Music Box Theater
239 W 45th Street
between 7th & 8th Avenues
Completed 1920
Architects C Howard Crane | E George
Kiehler
The neo-Classical facade is fronted
by four columns supporting a porch. This elegant design hides
within a classic Adamesque interior typified by fine plaster and
paint work. The theater was built by producer Sam H Harris for
Irving Berlin's Music Box Revues. The first production at
the Music Box was, appropriately, Berlin's Music Box Revue of
1921. The Revues ran through 1924 years, and featured
artists such as Grace Moore, Fanny Brice and Robert Benchley, who
made his stage debut in the 1923 Revue. In the '30s, the
Music Box played host to an astounding string of hits with George
S Kaufman in the credits, shows that still exemplify Broadway
The Music Box was designated a New
York City landmark in December 1987. Today, operated by the
Shubert Organization, it is owned half by the Shubert's and half
by Irving Berlin's estate
1925 Cradle Snatchers, the Russell
Medcraft-Norman Mitchell smash-hit comedy runs for 485
performances. It stars Mary Boland, Edma Oliver, Margaret Dale and
a young Humphrey Bogart
1926 Maurice Watkins' drama Chicago
stars Francine Larrimore and Charles Bickford
1929 The first of The Little Show
revues is staged with, among others, Clifton Webb, Fred Allen and
Constance Cummings
1930 George S Kaufman's and Moss Hart's
first musical at the Music Box, Once in a Lifetime, runs
for 401 performances
1931 Kaufman and Hart return, this time
with George and Ira Gershwin supplied music and lyrics. Of Thee
I Sing wins the Pulitzer Prize.
1932 George S Kaufman again, this time
teamed with Edna Ferber to bring Dinner at Eight to the
Music box stage. The drama stars Judith Wood, Malcolm Duncan and
Constance Collier, with Sam Levine and Cesar Romero in supporting
roles
1933 Ethel Waters heats up the stage when
she sings 'Heat Wave' and 'Harlem on My Mind' during the Moss
Hart-Irving Berlin show As Thousands Cheer. The show also
stars Marilyn Miller and Clifton Webb
1934 Kaufman and Hart are back, with 155
performances of Merrily We Roll Along
1936 The classic Broadway comedy Stage
Door stars Margaret Sullivan. It was written by, of course,
George S Kaufman, this time with Edna Ferber
1937 Steinbeck writes the book. George S
Kaufman adapts it. Wallace Ford and Broderick Crawford star. Of
Mice and Men becomes a towering classic Broadway drama
1939 George S Kaufman and Moss Hart author
The Man Who Came to Dinner. The comedy closes 739
performances later
1942 Smoothed-over burlesque comes to the
Great White Way with Gypsy Rose Lee and Georgia Southern bumping
and grinding through 605 performances of the Star and Garter
revue
1944 This time George S Kaufman directs
Ruth Gordon, also the author, in the hit comedy Over 21
1944 Marlon Brando could not have asked
for a better vehicle in which to make his Broadway debut. The
Richard Rodgers-Oscar Hammerstein II produce I Remember Mama
stars Mady Christian and Oscar Homolka and takes to the stage 714
times
1953 Playwright William Inge wins the
Pulitzer Prize for Picnic. Joshua Logan receives the Tony
for his direction. The show stars Kim Stanley, Ralph Meeker and
Peggy Conklin. A young Paul Newman is also noticed on stage
1955 William Inge's acclaimed drama Bus
Stop runs for 478 performances, one more than Picnic.
Kim Stanley, Elaine Stritch and Albert Salmi star
1956 Margaret Leighton wins the Tony
for her leading role in Terence Rattigan's Separate Tables
1957 William Inge's Dark at the Top of
the Stairs is directed by Elia Kazan and stars Pat Hingle,
Teresa Wright and Eileen Heckart
1959 John Gielgud directs Jessica Tandy in
the 337-performance run of Peter Shaffer's drama Five Finger
Exercise
1964 Don Porter and Sandy Dennis star in
the Muriel Resnick comedy Any Wednesday. Duncan takes the Tony.
A guy named Gene Hackman also appears
1967 Harold Pinter's drama The
Homecoming is Tony's
best play. Director Peter Hall and star Paul Rogers also take home
Tony
hardware
1970 Anthony Quayle and Kenneth Baxter
star in Anthony Shaffer's Tony-winning
drama Sleuth
1977 Stephen Sondheim's music and lyrics
are featured in the revue Side by Side by Sondheim
1978 Ira Levin's classic thriller Deathtrap
stars Jon Wood, Marian Seldes, Victor Garber, Marian Winters and
Richard Woods. It runs for 1,809 performances
1982 Amanda Plummer wins a Tony
for her performance in John Pielmeier's drama Agnes of God.
She shares the stage with Geraldine Page and Elizabeth Ashley
1989 Aaron Sorkin's military drama, A
Few Good Men, stars Tom Hulce
1997 Christopher Plummer is made for the
title character of Barrymore, the role for which he
receives the Tony
for best dramatic actor
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