Martin Beck Theater
302 W 45th Street
between 8th & 9th Avenues
Completed 1924
Architect C Albert Lansburgh
Though literally steps from the
Royale, Plymouth and Booth theaters, West Coast impresario Martin
Beck could understandably have thought of the west of 8th Avenue
location as a liability; New Yorkers are notorious for not
crossing the street. To attract audiences Beck set out to
construct the most opulent theater in the area. Soaring heights, a
curving balcony, fluted columns and Albert Herter-designed
Moorish-inspired Byzantine plaster details with lavish paint and
gilt work define this landmarked interior
The premier show at the Martin Beck
was a production of Madame Pompadour. The theater has
continually operated as a legitimate Broadway venue
1926 Florence Reed stars in the drama The
Shanghai Gesture
1929 Do they really come to see Eugene
O'Neill's drama Dynamo? It only survives for 66
performances. It might just be star Claudette Colbert's legs they
want after all
1931 Some shows we list just because of
the names. This one is power-packed: Lee Strasberg and Cheryl
Crawford direct Paul Green's The House of Connelly. Sharing
the stage are Franchot Tone, Stella Adler, Morris Carnovsky and
Clifford Odets
1934 William Shakespeare. Romeo and
Juliet. Katharine Cornell. Basil Rathbone. More? George
Macready. Still more? Brian Aherne. Just one more? Orson Welles
1935 Burgess Meredith heads the cast in
Maxwell Anderson's drama Winterset. Also on stage are
Margo, Richard Bennett and Eduardo Cianneli
1937 Burgess Meredith and Maxwell Anderson
again, this time with Anderson's High Tor. Peggy Aschcroft
makes her Broadway debut and Hume Cronyn supports
1940 High drama in Lillian Hellman's Watch
on the Rhine, with Paul Lukas, Mady Christians, Lucille Watso,
George Colouris and Ann Blythe
1942 Savor it: Alfred Lunt and Lynn
Fontanne in S N Behrman's comedy The Pirate
1946 There are two reasons for this entry.
First, Eugene O'Neill and his 4 1/2 hour drama The Iceman
Cometh, which is revived on Broadway and off for the next half
century and more. The second is Dudley Digges, whom we haven't
done justice to in these pages. After a 40-year career on
Broadway, mostly in solid supporting roles, this is his last show
1948 Robert Morley and Peggy Ashcroft star
in the Morley-Noel Langley drama Edward My Son
1950 Joshua Logan wrote directed and
co-produced The Wisteria Tree. It stars Helen Hayes, Peggy
Conklin, Walter Abel and Ossie Davis
1951 Tony-winning
The Rose Tattoo features Tennessee William's words and Tony-winning
performances by Maureen Stapleton and Eli Wallach
1952 Robert Whitehead directs Helen Hayes,
Brandon De Wilde, Irwin Corey, Fred Gwynne and Ernest Borgnine in
Mary Chase's comedy Mrs. McThing
1953 It might look like we're listing two Tony
winners for one year, but keep in mind that the Tony
season goes from June through the following May, so…Arthur
Miller's The Crucible, opens Jan 22nd, stars Arthur
Kennedy, Madeleine Sherwood, Walter Hampden, Beatrice Straight, E
G Marshall and Fred Stewart. Besides outstanding play, Straight
earns a Tony
as featured dramatic actress for the 1952 season
1953 John Patrick's Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning
comedy Teahouse of the August Moon, opens Oct 15th. It
stars David Wayne, John Forsythe and Paul Ford. Individually,
Wayne earns a Tony
as best actor
1956 It's the names that make us do it.
Charles Laughton directs himself and Burgess Meredith and Cornelia
Otis Skinner and Glynnis Johns and Eli Wallach in George Bernard
Shaw's Major Barbara
1956 Sometimes it doesn't go so well the
first time out. Lillian Hellman's book, Leonard Bernstein's music,
Richard Wilber's Lyrics. Throw in Tyrone Guthrie's direction and
Barbara Cook's stage presence…and Candide flops
1959 Tennessee Williams's Sweet Bird of
Youth, as directed by Elia Kazan, features Geraldine Page,
Paul Newman, Sidney Blackmer, Rip Torn, Diana Hyland and Bruce
Dern
1960 Ya' gotta' put on a happy face,
you're going to see Dick van Dyke and Chita Rivera in Bye Bye
Birdie. The Michael Stewart-Charles Strouse-Lee Adams musical
also features Paul Lynde, Kaye Medford, Lee Gautier and Charles
Nelson Reilly. The show wins a Tony
for best musical, van Dyke as musical actor, and Gower Champion
scores as director and Choreographer
1961 Molly Picon comes uptown from the
Lower East Side to appear with Robert Weede and Mimi Benzel in
Jerry Herman's first Broadway show Milk and Honey
1965 Glenda Jackson, Ian Richardson and
Patrick Magee star in Peter Weiss' The Persecution and
Prosecution of Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of
Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade.
The show takes the Tony
for best play, Magee for featured actor and Peter Brook for
direction
1966 Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize winner A
Delicate Balance stars Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Rosemary
Murphy and Tony's
featured actress Marian Seldes
1977 Frank Langella is on the boards in Dracula
for 925 performances
1984 This Terrence McNally-John Kander-Fred
Ebb show is supposed to be America's answer to the invasion of the
British musical. The Rink stars Liza Minelli and Chita
Rivera. It closes after 179 times around, though Rivera earns a
best musical actress Tony
1987 Into the Woods is part of the
answer. James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim team for this musical
that stars Bernadette Peters and Joanna Gleason. Tonys
go to Lapine, Sondheim and Gleason
1989 The straight play opened in 1930 and
did pretty well. This Robert Wright-George Forrest-Maury Yeaston Grand
Hotel: The Musical is a smash. Directed and choreographed by
Tommy Tune, the shows stars David Carroll, Liliane Montevecchi and
Michael Jeter. Jeter and Tune earn Tonys
1992 Nathan Lane and Faith Prince star in
this Tony-winning
revival of Guys and Dolls that runs for 1,144 performances.
Prince and director Jerry Zaks win Tonys
1995 Ahhh! this is nice. Carol Burnett and
Philip Bosco delight audiences in Ken Ludwig's comedy Moon Over
Buffalo
1999 A revival of Kiss
Me Kate starring Brian Stokes Mitchell, Marin Mazzie,
Michael Berresse and Amy Spanger opens Nov 18th
|
