Development The Lincoln Square Renewal Project had been proposed in 1955 as part of urban planner
Robert Moses's
urban renewal program. The Lincoln Center performing-arts complex became a key part of the urban renewal, though it was not part of Moses's initial intentions for the site. The first plans for the complex, announced in May 1956, included plans for five commercial theaters. Lincoln Center Inc. was founded in June 1956 to oversee the development,
Vivian Beaumont Allen, a former actress and heiress to the
May Department Stores fortune, donated $3 million in May 1958 for the construction of the repertory theater at Lincoln Center, saying she wanted the theater to be "comparable in distinction and achievement to the
Comédie-Française". Lincoln Center's board of directors then pledged to name the theater after Allen, The Lincoln Center Theater would be the first repertory company in New York City since 1926, when the
Civic Repertory Theater was founded, and it would occupy the first new Broadway theater since 1928, when the
Ethel Barrymore Theatre opened. Various prominent architects and engineers were invited as consultants for the development, but Lincoln Center Inc. recommended that only American architects be selected for the final designs. Even though Saarinen was not as well-connected as some of Lincoln Center's other architects, he was both an experienced auditorium designer and a prominent architect at the peak of his career. The complex's general contractors were selected in January 1959. Originally, the repertory theater and the library were to be separate buildings. After the
New York Public Library (NYPL) joined the project in June 1959, the library building and repertory theater were combined by that October, saving both money and space. Saarinen and Bunshaft had decided that "one building could house the two facilities better than two". During late 1959,
Elia Kazan was also hired as a consultant for the repertory theater, helping Whitehead select the productions. Whitehead and Kazan established the nonprofit
Lincoln Center Repertory Company in February 1960 to oversee the Beaumont's programming. Only two conflicts between Saarinen and Bunshaft arose during the three-year planning process. Saarinen wanted to use three columns at each of the building's corners, while Bunshaft wanted to use one column; in addition, both architects sought to create the building's technical drawings. In the end, the architects used Bunshaft's column arrangement and Saarinen created the technical drawings. but they made minor modifications to these plans before the end of the year.
Construction In January 1961, the New York state and city governments agreed to fund several buildings in Lincoln Center. The city would provide $12 million in total, including $8.2 million to the library–theater building, but none of the state's funding would go toward the library–theater. The design details were nearly finished when the
New York City Council voted that March to withhold its funding for Lincoln Center. This move might have forced a redesign of the theater and library. However, the Rockefeller family (including state governor
Nelson Rockefeller) agreed to cover the city's $12 million commitment so the theater could be completed by the
1964 New York World's Fair. Following Saarinen's sudden death on September 1, 1961, his firm continued to work on the theater's development. The next month, excavation started on the library–theater building's site. Lincoln Center's directors reported in March 1962 that the Beaumont's completion had been delayed to at least 1964. The delay was caused by the relocation of the repertory group's offices from the Juilliard School building into the library–theater building. Allen never saw her namesake theater completed, as she died in late 1962. The Lincoln Center Repertory Company intended to premiere productions in 1963, regardless of whether the Beaumont Theater was completed. The theatre company began training in October 1962 and moved into the
ANTA Washington Square Theatre, a temporary venue in
Greenwich Village, in January 1964. Due to pressure from the theater's board following a badly received 1964–1965 season, By April 1965, Schuman and the repertory company's new president Robert L. Hoguet Jr. promised that the theater would open that June. The next month, a revival of
Georg Büchner's play ''
Danton's Death'' was booked as the Beaumont's inaugural production, and the opening date was pushed to October 21. The library–theater building ultimately cost $17 million, partly funded by $3 million from Allen and $7.5 million from the NYPL. and hosted a fundraising gala on October 20, which raised more than $100,000. The theater officially opened on October 21, when regular performances of ''Danton's Death'' began. The Beaumont's opening was not as widely reported in the media as some of Lincoln Center's other buildings, but it did receive mostly positive commentary.
Wolf Von Eckardt wrote for
The Washington Post that the Beaumont had a "classic" architectural appearance "without sweat or striving". The New York Concrete Board gave the Beaumont an award for the quality of its construction. The Beaumont frequently starred
Philip Bosco,
Aline MacMahon,
Nancy Marchand, and
Robert Symonds in its early productions. Furthermore, the theater itself ran a deficit of several hundred thousand dollars each season, as the expenses outweighed the profits. The theater had 31,400 subscribers before the first play of the Beaumont's second season opened in late 1966. The season's first two plays were
The Alchemist as he had considered the Beaumont Theater's acoustics and technical design difficult to work with. Afterward, the Beaumont produced
Galileo in April 1967.
Galileo was the first play by an American playwright at the Beaumont, placating critics who objected to the number of plays by foreign authors. Next,
Alexander H. Cohen leased the theater The experimental Forum in the Beaumont's basement opened on November 10, 1967. This was followed by the play
Lovers, also performed as part of the festival
. The plays
King Lear and
A Cry of Players opened at the Beaumont in late 1968, running as a double bill. The Beaumont hosted the play
In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer during much of the remainder of the season,
The Time of Your Life,
Camino Real,
Operation Sidewinder, and
Beggar on Horseback. The sixth season in 1970–1971 was composed entirely of revivals and included
The Good Woman of Setzuan,
The Playboy of the Western World,
An Enemy of the People, and
Antigone. Lincoln Center's directors forgave $200,000 of the repertory company's debts and agreed to provide another $125,000 a year to cover high overhead costs. In January 1971, City Center proposed taking over the Beaumont and conducting renovations. The plans included relocating the Forum behind the Beaumont's stage and adding three film screens in the Forum space. but supporters said the main auditorium would not be touched and that the Forum would only be relocated to a better location. That September, the
New York City Board of Estimate approved $5.2 million for the renovations. The theatre company proposed selling 500 annual subscriptions of $1,000 to cover the remaining debt. City Center formally withdrew its plan in December 1971, citing the opposition. Throughout the dispute over the planned renovation, the Lincoln Center Repertory Theater had scheduled four shows for the Beaumont's seventh season in 1971–1972.
Mary Stuart opened in late 1971, followed the next year by
Narrow Road to the Deep North,
Twelfth Night, and
The Crucible. was revived in mid-1972 to large success. The Beaumont's 1972–1973 season featured
Enemies,
The Plough and the Stars,
The Merchant of Venice, and
A Streetcar Named Desire. By then, the Forum was mostly screening films. claiming that "our dramatic heritage is being strangled by indifference". With Irving gone, Lincoln Center's board decided that, for the 1973–1974 season, they would book a "guest season" of shows from regional theaters. The guest season would run for one year, allowing the Lincoln Center Theater to search for a new artistic leader and give them time to transition into the job.
Papp operation In March 1973,
Joseph Papp of the
New York Shakespeare Festival agreed to take over the Beaumont as long as he were able to raise $5 million. Papp used the Beaumont to present new productions and continued to stage experimental shows at
The Public Theater. The Forum in the basement would be used for classical plays, a reversal of Irving's policy. and the Forum was named for Newhouse. The Shakespeare Festival's first production at the Beaumont,
David Rabe's play
In the Boom Boom Room, opened in November 1973 During the 1974–1975 season, the Shakespeare Festival presented
Anne Burr's
Mert & Phil,
Bill Gunn's
Black Picture Show,
Henrik Ibsen's ''
A Doll's House'', and Anthony Scully's
Little Black Sheep. As with the previous season, these plays generally had only lukewarm reception. In accordance with his new policy, Papp scheduled four revivals for the 1975–1976 season:
Trelawny of the "Wells",
Hamlet, ''
Mrs. Warren's Profession, and The Threepenny Opera''. These plays were generally much more successful,
Anton Chekhov's play
The Cherry Orchard and
Aeschylus's classic
Agamemnon were the only plays featured during that season. Papp announced in June 1977 that he would no longer operate the Beaumont, citing increasing operating costs and expressing concerns about restrictions on artistic freedom. At the time, even a successful season could incur a deficit of $2 million; the previous season had seen operating debts of $6.2 million and ticket sales of only $3.9 million.
Attempted revival Crinkley operation After Papp's sudden departure, Lincoln Center's directors hurried to make arrangements with other producers and theatrical companies to keep the Beaumont open. During its closure, the Beaumont held a benefit party for
Paul Robeson in August 1977.
American National Theater and Academy director
Richmond Crinkley was named as the Beaumont's director in early 1978. At the end of the year,
Woody Allen,
Sarah Caldwell,
Liviu Ciulei,
Robin Phillips, and
Ellis Rabb were appointed as the theater's new directors, and
Edward Albee was hired as the in-house playwright. The Beaumont's directors leased the theater from Lincoln Center. The following May, the theater signed new contracts with
Actors' Equity Association and the
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees that allowed the Beaumont to operate as a
League of Resident Theatres' venue, thereby decreasing operating costs. The theater's directors wished to raise $2 million in reserves before reopening the theater, and they wanted to operate for at least one full season. Consequently, the planned reopening in 1979 was pushed back by one year. Crinkley's team wanted to present classics alongside the occasional new production, and they wanted to focus on "American and English-language artistic heritage". In July 1980, the directors announced the lineup for the 1980–1981 season, which began in October with a rehearsal of
Philip Barry's comedy
The Philadelphia Story. The two other plays that season were a revival of
Macbeth and Woody Allen's
The Floating Light Bulb; all three plays were poorly received.
Canceled renovation and disputes During the Beaumont's closure, Crinkley suggested converting the Beaumont into a proscenium theater. This would resolve not only poor sightlines but also inferior acoustics that sometimes required the use of amplification.
Frederick R. Koch had pledged $1 million to match the Fox/Samuels grant, and another board member of the Lincoln Center Theater had pledged $500,000. Acoustics expert Cyril Harris and architect
I. M. Pei were hired to renovate the Beaumont. In addition to changes to the stage and proscenium opening, the theater would be rebuilt with a shallower raked floor, and the seating capacity would be increased to 1,200. The Beaumont's renovation was planned to cost $6.5 million and begin in November 1981, but the renovation soon encountered delays, as Harris and Pei could not reconcile their disagreement over the proscenium opening's acoustic and esthetic features. Pei resigned from the project in February 1982 after he was unable to propose a design with which Harris agreed. As a result, Koch withdrew his $1 million grant. Due to increasing renovation costs, Lincoln Center's board considered delaying the renovation indefinitely by mid-1982. Leslie R. Samuels said the theater's directors had not raised enough money to cover the rest of the renovation, which had increased to $8 million. Crinkley even objected to the Lincoln Center board's decision in mid-1983 to book the musical
La Tragedie de Carmen for the theater, because he had wanted the sole rights to book shows there. The Beaumont reopened that November with
La Tragedie de Carmen. At the end of
Carmen run, Lincoln Center's restrictions against the Beaumont board were still in effect, prompting renewed discussions. The Greek National Troupe performed
Oedipus Rex in 1984. Accordingly, former New York City mayor
John Lindsay was appointed as the Beaumont's chairman in September 1984, and Crinkley stepped down the next month. Lindsay submitted a report at the end of that November, promising an "artistic purpose" and proposing a partnership with Juilliard.
Gregory Mosher, who had seen the production of
Carmen at the Beaumont, was hired as the Lincoln Center Theater's director in April 1985. Unlike his predecessors, Mosher believed the Beaumont could operate viably without being renovated.
Bernard Gersten was appointed as the Beaumont's executive producer that June. Immediately after Mosher and Gersten took over, they discontinued the Beaumont's former practice of selling subscriptions for each season, instead selling memberships to the Lincoln Center Theater itself.
The Flying Karamazov Brothers performed a live show at the Beaumont in April 1986, the first at the main auditorium under the new leadership. The 1986–1987 season was the first full season since 1980–1981. The season's offerings consisted of
Ben Hecht and
Charles MacArthur's comedy
The Front Page;
Wole Soyinka's drama ''
Death and the King's Horseman'';
Bill Irwin's mime show
The Regard of Flight and The Clown Bagatelles; and
Robert Woodruff and The Flying Karamazov Brothers' version of
The Comedy of Errors. The next production, a revision of
Cole Porter's musical
Anything Goes, opened in October 1987 and ran for 804 performances over the next two years. LCT's 1988–1989 season was hosted at the
Lyceum Theatre as a result of the extended run of
Anything Goes. LCT also planned to raise $900,000 for further improvements to the Newhouse and Beaumont. The 1989–1990 season at the Beaumont consisted of two shows: a revival of
Paddy Chayefsky's play
The Tenth Man running for 485 performances. starting with
Spalding Gray's
Monster in a Box monologue in 1991. by then, Mosher described himself as "very tired", having taken only two 2-week vacations in 17 years. The musical version of
My Favorite Year opened that December, followed later the same year by another engagement of ''Gray's Anatomy''. The theater hosted
Tom Stoppard's play
Arcadia By the mid-1990s, the Beaumont was finally running a surplus. LCT had a $25 million annual budget and had sold all 41,000 subscriptions to the theater, with 12,000 people on a waiting list. The renovation, led by
Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, involved modifying mechanical systems, improving acoustics, and adding accessible restrooms and seating areas. and
Morning, Noon and Night in 1999.
2000s and 2010s Further modifications to the Beaumont were proposed in the early 2000s, when Lincoln Center planned to renovate the Beaumont's and Newhouse's lobbies for $58 million as part of a larger renovation of the complex.
Susan Stroman's musical
Contact opened in 2000 and ran for 1,010 performances. and the play
QED in 2001. followed later that year by the play
Dinner at Eight. During late 2004, the Beaumont hosted the musical
The Frogs The musical
The Light in the Piazza opened at the Beaumont in April 2005, followed by Stoppard's three-part play
The Coast of Utopia in 2006 running for 1,000 performances. running for 718 performances. To host these shows, the Claire Tow Theater on the Beaumont's roof was approved in 2010, and the new venue opened in June 2012. The Beaumont hosted
Holland Taylor's solo show
Ann, as well as a revival of
Macbeth, during 2013. and ran for 499 performances.
2020s to present The theater was dark when the Broadway industry was shut down in March 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. The Beaumont reopened on November 11, 2021, with previews of the musical
Flying Over Sunset, which had a limited run; It was followed in April 2023 by the musical
Camelot, After Bishop announced in 2023 that he would resign in two years, Lear deBessonet became LCT's artistic director and
Bartlett Sher became the executive producer in 2024. The play
Uncle Vanya opened in April 2024 for a two-month run. The next show at the Vivian Beaumont Theater,
McNeal, opened in September 2024, running for two months. A fundraising-benefit performance of
South Pacific took place at the Beaumont in December 2024, and the musical
Floyd Collins opened there in April 2025 for a two-month run. A revival of
Ragtime opened at the theater in October 2025, running to August 2026. ==Management==