Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and
the Great Depression. Manhattan's theater district had begun to shift from
Union Square and
Madison Square during the first decade of the 20th century. From 1901 to 1920, forty-three theaters were built around Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, including Henry Miller's Theatre.
Original theater Henry Miller had held a lifelong dream of operating a theater. In December 1916, he announced his intention to build a theater on a plot at 124-130 West 43rd Street, next to the established theater district on Times Square. The site measured and had previously been proposed as the site of an unbuilt theater by Felix Isman. Paul Allen and Ingalls & Hoffman were hired for the design.
Early years Henry Miller's Theatre opened on April 1, 1918, hosting the play
The Fountain of Youth, in which Miller himself starred.
John Corbin wrote for
The New York Times that the new theater was "of the ideal size and shape" and that "the decorations are at once rich and in the perfection of good taste".
Heywood Broun of the
New-York Tribune said the theater "is a delight if you don't mind the curtain too much".
The Fountain of Youth itself was a
flop, as was the play that succeeded it,
The Marriage of Convenience. That July,
Klaw & Erlanger agreed to jointly manage the theater with Miller. Most of the early productions were flops, until ''Mis' Nelly of N'Orleans,
which opened in 1919 and had 127 performances. was also a success, Miller ultimately starred in eight productions at the theater during his lifetime, including The Famous Mrs. Fair
(1918), and The Changelings'' (1923). During the early 1920s, Henry Miller's Theatre hosted the Broadway debuts of
Leslie Howard in
Just Suppose (1920) as well as
Noël Coward in
The Vortex (1925). Meanwhile, Elizabeth Milbank Anderson had died in 1921,
Gilbert Miller operation Henry Miller died in 1926, Gilbert Miller ultimately bought Erlanger's interest and paid 25 percent of the gross profit from each production to the
Milbank Memorial Fund, Anderson's legatee. Performances at Henry Miller's Theatre around this time included ''
The Play's The Thing (1926), Our Betters (1928), and Journey's End'' (1929). Henry Miller's Theatre was most successful from the 1930s through 1950s.
The Late Christopher Bean (1932), with
Pauline Lord; and
Personal Appearance (1934), with
Gladys George. Other notable plays in that decade included a revival of
The Country Wife (1936) and
French Without Tears (1937). The Henry Miller briefly hosted
Our Town in 1938 before the play was moved to the
Morosco Theatre. The Henry Miller's productions in the early 1940s included
Ladies in Retirement (1940) with
Flora Robson and
Estelle Winwood, By the theater's twenty-fifth anniversary in 1943, Henry Miller's Theatre had hosted 83 plays and one musical,
La La Lucille. and
Born Yesterday from 1948 to 1950. and
The Moon Is Blue in 1951 with
Barbara Bel Geddes and Barry Nelson. This was followed in 1953 by
Oh, Men! Oh, Women!, which ran for a year.
Hotel Paradiso (1957) with
Bert Lahr and
Angela Lansbury;
Under Milk Wood (1957);
Look After Lulu! (1959) with
Tammy Grimes, and
The Andersonville Trial (1959) with
George C. Scott and
Albert Dekker.
Under the Yum Yum Tree (1960) with
Gig Young; and
Enter Laughing (1963) with
Alan Arkin and
Vivian Blaine. The 416-performance run of
Enter Laughing Theatrical director
Elia Kazan and his lawyer
H. William Fitelson were reportedly interested in buying the Henry Miller. This was not the high offer that the Millers had received, but the buyers had promised to retain the "Henry Miller" name. The marquee outside the theater was installed around this time. The theater became known as "Circle in the Square on Broadway" and was planned to show feature films. The Circle only ran two shows at the venue, both of which were flops. The Nederlander Organization sold the Henry Miller in 1968 to
Seymour Durst, who leased the theater back to the Nederlanders. Durst wanted to redevelop the entire city block but, over the following three decades, failed to carry out several proposals for the block. After the Circle's lease was terminated in January 1969,
James M. Nederlander leased the theater to "movie exhibitor" Maurice Maurer. The theater was renamed the Park-Miller According to theatrical historian
Ken Bloom, the Park-Miller aired male pornographic films. Two years later, the theater was leased to the Avon chain of theaters, The Durst Organization retook operation of the theater later that year and renovated it. In June 1978, the old Henry Miller's Theatre reopened as a
discotheque called
Xenon. The disco was outfitted with a descending neon panel on the ceiling. or 1984. The nightclub featured music from the 1950s and 60s, and the auditorium had decorations including a full-sized
Cadillac projecting from the wall of the stage. with discussions continuing over the next several years. The LPC designated the Henry Miller's exterior as a city landmark on December 8, 1987, though the interior was merely "tabled" for later consideration. The
New York City Board of Estimate ratified the designations in March 1988.
1990s and 2000s The Shout nightclub had closed by September 1991, when the theater reopened as the City nightclub. The nightclub was shuttered before 1994; that March, the old theater was described as being boarded up. In September 1994, it was announced that the nightclub Club Expo would open in the old Henry Miller. The space was decorated with elements, such as monorails and holograms, based on a futuristic conception from the
1939 New York World's Fair. Club Expo was renovated in late 1997 and reopened the following March as the Kit Kat Club, a "club within a club" concept. Named after the Berlin nightclub in the 1966 musical
Cabaret, the Kit Kat Club housed
Roundabout Theatre Company's popular revival of the musical. That November, the production permanently moved to Studio 54.
Douglas Durst of the Durst Organization had wanted to use the Henry Miller as a theater again. The Kit Kat Klub's operators sued Durst and Roundabout in November 1998, claiming that Roundabout had committed
breach of contract by moving to Studio 54. At the end of the month, Durst terminated the club's lease. Its opening was delayed by ongoing eviction proceedings against the Kit Kat Klub, as Durst claimed that the club was violating its lease by booking
TOBA without his permission.
TOBA relocated to the
Vivian Beaumont Theater the next month after the
Tony Awards administration committee ruled that shows at the venue were not eligible for the Tony Awards. After a protracted legal dispute, the
New York Supreme Court ordered that the Kit Kat Klub vacate the theater in August 1999. The Henry Miller continued to operate as a nightclub and a venue for private parties until it closed in April 2000. Before its closure, the club had seen several crimes, including a December 1999 incident in which rapper
Jay-Z stabbed a promoter. By December 2000,
The New York Times described the Henry Miller as being dilapidated, with dangling wires in the ceiling and a "carpet is so grubby that patrons are allowed to drink their Weissbier in the theater". Around that time, the theater was rechristened the Henry Miller and was renovated with 640 seats and a new air-conditioning system. After multiple delays, including a delay caused by the
September 11 attacks,
Urinetown opened in September 2001, running for two years. The original theater closed in January 2004.
Current theater Because of the theater's landmark status, Durst and Bank of America had to avoid damaging the facade under threat of financial penalty. In addition, the new theater had to be placed underground because it could not rise higher than the height of the old facade. By late 2004, the frame had been constructed. By the middle of the following year, the scaffolding over the facade was being dismantled. In May 2009, Roundabout announced that Henry Miller's Theatre would reopen that September with a revival production of the musical
Bye Bye Birdie. The theater reopened with a preview performance of
Bye Bye Birdie on September 10, 2009; the production ran for three months. The official unveiling and lighting of the marquee of the new Stephen Sondheim Theatre took place in a ceremony on September 15, 2010. The first production at the newly renamed theater was
The Pee-wee Herman Show, which played a limited ten-week engagement. The Stephen Sondheim then hosted a revival of
Anything Goes, which opened in 2011
The Trip to Bountiful then opened at the theater in 2013, The Stephen Sondheim reopened on October 21, 2021, with performances of
Mrs. Doubtfire, which ran until May 2022. ==Notable productions==