John GoldenTheater
nee Theater Masque
252 W 45th Street
between 7th & 8th Avenues
Completed 1927
Architect Herbert J Krapp
Krapp designed this Moorish
by-way-of-Spain facade for Irwin Chanin side-by-side with the
Royale, both theaters back-to-back with the Majestic. The smallest
of the trio, Theater Masque was intended for the intimate dramas
that started becoming popular at the turn of the century. The
landmarked interior is in the neo-Spanish style favored by Chanin
The first show presented at Theater
Masque was Puppets of Passion, on February 24, 1927.
Management passed to John Golden in 1937, when he renamed the
theater for himself. This was the third Broadway theater named
"Golden." The impresario failed in his first attempt,
citing to his friend Martin Beck that "a theater is only as
good as the attraction that can be secured for its use." He
didn't credit the fact that his theater was located on 58th
Street, far uptown from the hub of Broadway. After the 58th Street
theater passed out of his control Golden operated the Royale
theater in his name, just prior to taking over the lease on
Theater Masque
The Golden was operated as a movie
house from the '40s and to the early '50s. It has since been
operated as a legitimate Broadway venue, though not as active as
other theaters; its small size is suited to more intimate,
dramatic plays, rather than the spectacles that have become
increasingly popular in recent years
1932 December 4 to be exact. Henry Hull,
Margaret Wycherly, Dean Jagger, Ruth Hunter and Sam Byrd open in Tobacco
Road. The show goes on to play 3,182 performances, but not at
this theater. It immediately transfers to a larger house and is
replaced by Osgood Perkins and Sally Bates in the Allan
Scott-George Haight comedy Goodbye Again, which has a run
of 2,970 less performances
1938 Cedric Hardwicke plays opposite Julie
Haydon in Paul Vincent Carroll's drama Shadow and Substance
1941 Patrick Hamilton's Angel Street
stars Vincent Price, Judith Evelyn and Leo G Carroll for 1,293
performances
1953 Victor Borge makes people laugh in
his long-running one-man show Comedy in Music
1956 Audiences don't understand what
they're waiting for in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot.
E G Marshall and Bert Lahr share the stage
1960 Arthur Penn directs Mike Nichols and
Elaine May in the aptly named hit An Evening with Mike Nichols
and Elaine May
1962 The British are coming! The British
are coming! And this time they conquer. Those wacky guys Dudley
Moore, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Alan Bennett give Broadway
a taste of what's under those straight British laces in Beyond
the Fringe
1972 David Rabe's Tony-winning
drama Sticks and Bones features Elizabeth Wilson, who's
performance is also Tony-honored
1975 We've got to include the 16
performance flop PS You're Cat Is Dead when the cast is
headed by such established Broadway names as Keir Dullea, Tony
Musante and Jennifer Warren
1977 Mike Nichols directs D L Coburn's
Pulitzer Prize winner The Gin Game. Hume Cronyn and Jessica
Tandy star. Tandy earns a Tony
1980 One of the small musical shows that
have made the Golden home, A Day in Hollywood and a Night in
the Ukraine enjoys 588 performances. Tommy Tune and Thommie
Walsh are recognized by Tony
for their choreography, as is featured musical actress Priscilla
Lopez
1981 Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart
starts its Broadway run with Mary Beth Hurt heading a cast that
includes Lizabeth McKay, Julie Nesbitt, Steven Burleigh and Peter
MacNicol
1983 Kathy Bates contemplates suicide and
becomes a star in 'night Mother. New York audiences are
mesmerized by her and Anne Pitoniak's performances. Marsha
Norman's gripping drama wins a Pulitzer Prize
1984 David Mamet. Joe Montegna. Robert
Prosky. Glengarry Glen Ross. Pulitzer Prize
1992 The James Lapine-William Finn musical
Falsettos dances its way to Tonys
for Lapine and Finn. Heading the cast are Michael Rupert and
Stephen Bogardus
1995 Terrence McNally's 2-character drama Master
Class stars Zoe Caldwell and Audra McDonald. McDonald earns
her 2nd Tony,
McNally his 3rd and Caldwell her 4th
1998 Warren Leight's drama Side
Man wins the Tony
as best play. Frank Wood takes home hardware for his best featured
actor performance
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