Majestic Theatre (Broadway)
The Majestic Theatre at 245 West Forty-forth Street, right off the corner of Eighth Avenue, was the sixth and last of the houses built by the Chanin Brothers. With a seating capacity of 1,800 seats, it was the largest legitimate theatre in the Times Square district and was primarily suited for the staging of lavish musical comedies and revues.
Architect Herbert J. Krapp used the same stadium-style design for this house as he had for the Chanins' first theatre, the 46th Street. The orchestra was built on a steep slope, and patrons had to climb stairs to reach the rear section of the orchestra. There was only one balcony. "The New York Times" described the architecture and decoration of the interior as being in the Louis XV style with a color scheme of gold and ivory. "The house curtain, the valence, the box drapes and panels on the side walls are of gold and rose silk damask," the paper reported. "As in other Chanin houses, the seats are said to be three inches wider than the ordinary theatre chair."
The Majestic Theatre opened on March 28, 1927, with a revue curiously called "Rufus Le Maire's Affairs," probably because the show's producer was named Rufus LeMaire. Despite such talents as Ted Lewis, Charlotte Greenwood, and Peggy Fears, the show was a dud and only played fifty-six times. This was succeeded by a black revue, "Rang Tang," that moved here from the Royale Theatre and stayed for two months. A Sigmund Romberg musical play called "The Love Call" was next, but this, too, didn't tarry more than eighty-one performances. An extremely elaborate Gilbert Miller production, "The Patriot," had John Gielgud in the cast and, considering the reviews, should have run longer than twelve performances in 1928. George Kelly's play "Behold the Bridegroom," which critic Burns Mantle named one of the year's ten best plays, moved to the Majestic from the Cort Theatre in February 1928. It starred Judith Anderson, Jean Dixon, Mary Servoss, Thurston Hall, and Lester Vail, but it ran only eighty-eight performances.
Ziegfeld's enormous hit "Rio Rita" (1928) moved to the Majestic after playing some months at the splendid new Ziegfeld Theatre. An unusual event occurred on September 18, 1928. Champion boxer Jack Dempsey made his Broadway debut at the Majestic in a drama called, aptly, "The Big Fight," in which he had to knock out another boxer to win the hand of a manicurist named Shirley. The critics rated his boxing better than his acting and the novelty wore off after thirty-one rounds.
The Majestic's biggest hit thus far was a revue called "Pleasure Bound," with Phil Baker, Jack Pearl, Grace Brinkley, and others. The dances were by the young Busby Berkeley and the show made it to 136 performances. The Shuberts produced a new version of "Die Fledermaus" called "A Wonderful Night," and the star was a young stilt walker from England called Archie Leach, who became better known in Hollywood as Cary Grant. This Johann Strauss bauble played for 125 performances.
In February 1930 "The International Reuue" opened here and it should have been a triumph. It cost $200,000 to mount (an exorbitant amount for that Depression era) and it had such luminaries in the cast as Gertrude Lawrence, Harry Richman, Jack Pearl, ballet star Anton Dolin, the great Spanish dancer Argentinita, Moss and Fontana, and the Chester Hale Girls. It also had two song hits by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh that have become standards: "On the Sunny Side of the Street" and "Exactly Like You." But the revue was earthbound. On the opening night, it was so long that the second act did not begin until 11 P.M., and the highly touted Argentinita laid an egg.
The Shuberts' next venture, an operetta called "Nina Rosa," by Sigmund Romberg, Otto Harbach, and Irving Caesar, ran 129 times. It starred Ethelind Terry (the famed star of "Rio Rita") and Guy Robertson and it had a novel setting--the Peruvian Andes. A revival of Romberg's "The Student Prince" in 1931 fared less well, running for 45 performances. The depression was felt by this theatre in 1932, when it was dark for many months.
In January 1933 much was expected of "Pardon My English," a musical by George and Ira Gershwin and Herbert Fields. The producers were Alex Aarons and Vinton Freedley, who had produced a series of highly successful Gershwin shows, and the stars were Jack Pearl, Lyda Roberti ("the Polish bombshell"), Josephine Huston, and the dance team of Carl Randall and Barbara Newberry. The net result was probably the Gershwins' biggest flop. It ran for only forty-three performances. According to Gerald Bordman in his book American Musical Theatre, the fact that this musical was set in Germany disturbed many theatregoers, since Hitler had recently assumed power.
The successful team of Ray Henderson and Lew Brown decided to give the Depression a kick in the slats by writing and producing an opulent revue, "Strike Me Pink," at the Majestic in March 1933. The show, backed by gangster Waxey Gordon, smacked of the Roaring Twenties. Opening-night top was $25 (outrageous for those dark days), and the tickets were printed on gold stock. The stars included the ebullient Jimmy Durante, the hot tamale Lupe Velez (then married to Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller), and that cool socialite Hope Williams. The result was neither a flop nor a smash, but a pleasant run of 122 performances.
An ingenious musical, "Murder at the Vanities," moved to the Majestic from the New Amsterdam in November 1933 and stayed for four months. It focused on some backstage murders during a performance of Earl Carroll's Vanities and thus combined thrills with lush scenes from a typical Carroll revue. Bela Lugosi was in the cast, but he didn't do it. Since producers are constantly threatening to revive this novelty, we shall not divulge the murderer's (or murderess's) identity,
An impresario named S.M. Chartock took over the Majestic in the spring of 1934 and staged a Gilbert and Sullivan festival of five operettas. During 1935 a series of quick failures played at this theatre. The only show to stay longer than a few weeks was "The Earl Carroll Sketch Book," described as a "Hysterical Historical Revue," or American history as seen through the eyes of a chorus girl. This amusing show, starring Ken Murray and the usual near-nude Carroll girls, moved here from the Winter Garden and stayed for almost three months.
Beginning in 1936 the Majestic booked more and more successful musicals that had opened in other theatres and would end their Broadway runs here, usually at reduced prices. In 1937 there was an unsuccessful attempt to revive two old thrillers, "The Bat" and "The Cat and the Canary." A new operetta, "Three Waltzes," employing the music of Johann Strauss, Sr., and Jr., was a moderate success that year. It starred Kitty Carlisle, Glenn Anders, and Michael Bartlett and ran for 122 performances.
At the end of 1938 Gertrude Lawrence moved into this theatre from the Plymouth with her huge hit "Susan and God," and this was followed in February 1939 with the lively musical "Stars in Your Eyes," with such personalities as Ethel Merman, Jimmy Durante, Richard Carlson, Mildred Natwick, and the Russiana ballerina Tamara Toumanova. The show, with a bright score by Arthur Schwartz and Dorothy Fields, a witty book about a lusty Hollywood star (Merman) trying to seduce her innocent leading man (Carlson), and direction by Joshua Logan, had a glittering opening night, which Life magazine photographed. But despite a rave review in the New York Times, it only ran for 127 performances, and producer Dwight Deere Wiman blamed the short run on the fact that the highly publicized World's Fair opened in Flushing Meadows that spring. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of "Stars in Your Eyes" was its chorus line, which numbered such future ballet luminaries as Alicia Alonso, Jerome Robbins, Nora Kaye, and Maria Karnilova.
The next musical at the Majestic, "Yokel Boy," was not as good as "Stars in Your Eyes," but ran longer. It also dealt with Hollywood studios-- and not very kindly. Buddy Ebsen, Judy Canova, Lois January, and Phil Silvers led the cast and one hit tune emerged: "Comes Love."
Clare Boothe's hit anti-Nazi play "Margin for Error" moved here from the Plymouth in 1940; and Olsen and Johnson's "Hellzapoppin" transferred from the Winter Garden in 1941. In January 1942 producer Cheryl Crawford presented the first Broadway revival of Gershwin's opera, "Porgy and Bess," and this production proved to be an artistic and a commercial success. Crawford removed the operatic recitatives and made the work more of a Broadway musical than an opera, and the public flocked to it for thirty-five weeks. Many members of the original cast (Todd Duncan, Anne Brown, Warren Coleman, Ruby Elzy, and J. Rosamond Johnson) were in this revival, and they brought luster to a work that had failed in its premiere engagement in 1935.
Paul Green and Richard Wright's powerful play "Native Son," directed by Orson Welles, played a return engagement at the Majestic in 1942, followed by the frothy hit comedy "Junior Miss," which moved here from the Lyceum Theatre in 1943. One of this theatre's biggest hits to this time opened on August 4, 1943.1t was the new musical version of that favorite Franz Lehar/Nictor Leon/Leo Stein operetta "The Merry Widow," and the cast included Marta Eggerth and her husband, Jan Kiepura, David Wayne, Gene Barry, Melville Cooper, and Ruth Matteson. It waltzed for 321 performances.
Cole Porter's "Mexican Hayride," with Bobby Clark and June Havoc, moved here from the Winter Garden in 1945, and this was followed by one of the treasures of the American musical theatre: Rodgers and Hammerstein's lilting "Carousel." A musical adaptation of Molnar's play "Liliom," the work opened to rapturous reviews in April 1945. Critic John Chapman in the New York Daily News stated that it was one of the finest musical plays he had ever seen, and Richard Rodgers later confessed that of all the musicals he had written, this was his favorite. John Raitt was memorable singing his "Soliloquy," The hit soldier revue "Call Me Mister" moved to this theatre in 1947 from the National, and this was followed by another Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, "Allegro," a rather pretentious chronicle about a man named Joseph Taylor, Jr., which critic Woollcott Gibbs described in The New Yorker as "a shocking disappointment." It ran for 315 performances.
On April 7, 1949, Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific" opened here, starring Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza, and immediately became the hottest ticket in town. Based on James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize book "Tales of the South Pacific," it won a Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1950, the Tony Award, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and the Donaldson Award for best musical of the season. With direction by Joshua Logan (who also co-authored the book with Oscar Hammerstein II) and with some of Richard Rodgers's most inspired melodies, the musical ran for 1,925 performances and won Tony Awards for Ms. Martin, Mr. Pinza, supporting performers Juanita Hall and Myron McCormick, director Joshua Logan, and Rodgers, Hammerstein, and Logan for their book, Iyrics, and music.
The remainder of the 1950s at this theatre saw the production of some musicals of varying merit that enjoyed respectable runs. Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Me and Juliet," a musical about the theatre, was second rate R&H, but ran for 358 performances in 1953--54; "By the Beautiful Sea," a musical by Arthur Schwartz and Herbert and Dorothy Fields, starring Shirley Booth, ran a moderate 268 performances in 1954; "Fanny" (1954--56), a musical adaptation of Marcel Pagnol's trilogy ("Marius," "Cesar" and "Fanny"), by S.N. Behrman, Joshua Logan, and Harold Rome, starring Walter Slezak (who won a Tony Award for his performance) and Ezio Pinza, ran for 888 performances; and the phenomenal Meredith Willson musical "The Music Man" (1957--60) won Tony Awards for best musical, best actor (Robert Preston), best supporting players (Barbara Cook David Bums), best authors (Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey), best composer and lyricist (Willson), best musical director (Herbert Greene), and best producers (Kemmit Bloomgarden, Herbert Greene, Frank Productions). This bonanza about a con man who sells musical instruments to schools, then skips town before delivering them, ran for 1,375 performances.
Much was expected of "Camelot," the Majestic's next musical, in late 1960. Written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, directed by Moss Hart, whose previous show had been the sensational "My Fair Lady," it co-starred Julie Andrews of that show and movie star Richard Burton. The critics gave it very mixed reviews, and after a few weeks it appeared that the expensive musical was not long for Broadway. Then, a miracle happened. Ed Sullivan presented four musical numbers from the show on his popular TV show, "Toast of the Town," and the following morning, there was a long line of ticket buyers at the Majestic Theatre. Richard Burton won a Tony Award for his performance as King Richard and the musical played for 873 performances.
The remainder of the 1960s was devoted to a revival of "The School for Scandal" (1963), starring Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud (who also directed it); Judy Holliday in her last Broadway show, the lamentable musical "Hot Spot" (1963); "Tovarich" (1963), the musical version of the play of the same name, which moved here from the Broadway Theatre with Tony Award winner Vivien Leigh and Jean Pierre Aumont; Mary Martin in the flop musical "Jennie" (1963), supposedly based on the early career of actress Laurette Taylor; a misguided musical "Anyone Can Whistle" (1964), with a beguiling score by Stephen Sondheim, a murky book by Arthur Laurents, and good performances by Angela Lansbury, Lee Remick, and Barry Guardino, which only lasted nine performances; an unsuccessful musical version of Clifford Odets's "Golden Boy" (1964-65), with Sammy Davis, Jr.; "Funny Girl" (1966), from the Winter Garden; the long-running classic "Fiddler on the Roof," which moved here from the Imperial in 1967 and stayed until December 1970.
The 1970s saw a flop musical version of "The Teahouse of the August Moon" called "Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen" (1970); the Tony Award winning musical "1776" (1971), here from the St. James Theatre; a fairly successful musical version of the popular movie "Some Like It Hot," retitled "Sugar" (1972), with Robert Morse and Tony Roberts as the musicians who must masquerade as women to hide from gangsters and Cyril Ritchard as the old man who falls for one of them; "A Little Night Music" (1973--74), the Tony Award winning musical from the Shubert Theatre; the unsuccessful Jerry Herman/Michael Stewart musical "Mack and Mabel" (1974), about Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand; the delightful African-American musicalization, "The Wiz," based on "The Wizard of Oz," which won Tony Awards for best musical, best score (Charlie Smalls), best director (Geoffrey Holder), best supporting performers (Ted Ross, Dee Dee Bridgewater), best costume designer (Geoffrey Holder), and best choreographer (George Faison) and ran for 1,661 performances.
Liza Minnelli and Barry Nelson came next in a pallid musical, "The Act" (1977), for which Ms. Minnelli won a Tony Award; then there was Henry Fonda and Jane Alexander in "The First Monday in October" (1978); two unsuccessful musicals, "Ballroom" (1978) and Richard Rodgers' last show, "I Remember Mama," a 1979 musical version of the John Van Druten play, which Rodgers and Hammerstein had produced in 1944; a revival of "The Most Happy Fella" (1979); a personal appearance by Bette Midler (1979--80); the final performances of "Grease" (1980), from the Royale Theatre; "Blackstone!" (1980), a magic show; and a revival of the 1947 musical "Brigadoon" with Agnes de Mille recreating her dances that won a Tony Award in 1947.
In 1981, David Merrick's sumptous production of the musical "42nd Street" (based on the classical movie musical of the same name) moved here from the Winter Garden where it won Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Chorography (Gower Champion, who had passed away on the day that the show opened at the Winter Garden). This lavish production stayed at this theatre until 1988, then moved acress the street to the St. James to make way for another megahit at the Majestic: "The Phantom of the Opera," with three of its London stars: Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman and Steve Barton. This phenomenal success by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe won Tony Awards as Best Musical, Best Direction (Harold Prince), Best Actor in a Musical (Michael Crawford), Best Featured Actress (Judy Kaye), Best Scenic and Costume Designer (Maria Bjornson), Best Lighting Designer (Andrew Bridges).
The Majestic Theatre is owned by the Shubert Organization and is one of the world's finest musical comedy houses. It has been renovated in recent years and its sloped orchestra section still offers better viewing than is available at most other theatres.
and he and Jan Clayton shared the lovely ballad "If I Loved You." The musical ran 890 performances.
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