T H E L I G H T S O F

BROADWAYan alphabet

A is for Ambassador.

Opened on February 11, 1921, this theater is now the home of the long-running revival of Chicago.

B is for Booth.

Located on 45th street, the Booth is named for Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth.

C is for Cort.

Designed by Thomas W. Lamb, the facade is modeled after the Petit Trianon in Versailles. From 1969 to 1972, this theater served as a television studio for The Merv Griffin Show.

D is for David Nederlander.

Mr. Nederlander built the theater in 1921. It is the only Broadway theater located south of 42nd street and it housed the hit musical Rent for 12 years.

E is for Edison.

Located in the Hotel Edison and nicknamed “The Polish Tea Room”, this restaurant a favorite of Neil Simon’s. It serves as the setting for his play 45 Seconds From Broadway.

F is for Fela!

Based on the life of Nigerian composer and activist Fela Kuti, this musical opened at the Eugene O’Neil Theatre on November 23rd, 2009.

G is for Gershwin.

Home of the Tony Award-winning musical Wicked, the George Gershwin Theatre is the largest on Broadway with over 1,900 seats.

H is for Hair.

The musical Hair defined the genre of “rock musical” when it premiered in New York in 1967. After a successful run at Shakespeare in the Park in summer of 2008, the revival opened on Broadway in March of 2009 and proceeded to win the Tony award.

I is for Imperial.

The fiftieth venue built in New York by The Shubert Organization, the Imperial hosted the original productions of Annie Get Your Gun, Fiddler On The Roof, Dreamgirls and Les Miserables.

J is for James.

Orginally called the Erlanger Theatre, it was renamed the St. James in 1930. It was a favorite of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, who chose it to house the original productions of Oklahoma!, The King and I and Flower Drum Song.

K is for Kerr.

Perhaps the only Broadway theater named for a critic. It originally opened in 1921 as the Ritz and since its renaming in 1990, it has housed six winners of the Tony award for best play: Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Angels in America: Perestroika, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Proof, Take Me Out, and Doubt.

L is for Lyceum.

The Lyceum opened in 1903 and has the distinction of being both the oldest continuously operating legitimate theatre in New York City and the first Broadway theater ever to be granted landmark status.

M is for Music Box.

Built in 1921 by composer Irving Berlin and producer Sam Harris, the Music Box has only 860 seats, making it one of the smaller theaters on Broadway.

N is for New Amsterdam.Built in 1903, the New Amsterdam became home to the famous Ziegfeld Follies in 1913. Falling into extreme disrepair in the 1980’s, the theater was renovated by The Walt Disney company in 1995 at a cost of 34 million dollars.

O is for Opera.

The Phantom of the Opera opened on Broadway in 1988. The longest-running musical in Broadway history, the show has grossed over $5 billion worldwide.

P is for Palace.

One of the few theaters actually located on Broadway, the Palace opened in 1913. During the Great Depression, the theater was converted to a movie house- Citizen Kane premiered here in 1941. The theater returned to legitimate use in 1966.

Q is for Q.

Avenue Q opened Off-Broadway in March of 2003, moved to Broadway in July of that same year and proceeded to win the Tony award for Best Musical.

R is for Richard Rodgers.

Renamed for the famed composer in 1990, the theater originally opened in 1925 as the 46th Street Theatre.

S is for Simon.

Opened in 1927 as the Alvin Theatre, it was renamed for Neil Simon in 1983. It also holds the distinction of being the site of Ethel Merman’s 1930 Broadway debut in the musical Girl Crazy.

T is for TKTS.

Opened in 1973 and operated by the Theatre Development Fund, the TKTS booth offers same-day discounted tickets to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows.

U is for Understudy.

An understudy is a performer who learns the lines, blocking and choreography of a leading actor or actress in a play. The Understudy is a backstage comedy by Theresa Rebeck.

V is for Victory.

Opened in 1900 as the Republic Theatre, the New Victory served as a legitimate theater, burlesque house and porn palace. In 1995 it was refurbished and opened as New York’s first theater for kids and families.

W is for West.

West Side Story originally opened on Broadway in 1957 and though successful, lost the Tony award to The Music Man.

X is for Xanadu.

Based on the 1980 cult classic film of the same name, Xanadu opened on Broadway in 2007 and ran for over 500 performances.

Y is for Yip.

Yip Harburg wrote the lyrics for Finian’s Rainbow, which was revived on Broadway in 2009. A well-known American lyricist, Mr. Harburg also recieved an Academy Award for Best Original Song for his lyrics to “Over The Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz.

Z is for Zeta-Jones. In December 2009, Catherine Zeta-Jones made her Broadway debut in A Little Might Music, following a recent trend of movie stars on Broadway. Zeta-Jones joins the ranks of Julia Roberts, Hugh Jackman, Daniel Craig, Jude Law, Daniel Radcliffe and Katie Holmes, all of whom have headlined Broadway shows over the last few years.

All photos and text © Bekah Nutt