The Drama Nerds Database
New Century Theatre

New Century Theatre

Shows · New Century Theatre

Broadway Closed 1911–1982 on this page94 productions

The New Century Theatre was a Broadway theater in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, at 205–207 West 58th Street and 926–932 Seventh Avenue. Opened on October 6, 1921, as Jolson's 59th Street Theatre, the theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp on the site of the Central Park Riding Academy. It was built for the Shubert brothers, who named the house after Al Jolson. In 1920, the Shuberts announced plans to convert the Central Park Riding Academy into a theater, hiring Krapp to renovate the old structure. The Shuberts went bankrupt in 1931 and sold off Jolson's 59th Street Theatre, in part because of the venue's remoteness from Times Square. The venue was then leased as a f…

Century TheatreJolson's 59th Street Theatre

Names this building has traded under. A production filed against one of them is filed against this record.

By decade94 productions across 6 decades

  1. 1910s 12
  2. 1920s 27
  3. 1940s 31
  4. 1950s 12
  5. 1970s 6
  6. 1980s 6

Counted from the productions we hold, which are Broadway and a partial West End. A quiet decade here can mean a dark theatre and can mean a gap in the record.

Longest runs hereby performances

1948 Kiss Me, Kate December 30, 1948 · John C. Wilson 1,077 perf.
1944 Follow The Girls April 8, 1944 · Harry Delmar, Fred Thompson 882 perf.
1947 High Button Shoes October 9, 1947 · George Abbott 727 perf.
1924 The Student Prince In Heidelberg December 2, 1924 · J. C. Huffman 608 perf.
1945 Up in Central Park January 27, 1945 · John Kennedy 504 perf.
1948 Inside U.S.A. April 30, 1948 · Robert H. Gordon 399 perf.
1945 Are You With It? November 10, 1945 · Edward Reveaux 264 perf.
1911 The Garden of Allah October 21, 1911 · Hugh Ford 241 perf.

Ranked among the 91 runs here that carry a performance count. 3 do not, so a longer run may be sitting outside this table with an empty field.

Everything that played here94 productions

1911 The Garden of Allah October 21, 1911 · Original 241 perf.
1914 Pilate's Daughter November 21, 1914 · Original 8 perf.
1915 Ned Wayburn's Town Topics September 23, 1915 · Original 68 perf.
1916 The Century Girl November 6, 1916 · Original 200 perf.
1916 The Tempest April 24, 1916 · Revival 32 perf.
1917 Miss 1917 November 5, 1917 · Original 72 perf.
1918 Biff! Bang! May 30, 1918 · Original 10 perf.
1918 Freedom October 19, 1918 · Original 33 perf.
1918 Out There May 17, 1918 · Revival 8 perf.
1918 Yip Yip Yaphank August 19, 1918 · Original 32 perf.
1919 Aphrodite November 24, 1919 · Original 148 perf.
1919 Chu Chin Chow August 8, 1919 · Return-Engagement 19 perf.
1920 Florodora April 5, 1920 · Revival 150 perf.
1920 Mecca October 4, 1920 · Original 130 perf.
1921 In the Night Watch January 29, 1921 · Original 113 perf.
1921 The Chocolate Soldier December 12, 1921 · Revival 83 perf.
1921 The Last Waltz May 10, 1921 · Original 185 perf.
1922 The Rose of Stamboul March 7, 1922 · Original 111 perf.
1923 Cosi Sia December 8, 1923 · Original 2 perf.
1923 La Citta Morta December 8, 1923 · Revival 2 perf.
1923 La Porta Chiusa December 8, 1923 · Original 2 perf.
1923 Oedipus Rex October 25, 1923 · Revival 20 perf.
1924 The Miracle January 16, 1924 · Original 175 perf.
1924 The Student Prince In Heidelberg December 2, 1924 · Original 608 perf.
1925 Princess Flavia November 2, 1925 · Original 152 perf.
1925 The Love Song January 13, 1925 · Original 157 perf.
1926 H.M.S. Pinafore April 6, 1926 · Revival 56 perf.
1926 Rain October 11, 1926 · Return-Engagement 16 perf.
1926 The Pearl of Great Price November 1, 1926 · Original 32 perf.
1927 A Midsummer Night's Dream November 17, 1927 · Revival 23 perf.
1927 Danton's Tod December 20, 1927 · Original 15 perf.
1927 Jederman December 7, 1927 · Original 14 perf.
1927 The Cocoanuts May 16, 1927 · Return-Engagement 16 perf.
1927 The Jazz Singer April 18, 1927 · Revival 16 perf.
1928 Countess Maritza April 9, 1928 · Revival 16 perf.
1928 Oh, Kay! January 2, 1928 · Revival 16 perf.
1928 The Shanghai Gesture February 13, 1928 · Revival 16 perf.
1928 The Spider February 27, 1928 · Revival 16 perf.
1928 Yours Truly March 12, 1928 · Original 16 perf.
1944 Follow The Girls April 8, 1944 · Original 882 perf.
1944 Rhapsody November 22, 1944 · Original 14 perf.
1945 Are You With It? November 10, 1945 · Original 264 perf.
1945 Mr. Strauss Goes to Boston September 6, 1945 · Original 12 perf.
1945 Up in Central Park January 27, 1945 · Original 504 perf.
1946 Gypsy Lady September 17, 1946 · Original 79 perf.
1946 If the Shoe Fits December 5, 1946 · Original 21 perf.
1946 King Henry IV, Part I May 6, 1946 · Revival 8 perf.
1946 King Henry IV, Part II May 7, 1946 · Revival 9 perf.
1946 Oedipus Rex May 20, 1946 · Revival 15 perf.
1946 The Critic May 20, 1946 · Revival
1946 Toplitzky of Notre Dame December 26, 1946 · Original 60 perf.
1946 Uncle Vanya May 13, 1946 · Revival 5 perf.
1947 As You Like It February 20, 1947 · Revival 4 perf.
1947 Hamlet February 26, 1947 · Revival 2 perf.
1947 High Button Shoes October 9, 1947 · Original 727 perf.
1947 King Lear February 18, 1947 · Revival 8 perf.
1947 Louisiana Lady June 2, 1947 · Original 4 perf.
1947 The Chocolate Soldier March 12, 1947 · Revival 69 perf.
1947 The Merchant of Venice February 22, 1947 · Revival 6 perf.
1947 The Mikado December 29, 1947 · Revival 40 perf.
1947 Volpone February 24, 1947 · Revival 3 perf.
1948 Cox and Box / H.M.S. Pinafore January 19, 1948 · Revival 16 perf.
1948 Heaven on Earth September 16, 1948 · Original 12 perf.
1948 Inside U.S.A. April 30, 1948 · Original 399 perf.
1948 Iolanthe January 12, 1948 · Revival 16 perf.
1948 Kiss Me, Kate December 30, 1948 · Original 1,077 perf.
1948 Patience February 9, 1948 · Revival 16 perf.
1948 The Gondoliers January 26, 1948 · Revival 16 perf.
1948 The Yeomen of the Guard February 2, 1948 · Revival 16 perf.
1948 Trial by Jury & The Pirates of Penzance January 5, 1948 · Revival 16 perf.
1950 Out of This World December 21, 1950 · Original 157 perf.
1950 The Grand Ballet October 30, 1950 · Original
1951 Don Juan in Hell November 29, 1951 · Original 38 perf.
1952 Buttrio Square October 14, 1952 · Original 7 perf.
1952 Slavenska-Franklin Co. December 8, 1952 · Original
1952 Venus Observed February 13, 1952 · Original 86 perf.
1953 Carnival in Flanders September 8, 1953 · Original 6 perf.
1953 Carnival in Flanders “A Musical Comedy” September 8, 1953 · Original 6 perf.
1953 John Brown's Body February 14, 1953 · Original 65 perf.
1953 Jose Greco January 12, 1953 · Original 16 perf.
1953 Sherlock Holmes October 30, 1953 · Revival 3 perf.
1954 The Azuma Kabuki Dancers and Musicians February 22, 1954 · Original 32 perf.
1978 Patio / Porch April 13, 1978 · Original 21 perf.
1978 Taxi Tales December 28, 1978 · Original 6 perf.
1978 The American Dance Machine June 14, 1978 · Original 199 perf.
1979 Are You Now or Have You Ever Been February 6, 1979 · Original 32 perf.
1979 Lone Star & Pvt. Wars June 7, 1979 · Original 69 perf.
1979 Manny April 18, 1979 · Original 31 perf.
1980 Banjo Dancing October 21, 1980 · Original 48 perf.
1980 Of the Fields, Lately May 27, 1980 · Original 8 perf.
1981 A Taste of Honey June 24, 1981 · Revival 157 perf.
1981 Emlyn Williams as Charles Dickens January 14, 1981 · Revival 22 perf.
1981 Heartland February 23, 1981 · Original 24 perf.
1982 Waltz of the Stork January 5, 1982 · Original 160 perf.

In the literature8 passages

  • After four weeks to “rehearse and rehearse,” Kiss Me, Kate opened at the New Century Theatre on December 30, 1948, with nearly unequivocal endorsements from New York City reviewers.Enchanted Evenings_The Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber - Geoffrey Block
  • Porter’s masterpiece first opened at the New Century Theatre on December 30, 1948, for 1,077 performances; the cast included Alfred Drake (Fred Graham/Petruchio), Patricia Morison (Lilli Vanessi/Kate), Lisa Kirk (Lois Lane/Bianca), and Harold Lang (Bill Calhoun/Lucentio). After the 1952 return engagement, the musical was seen in New York…Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz
  • John Brown’s Body by Stephen Vincent Benet, as adapted by Charles Laughton (New Century Theatre, February 14, 1953, 65 performances)Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz
  • His collaborators have been the most creative artists of the late twentieth-century theatre. Jerome Robbins, Stephen Sondheim, Michael Bennett, Boris Aronson, Bock and Harnick, Kander and Ebb and other giants of Broadway were his confreres.Harold Prince_ A Director's Journey - Carol Ilson
  • New York: produced as Gypsy Lady at the New Century Theatre, 17 September 1946 [79 performances]West End Broadway_ The Golden Age of the American Musical in London - Adrian Wright

What this page does not know

  • What played here before Broadway record-keeping starts, and what played here outside it: concerts, benefits, film runs, anything that was not a listed production.
  • How long 3 of these runs lasted. We don't have a performance count.
  • When 20 of these runs ended. They carry an opening date and no closing date, and they are old enough that they certainly closed. Nobody wrote down the date.

Something wrong here? Correct a field or report the problem. Every change is recorded in public under the contributor licence.