Inside the TheatreStep Inside Broadway’s Stephen Sondheim TheatreCheck out the latest in our Inside the Theatre photo series that documents Broadway’s historic playhouses.
By
Hannah Vine, Marc J. Franklin
January 10, 2018
Playbill’s photo series Inside the Theatre captures the dazzling architecture and unseen details of the world’s most famous theatres, taking you inside all 41 of the Broadway houses. This week, we invite you into the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on 43rd Street, home to Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.
The Sondheim Theatre was constructed by architect H.C. Ingalls and originally owned by Henry Miller. It opened in 1918 as Henry Miller’s Theatre, and the following year, was home to George Gershwin’s first complete Broadway score: La, La, Lucille. The venue has showcased stars such as Noel Coward, Leslie Howard, Helen Hayes, and Ruth Chatterton. The longest-running show to play the theatre was Urinetown The Musical from 2001–2004.
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Step Inside Broadway’s Stephen Sondheim Theatre
Step Inside Broadway’s Stephen Sondheim Theatre
Inside the Theatre, the photo feature series that documents Broadway’s historic playhouses, continues with the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.
15 PHOTOS
Stephen Sondheim Theatre
Henry Miller inaugurated his namesake playhouse with Louis Evan Shipman’s romantic comedy The Fountain of Youth starring himself.
Designed by Architects Allen, Ingalls, and Hoffman, the 950-seat theatre was made after to feel like a cozy, intimate venue for audiences.
Stephen Sondheim Theatre lobby
Early in its history, the theatre showcased the work of legends such as Noel Coward, Leslie Howard, Helen Hayes, and Ruth Chatterton.
One of Broadway’s all-time greatest talents marked a milestone at Henry Miller’s Theatre: composer George Gershwin wrote his first complete score to a musical, La, La, Lucille, which opened in 1919.
In addition, the theatre premiered many iconic plays including Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and R.C. Sherriff’s Journey’s End.
In 1968, the Nederlanders sold the theatre to developer Seymour Durst. As Durst set out to purchase and rebuild an entire city block, the theatre played movies and became a discotheque in the 1970s.
In 1998, the theatre was renovated by the Roundabout Theatre Company and re-opened with an acclaimed Broadway revival of Cabaret.
In 2004, the Durst Organization and Bank of America demolished the building, leaving only the building’s original façade, in order to create a new state of the art “green” theatre, designed to minimize its energy use and contribution to environmental pollution.
Pieces of the original theatre are featured in the theatre's lobby
Stephen Sondheim Theatre lobby
In 2007 it was announced that the Durst Organization would welcome back their old tenant, Roundabout Theatre Company, to run Henry Miller’s Theatre as their third Times Square-area stage. The theatre eventually re-opened in 2009 with a revival of Bye Bye Birdie.
On March 22, 2010, Roundabout Theatre Company announced that Henry Miller’s Theatre would be renamed the Stephen Sondheim Theatre after the preeminent theatre composer.
The Stephen Sondheim Theatre is currently the home of Beautiful: the Carole King Musical, which opened January 12, 2014.
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical currently plays the Sondheim Theatre, where it opened January 12, 2014. With a book by Tony and Academy Award nominee Douglas McGrath, direction by Marc Bruni, and choreography by Josh Prince, Beautiful details the life and career of Carole King.
