St. James Theatre
246 West 44th Street | Times Square | built 1927
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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.
- 1921
Erlanger commissions a 1,200-seat Model Theater for this lot, and lawsuits stall it
Theater magnate Abraham Erlanger commissioned a plain 1,200-seat house, to be called the Model Theater, for this West 44th Street site in 1921, and Warren & Wetmore finished preliminary drawings in early 1922. Court fights with his former partner and the Shuberts froze the project, and a December 1922 plan to make it a revue home for the vaudeville team Bernard & Collier also came to nothing. Only a third announcement, about three years later, led to the theater that finally opened in 1927.
“Originally commissioned in 1921 as the Model Theater, it was to have been "of simple design with seating for 1200…”
- 1927
The eight-story Erlanger Theater replaces a row of brownstones on West 44th Street
The new theater stood on a 125-by-100-foot site that had held an unassuming row of three-story brownstones. Warren & Wetmore, better known for Grand Central Terminal, gave it a stucco facade rising 98 feet over the street, with an ornate wrought-iron loggia above the entrance. It cost $500,000 more than its estimate, and a 1927 reviewer cited by the Landmarks Commission called it probably the least ornate of the recent Times Square theaters.
- 1927
Erlanger's Theatre opens on West 44th Street with George M. Cohan's The Merry Malones
Theatrical booking magnate A. L. Erlanger announced a $1 million, two-balcony house of about 1,600 seats in February 1926, with Warren and Wetmore as architects, a firm known for hotels, houses and Grand Central Terminal but never before for a theater. The house opened September 26, 1927, with Cohan's The Merry Malones, a musical that played 192 performances. Erlanger died in 1930, and his estate later fell behind on rent, so the Astor family, who owned the land, took the building back.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1932
Lodewick Vroom takes the Erlanger from the Astors and renames it the St. James
In July 1932 Lodewick Vroom, formerly a manager for producer Gilbert Miller, announced he had acquired the theater from the Astors. He soon renamed it the St. James after a London playhouse, St James's Theatre. The revue Walk a Little Faster, with Bobby Clark, Paul McCullough and Bea Lillie, opened under the new name that December and ran 121 performances.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1933
The Monte Carlo Ballet Russe makes its American debut at the St. James
The Monte Carlo Ballet Russe gave its first American performances at the St. James in December 1933, with Leonide Massine, Irina Baronova and Tamara Toumanova among its soloists. The engagement came a year after Lodewick Vroom renamed the former Erlanger and followed a spring season of Gilbert and Sullivan by the Civic Light Opera. Bobby Clark and Paul McCullough, stars of the house's first Vroom revue, returned in December 1934 with Thumbs Up!
“December brought the American debut of the renowned Monte Carlo Ballet Russe with soloists Leonide Massine, Irina Baranova and Tamara Toumanova.”
- 1937
Maurice Evans begins a Shakespeare series at the St. James, including a Richard II unseen in the U.S. since 1878
In February 1937 Maurice Evans opened the first of a series of Shakespeare productions at the St. James, among them Richard II, which the Landmarks Commission says had not been performed in this country since 1878. The series also included Twelfth Night in 1940, in which he co-starred with Helen Hayes. The commission says the Shuberts carried this tradition of serious drama and music forward after acquiring the theater in 1941.
- 1941
Orson Welles directs Canada Lee in Native Son at the St. James
Native Son, adapted from Richard Wright's novel, played 114 performances at the St. James in 1941. Canada Lee headed the cast and Orson Welles directed. The Landmarks Commission describes it as a critical and popular success, and the Shubert Organization had acquired the theater that same year.
“Native Son, based on Richard Wright's powerful novel, brilliantly acted by Canada Lee and directed by Orson Welles, was a critical and popular success, playing 114 performances in 1941.”
- 1943
Oklahoma! premieres at the St. James as the first Rodgers and Hammerstein musical
The Theatre Guild had seen little success with its recent shows when it brought the first musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Oklahoma!, to the St. James in March 1943. Later that year the Shuberts bought the building from Vincent Astor. Oklahoma! ran for more than 2,200 performances through 1948, rescuing the Guild from bankruptcy and becoming a landmark of the American musical.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1951
The King and I opens with Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner and runs 1,246 performances
Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I opened at the St. James in 1951 with Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner and ran 1,246 performances. It arrived eight years after Oklahoma! premiered in the same house and was followed by Adler and Ross's The Pajama Game in 1954, which ran 1,061 performances. Where's Charley? had already run 792 performances there, starting in 1948.
“Rodgers and Hammerstein's wonderful The King and I with Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner (1951, 1,246 performances)…”
- 1964
Hello, Dolly! opens at the St. James with Carol Channing and David Burns
In January 1964 the St. James welcomed Hello, Dolly!, the Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart musical, with Carol Channing and David Burns in the leading roles. The show stayed until 1970 and gave 2,844 performances, which made it the longest-running musical in Broadway history at the time it closed. The theater's owners had spent $600,000 restoring it in 1958, two years after buying it from the Shuberts to form the Jujamcyn operation.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1987
The Landmarks Commission designates the St. James facade and interior
On December 15, 1987, the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission designated both the facade and the auditorium of the St. James, part of a sweeping 1987 push to protect Broadway houses. In June 1988 Jujamcyn, the Nederlanders and the Shuberts sued to overturn the designations of 22 theaters, saying the rules limited how the buildings could be altered. The challenge reached the U.S. Supreme Court, and the designations were upheld in 1992.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1995
LeRoy Neiman paints a 40-foot mural for Busker Alley, and it is painted over when the show is canceled
Busker Alley was meant to be the St. James's next show in 1995, and the artist LeRoy Neiman covered the theater's facade with a mural 40 feet high to announce it. Then its star, Tommy Tune, fractured his foot, the Broadway engagement was called off, and the mural was painted over. The theater's next tenant was a 1996 revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, with a Sondheim score, which ran 715 performances.
“Busker Alley in 1995, for which LeRoy Neiman painted a 40-foot-tall mural on the theater's facade. The musical's Broadway run was canceled after its star Tommy Tune broke his foot…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2001
The Producers sets a ticket-sales record and introduces a will-call system to fight scalping
Mel Brooks's The Producers opened at the St. James in April 2001 and broke a ticket-sales record. Because demand was so high, its producers began holding premium seats for pickup at the theater, the first Broadway show to try this as a way to discourage scalping. Brokers had been buying seats for $100 and reselling them for as much as $742.50 on websites based outside New York State. The show ran until 2007, for 2,502 performances.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2021
The St. James is the first Broadway theater to reopen after the pandemic closure
All Broadway theaters shut on March 12, 2020, and Frozen, then playing at the St. James, was canceled. The St. James was the first to welcome audiences again, on June 26, 2021, with a limited run of Bruce Springsteen's solo show, Springsteen on Broadway. In 2023 the building's operator, Jujamcyn, changed hands: Jordan Roth sold 93 percent of its five theaters, this one included, to Ambassador Theatre Group and Providence Equity.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- St. James TheatreWikipedia
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