The Minskoff Theatre is a Broadway theater on the third floor of the One Astor Plaza office building in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1973, it is operated by the Nederlander Organization and is named after Sam Minskoff and Sons, the building's developers. There are approximately 1,710 seats in the auditorium, spread across an orchestra level and a balcony. Over the years it has hosted musicals, dance companies, and concerts.
The Minskoff was designed by Kahn and Jacobs, who designed One Astor Plaza. It was one of the first theaters constructed under the Special Theater District amendment of 1967. The theater's main entrances are from a passageway connecting 44th and 45th Streets, in the middle of a city block between Broadway to the east and Eighth Avenue to the west. There are escalators leading from the ground floor to the lobby, where further escalators lead to the auditorium. One Astor Plaza's eastern section is directly above the theater and has to be supported entirely by the theater's roof.
One Astor Plaza was initially proposed in 1967 without any theaters. The Minskoff Theatre was added during the planning process; in exchange, One Astor Plaza's developers were allowed to erect a taller building with additional floor area. The first major production at the Minskoff, Irene, was followed by a series of short-lived productions in the 1970s. The theater subsequently hosted long runs such as West Side Story, The Pirates of Penzance, Black and Blue, and Sunset Boulevard in the 1980s and 1990s. Though many of the Minskoff's early productions were unprofitable, since 2006 it has housed the musical The Lion King, which became the highest-grossing Broadway musical ever in 2014.
Design The Minskoff Theatre is on the third floor of One Astor Plaza, also known as 1515 Broadway, along Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Der Scutt designed the Minskoff, with Ben Schlanger as a consulting architect. Jo Mielziner was the consultant for the theater's original operator, Albert Selden. The Minskoff, Gershwin, Circle in the Square, and American Place theaters were all constructed under the Special Theater District amendment of 1967 as a way to give their respective developers additional floor area.
The theater is accessed from a covered arcade under the center of One Astor Plaza, which connects 44th and 45th Streets. The escalators from the arcade lead to the third-floor grand foyer, which has a glass wall overlooking Times Square. Additional escalators lead from here to the seating areas. The grand foyer has bars and coat checks. The glass-walled lobby has also been used for weddings but, according to a 1977 feature in the New York Daily News, weddings were not allowed during performances of shows.
Auditorium The Minskoff Theatre has approximately 1,710 seats across two levels: a steeply raked orchestra level at the third story and a smaller mezzanine above. When the theater opened in 1973, approximately 1,000 seats were placed on the orchestra level, while 640 were placed on the mezzanine. Unlike other Broadway houses, the theater used a continental seating layout, with no middle aisle. Consequently, rows can have up to 52 seats between egresses. The Minskoff was the first fully wheelchair-accessible Broadway theater in New York City.
The ceiling of the auditorium contains crystal-basket light fixtures and is divided in two sections by a lighting grid. The mezzanine level has narrow protrusions on the side walls instead of box seats. The proscenium arch is designed with mesh panels that can be removed. The stage contains traps at several locations, and the fly system above the stage is placed on the upstage wall, rather than on the sides. Unlike older theaters in New York City, the Minskoff and Gershwin theaters were subject to less stringent building codes. For example, the Minskoff was designed without fire curtains, since the city had allowed sprinkler systems to be installed in both theaters.
Structural features One Astor Plaza's eastern section is directly above the theater and has to be supported entirely by the theater's roof. The steel was provided by Bethlehem Steel; its supervising engineer Thomas Connolly said One Astor Plaza's superstructure "would have been a snap from an engineering point of view", but the theater's presence made "a humdinger of an engineering feat". The theater roof consists of a Vierendeel truss that rests on two girders, one weighing and the other weighing . These girders were the heaviest in any building at the time, and they had to be delivered in several pieces from the factory, itself an intricate operation. According to Mielziner, the large trusses above the Minskoff's roof provided "a clear example of what expense a builder is willing to go to get that extra rentable space".
History
Construction Sam Minskoff & Sons had hired Kahn and Jacobs to design One Astor Plaza in 1967, having acquired the site the previous year. At the time, city officials were encouraging the westward expansion of office towers in Manhattan. There were few efforts to preserve existing Broadway theaters, since theatrical experts believed the existing theaters (all built before World War II) were functionally obsolete. Consequently, the plans for One Astor Plaza initially did not include a theater. The Minskoffs had applied for zoning amendments for their new tower, and a member of the New York City Planning Commission (CPC) notified the Urban Design Group (UDG) about the application. This brought the attention of New York City mayor John Lindsay, a fan of Broadway theater. The UDG proposed that One Astor Plaza include a theater, a suggestion that the Minskoffs initially opposed. However, the Minskoffs ultimately relented after appealing to CPC chairman Donald H. Elliott, then to mayor Lindsay.
In October 1967, the CPC proposed the Special Theater District Zoning Amendment, which gave zoning bonuses to office-building developers who included theaters. The proposed legislation would directly allow theaters in One Astor Plaza and the Uris Building, which would be the first completely new Broadway theaters since the Mark Hellinger Theatre was completed in 1930. The CPC approved the theater amendment that November, and the New York City Board of Estimate gave final approval to the proposal the next month. As planning progressed, members of the Broadway-theatre industry expressed concerns that theatrical experts had not been consulted in the design of One Astor Plaza's theater. In March 1968, the CPC scheduled a public hearing to determine whether the Astor and Uris theater permits should be approved, including a second theater in the Uris Building. Six parties testified in favor; the Shubert Organization, the largest operator of Broadway theaters, was the only dissenting speaker. The CPC approved the theater over the Shuberts' objections, as did the Board of Estimate. Albert W. Selden had tentatively agreed to lease the Broadway theater in One Astor Plaza.
Mayor Lindsay attended the groundbreaking ceremony for One Astor Plaza on October 10, 1968. The inclusion of the Broadway theater, and the complex engineering involved in the project, delayed the building's construction. Although Minskoff & Sons president Jerome Minskoff had agreed to the theater as "our way of paying the city back", he said this had increased costs by up to 30 percent, from $55 to $70 million. Furthermore, Selden insisted that a modern technical system be installed in the new theater, which would add $400,000 to the cost. By 1971, though the theater was almost complete, it was still not officially named. The next August, the theater's first production was announced: a revival of the comedy Irene. The developers informed Broadway producers that any production in the theater would need $21,000 a week to break even.
1970s
Theatrical historian Ken Bloom described most of the Minskoff's earliest productions as "a series of concerts, ballets, and flop musicals". The theater hosted several previews of Irene in early 1973 prior to the venue's official opening. The Minskoff officially opened with that musical on March 13, 1973. Within five months, several dancers reported being injured when they fell on the stage, and Actors' Equity threatened to prohibit its dancers from performing there, prompting the theater's operators to make improvements to the stage. Irene lost money despite its popularity with audiences, and it ultimately closed in September 1974 with 605 performances. It was followed by two concerts in late 1974: Charles Aznavour in a solo concert, as well as Tony Bennett and Lena Horne performing together.
Henry Fonda's solo show Clarence Darrow arrived in March 1975, followed by Bette Midler's Clams on the Half Shell Revue that April and Pearl Bailey and Billy Daniels's production of Hello, Dolly! in November. The Minskoff hosted the rock musical Rockabye Hamlet, which flopped with seven performances in February 1976. The Dutch National Ballet made its United States debut at the Minskoff in November 1976, and the Chinese Acrobats of Taiwan performed the same month. The Merce Cunningham Dance Company had a brief engagement in January 1977, and the Minskoff hosted the final performances of the long-running musical Pippin, which transferred from the Imperial, later that year. Further live appearances included Cleo Laine's concert Cleo on Broadway in October 1977; the laser-light show Star Wars Concert Live in December 1977; and the Murray Louis Dance Company with Rudolf Nureyev in April 1978.
Two short-lived musicals appeared at the Minskoff in 1978: Peter Udell and Gary Geld's Angel, with five performances, and Jacob Brackman and Peter Link's King of Hearts, with 48 performances. That December, the theater hosted a short run of the ice-skating show Ice Dancing. Béjart Ballet performed at the Minskoff for three weeks in March 1979, and the musical Got Tu Go Disco ran for eight performances that June. The Minskoff staged further live performances in late 1979, including appearances from Shirley Bassey in September, Engelbert in November, and the Chinese Acrobats & Magicians of Taiwan in December. At the time, because no hits had opened at the Minskoff Theatre after Irene closed, the Minskoff family was negotiating to have the Nederlander Organization take over the theater. Ultimately, in November 1979, Jerome Minskoff and James M. Nederlander agreed to jointly operate the theater.
1980s and 1990s In 1980, the Minskoff hosted a revival of the musical West Side Story, which lasted for 333 performances. The next year, Irene Saez of Venezuela was crowned the winner of the Miss Universe 1981 pageant at the Minskoff, and David Merrick's musical 42nd Street was performed at the theater on CBS's Miss Universe telecast. A revival of the musical Can-Can lasted five performances in April 1981, and Joseph Papp's production of The Pirates of Penzance relocated from the Uris to the Minskoff that August, running for a year and three months. Alan Jay Lerner's musical Dance a Little Closer closed on opening night in May 1983, and the musical Marilyn: An American Fable fared little better, running for 16 performances that November. When One Astor Plaza was sold in 1984 to Tishman Speyer and the Equitable Life Assurance Society, Jerome Minskoff and James Nederlander negotiated a long-term lease for the theater.