The Theater Center
1627 Broadway | also 210 West 50th Street | Times Square | built 1930
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 2006
The Snapple Theater Center opens with the Snapple Lady lighting its marquee
Actress and producer Catherine Russell built the two-stage complex together with Snapple, the first corporate sponsorship of an Off-Broadway theater. It opened on May 22, 2006, when Wendy Kaufman, known as the Snapple Lady, switched on the marquee in a ceremony. The Snapple name stayed on the theater until May 2016, when it became simply The Theater Center.
“It opened as the Snapple Theater Center on May 22, 2006, with Wendy Kaufman, "the Snapple Lady," ceremonially lighting the marquee.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2006
A third-floor theater for The Fantasticks revival copies the Sullivan Street Playhouse layout
Catherine Russell led the conversion of the former Wilfred Academy of Beauty, which filled the third and fourth floors of the corner building, into two stages. The Fantasticks space, designed by Ed Wittstein, seats 199 on chairs recycled from a defunct cinema, arranged in a semicircle around a raised wooden platform copied from the Greenwich Village playhouse where the musical ran for nearly 42 years. The renovation cost over $1 million.
Source: playbill.com
- 2007
The Fantasticks theater is named for Jerry Orbach, the original El Gallo
In 2007 the 199-seat space that houses The Fantasticks was named the Jerry Orbach Theater. The honor went to the actor who played El Gallo in the musical's original 1960 production. The show kept running in that space until it closed in June 2017.
“That same year, the space was named in honor of actor Jerry Orbach, who starred as El Gallo in that show's original production in 1960.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2011
Perfect Crime marks its 10,000th performance on the Snapple Theater Center stage
Warren Manzi's thriller Perfect Crime, which began as an Equity Showcase in 1987, celebrated its 10,000th performance on September 25, 2011. Producers marked it with dinner and an open bar after the 7 PM show, and the whole audience was invited. Original cast member Catherine Russell had been with the production for 24 years, and Playbill calls it the longest-running play in New York theater history.
Source: v.playbill.com
- 2021
Perfect Crime plans an April 18 reopening as the first indoor New York play back before live audiences
After the pandemic shutdown, Perfect Crime announced it would resume performances at the Theater Center on April 18, 2021, the 34th anniversary of its first performance. A preview was set for April 17. To keep audiences safe, the theater installed air scrubbers and air monitors and appointed Covid officers.
Source: newyorktheatreguide.com
- 2022
Thieves steal copper pipes, forcing the cancellation of twelve Perfect Crime performances
In January 2022, thieves took copper pipes out of the building, which knocked out the plumbing and heating. The loss forced the theater to cancel twelve performances of Perfect Crime, the long-running play in the Anne L. Bernstein Theater. The theft came less than a year after the show became the first live stage production in New York to win Actors' Equity approval to resume after the pandemic closures.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- The Theater CenterWikipedia
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