which premiered in 1929.[67][68]
The Music Box Theater underwent several changes in operation during the 1940s.[112] Sam Harris died in July 1941,[113][114][115] and his ownership stake in the theater went to his widow Kathleen Marin, pursuant to his will.[116] Additionally, independent producers began to lease the Music Box.[117] The theater also pivoted away from hosting revues and musicals because of its relatively low seating capacity; instead, it mainly hosted small dramas.[118] Theburlesque revueStar and Garter opened in 1942,[112][119] eventually running 609 performances.[118][120] This was followed in 1944 by a 713-performance run of the comedyI Remember Mama,[121][122] which featuredMarlon Brando in his Broadway debut.[112] Another major production in the 1940s wasSummer and Smoke, which premiered in 1948.[112][123] The next year, the Music Box showedLost in the Stars,[112][124] which was the last musical staged at the Music Box until the 1970s.[118]
The British playSleuth opened in 1970, featuringKeith Baxter andAnthony Quayle;[145][155] it became the theater's longest-running production with 1,222 performances.[151][156] When the Music Box celebrated its 50th anniversary the next year, the theater was still largely successful.[29][139] Berlin said at the time that he still held part-ownership in the Music Box for sentimental reasons.[29][111] In 1974, the theater staged its first musical in 25 years:Rainbow Jones,[118] which closed after its only performance.[157][158] It was followed the same year by the comparatively more successfulAbsurd Person Singular.[145][159] The Music Box staged a revival ofWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1976,[160][161] and it hosted a range ofStephen Sondheim songs in the musicalSide by Side by Sondheim the next year.[162][163] The theater's last production of the 1970s wasDeathtrap, which opened in 1978.[164]Deathtrap was ultimately transferred four years later and ran 1,793 total performances.[165][166]
TheNew York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) had started to consider protecting the Music Box as a landmark in 1982,[187] with discussions continuing over the next several years.[188] The LPC designated the Music Box's facade and interior as a landmark on December 8, 1987.[189][190] This was part of the commission's wide-ranging effort in 1987 to grant landmark status to Broadway theaters.[191] TheNew York City Board of Estimate ratified the designations in March 1988.[192] The Shuberts, theNederlanders, andJujamcyn collectively sued the LPC in June 1988 to overturn the landmark designations of 22 theaters, including the Music Box, on the merit that the designations severely limited the extent to which the theaters could be modified.[193] The lawsuit was escalated to theNew York Supreme Court and theSupreme Court of the United States, but these designations were ultimately upheld in 1992.[194]
In the 1990s, the Music Box continued to have many relatively short runs.[171] The solo playLucifer's Child withJulie Harris played a limited engagement in April 1991,[195][196] andPark Your Car in Harvard Yard opened the same year withJudith Ivey andJason Robards.[197][198] The next year, the Music Box stagedA Small Family Business, which ran for a little over one month.[199][200] A more successful production wasBlood Brothers, opening in 1993[201] and running 893 performances over the next two years.[175][202][203] In addition, a plaque commemorating Irving Berlin was installed at the Music Box in 1994.[204] The musicalSwinging on a Star opened in 1995.[205][206] The next year, the Music Box staged the musicalState Fair,[207][208] the latter of which was the final Broadway show produced byDavid Merrick.[209] Subsequently,Barrymore ran 238 performances in 1997,[210][211] andThe Diary of Anne Frank opened later that year, running through the next year with 221 performances.[212][213] Finally, the Music Box stagedCloser in 1999, with 173 performances.[214][215]
The Music Box's tendency for short production runs continued into the 2000s.[171] A revival of the Shakespeare playMacbeth closed in June 2000 after 13 performances,[216][217] and a more successful production came later that year withThe Dinner Party,[218][219] which ran 364 performances.[220] The 19th-century dramaFortune's Fool was staged in 2002,[171][221] as was short-lived comedyAmour.[222][223] As part of a settlement with theUnited States Department of Justice in 2003, the Shuberts agreed to improve disabled access at their 16 landmarked Broadway theaters, including the Music Box.[224][225] The Music Box hostedCat on a Hot Tin Roof in 2003[226][227] andDame Edna: Back with a Vengeance in 2004,[228][229] as well asAntony Sher's soloPrimo[230] and the musicalIn My Life in 2005.[231][232] These were followed in 2006 byFesten[233][234] andThe Vertical Hour.[235][236] Meanwhile, the Shubert Organization and Berlin's estate continued to operate the theater jointly.[129][237] The unusual arrangement, which led to jokes that the Shuberts owned sixteen and a half theaters, continued until 2007, when the Berlin estate sold its interest to the Shuberts.[129]
Productions are listed by the year of their first performance. TheMusic Box Revue, which has had multiple editions, is listed by the years of the first performances of each edition.[12][20]
Dear Evan Hansen achieved the box office record for the Music Box Theatre. The production grossed $2,119,371 over the eight performances during the week ending December 31, 2017.[305] The same production had also achieved a record earlier in the year, making that record the highest gross for a Broadway house that seats under 1,000.[306]
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