Notable productions
For decades, the Shubert w usedas as a tryout venue for plays and musicals that, if successful, would then move on to Broadway — sometimes with an intermediate stop in Boston or Philadelphia. [3] It has hosted more than 600 out-of-town tryouts, including more than 300 world premieres and more than 50 American premieres. In recent decades, however, the Shubert has been more likely to host shows after their Broadway run rather than before. [3]
Plays that fail to make it to Broadway are the origin of the phrase "bombed in New Haven," which inspired the Joseph Heller play We Bombed in New Haven . [4] [5]
Notable actors and other performers who played the Shubert include Marlon Brando, Gregory Peck, Henry Fonda, Julie Andrews, the Marx Brothers, Sidney Poitier, Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, Clark Gable, Gene Kelly, Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, Shirley MacLaine, Andy Griffith, Jane Fonda, James Earl Jones, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Buddy Rich, Liza Minnelli, Robert Guillaume, John Travolta, Anna Pavlova, Martha Graham, Beverly Sills, Efrem Zimbalist, Mandy Patinkin, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Ethel Merman, Carol Burnett, Yul Brynner, Zero Mostel, James Garner, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Jessica Tandy, Lee Remick, Nancy Reagan, Mary Martin, Rex Harrison, Julie Harris, Nanette Fabray, Vaslav Nijinsky, Ray Walston, Alfred Drake, Barbara Cook, Celeste Holm, Ezio Pinza, Gertrude Lawrence, John Raitt, Judy Holliday, Lisa Kirk, Sophie Tucker, and William Gaxton. [3] [6]
Pre-Broadway engagements at the Shubert:
- 1916: Robinson Crusoe, Jr.
- 1921: Dulcy
- 1922: Seventh Heaven
- 1923: Stepping Stones
- 1925: The Vagabond King
- 1926: The Desert Song
- 1927: A Connecticut Yankee
- 1928: Street Scene
- 1930: Strike Up the Band
- 1931: The Barretts of Wimpole Street , The Wonder Bar, The Third Little Show, Of Thee I Sing
- 1932: Gay Divorce
- 1934: All the King's Horses, The Children's Hour
- 1935: Dead End
- 1936: Stage Door , Red, Hot and Blue
- 1937: Room Service
- 1938: I Married an Angel , Leave It to Me! , The Boys From Syracuse
- 1939: Stars in Your Eyes , Too Many Girls , Du Barry Was a Lady
- 1940: Louisiana Purchase , Panama Hattie
- 1941: Blithe Spirit , Best Foot Forward , Sunny River
- 1943: Oklahoma! (then titled Away We Go)
- 1944: The Cherry Orchard , Follow the Girls
- 1945: Carousel , Marinka , The Secret Room, The Girl From Nantucket , The Day Before Spring , Billion Dollar Baby , Lute Song
- 1946: St. Louis Woman , Annie Get Your Gun , Shootin' Star, Windy City, Around the World , Sweet Bye and Bye, Come On Up
- 1947: Barefoot Boy With Cheek, Allegro , A Streetcar Named Desire
- 1948: Mister Roberts , [7] My Romance, Sleepy Hollow, Love Life , As the Girls Go , Along Fifth Avenue
- 1949: South Pacific , Regina
- 1950: Texas, Li'l Darlin', Great to Be Alive, Call Me Madam , Bless You All
- 1951: The King and I , A Tree Grows in Brooklyn , Flahooley , Remains to Be Seen , Pal Joey ; Billy Budd
- 1952: Three Wishes for Jamie , Of Thee I Sing , Shuffle Along
- 1953: Wonderful Town , Maggie, Tea and Sympathy , The Teahouse of the August Moon , Sabrina Fair , The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
- 1954: By the Beautiful Sea , The Pajama Game , Hit the Trail, Plain and Fancy
- 1955: The Desperate Hours , Ankles Aweigh , Damn Yankees , No Time for Sergeants , The Vamp (then titled Delilah), Pipe Dream
- 1956: My Fair Lady , Strip For Action, Shangri-La , Long Day's Journey into Night , Bells Are Ringing , Candide
- 1957: New Girl in Town , Copper and Brass
- 1958: A Touch of the Poet , Redhead
- 1959: The Sound of Music , Fiorello!
- 1960: From A to Z , Lock Up Your Daughters , Tenderloin , Advise and Consent , Period of Adjustment , The Conquering Hero , Show Girl
- 1961: The Happiest Girl in the World , Milk and Honey
- 1962: We Take the Town, No Strings , A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
- 1963: She Loves Me , Barefoot in the Park , One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- 1964: High Spirits , Dylan , Fade Out - Fade In , Awf'lly Nice, Royal Flush
- 1965: Do I Hear a Waltz? , The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd , Flora the Red Menace , The Yearling, Wait Until Dark
- 1966: The Star-Spangled Girl
- 1967: How Now, Dow Jones
- 1968: Plaza Suite , I'm Solomon , A Mother's Kisses, Zorba
- 1969: 1776 , Last of the Red Hot Lovers
- 1970: Georgy , Cry for Us All , Two By Two , The Gingerbread Lady
- 1971: The Prisoner of Second Avenue
- 1972: The Sunshine Boys
- 1974: God's Favorite
- 1976: Annie Get Your Gun , Something Old, Something New (the Shubert's last production for more than seven years)
- 1995: Jekyll & Hyde
- 1997: Proposals (the first original play to tryout at the Shubert since the reopening)
- 1999: The Civil War
- 2001: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Burton Lane was an American composer and lyricist primarily known for his theatre and film scores. His most popular and successful works include Finian's Rainbow in 1947 and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever in 1965.
The Shubert Organization is a theatrical producing organization and a major owner of theatres based in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by the three Shubert brothers — Lee, Sam, and Jacob J. Shubert — in the late 19th century. They steadily expanded, owning many theaters in New York and across the United States. Since then it has gone through changes of ownership, but it is still a major theater chain.
The Imperial Theatre is a Broadway theater at 249 West 45th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1923, the Imperial Theatre was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed for the Shubert brothers. It has 1,457 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. The auditorium interior is a New York City designated landmark.
The Adelphi Theatre, originally named the Craig Theatre, opened on December 24, 1928. The Adelphi was located at 152 West 54th Street in Manhattan, with 1,434 seats. The theater was taken over by the Federal Theater Project in 1934 and renamed the Adelphi. The theater was renamed the Radiant Center by The Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphysicians in 1940. It was then the Yiddish Arts Theater (1943), and renamed the Adelphi Theater on April 20, 1944, when it was acquired by The Shubert Organization.
New Girl in Town is a musical with a book by George Abbott and music and lyrics by Bob Merrill based on Eugene O'Neill's 1921 play Anna Christie, about a prostitute who tries to live down her past. New Girl, unlike O'Neill's play, focuses on the jealousy of the character Marthy and on love's ability to conquer all. The musical ends far more hopefully than the play.
The Shubert Theatre is a Broadway theater at 225 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1913, the theater was designed by Henry Beaumont Herts in the Italian Renaissance style and was built for the Shubert brothers. Lee and J. J. Shubert had named the theater in memory of their brother Sam S. Shubert, who died in an accident several years before the theater's opening. It has 1,502 seats across three levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. The facade and interior are New York City landmarks.
The Vamp is a stage musical with a book by Sam Locke and John La Touche with lyrics by La Touche and music by James Mundy.
The Richard Rodgers Theatre is a Broadway theater at 226 West 46th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1925, it was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed for Irwin Chanin. It has approximately 1,400 seats across two levels and is operated by the Nederlander Organization. Both the facade and the auditorium interior are New York City landmarks.
Little Johnny Jones is a musical by George M. Cohan. The show introduced Cohan's tunes "Give My Regards to Broadway" and "The Yankee Doodle Boy." The "Yankee Doodle" character was inspired by real-life Hall of Fame jockey Tod Sloan.
The Booth Theatre is a Broadway theater at 222 West 45th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1913, the theater was designed by Henry Beaumont Herts in the Italian Renaissance style and was built for the Shubert brothers. The venue was originally operated by Winthrop Ames, who named it for 19th-century American actor Edwin Booth. It has 800 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. The facade and parts of the interior are New York City landmarks.
The Ambassador Theatre is a Broadway theater at 219 West 49th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1921, the Ambassador Theatre was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed for the Shubert brothers. It has 1,125 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. The auditorium interior is a New York City designated landmark.
The Star-Spangled Girl is a comedy written by Neil Simon. The play is set in San Francisco, California, in the 1960s.
A tryout is the staging of performances of a theatrical production at an out-of-town venue for evaluation and possible revision before the production premieres on Broadway or the West End. A tryout is similar to a workshop production in that the point is to identify and eliminate embarrassing flaws before the production is put on before highly demanding New York or London audiences.
Bombo is a Broadway musical with a book and lyrics by Harold Atteridge and music by Sigmund Romberg.
The Shubert Theatre is a theatre in Boston, Massachusetts, at 263–265 Tremont Street in the Boston Theater District. The building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980.
The 33rd Annual Tony Awards was broadcast by CBS television on June 3, 1979, from the Shubert Theatre in New York City. The hosts were Jane Alexander, Henry Fonda and Liv Ullmann.
The Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA) is non-profit arts and theater management organization based in Columbus, Ohio.
The Plymouth Theatre (1911–1957) of Boston, Massachusetts, was located on Stuart Street in today's Boston Theater District. Architect Clarence Blackall designed the building for Liebler & Co. Performers included Henry Jewett, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, 8-year-old Sammy Davis Jr., and Bette Davis. In October 1911, the touring Abbey Theatre presented Synge's Playboy of the Western World at the Plymouth; in the audience were W. B. Yeats, Isabella Stewart Gardner and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Miller Theater, originally the Sam S. Shubert Theatre and later, the Merriam Theater, is Philadelphia's most continuous location for touring Broadway shows. It is located at 250 South Broad Street within the Avenue of the Arts cultural district of Center City Philadelphia. The Theatre was built by The Shubert Organization in 1918.
We Bombed in New Haven is a 1967 play by Joseph Heller. An anti-war black comedy, it is thematically linked in part to Heller's famous novel Catch-22.
