page_title: New Amsterdam Theatre
section_title: Construction and original run
hierarchical_section_title: New Amsterdam Theatre / Construction and original run
caption_attribution_description: Looking west at New Amsterdam Theater, 42nd St., New York, 1905
context_page_description: The New Amsterdam Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 214 West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Theater District of Manhattan, New York City, off of Times Square. It was built in 1902–1903 and was designed by the architecture firm of Henry Hertz and Hugh Tallant; the Roof Garden, where more risqué productions were presented, and which no longer exists, was added in 1904, designed by the same firm. The remainder of the building was utilized for offices.
  From 1913 to 1927, the theatre was the home of the Ziegfeld Follies, whose producer, Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., maintained an office in the building, and operated a nightclub on the roof. George White's Scandals and Eva LeGallienne's Civic Repertory Theatre were subsequent tenants. It was used as a movie theatre beginning in 1937, closed in 1985, and was leased by The Walt Disney Company and renovated by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer in 1995–97 to be the flagship for Disney Theatrical Productions presentations on Broadway.
  Both the Beaux-Arts exterior and the Art Nouveau interior of the building are New York City landmarks, having been designated in 1979.
context_section_description: The Beaux-Arts facade of the New Amsterdam is a narrow slice which leads to the theatre's interior, the first concrete example of architectural Art Nouveau in New York. The building was constructed in 1902–03 by the partnership of impresarios A.L. Erlanger and Marcus Klaw, was designed by architects Herts & Tallant. Decoration was carried out by an extensive team of painters and sculptors that included George Gray Barnard, Robert Blum, the brothers Neumark, George Daniel M. Peixotto, Roland Hinton Perry and Albert Beck Wenzell. At the time of construction, it was the largest theatre in New York, with a seating capacity of 1,702.
  The theatre opened October 23, 1903 with a production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. For many years, it hosted the Ziegfeld Follies, showcasing such talents as Fanny Brice, Bert Williams, Will Rogers, Eddie Cantor, W.C. Fields, Marilyn Miller, Van and Schenck, Helen Morgan, Sophie Tucker, Eaton siblings and silent film star Olive Thomas whose ghost supposedly haunts the theatre.
  A racier sister show of the Follies, the Midnight Frolics, played in the New Amsterdam's Roof Garden theatre. The New Amsterdam was the scene of Marilyn Miller's greatest triumphs in the musicals Sally (1920) and Sunny, which opened in September 1925 co-starring Clifton Webb as Harold Wendell-Wendell and ran for three seasons. But the theatre also hosted serious productions, and in June 1927 Basil Rathbone appeared there as Cassius in Julius Caesar.
  The premiere of the Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach scored Roberta starring Bob Hope, George Murphy, Fay Templeton and Lyda Roberti opened at the New Amsterdam November 18, 1933.
caption: The theatre in 1905
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