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The New Amsterdam Theater in New York
In the history of Broadway, the New
Amsterdam Theater is a name worthy to consider. It is
considered as the oldest house for Broadway, being
opened in 1903, the same night as the Lyceum Theater was
opened. It was built by Marc Klaw and Abraham Erlanger
and its elaborate design was said to be a collaboration
of a number of painters, sculptors, and designers.
The New Amsterdam Theater in New York
was first decorated in mauve, green and dull gold, and
it is from these colors that the beauty of the New
Amsterdam Theater earned its name “The House Beautiful”
from the New York Time upon its opening. Many have said
that during the opening of this theater, three motifs
were used in the decoration. The first is the history
of New Amsterdam from Henrick Hudson to 1903, the
history of the theater, and art nouveau floral and
fauna.
The first show staged in the New
Amsterdam Theater is Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights
Dream. Although the theater could accommodate up to
1800 people, making it the largest theater in New York,
it was fully packed when the first show was staged.
From then on, several plays and musicals were performed
on this theater. Top the list are She stoops to
Conquer, George M. Cohan’s Forty-Five Minutes from
Broadway, and The Merry Widow. It was in the 1913 that
the New Amsterdam Theater became the home of Ziegfeld
Follies. The Follies were the ones who brought a
number of the greatest Broadway actors and actresses to
the theater.
However, during the depression
period, the New Amsterdam Theater was greatly affected.
While shows produce inside the theater remained fairly
constant through the early thirties, the rooftop theater
had suffered, and in 1936, the theater was closed. It
was only reopened the next year, but for radio use
rather than live productions. Then, it was transformed
into a movie theater, but again the further project was
cancelled when certain problems were discovered in the
main supporting beam.
The New Amsterdam Theater was brought
back to life when the Walt Disney Corporation purchased
it in 1993 at a cost of $34 million. The theater was
then restored, and it was noted that from the outside to
the inside, the restoration is stunning.
The grand opening of the New
Amsterdam Theater happened in May of 1997, with a
concert staging of King David. Later that year, a stage
version of the highly successful full-length cartoon The
Lion King was performed at this theater. It was
actually The Lion King which went on to win the Tony
Award for best musical in 1998 and has been playing to
capacity crowds since its opening. The Lion King is
still staged at the New Amsterdam Theater up to now.
Today, purchased and restored by Walt
Disney Corporation, the New Amsterdam Theatre has been
considered as the focal point of the recent Times Square
revival. It is now considered as Disney’s premiere
showcase for its stage shows, and much to your surprise,
tours are still given on Mondays and Tuesdays and cats
from The Lion King seem to play the New Amsterdam
Theater in New York forever. |
