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 the Globe Theatre. The Globe was developed by Charles Dillingham,
Globe Theatre Development and early years The Dillingham Theatre Company bought a plot at 1555 Broadway and a assemblage at 203–217 West 46th Street The Dillingham Theatre Company took title to the land in January 1908, Dillingham originally wanted to call his new theater the Gaiety, but
George M. Cohan and
Sam H. Harris were also planning
a theater with the same name across 46th Street. The same month, Dillington announced he would name his theater in honor of the
Globe Theatre, the
Shakespearean playhouse in London. That October, Carrère and Hastings filed plans to renovate the existing brownstone at 1555 Broadway, adapting it as the Globe's entrance. The year of its opening, the Globe also hosted
The Echo, which featured the now-popular song
Skidamarink, The theater's early offerings were mostly revues and musicals because Dillingham largely produced musicals. and Bernhardt returned for another limited engagement the same year. Janis, Montgomery, and Stone returned in 1912 for
The Lady of the Slipper, which was a hit with 232 performances. Montgomery and Stone also starred in
Chin-Chin, which opened in 1914 and had 295 performances at the Globe. Dillingham also staged the musical
Stop! Look! Listen! at the Globe in 1915, with a
ragtime score composed by
Irving Berlin. Fred Stone returned the next year in ''Jack O' Lantern'', following the death of Stone's partner Montgomery.
The Canary, featuring
Julia Sanderson and
Joseph Cawthorn, premiered in 1918; the Globe also hosted a limited run of that year's
Ziegfeld Follies. The decade ended with ''She's a Good Fellow'' with
Joseph Santley and the
Duncan Sisters in 1919, the run of which was truncated by the
1919 Actors' Equity Association strike. Dillingham had produced all of the theater's musicals and plays during the 1910s, while
Jerome Kern and
Anne Caldwell collaborated on many of the musical scores. That July, W. T. Smith filed plans for a seven-story office wing at 1555 Broadway. Elaborate
revues at the Globe, which were staged starting in the late 1910s, continued into the 1920s. running 241 performances. The 1921 edition of the
Ziegfeld Follies was staged at the Globe, Further editions of ''George White's Scandals'' premiered in 1922 Dillingham leased the theater to
Oliver Morosco in January 1923 for the production of
Lady Butterfly at the then-exorbitant price of $6,000 a week. Fred Stone and his daughter
Dorothy performed later that year in the musical
Stepping Stones, which ran 184 performances. A major hit came to the Globe in 1925 with the opening of
No, No, Nanette, where featured performer
Louise Groody became the first musical-comedy performer to earn over $1 million. As a result, in 1926, he hosted
No Foolin (subsequently ''Ziegfeld's American Revue
) at the Globe. The same year, Dillingham produced Criss Cross
with Fred and Dorothy Stone, Fred Stone also planned to return to the Globe in 1928, appearing in Three Cheers'' with Dorothy, but he was replaced at the last minute with
Will Rogers; the play ran through early 1929.
Bankruptcy and cinematic use By 1930, the Globe Theatre was leased to
Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO) as a movie house, at least until a new RKO theater was finished on the site of the old
Columbia Theatre. That year, the Dillingham Theater Company obtained a $200,000 second mortgage on the theater. Upon the expiry of RKO's lease in July 1931, The play
The Cat and the Fiddle, which opened later that year, was the last legitimate production at the Globe before the theater became a cinema for 25 years. Due to the Globe's financial troubles,
The Cat and the Fiddle was moved to
George M. Cohan's Theatre in May 1932. Dillingham's friends, including Fred Stone, attempted to recover the theater on his behalf. Dillingham ultimately went into bankruptcy in 1933 with debts of over $7 million. A major factor in the bankruptcy was the
Great Depression, during which many Broadway theaters were impacted by declining attendance. Brandt Theatres subsequently began to lease the Globe for films. By the next year, the theater was owned by the Globe Land Corporation, and the
New York Public Library held a $1.1 million first mortgage on the theater. Under Brandt's management, the Globe largely showed reruns, which drew complaints from the operator of the rival
Roxy Theatre. In February 1936, Harry Brandt of Brandt Theatres announced that he had purchased the Globe for $1.15 million, subject to existing mortgages. He then announced that he would renovate the Globe to serve as headquarters for his company. Brandt announced in 1938 that the Globe would begin to offer five-act vaudeville, followed by one film. The Globe hosted numerous premieres of films, including
The Road Back in 1937 and
The Roosevelt Story in 1947. Among the other films screened at the theater were
Souls at Sea (1937),
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942),
Eagle Squadron (1942),
Somewhere in France (1943),
Make Mine Music (1946),
The Macomber Affair (1947),
Anna (1951),
Destination Gobi (1953),
Three Hours to Kill (1954), and
On the Threshold of Space (1956). In 1951, Al Beckman and Johnny Pransky considered acquiring the Globe for their vaudeville circuit.
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Renovation and reopening By 1955,
Roger L. Stevens,
Robert Whitehead, and
Robert W. Dowling were negotiating to acquire the Globe Theatre for legitimate use. Stevens and Dowling reneged after conducting a study, which found they would have to spend $400,000 to renovate the theater and that the venue would only be able to fit about 1,300 people. The next June, Stevens partnered with
William Zeckendorf in another bid to acquire the theater, with
Cy Feuer and
Ernest Martin as the producers. Despite some delays in September 1956, Stevens, Whitehead, Dowling, and Zeckendorf ultimately acquired the theater in 1957 under the City Playhouses name. Stevens and Whitehead were affiliated with Producers Theatre, while Dowling was affiliated with the City Investing Company, both of which had a 40 percent ownership stake. Zeckendorf's company
Webb and Knapp owned the remaining 20 percent of the theater. The firm of Roche and Roche renovated the interior extensively, replacing the two balcony levels with a single balcony, as well as closing and sealing the Broadway entrance. under which was a black-and-white sidewalk. which was then swapped with Shakespeare's
Much Ado About Nothing. In February 1958, the Globe was renamed in honor of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, who planned to retire after the inaugural show at the theater. The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre opened on May 5, 1958, with
Friedrich Dürrenmatt's
The Visit, starring Lunt and Fontanne. Dowling, Stevens, and Whitehead had been threatened with a fine if they had not opened
Visit by May 5. This production was the last one to feature Lunt and Fontanne on Broadway. The revival of
Much Ado About Nothing, with
John Gielgud and
Margaret Leighton, opened in 1959. which had 1,443 performances during the next three years, including some at the
Mark Hellinger Theatre. The musical
Little Me with
Sid Caesar opened in 1962; in spite of critical acclaim, the musical's run ended early due to
a newspaper strike.
Richard Burton appeared in a revival of
Hamlet in 1964, it was followed by several short musical runs. The partners sold the Lunt-Fontanne to developer Stanley Stahl in 1965. That year, the theater staged
Skyscraper with
Julie Harris's first musical appearance, followed in 1966 by
Walking Happy with
Norman Wisdom. Shows of the late 1960s included
Marlene Dietrich's Broadway debut in 1967, followed the same year by
How Now, Dow Jones. The theater then underwent a renovation and was leased for one year by Lester Osterman. Afterward,
Hal Linden and
Keene Curtis starred in the musical
The Rothschilds. The Nederlander Organization started operating the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in 1973.
The Pajama Game in 1973,
Hello, Dolly! in 1978, and
Peter Pan in 1979. The theater also hosted original productions during the 1970s, such as
Rex in 1976. In 1981, Duke Ellington's revue
Sophisticated Ladies opened at the Lunt-Fontanne, running for 767 performances. This was followed by two revivals staged in 1983 by
Zev Buffman: and
The Corn Is Green. In addition,
Peggy Lee made her Broadway premiere the same year in a limited solo engagement. This was followed by a revival of
The Wiz in 1984, and
Jerry Weintraub purchased a stake in the operation of the Lunt-Fontanne the same year. A revival of
The Iceman Cometh followed in 1985. The originals ''
Uptown... It's Hot! and Smile
were staged in 1986, as well as a transfer of The Gospel at Colonus in 1988. In addition to these, the Lunt-Fontanne hosted special appearances, including illusionist Doug Henning (1984); Grateful Dead vocalist Jerry Garcia (1987); rock band Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (1989); and singer Freddie Jackson (1989). Stahl and James M. Nederlander considered leasing out the Lunt-Fontanne as a movie theater in 1989, citing a downturn in theatrical bookings; The Threepenny Opera'' opened later that year. The theater also hosted the
43rd Tony Awards in 1989, followed the next year by the
44th Tony Awards. The
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) had started to consider protecting the Lunt-Fontanne as a landmark in 1982, with discussions continuing over the next several years. The LPC designated the Lunt-Fontanne's facade as a landmark on December 8, 1987, but the modified interior was denied landmark status. This was part of the commission's wide-ranging effort in 1987 to grant landmark status to Broadway theaters. 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 Lunt-Fontanne, 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.
1990s to present A second revival of
Peter Pan, featuring
Cathy Rigby, was staged at the Lunt-Fontanne in 1990, as was a concert by
Harry Connick Jr. A 1991 transfer of
Oh, Kay! closed during previews; multiple box-office employees were suspended after stealing ticket revenue from the show. Several flops were then staged at the Lunt-Fontanne, including the musical ''Ain't Broadway Grand
in 1993, as well as The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public Carol Channing, who had previously performed at the Lunt-Fontanne during the 1978 revival of Hello, Dolly!
, returned for another revival in 1995, which ran 118 performances. The Royal Shakespeare Company produced A Midsummer Night's Dream'' in 1996, The musical
Titanic opened in 1997 and was a hit, earning enough money to fund renovations of the theater. After
Titanic run ended in March 1999, the theater was closed for much of the year while Sachs Morgan Studio renovated it, changing the lighting and paint scheme. The Planet Hollywood Hotel was being built during the same time, requiring contractors on that hotel to carefully monitor the Lunt-Fontanne for damage.
Beauty and the Beast opened at the Lunt-Fontanne in late 1999, transferring from the
Palace Theatre with a downsized cast, and ran until 2007. and the bar area was demolished and rebuilt to accommodate a new building to the east. The Lunt-Fontanne reopened later that year with preview performances of
The Little Mermaid, which officially opened in 2008 and ran until 2009. The theater hosted a limited engagement by
Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons The theater
closed on March 12, 2020, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, reopening on October 8, 2021, with performances of
Tina, which ran until August 2022. A revival of
Sweeney Todd starring
Josh Groban and
Annaleigh Ashford opened at the theater in early 2023
Death Becomes Her opened at the theater in November 2024. ==Notable productions==