Development and early years The Nederlander Theatre was constructed in 1920 as a carpenter's shop; plans filed with the New York City government called for a "3 sty [non-fireproof] brick Carpenter's shop and storage, club rooms, shower, [apartments] and tennis court". In 1921, Walter C. Jordan acquired the building and spent $950,000 to convert it into a theater. The venue was originally supposed to be known as the Times Square Theatre, but this name was already being used by another structure at
217 West 42nd Street. As such, Jordan renamed the structure the National Theatre at the end of July 1921, shortly after booking
Swords (
Sidney Howard's first play The
Shubert brothers were hired as the theater's managers. as Mary Fitton in the Broadway production of
Clemence Dane's play
Will Shakespeare at the National Theatre The theater opened on September 2, 1921, with
Swords.
John Willard's melodrama
The Cat and the Canary, which opened at the National in February 1922, was a major critical success paying $1 million, which at the time was a record for a Broadway theater. Hampden presented a revival of the play
Cyrano de Bergerac, which was a success, lasting for 250 performances. The theater building was less successful, having gone into
receivership in November 1923 after Jordan failed to make payments on a mortgage. When his lease expired, Hampden chose to instead operate his own theater. During 1926, the National hosted live performances by magician
Harry Houdini; the play
The Half-Caste, starring
Fredric March; and
George M. Cohan's adaptation of the play
Yellow. Jordan, who continued to own the theater, was charged with tax fraud in late 1926 after failing to pay the theater's property taxes.
Shubert management 1920s and 1930s In February 1927, the Shubert brothers bought the National Theatre from the Sanjor Corporation, which had owned the theater for eight years. Later that year, Willard staged a short-lived play,
Fog, at the theater. This was followed in September 1927 by
Bayard Veiller's melodrama
The Trial of Mary Dugan, which ran at the National for nearly a year before relocating. Subsequently, the
Martin Flavin play
The Criminal Code opened at the National in 1929 and lasted for 174 performances. A troupe led by Chinese actor
Mei Lanfang briefly performed at the theater in early 1930, followed later that year by the play
Grand Hotel (based on
Vicki Baum's book
Grand Hotel), which ran for 459 performances. and the theater largely hosted
flops in 1932 and 1933. Alfred E. Aarons and Harry J. Sommers leased the National for a year beginning in August 1933, and they renovated the National's auditorium the next month. By then, the National was in danger of being demolished because of a sharp increase in real-estate values. The theater hosted
Sean O'Casey's play
Within the Gates in 1934. Subsequently,
Guthrie McClintic's production of the drama
Ethan Frome was presented there in January 1936, as well as
Noël Coward's anthology of plays
Tonight at 8:30 that November. The
Mercury Theatre company, led by
John Houseman and
Orson Welles, performed revivals of the plays
Julius Caesar and ''
The Shoemaker's Holiday at the National in 1937 and 1938. The Lillian Hellman drama The Little Foxes'', starring
Tallulah Bankhead, then opened in February 1939 and lasted for 410 performances. starring
Ethel Barrymore for more than a year.
Margaret Webster's staging of
Macbeth then opened in late 1941. it was followed later the same year by
Lerner and Loewe's first Broadway musical, ''
What's Up?, which was a flop. and Barrymore appeared later that year in the play Embezzled Heaven
. During the mid-1940s, the National hosted several productions with over one hundred performances each. the revue Call Me Mister in 1946; and the tragedy Medea'' with
Judith Anderson in 1947. The next several shows were relatively short-lived, including an adaptation of
Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel
Crime and Punishment in 1947, as well as revivals of
Tonight at 8:30 and
Macbeth in 1948. This was followed the next year by
Clifford Odets's
The Big Knife, as well as a revival of
Caesar and Cleopatra with
Cedric Hardwicke and
Lilli Palmer. In 1950, the theater featured live performances by Les Ballets de Paris and a revival of
King Lear with
Louis Calhern. The musical ''
Courtin' Time'',
Tennessee Williams's play
Camino Real was staged at the National in early 1953, and the comedy of manners
Sabrina Fair opened later the same year. The National hosted the play
Inherit the Wind starting in 1955. With 806 performances,
Inherit the Wind was the theater's most successful non-musical to date, as well as its longest-lasting production for several decades. In particular, the Shuberts had to sell the National Theatre within one year of the ruling, and they had to sell three other theaters within two years. That September, the Shuberts sold the National to Harry Fromkes for an estimated $900,000; at the time,
Inherit the Wind was still being staged at the theater. Fromkes died after a fall from his apartment in February 1958, prompting the closure of the play
Winesburg, Ohio, which was being performed there at the time. Fromkes's firm
defaulted on its mortgage after his death, and the
New York Supreme Court appointed a
receiver to manage the theater that March. The receiver booked the
Harry Kurnitz play
Once More, with Feeling!, which opened in late 1958 and ran for 263 performances. At the time, Rose worked for
William Zeckendorf's real-estate company
Webb and Knapp; this prompted Zeckendorf to sue Rose for ownership of the theater. Rose spent $500,000 to renovate the theater, hiring
Oliver Messel to redecorate the auditorium in a red, gold, and white color scheme. The venue was renamed the Billy Rose Theatre and reopened on October 18, 1959, with the play
Heartbreak House, which had 112 performances. which was notable as Katharine Cornell's last Broadway appearance, as well as a drama based on
John Hersey's novel
The Wall. The Billy Rose's next hit was
Edward Albee's play ''
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'', which opened in 1962 and ran for 660 performances over the next two years. Throughout the 1960s, the theater was often empty for extended periods because of a lack of productions. Albee's play
Tiny Alice, featuring
John Gielgud and
Irene Worth, opened at the theater at the end of 1964, The theater hosted a variety of
repertory productions in the late 1960s. These included
Yiddish theater performances by the Jewish State Theater of Poland and performances by the
Paul Taylor Dance Company in 1967. The Playwrights Repertory Theatre performed several plays by Albee and
Samuel Beckett at the theater in 1968, and the
Minnesota Dance Theatre performed two plays there later that year. Following a performance by the
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in early 1969, the revival of Noel Coward's
Private Lives was presented later the same year. The Billy Rose hosted two notable shows in 1971: the
Royal Shakespeare Company's version of Shakespeare's ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream'', as well as
Harold Pinter's drama
Old Times. The
City Center Acting Company performed four plays at the Billy Rose in late 1973 and early 1974, marking the company's first Broadway appearance. This was followed in 1974 by
Tom Stoppard's play
Jumpers, which had 48 performances before closing. Several theatrical personalities alleged that the
Billy Rose Foundation (which had acquired the theater after Rose died), had allowed the structure to deteriorate. In response, foundation officials said that operating the theater was not its main priority. The theater's first legitimate show in three years,
Gus Weill's
The November People, closed after a single performance in January 1978.
Nederlander management Late 1970s and 1980s Two theatrical operators, the
Nederlander Organization and the Cooney-Marsh Organization (the latter of which was a partnership between producer
Ray Cooney and real-estate developer
Laurie Marsh), purchased the venue in December 1978. The venue was immediately renamed the Trafalgar Theatre, a reference to the new owners' British backgrounds;
James M. Nederlander of the Nederlander Organization said: "We want to put big English hits in the theater". and
Betrayal in 1980. James M. Nederlander renamed the theater again in 1980 in honor of his father, American theater impresario David T. Nederlander, who had died thirteen years prior. The first show at the renamed Nederlander Theatre would have been the musical
One Night Stand, which closed during previews in October 1980.
Lena Horne performed her solo show
Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music at the theater starting in May 1981; the show lasted for more than a year. In general, the Nederlander Theatre had difficulty securing bookings during the 1980s. The next several productions had relatively short runs, The theater's productions in the mid-1980s included
84 Charing Cross Road,
Amen Corner,
Strange Interlude and
Raggedy Ann, as well as a live show taped by
Robert Klein in June 1986. In addition,
Jerry Weintraub purchased a stake in the operation of the Nederlander Theatre in 1984. The
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) had started considering protecting the Nederlander as a landmark in 1982, with discussions continuing over the next several years. While the LPC commenced a wide-ranging effort to grant landmark status to Broadway theaters in 1987, the Nederlander was among the few theaters for which the LPC denied either exterior or interior landmark status.
David Wilkerson, founding pastor of the
Times Square Church, leased the theater in January 1988, a month after the play ''Sherlock's Last Case'' had closed. The theater quickly became overcrowded during church services; by 1989, the 1,150-seat Nederlander Theatre was at
standing-room only capacity five days a week. This prompted the Nederlanders to lease the
Mark Hellinger Theatre to the Times Square Church in February 1989; the Times Square Church moved to the Hellinger the next month.
1990s and 2000s The Shuberts, the Nederlanders, and Jujamcyn formed the Broadway Alliance in June 1990, wherein each company set aside one of its theaters to present dramas and comedies at reduced ticket prices. The program covered the
Belasco, Nederlander, and
Walter Kerr theaters. The Broadway Alliance's first show at the Nederlander Theatre was the play ''
Our Country's Good, which lasted from April to June 1991. More than one year elapsed before the Nederlander hosted its next production, the one-man show Solitary Confinement'' with
Stacy Keach, which ran for two weeks in November 1992. The theater was still difficult to rent and did not host any Broadway shows for over three years; and by
Jackson Browne that November. The Nederlander Organization unsuccessfully tried to move
Cy Coleman's musical
The Life there in 1994, but the theater instead hosted auditions for the musical
Busker Alley. The next year, the Nederlander hosted another audition, this time for the musical
The Capeman.
Jonathan Larson's
Pulitzer Prize-winning musical
Rent was booked at the Nederlander in early 1996; The theater's facade and interior were remodeled to resemble a
lower Manhattan nightclub. and quickly became popular. In contrast to many Broadway productions (in which tickets for seats at the rear of the theater were generally the cheapest),
Rent producers reserved the first two rows for the cheapest tickets. This prompted fans to sleep outside the theater to wait for these tickets. The opening of
Rent, as well as the renovation of the nearby New Amsterdam Theatre, contributed to the revitalization of the surrounding block of 41st Street. Workers expanded the restrooms and restored the original design motifs (which had been largely removed during the 1961 renovation). the show played 113 performances before closing that June. Due to poor ticket sales for
Brighton Beach Memoirs, the show closed on November 1, 2009, one week after its opening. Simon also canceled the planned production of
Broadway Bound, blaming the theater's location for the rapid closure of
Brighton Beach Memoirs. running for 489 performances before moving
off-Broadway in June 2011.
Disney's production of the musical
Newsies opened in March 2012; the show's run was extended because of its popularity, and
Newsies ultimately lasted until August 2014. As part of a settlement with the
United States Department of Justice in 2014, the Nederlanders agreed to improve disabled access at their nine Broadway theaters, including the Nederlander Theatre.
Love Letters was originally scheduled to run at the Nederlander after
Newsies closed. Instead, the musical
Honeymoon in Vegas opened at the theater in January 2015, followed by
Amazing Grace that July. The Nederlander hosted two short-lived shows in 2016. The musical
Disaster! lasted from March to May 2016, while a revival of
Motown: The Musical opened that July and ran for less than a month. The musical
War Paint ran at the Nederlander from April to November 2017, followed by
Pretty Woman: The Musical from August 2018 to August 2019. The Nederlander then hosted two live appearances in late 2019:
Kristin Chenoweth's
For The Girls in November and
Harry Connick Jr.'s
A Celebration of Cole Porter the following month.
The Lehman Trilogy was planned to open at the Nederlander in March 2020. The show was in previews when all Broadway theaters temporarily
closed on March 12, 2020, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The Nederlander reopened on September 25, 2021, with previews of
The Lehman Trilogy, The musical
Mr. Saturday Night then ran from April to September 2022, and it was followed by
Jefferson Mays's solo production of
A Christmas Carol at the end of the year. It was followed in March 2024 by the musical ''
The Who's Tommy, The next show to be staged at the Nederlander, the musical Redwood'', opened in February 2025 This was followed in August 2025 by a limited engagement of
Jeff Ross's comedy show
Take A Banana for the Ride and in December by a twelve-week run of the comedy
All Out: Comedy About Ambition.
Schmigadoon! opened at the Nederlander for a limited run lasting from April through October 2026. ==Notable productions==