The Drama Nerds Database

Vanderbilt Theatre

Shows · Vanderbilt Theatre

Broadway Closed 1918–1954 on this page73 productions

The Vanderbilt Theatre was a Broadway theatre at 148 West 48th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, designed by architect Eugene De Rosa for producer Lyle Andrews. It opened in 1918, and was demolished in 1954. == History == The 780-seat theatre hosted the long-running musical Irene from 1919 to 1921. In the mid-1920s, several Rodgers and Hart musicals played at the theatre. Andrews lost the theatre during the Great Depression, and in 1931 it was briefly renamed the Tobis to show German films. The experiment was a failure, and the theatre returned to legitimate use. No new shows played at the theatre from 1939 until 1953, as it was used as a radio studio, first by NBC, then by ABC, un…

By decade73 productions across 4 decades

  1. 1910s 5
  2. 1920s 26
  3. 1930s 36
  4. 1950s 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

1919 Irene November 18, 1919 · Edward Royce 670 perf.
1927 A Connecticut Yankee November 3, 1927 · Alexander Leftwich 418 perf.
1935 Mulatto October 24, 1935 373 perf.
1926 Peggy-Ann December 27, 1926 · Robert Milton 333 perf.
1926 The Girl Friend March 17, 1926 · John Harwood 301 perf.
1924 My Girl November 24, 1924 · Walter Brooks 291 perf.
1925 Merry, Merry September 24, 1925 · Harry Puck 197 perf.
1936 New Faces of 1936 May 19, 1936 · Ned McGurn 193 perf.

Ranked among the 71 runs here that carry a performance count. 2 do not, so a longer run may be sitting outside this table with an empty field.

Everything that played here73 productions

1918 Oh, Look! March 7, 1918 · Original 68 perf.
1918 The Gentile Wife December 24, 1918 · Original 31 perf.
1918 The Matinee Hero October 7, 1918 · Original 64 perf.
1919 Irene November 18, 1919 · Original 670 perf.
1919 She Would and She Did September 11, 1919 · Original 36 perf.
1921 Anna Christie November 2, 1921 · Original 177 perf.
1922 Fanny Hawthorn May 11, 1922 · Original 36 perf.
1922 Glory December 25, 1922 · Original 74 perf.
1922 Letty Pepper April 10, 1922 · Original 32 perf.
1922 Lights Out August 17, 1922 · Original 12 perf.
1923 Elsie April 2, 1923 · Original 40 perf.
1923 Humoresque February 27, 1923 · Original 32 perf.
1923 In the Next Room November 27, 1923 · Original 159 perf.
1923 The Camel's Back November 13, 1923 · Original 15 perf.
1923 Two Fellows and a Girl July 19, 1923 · Original 132 perf.
1924 Dr. David's Dad August 13, 1924 · Original 5 perf.
1924 Lazybones September 22, 1924 · Original 79 perf.
1924 My Girl November 24, 1924 · Original 291 perf.
1924 The Blue Bandanna June 23, 1924 · Original 16 perf.
1924 The Dust Heap April 24, 1924 · Original 20 perf.
1924 Thoroughbreds September 8, 1924 · Original 16 perf.
1925 It All Depends August 10, 1925 · Original 16 perf.
1925 Merry, Merry September 24, 1925 · Original 197 perf.
1926 Peggy-Ann December 27, 1926 · Original 333 perf.
1926 The Girl Friend March 17, 1926 · Original 301 perf.
1927 A Connecticut Yankee November 3, 1927 · Original 418 perf.
1928 Revolt October 31, 1928 · Original 30 perf.
1929 How's Your Health November 26, 1929 · Original 47 perf.
1929 Lady Fingers January 31, 1929 · Original 132 perf.
1929 See Naples and Die September 24, 1929 · Original 62 perf.
1929 White Flame November 4, 1929 · Original 8 perf.
1930 Nancy's Private Affair January 13, 1930 · Original 136 perf.
1930 Spook House June 3, 1930 · Original 15 perf.
1930 The Life Line December 27, 1930 · Original 17 perf.
1930 The Plutocrat February 20, 1930 · Original 101 perf.
1930 The Vanderbilt Revue November 5, 1930 · Original 13 perf.
1930 With Privileges September 15, 1930 · Original 48 perf.
1931 Papavert December 29, 1931 · Original 13 perf.
1931 Right of Happiness April 2, 1931 · Original 11 perf.
1931 Sita January 12, 1931 · Original 8 perf.
1931 The Honor Code May 18, 1931 · Original 24 perf.
1931 The Venetian Glass Nephew February 23, 1931 · Original 8 perf.
1932 Absent Father October 17, 1932 · Original 88 perf.
1932 Back Fire June 13, 1932 · Original 8 perf.
1932 Bidding High September 28, 1932 · Original 23 perf.
1932 Jamboree November 24, 1932 · Original 28 perf.
1933 The Curtain Rises October 19, 1933 · Original 61 perf.
1933 The Party's Over March 27, 1933 · Original 48 perf.
1933 Thoroughbred November 6, 1933 · Revival 25 perf.
1934 A Divine Moment January 6, 1934 · Original 9 perf.
1934 American - Very Early January 30, 1934 · Original 7 perf.
1934 Another Love March 19, 1934 · Original 16 perf.
1934 Baby Pompadour December 27, 1934 · Original 4 perf.
1934 Brittle Heaven November 13, 1934 · Original 23 perf.
1934 Dream Child September 27, 1934 · Original 24 perf.
1935 Creeping Fire January 16, 1935 · Original 23 perf.
1935 Loose Moments February 4, 1935 · Original 8 perf.
1935 Mulatto October 24, 1935 · Original 373 perf.
1935 Reprise May 1, 1935 · Original 1 perf.
1936 Days to Come December 15, 1936 · Original 7 perf.
1936 New Faces of 1936 May 19, 1936 · Original 193 perf.
1937 Excursion April 9, 1937 · Original 116 perf.
1937 Ghosts March 21, 1937 · Revival
1937 In Clover October 13, 1937 · Original 3 perf.
1938 Cecilia Loftus October 30, 1938 · Original
1938 The Bridal Crown February 5, 1938 · Original 1 perf.
1939 Stop Press March 19, 1939 · Original 1 perf.
1953 Anna Russell and Her Little Show “An Intimate Revue” September 7, 1953 · Original 16 perf.
1953 Anna Russell's Little Show September 7, 1953 · Original 16 perf.
1953 Dead Pigeon December 23, 1953 · Original 21 perf.
1953 End as a Man October 14, 1953 · Original 105 perf.
1953 Mid-Summer January 21, 1953 · Original 109 perf.
1954 Ruth Draper January 25, 1954 · Revival 58 perf.

In the literature5 passages

  • Langston Hughes’s drama Mulatto opened at the Vanderbilt Theatre on October 24, 1935; with a run of 375 performances, it became Broadway’s longest-running nonmusical by a black playwright.Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, The - Dan Dietz
  • Constance Carpenter and William Gaxton (at piano) in A Connecticut Yankee. New York, Vanderbilt Theatre, 1927. [Photograph by Vandamm. Theatre Collection, The New York Public Library at Lincoln Center, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations]McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama, v. 3 (I-N)
  • The Girl Friend Opened March 17, 1926, at the Vanderbilt Theatre for a run of 301 performances Music by Richard Rodgers Book by Herbert Fields Directed by John Harwood Choreographed by Jack Haskell Settings by P. Dodd Ackerman Costumes by Booth, Willoughby and JonesThou Swell Thou Witty-The Life and Lyrics of Lorenz Hart - Hart, Dorothy
  • Opened December 27,1926, at the Vanderbilt Theatre for a run of 333 performancesThou Swell Thou Witty-The Life and Lyrics of Lorenz Hart - Hart, Dorothy
  • P Connecticut Yankee Opened November 3,1927, at the Vanderbilt Theatre for a run of 418 performances Music by Richard Rodgers Book by Herbert Fields, from the novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain Directed by Alexander Leftwich Choreographed by Busby Berkeley Settings and costumes by John Hawkins, Jr.Thou Swell Thou Witty-The Life and Lyrics of Lorenz Hart - Hart, Dorothy

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 2 of these runs lasted. We don't have a performance count.
  • When 41 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.
  • Any photograph of the building.

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