Imperial Theatre
The
Imperial Theater was
The Shubert Organization's fiftieth theater in
New York City. Built in 1923 at 249 West Forty-fifth Street, it seats 1,650. It was designed by
Herbert J. Krapp as a musical comedy house.
Mary Jane McKane was the first production, opening on
Christmas night, 1923.
Some notable productions include:
*
Cole Porter and
Moss Hart's musical
Jubilee, featuring two classic Porter songs, "Begin the Beguine" and "Just One of Those Things".
*
Bob Merrill's musical
Carnival , produced by famous producer
David Merrick ran for 719 performances.
*Another David Merrick musical,
Destry Rides Again opened in 1959 and ran for 472 performances.
*A musical by
Frank Loesser,
The Most Happy Fella opened in 1956 and played for 676 performances.
*Starring the famous
Gertrude Lawrence, written by
George Gershwin and
Ira Gershwin,
Oh, Kay! opened in 1926 and ran for 256 performances.
*Featuring the famous
Kurt Weill song, "Speak Low",
One Touch of Venus opened in 1943 and ran for 567 performances.
*
Richard Rodgers,
Lorenz Hart and
George Abbott's Russian
ballet spoof
On Your Toes, with two
George Balanchine ballets.
*
John Gielgud played the title role in
Hamlet, which ran for 132 performances.
*
Kurt Weill,
S. J. Perelman and
Ogden Nash scored 567 performances with
One Touch of Venus (
1943), with
Mary Martin as the classical goddess of Love out of place in the modern world. This was his New York premiere for Weill (most famous as
Bertolt Brecht's collaborator), who had fled both
Germany and
France to escape the
Nazis.
Dreamgirls opened on
December 20,
1981 and ran for 1522 performances. This musical featured the song "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", sung by
Jennifer Holliday. Holliday's performance of this song stopped the show and became her signature song.
*
Ethel Merman ran up an impressive 1,147 performances in
Irving Berlin's
Annie Get Your Gun.
*
Zero Mostel opened in the multi-
Tony Award-winning
Fiddler on the Roof.
*The muti-
Tony Award winning
Les Misérables which transferred from the
The Broadway Theatre on 17 October
1990 and ran for 6880 performances. It closed on 18 May
2003 and became the Imperial's longest running show at that time.
*
Hugh Jackman opened
The Boy From Oz in October 2003, in a role that earned him his first
Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. The show closed after Jackman ended his contract.
*Currently inhabiting the Imperial Theatre since January 2005, the multi-
Tony Award-nominated musical
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, based off the
film of the same name. For his role in this show,
Norbert Leo Butz won his first
Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical.
*
Broadway Theatre Guide*
Imperial Theatre home page
