Mark Hellinger Theatre

The Mark Hellinger Theatre is at 237 West 51st Street, on the north sidewalk between Eighth Avenue and Broadway, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The irregular land lot covers , with a frontage of on 51st Street and a depth of . The bulk of the theater exists on 51st Street, with a wing extending north to 52nd Street. == Design ==

The Mark Hellinger Theatre, originally the Hollywood Theatre, was designed by Thomas W. Lamb and was constructed in 1930 as a movie palace for Warner Bros. While the interior was designed in a 16th-century Baroque style, the exterior was treated in a style that was contemporary for the 1930s. Facade Broadway (former) The Hollywood Theatre's main entrance was originally at 1655 Broadway, with a narrow lobby leading to a grand foyer on 51st Street. At the time of the theater's construction in 1930, cinemas that premiered films in the Times Square area typically had entrances on Broadway, regardless of the width. While the Broadway entrance was narrow, it contained a bright marquee and a huge lighted vertical sign. The Broadway entrance was closed in 1934 and converted to retail space before being demolished completely prior to the late 1990s. The roof of the Hollywood Theatre's Broadway wing originally contained a V-shaped steel sign measuring tall and wide. Described in 1929 as "the largest electrical display in the world", the sign weighed 115 tons. A dedicated generator illuminated the sign's 20,000 bulbs, which were arranged so that letters could be flashed. 51st Street The only surviving facade is on 51st Street and consists of two modern-style sections, both made of brick and designed with vertical motifs. The eastern section is a narrow tower containing the building's entrance. The other section, which contains the stage house and auditorium, is shorter but wider. The original decorative scheme was gold with highlights of red and blue. It was Art Deco in design and led to the present main lobby. According to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), the lobby's design is similar to the interior of the 18th-century Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers in Germany. The main lobby's columns are placed on marble pedestals, and they are topped by Ionic-style capitals. Above the columns is a marble entablature with cherubs. A classical mural is painted in the middle of the ceiling; the mural was intended to symbolize arts and learning. The auditorium's seating capacity is 1,603, though historically it could fit 1,506 people. From the outset, three hundred seats were equipped with "Warner Theatre-phones" to both amplify and clarify sound for hard-of-hearing users. Damask curtains were placed on the walls to increase insulation. The auditorium curves inward near the proscenium. The orchestra is slightly raked, sloping down toward an orchestra pit near the stage. The underside of the balcony, above the orchestra, contains globe-shaped light fixtures and three coves with scallops and foliation. Though the balcony is also raked, its underside is convex, preventing sound-deadening air pockets from accumulating at the orchestra's rear wall. The balcony level is divided into front and rear sections by a crossover aisle, Although the Hellinger was built as a cinema, the theater's large stage could also be used to present large musical shows. The walls contain panels with molded borders, and there are molded doorway openings with entablatures. The ceiling dome is shallow and contains a central medallion with overlapping circles, from which hangs a large chandelier. The rest of the ceiling contains moldings and beams, which divide the ceiling into sections, each with a central medallion and a smaller globe-style chandelier. A staircase curves upward to the lobby and contains paneled walls with molded borders, as well as a paneled ceiling with suspended globe-style chandeliers. ==History==

Movie palaces became common in the 1920s between the end of World War I and the beginning of the Great Depression. In the New York City area, only a small number of operators were involved in the construction of movie palaces. These theaters' designers included the legitimate-theater architects Thomas Lamb, C. Howard Crane, and John Eberson. Hollywood Theatre Development and opening In April 1929, Warner Bros. leased the lots at 217 to 233 West 51st Street and 234 West 52nd Street at an annual rate of $40,000. The lease was to run for 17 years, with options for two 21-year extensions. Warner Bros. immediately started planning a movie palace on the site. The company planned to build an entrance from Broadway, on the eastern end of the block. The theater was to have 1,600 seats on an orchestra and a balcony level, and it would be the first Broadway theater built specifically for films. Warner Bros. had chosen this site specifically because it was close to the established Theater District around Times Square. That area, by the 1920s, was starting to see the development of movie theaters alongside legitimate venues for live theater. The Warner Bros. Hollywood Theatre opened on April 22, 1930, with the Warner Technicolor musical film Hold Everything, starring Winnie Lightner and Joe E. Brown. The storefronts on Broadway were leased out for uses such as a Lindy's restaurant. For its first two years, the Hollywood only screened films. These included Moby Dick and The Beggar of Bagdad in 1930, as well as Bought and The Mad Genius in 1931. Lou Holtz announced his intention in early 1932 to lease the theater for vaudeville. Holtz's vaudeville revues opened that February, but they stopped two months later because Holtz said his simultaneous acting and producing of these revues was "strenuous". Vaudeville returned in November 1932 when Arthur George Klein took over the theater for twice-a-day revue performances. By February 1933, the Hollywood was again dark, and the theater returned to hosting films afterward. During 1933, Warner Bros. acquired additional land at 235 to 239 West 51st Street from the Shubert brothers. Generally, the Hollywood's films were not successful, and the venue stood empty for long periods. Alternating live shows and film Warner Bros. announced in October 1934 that it would renovate the stage for theatrical use and add 32 dressing rooms. These changes were to accommodate Hollywood's first theatrical production: Calling All Stars, a musical revue with Martha Raye, which opened in December 1934 and ran 35 performances. In October 1935, the Hollywood hosted the premiere of the Warner Bros. film ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', starring James Cagney and Olivia de Havilland. The following March, Earl Carroll negotiated with Warner Bros. to rename the Hollywood Theatre for himself and stage musicals there. The theater was leased to George Abbott and renamed the 51st Street Theatre in late 1936. The theater's main entrance was relocated from Broadway to 51st Street, as Warner Bros. wished to use the Broadway entrance for films and the 51st Street entrance for legitimate productions. and closed after five performances. Warner Bros. planned to either host its own films or rent the theater out for screenings. the first premiere at the theater since ''A Midsummer Night's Dream. This was followed by the 1939 edition of George White's Scandals, a transfer from the Alvin Theatre, In 1940, the theater was again renamed the 51st Street Theatre, presenting a revival of Romeo and Juliet'' with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh that May. Though the play had been highly promoted, it ran for only 36 performances. The theater reverted to the Hollywood Theatre name and again began showing films. Banjo Eyes opened in December 1941 and ran for 129 performances, Following Banjo Eyes, the Hollywood returned to showing films exclusively for several years. Among the films screened at the Hollywood in the mid-1940s were This Is the Army (1943), Old Acquaintance (1943), The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944), The Corn Is Green (1945), and Night and Day (1946). The Hollywood Theatre became the Warner Theatre in August 1947 with the premiere of the film Life with Father. Mark Hellinger Theatre Late 1940s and 1950s The producer Anthony Brady Farrell agreed to purchase the Warner Theatre in June 1948 for about $1.5 million; the sale was finalized the next month. Farrell announced plans to rename the theater for Mark Hellinger, a Broadway journalist and critic who had died the year before, and he proposed renovating the theater for legitimate plays and musicals. and Farrell's musical All for Love opened the next week on January 22, with Paul Hartman, Grace Hartman, and Bert Wheeler. All for Love lost money This was followed by S. M. Chartock's three-week-long showcase of Gilbert and Sullivan productions in late 1949. Despite a string of early losses, as well as a weekly expenditure of $4,500 to $5,000 for the Hellinger's maintenance, Farrell was optimistic about the theater's potential to make money. Farrell's musical ''Texas Li'l Darlin, featuring Kenny Delmar, opened at the end of 1949. Texas Li'l Darlin'' was the first hit in the Hellinger's history, Tickets, Please! transferred from the Coronet Theatre in late 1950, followed by the Harold Rome revue Bless You All at the end that year. Premiering in 1951 was Two on the Aisle with Bert Lahr and Dolores Gray, which had 276 performances. Three Wishes for Jamie opened there the next year and ran for 92 performances, some at the Plymouth Theatre. Chartock returned in late 1952 with a four-week engagement of Gilbert and Sullivan productions, followed by Guthrie McClintic and the Greek National Theater with two plays by Sophocles. The musical Hazel Flagg by Jule Styne opened in 1953; The New York Times had reported by then that the Broadway entrance had been "discontinued". The Girl in Pink Tights, the final show of the late composer Sigmund Romberg, premiered in 1954 and closed after 115 performances. The Amish-themed musical Plain and Fancy opened in January 1955 and was a hit with 461 total performances, some at the Winter Garden Theatre. The Hellinger had its greatest success with the musical My Fair Lady, with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and a score by Frederick Loewe. My Fair Lady opened in March 1956 and eventually ran more than 2,700 total performances across multiple theaters, becoming the longest-running Broadway production ever at the time. A year after My Fair Lady opened, Farrell sold the Hellinger to Max and Stanley Stahl, who had already purchased the neighboring building on Broadway. The new owners chartered a company called Mark Hellinger Theatre Inc. The New York Supreme Court ruled in February 1962 that My Fair Lady had to relocate, but Rodgers and Taylor had booked another theater by then. The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music then transferred to the Hellinger from the Lunt-Fontanne for the last seven months of the musical's run. The Italian-language Rugantino was staged in 1964 though it flopped in spite of critical acclaim. featuring Jack Cassidy and Carol Burnett. The Martha Graham Dance Company had a limited engagement at the theater the next year. Also staged in 1967 was Illya Darling with Melina Mercouri, which ran 319 performances a premiere of the documentary New York City—The Most; and a limited concert engagement by Marlene Dietrich. Two productions followed in 1969: Jerry Herman's Dear World, featuring Angela Lansbury, it also hosted the 1970 Tony Awards. The Hellinger next staged the flop Ari and the final performances of the long-running off-Broadway production Man of La Mancha in 1971. which ran for 720 performances over the next two years. A mixture of successes and failures followed. The Martha Graham Dance Company returned in 1974 and 1975 to critical acclaim. Meanwhile, the Stahls had unofficially put the Hellinger on the market by 1975, and the Nederlander Organization bought the theater the next year. Late 1970s and 1980s The Hellinger's 1978 productions of Timbuktu! with Eartha Kitt the Joffrey Ballet, with Rudolf Nureyev as the featured artist; and The Utter Glory of Morrissey Hall, which closed on its opening night. which had 1,208 performances there over the next three years. and 1981. After the closure of Sugar Babies in 1982, the Hellinger hosted the Comden and Green musical ''A Doll's Life, which closed after five performances. which ran for 199 performances. Afterward, the British musical Oliver! had a short run at the Hellinger in 1984. the same year that Jerry Weintraub purchased a stake in the operation of the Hellinger. In 1985, the Hellinger hosted Grind for 75 performances Throughout the remainder of the 1980s, the Hellinger hosted short runs, solo shows, and industry event. The musical Rags'' ran for just four performances in 1986, as well as personal appearances from Smokey Robinson/Jean Carne, Virsky Company, Rodney Dangerfield, and the Georgian State Dance Company. The Hellinger hosted Shakespeare's Macbeth with Glenda Jackson and Christopher Plummer in early 1988. the theater premiered its final legitimate production, Legs Diamond. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) had started to consider protecting the Hellinger as a landmark in 1982, with discussions continuing over the next several years. The LPC designated the Hellinger's interior as a landmark on November 17, 1987, followed by the facade in January 1988. The New York City Board of Estimate ratified the designations in March 1988. The Nederlanders, the Shuberts, and Jujamcyn collectively sued the LPC in June 1988 to overturn the landmark designations of 22 theaters, including the Hellinger, on the merit that the designations severely limited the extent to which the theaters could be modified. The lawsuit was escalated to the New York Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of the United States, but these designations were ultimately upheld in 1992. Times Square Church Lease In February 1989, the Nederlander Organization leased the Hellinger to the Times Square Church, headed by the Rev. David Wilkerson, for $1 million per year on a five-year lease. Had the Nederlanders retained the Hellinger as a legitimate venue, the organization could have rented the theater for large musicals at $1.04 million a year, but it would be far from a consistent income stream. According to The New York Times: "To many theater people, the leasing of the Hellinger, [...] which has long been considered one of the best and most beautiful theaters for musicals, was a sad symbol of both the state of Broadway and of the Nederlander organization." The Times Square Church moved to the Hellinger in March 1989. That August, the LPC held a hearing on whether the westernmost section of the theater could be demolished to make way for a hotel developed by Silverstein Properties. The planned hotel would have used air rights from above the theater, which would have necessitated restoring the Hellinger for legitimate use. Rocco Landesman of the rival chain Jujamcyn had also offered to buy the theater, but he said high maintenance costs precluded him or any other producer from offering more than $7 million. Purchase and subsequent years In December 1991, the Nederlanders sold the Hellinger to the church's congregation for a reported $17 million. In the years after the Times Square Church's purchase, the church became so popular that the Hellinger could not accommodate all congregants, despite the theater's 1,600-seat capacity. The congregation at the theater numbered 4,000 in 1997 and doubled within the next year. As a result, in the late 1990s, an 800-person overflow room and eight secondary meeting rooms were leased in the neighboring Novotel hotel. In addition to Mackintosh and the Bennett estate, offers were reportedly made by former Canadian impresario Garth Drabinsky, theatrical operator Shubert Organization, and corporate producers Disney and Clear Channel.--> The Times Square Church maintains the theater's interior decor and opens it to the public for regular services. The church also hosts tours of the theater, as during Christmas 2016, when it gave tours along with live performances of the Nativity play Bethlehem on Broadway. ==Stage productions==

Productions are listed by the year of their first performance. This list only includes Broadway productions and live shows; it does not include films screened there. == See also ==