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| Brooks Atkinson Theatre | |
|---|---|
| Name | Brooks Atkinson Theatre |
| Address | 256 W 47th St |
| City | Manhattan, New York City |
| Country | United States |
| Capacity | 1048 |
| Opened | 1926 |
| Architect | Herbert J. Krapp |
| Owner | Nederlander Organization |
| Designation | New York City Landmark (exterior) |
Brooks Atkinson Theatre The Brooks Atkinson Theatre is a Broadway theatre located in the Theater District of Manhattan, New York City. Opened in 1926 as the Masque Theatre, it has hosted a wide array of plays, musicals, revues, and special engagements. The venue has been associated with prominent theatrical artists, commercial producers, and cultural institutions throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.
The theater was built during the Roaring Twenties alongside projects by developers connected to Shubert Organization, Nederlander Organization, The Shubert brothers, Maxine Elliott, Florenz Ziegfeld, and contemporaneous venues such as Majestic Theatre (New York), Minskoff Theatre, New Amsterdam Theatre, Lyric Theatre (Broadway), and Winter Garden Theatre. Designed by Herbert J. Krapp, it opened amid productions influenced by figures like George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Noël Coward, and Oscar Hammerstein II. In the 1930s and 1940s the house presented works tied to artists including Ethel Barrymore, John Barrymore, Katharine Cornell, Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Arthur Hopkins, and companies related to Group Theatre, Federal Theatre Project, and producers such as David Belasco.
During the mid-20th century, the theater was renamed for the critic Brooks Atkinson, reflecting connections to publications like The New York Times and critics such as George Jean Nathan, Walter Kerr, and Clive Barnes. Postwar programming featured collaborations with actors and directors like Elia Kazan, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg, Mary Martin, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, and institutions such as Lincoln Center and American Conservatory Theater. The venue weathered periods of decline and revival alongside Broadway trends involving producers David Merrick, Hal Prince, Cameron Mackintosh, Alexander H. Cohen, and companies like Nederlander Organization and Jujamcyn Theaters.
Herbert J. Krapp's design references the City Beautiful movement alongside contemporaneous theaters by Thomas Lamb, Herts & Tallant, George A. Fuller Company, and architects connected to McKim, Mead & White. The exterior incorporates masonry and classical ornamentation akin to facades on Times Square, Seventh Avenue, and buildings near Bryant Park and Rockefeller Center. Interior elements reflect workmanship comparable to auditoriums in Radio City Music Hall and lobbies of the New Amsterdam Theatre, with plasterwork, proscenium arch detailing, and auditorium volumes typical of Broadway houses of the 1920s. The seating configuration and sightlines follow principles used in venues by Herts & Tallant and Thomas Lamb, and the theater's stagehouse infrastructure supports technical standards linked to productions at Gershwin Theatre and St. James Theatre.
The theater's roster includes premieres and revivals associated with playwrights and composers such as Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Noël Coward, William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Jean-Paul Sartre, Eugene O'Neill, August Wilson, Neil Simon, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, Edward Albee, David Mamet, Sam Shepard, Terrence McNally, Edward Bond, Eugene Ionesco, Bertolt Brecht, Anton Chekhov, and A. R. Gurney. Notable performers who have appeared include Bette Davis, Lauren Bacall, Sigourney Weaver, Denzel Washington, Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Paul Newman, Jessica Tandy, Ellen Burstyn, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Helen Mirren, Angela Lansbury, Nathan Lane, Cherry Jones, Brian Dennehy, F. Murray Abraham, Kevin Kline, Holly Hunter, Samantha Morton, Mark Rylance, and Frances de la Tour. Productions have involved directors and designers connected to Peter Brook, Jerome Robbins, Susan Stroman, John Doyle, Garry Hynes, Michael Mayer, and choreographers associated with Bob Fosse and Jerome Robbins.
The theater hosted runs that intersected with major awards and institutions including the Tony Award, Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Obie Awards, Drama Desk Awards, and presentations connected to festivals like the New York Film Festival and organizations such as Roundabout Theatre Company and Atlantic Theater Company.
Ownership history features transactions involving Nederlander Organization, investors with ties to The Shubert Organization, Jujamcyn Theaters, and corporate entities such as Madison Square Garden Company and media conglomerates involved in theater financing. Management and booking have been handled by producers and presenters including SFX Entertainment, AEG Presents, Telecharge, Broadway League, Shubert Ticketing, and companies associated with producers Hal Prince, Cameron Mackintosh, Daryl Roth, Scott Rudin, Ruth Hendel, Barry Diller, and Emmanuel Azenberg.
The theater underwent renovations reflecting preservation efforts led by municipal agencies and advocacy groups like the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and preservationists connected to Historic Districts Council. Interior and exterior work included updates to stage rigging, HVAC, ADA accessibility improvements, fire-safety systems, and restoration of decorative plaster and marquee elements. Restoration projects paralleled initiatives at Lyceum Theatre (Broadway), Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Booth Theatre, Cort Theatre, and were funded through mechanisms similar to tax incentives used by New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal and programs aligned with National Endowment for the Arts grants.
Culturally, the theater has been part of the evolution of Broadway and Times Square, influencing critics, audiences, and practitioners tied to publications and outlets such as The New York Times, Variety (magazine), Theatermania, Playbill, The New Yorker, Village Voice, Daily News (New York), New York Post, Time (magazine), and broadcasters like PBS, WNET, and CBS News. Its programming contributed to careers of playwrights and performers who later engaged with institutions including Museum of Modern Art, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center Theater, Public Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Old Vic, Globe Theatre, and festivals in Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Avignon Festival, and Spoleto Festival USA. The venue figures in studies of Broadway history, urban redevelopment of Times Square, and scholarship from universities such as Columbia University, New York University, Yale University, Harvard University, and Princeton University.
Category:Broadway theatres