Booth Theatre

Booth Theatre
Address	222 West 45th Street; Manhattan, New York City; United States
Coordinates	40°45′30″N 73°59′14″W / 40.758350°N 73.987090°WCoordinates: 40°45′30″N 73°59′14″W / 40.758350°N 73.987090°W
Public transit	Subway: Times Square–42nd Street/Port Authority Bus Terminal
Owner	Shubert and Booth Theatre, LLC
Operator	The Shubert Organization
Type	Broadway
Capacity	800
Production	Freestyle Love Supreme
Construction
Opened	October 16, 1913
Architect	Henry Beaumont Herts
Website
	Official website
New York City Landmark
Designated	November 4, 1987
Reference no.	1321
Designated entity	Facade
New York City Landmark
Designated	November 4, 1987
Reference no.	1322
Designated entity	Auditorium interior

Booth Theatre (right) and Shubert Theatre (left), back-to-back in Shubert Alley

The Booth Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 222 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Architect Henry B. Herts designed the Booth and its companion Shubert Theatre as a back-to-back pair sharing a Venetian Renaissance-style façade.^[1]

Description and history[]

Named in honor of famed 19th-century American actor Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth, the theater's 783-seat auditorium was intended to provide an intimate setting for dramatic and comedic plays. It opened on October 16, 1913, with Arnold Bennett's play The Great Adventure.

The venue was the second New York City theatre to bear this name. The first, Booth's Theatre, was originally owned by Edwin Booth, and built by the architectural partnership Renwick & Sands between 1867 and 1869 on the corner of 23rd Street and 6th Avenue.

The Booth Theatre appeared in The West Wing episode "Posse Comitatus" as venue for a fictitious charity performance of War of the Roses which President Jed Bartlet attended during the assassination of the Qumari Defence Minister Abdul ibn Shareef.^[4]

The box-office record was broken in 2013 by Bette Midler in I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers with a gross of $753,217 in just seven performances. Midler then broke her own record the week following with a gross of $865,144.^[5] The revival of The Elephant Man, starring Bradley Cooper, topped Midler's record by grossing $1,058,547 for an eight-performance week ending December 28, 2014.^[6] The current record is held by the 2018 revival of The Boys in the Band. The production grossed $1,152,649 over eight performances for the week ending August 12, 2018.^[7]

The theatre was closed on March 12, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City.^[8] The theater reopened on October 7, 2021, with a limited run of Freestyle Love Supreme.^[9]^[10]

Notable productions[]

1915: Our American Cousin
1936: You Can't Take It With You
1939: The Time of Your Life
1946: Swan Song
1958: Two for the Seesaw
1969: Butterflies Are Free
1972: That Championship Season
1976: for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf
1979: The Elephant Man
1984: Sunday in the Park with George
1990: Once on This Island
1992: The Most Happy Fella
2000: The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe
2002: I'm Not Rappaport
2005: The Pillowman
2009: Next to Normal
2011: High, Other Desert Cities
2012: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
2013: I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers; The Glass Menagerie
2014: The Elephant Man
2015: Hand to God
2016: Hughie, An Act of God, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
2017: Significant Other; Meteor Shower
2018: The Boys in the Band; American Son
2019: Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus; Freestyle Love Supreme
2020: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (never officially opened due to the COVID-19 pandemic^[11])
2021: Freestyle Love Supreme
2022: for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf

References[]

Citations[]

^ ^a ^b "Booth Theatre". Shubert Organization. October 16, 1913. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Landmarks Preservation Commission 1987, p. 1.
^ ^a ^b Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior 1987, p. 1.
^ Lee, Stephen (May 15, 2002). "FootnoteTV&#174: The West Wing: Posse Comitatus". FootnoteTV. Archived from the original on January 8, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
^ Geier, Thom (May 6, 2013). "Broadway box office: Despite Tony snub, Bette Midler sees a big boost in ticket sales". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 7, 2013.
^ Hetrick, Adam; Purcell, Carey (November 17, 2014). "The Elephant Man, With Bradley Cooper, Breaks Box-Office Record". Playbill.
^ [1], Production Gross, Playbill.com
^ Moniuszko, Sara M (June 29, 2020). "Broadway suspends performances through 2020 amid coronavirus, extends ticket refunds to 2021". Archived from the original on July 5, 2020. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
^ Harms, Talaura (October 7, 2021). "Hip-Hop Improv Show Freestyle Love Supreme Returns to Broadway October 7". Playbill. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
^ "Mic Drop! See the Cast of Freestyle Love Supreme Return to Broadway". Broadway.com. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
^ Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Internet Broadway Database. (Retrieved January 23, 2021.)

Sources[]

Bloom, Ken (2007). The Routledge Guide to Broadway (1st ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-97380-9.
Botto, Louis; Mitchell, Brian Stokes (2002). At This Theatre: 100 Years of Broadway Shows, Stories and Stars. New York; Milwaukee, WI: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books/Playbill. ISBN 978-1-55783-566-6.
Booth Theater (PDF) (Report). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. November 4, 1987.
Booth Theater Interior (PDF) (Report). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. November 4, 1987.
Henderson, Mary C. (2004). The City and the Theatre: The History of New York Playhouses : a 250 Year Journey from Bowling Green to Times Square. Back Stage Books. ISBN 978-0-8230-0637-3.

External links[]

Official website
Booth Theater Broadway Show Guide
Booth Theatre at the Internet Broadway Database.
Booth Theatre | PlaybillVault.com

[Shubert_Organization_Booth-1] "Booth Theatre". Shubert Organization. October 16, 1913. Retrieved December 29, 2021.

[NYCL_p._1-2] Landmarks Preservation Commission 1987, p. 1.

[NYCL_(Interior)_p._1-3] Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior 1987, p. 1.

[4] Lee, Stephen (May 15, 2002). "FootnoteTV&#174: The West Wing: Posse Comitatus". FootnoteTV. Archived from the original on January 8, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2012.

[5] Geier, Thom (May 6, 2013). "Broadway box office: Despite Tony snub, Bette Midler sees a big boost in ticket sales". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 7, 2013.

[Hetrick-6] Hetrick, Adam; Purcell, Carey (November 17, 2014). "The Elephant Man, With Bradley Cooper, Breaks Box-Office Record". Playbill.

[7] [1], Production Gross, Playbill.com

[USA_Today-8] Moniuszko, Sara M (June 29, 2020). "Broadway suspends performances through 2020 amid coronavirus, extends ticket refunds to 2021". Archived from the original on July 5, 2020. Retrieved July 2, 2020.

[9] Harms, Talaura (October 7, 2021). "Hip-Hop Improv Show Freestyle Love Supreme Returns to Broadway October 7". Playbill. Retrieved October 23, 2021.

[10] "Mic Drop! See the Cast of Freestyle Love Supreme Return to Broadway". Broadway.com. Retrieved October 23, 2021.

[11] Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Internet Broadway Database. (Retrieved January 23, 2021.)

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