Orpheum Theatre (Manhattan)

Last updated
Orpheum Theatre
Players Theatre
Orpheum Concert Garden
New Orpheum
Orpheum Theatre.jpg
The Orpheum Theatre, home of the New York production of Stomp , which opened in 1994
Orpheum Theatre (Manhattan)
Address126 Second Avenue
New York City, New York
United States
Coordinates 40°43′42″N73°59′16″W / 40.728302°N 73.987684°W / 40.728302; -73.987684
Owner Liberty Theatres
Capacity 347
Production Stomp
Opened1904
Website
www.theroyalgeorgetheatre.com

The Orpheum Theatre, formerly Player's Theatre, is a 299-seat off-Broadway theatre on Second Avenue near the corner of St. Marks Place in the East Village neighborhood of lower Manhattan, New York City.

There may have been a concert garden on the site as early as the 1880s, but there was a theatre there by 1904. [1] During the heyday of Yiddish theatre in the Yiddish Theater District in Manhattan, the venue was the Player's Theatre, and was part of the "Jewish Rialto" along Second Avenue. [2] By the 1920s, the theatre was exhibiting films, but was converted back to dramatic use in 1958, [1] with the first production, Little Mary Sunshine , opening in November 1959. [3]

Significant productions include the revival and revamping of Cole Porter's musical Anything Goes in 1962, Your Own Thing in 1968, The Me Nobody Knows in 1970, The Cocktail Party in 1980, Key Exchange in 1981, Broken Toys! in 1981, Little Shop of Horrors in 1982, Sandra Bernhard's Without You I'm Nothing in 1988, The Lady in Question in 1989, Eric Bogosian's Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll in 1990, John Leguizamo's Mambo Mouth in 1991, and David Mamet's Oleanna in 1992. [3] From 1994 to 2023 it was the home of the New York production of Stomp , with over 11,000 performances of the show having taken place there. [4]

The theatre is owned by Liberty Theatres, a subsidiary of Reading International, who also own Minetta Lane Theatre. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Off-Broadway</span> Professional theatre in NYC with 100–499 seats

An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer than 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathan Lane</span> American actor (born 1956)

Nathan Lane is an American actor. In a career spanning over 40 years he has been seen on stage and screen in roles both comedic and dramatic. Lane has received numerous awards, including three Tony Awards, six Drama Desk Awards, an Olivier Award, and three Emmy Awards. Lane received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006 and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2010, The New York Times hailed Lane as "the greatest stage entertainer of the decade".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadway theatre</span> Type of theatre in New York City

Broadway theatre, or Broadway, are the theatrical performances presented in the 41 professional theatres, each with 500 or more seats, located in the Theater District and the Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Broadway and London's West End together represent the highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fyvush Finkel</span> American actor

Philip "Fyvush" Finkel was an American actor known as a star of Yiddish theater and for his role as lawyer Douglas Wambaugh on the television series Picket Fences, for which he earned an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 1994. He is also known for his portrayal of Harvey Lipschultz, a crotchety history teacher, on the television series Boston Public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molly Picon</span> American actress (1898–1992)

Molly Picon was an American actress of stage, screen, radio and television, as well as a lyricist and dramatic storyteller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austin Pendleton</span> American actor

Austin Campbell Pendleton is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and instructor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Stage Theater</span> Theater company in New York City (founded 1979)

Second Stage Theater is a theater company founded in 1979 by Robyn Goodman and Carole Rothman and located in Manhattan, New York City. It produces both new plays and revivals of contemporary American plays by new playwrights and established writers. The company has two off-Broadway theaters, their main stage, the Tony Kiser Theater at 305 West 43rd Street on the corner of Eighth Avenue near the Theater District, and the McGinn/Cazale Theater at 2162 Broadway and 76th Street, on the Upper West Side. In April 2015, the company expanded into Broadway theater productions when it bought the Helen Hayes Theater.

Lizbeth Mackay is an American actress. She works primarily in the theatre and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westside Theatre</span> Off-Broadway theater in Manhattan, New York

The Westside Theatre is an off-Broadway performance space at 407 West 43rd Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The building houses two auditoriums: the Upstairs Theatre, which seats 270, and the Downstairs Theatre, which features a thrust stage and has a seating capacity of 249. Formerly known as the Chelsea Theatre Center and the Westside Arts Theatre, the building was renovated in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Square Theatre</span>

Union Square Theatre was the name of two different theatres near Union Square, Manhattan, New York City. The first was a Broadway theatre that opened in 1870, was converted into a cinema in 1921 and closed in 1936. The second was an Off-Broadway theatre that opened in 1985 and closed in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New World Stages</span> Off-Broadway theaters in Manhattan, New York

New World Stages is a five-theater, Off-Broadway performing arts complex in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is between 49th and 50th Streets beneath the plaza of the Worldwide Plaza complex at Eighth Avenue.

Bruce Adler was an American Broadway actor. After debuting on the Broadway stage in the 1979 revival of Oklahoma!, he went on to a career that saw him nominated for Tony Awards as Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Those Were the Days (1991) and Crazy For You (1992). His film work was limited to voice work in animated films, notably providing the singing voice for the peddler of the 1992 Disney film Aladdin and the 1996 sequel Aladdin and the King of Thieves.

Sally Lee Mayes is an American actress and cabaret and concert singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yiddish Art Theatre</span> Defunct theater company

The Yiddish Art Theatre was a New York Yiddish theatre company of the 20th century.

George Michael Bartenieff was a German-born American stage and film actor. He was noted both for his character roles in commercial and non-commercial films and on television, and for his work in the avant-garde theatre and performance world of downtown Manhattan, New York City in the 1960s and 1970s. He was a co-founder of the Theatre for the New City, and of the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yiddish Theatre District</span> District

The Yiddish Theatre District, also called the Jewish Rialto and the Yiddish Realto, was the center of New York City's Yiddish theatre scene in the early 20th century. It was located primarily on Second Avenue, though it extended to Avenue B, between Houston Street and East 14th Street in the East Village in Manhattan. The District hosted performances in Yiddish of Jewish, Shakespearean, classic, and original plays, comedies, operettas, and dramas, as well as vaudeville, burlesque, and musical shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoenix Theatre (New York City)</span> Former off-Broadway theater (1953–1982) in Manhattan, New York City

The Phoenix Theatre was a pioneering off-Broadway theatre in New York City, extant from 1953 to 1982. The Phoenix was founded by impresario Norris Houghton and T. Edward Hambleton. The project was a pioneering effort in the establishment of off-Broadway theatre. Houghton and Hambleton wanted a theatre away from Times Square, that would host a permanent company, abjure the star system, produce four or five plays a season for limited engagements, and with ticket prices much lower than on Broadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Village East by Angelika</span> Movie theater in Manhattan, New York

Village East by Angelika is a movie theater at 189 Second Avenue, on the corner with 12th Street, in the East Village of Manhattan in New York City. Part of the former Yiddish Theatre District, the theater was designed in the Moorish Revival style by Harrison Wiseman and built from 1925 to 1926 by Louis Jaffe. In addition to Yiddish theatre, the theater has hosted off-Broadway shows, burlesque, and movies. Since 1991, it has been operated by Angelika Film Center as a seven-screen multiplex. Both the exterior and interior of the theater are New York City designated landmarks, and the theater is on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minetta Lane Theatre</span> Theatre in Manhattan

The Minetta Lane Theatre is a 391-seat off-Broadway theatre on Minetta Lane in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of lower Manhattan, New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jana Robbins</span> American actress

Jana Robbins, née Marsha Eisenberg, is a Tony, Olivier and Drama Desk Award-winning American producer, actress, director, teacher, and speaker. She has produced and won awards for her West End, Broadway and Off-Broadway productions.

References

  1. 1 2 Damien Farley. "Orpheum Theatre". Cinema Treasures. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  2. "Second Avenue". New York Songlines. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Orpheum Theatre". The Internet Off-Broadway Database. 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  4. Veltman, Chloe (2023-01-07). "STOMP closes after 29-year New York run". National Public Radio . Retrieved 2023-10-16.
  5. "Minetta Lane Theatre". The Royal George Theatre. Retrieved 1 March 2022.