The Stephen Sondheim Theatre, formerly Henry Miller's Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 124 West 43rd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, U.S. Owned by the Durst Organization and managed by the Roundabout Theatre Company, the modern 1,055-seat theater opened in 2009 at the base of the Bank of America Tower. The current theater is mostly underground and was designed by COOKFOX, architects of the Bank of America Tower, with Adamson Associates Architects as architect of record. It retains the landmarked facade of the original Henry Miller's Theatre, which was built in 1918 by Henry Miller, the actor and producer.
The original 950-seat theater was designed in the neoclassical style by Harry Creighton Ingalls of Ingalls & Hoffman, in conjunction with Paul R. Allen. Its facade is protected as a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. It was managed by Henry Miller along with Elizabeth Milbank Anderson and Klaw & Erlanger. After Miller's death in 1926, his son Gilbert Miller took over operation. The Miller family sold the theater in 1966 to the Nederlander Organization, who sold it in 1968 to Seymour Durst. The final musical production at the theater closed in 1969. It served as a porn theater through much of the 1970s, then operated as a discotheque called Xenon from 1978 to 1984, and subsequently operated as a nightclub under various names in the 1980s and 1990s.
Henry Miller's Theatre reopened as a Broadway house in 1998, when Roundabout staged a revival of Cabaret, during which it was advertised as the Kit Kat Klub, the musical's fictional venue. Cabaret transferred to Studio 54 later that year, and the theater briefly operated as a nightclub in 1999 and 2000. The dystopian musical Urinetown played in the venue from 2001 to 2004. Afterward, the auditorium was demolished, and the modern theater, originally retaining the Henry Miller's name, opened in 2009. The theater was renamed for American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim on his 80th birthday in 2010.
Design The Stephen Sondheim Theatre is on 124 West 43rd Street, at the base of the Bank of America Tower, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. It was originally known as Henry Miller's Theatre and was designed in the neo-Georgian style by Paul R. Allen with Ingalls & Hoffman, a firm composed of Harry Creighton Ingalls and F. Burrall Hoffman Jr. Though listed as an architect of record, Hoffman was not involved with the theater's design, having enlisted in the military when Ingalls and Allen began designing the theater. The theater was originally named for its builder, English-born actor-producer Henry Miller; since 2010, it has been named for composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021). While the facade dates from Allen and Ingalls & Hoffman's original design in 1918, the auditorium and other internal spaces date to a 2009 reconstruction.
Facade The facade is made of red brick and white marble. Miller had conceived of the theater building as the ideal "American theatre", but the facade took significant inspiration from English theater, and even the neo-Georgian decoration was meant to evoke the English origins of American drama. A writer for Architectural Record wrote that the design appeared to be at least partially inspired by the architecture of the Drury Lane Theatre. Unlike most theaters of its time, Henry Miller's Theatre had windows on its street-facing facade, illuminating what were originally offices. The original facade still exists but only serves as an entrance to the rebuilt theater underground. The facade protrudes from the Bank of America Tower's glass curtain wall, which surrounds it on all sides.
The theater's ground-story facade consists of a water table made of granite, above which is a brick facade. There are five rectangular doorways at the center of the facade, each containing a recessed pair of metal doors; above these doorways are stone lintels with urn symbols flanked by rosettes. When the theater was built, the three center doorways led to a box office lobby; the leftmost doorway led to the balcony; and the rightmost doorway led to the gallery. There is a marquee above the three center bays of the ground story. , the marquee displays the words "Stephen Sondheim", reflecting its rename from Henry Miller's Theatre.
Henry Miller's Theatre was the first Broadway theater to be built under the 1916 Zoning Resolution, which is reflected in its design. Where previous Broadway theaters had to contain open-air alleys on either side, Henry Miller's Theatre concealed its alleys behind the extreme ends of either facade. Accordingly, the five center doorways are flanked by a pair of segmental-arched gateways with wrought-iron gates. The gateways have paneled keystones above their centers and wrought-iron lanterns flanking each side.
The rest of the facade is made of red brick in common bond and is split into two end pavilions flanking five vertical bays. Each bay is delineated by projecting brick pilasters topped by decorated Corinthian-style capitals of terracotta. The five center bays have rectangular window openings at the second story, with stone keystones and brick voussoirs atop each window, as well as iron balconies curving outward. On the third story, there are three round-arched windows at the center, flanked by two blind openings with brick infill; they also have stone keystones and brick voussoirs. The end pavilions have arched brick niches at the second story and terracotta roundels on the third story. Above that is a terracotta frieze with the name "Henry Miller's Theatre" carved in the center and triangular pediments above the end pavilions. A parapet runs at the roof of the facade. Above the theater facade is a billboard attached to the Bank of America Tower's curtain wall.
Interior
Original design
The interior was designed similarly to old English rooms in the Adam style. The box-office lobby was an elliptical space. The walls were cream-colored with mauve glazing and were decorated with a molding, a plaster cornice, and lighting fixtures. The box-office lobby had a floor of black and white marble, and the ceiling was made of plaster. The metal grilles and fixtures were painted in dark colors, while the doors were a dark ivory shade. Three doorways from the box-office lobby led to a shallow foyer running across the rear of the auditorium's orchestra. The foyer had bright-blue walls similar to those along the stairways and passageways. Stairs at either end of the foyer descended to the lounge, and another stair on the right side ascended to the balcony. The stairs between the foyer and lounge contained landings, which led to a ladies' retiring room and gentlemen's smoking room. The lounge had English green walls with silk hangings; its design elements included an onyx-and-crystal candelabra. Different designs of light fixtures were used for the foyer and lounge, but they had similarly designed black carpets with green and rose decorations.
The original auditorium had 950 seats. It was semicircular and designed with what Miller considered an "intimate" feel. The parquet level was outfitted with 404 seats, even though the back row had to be removed because of the presence of the lobby behind it. The original auditorium included two balcony levels, the higher level being the "gallery". The second balcony was included because Miller had only been able to afford balcony seats in his youth. Many older and larger theaters of the time had two balconies, but newer or smaller theaters only contained one balcony. The lower balcony level had boxes, which Miller had initially planned to exclude from the design, though he ultimately decided upon making them inconspicuous. The gallery level, on the same level as Miller's office, had an elevator so people could reach the gallery easily. There were 200 seats in the gallery. The auditorium's carpets had a black background with colorful patterns, a contrast to contemporary theaters that had monochrome carpets. The auditorium also had gray walls, hand-painted panels, and brightly colored plaster medallions and swags. Illumination was provided by central chandeliers as well as lights in the boxes.
The front of the auditorium had a wooden orchestra pit separated from the audience by a curved screen. The music came from louvers at the top of the screen. A pianist in the pit operated a choral cello, sounds from which were piped throughout the auditorium. The stage was wide and had an amber brocade curtain. Above the curtain was a medallion with personifications of comedy and tragedy. The left side of the stage contained its "working side", where stage directions were given, while the right side contained the dressing rooms. The rear of the stage had an additional space with a low ceiling. A counterweight system was installed over the stage, which obviated the requirement for a fly system. A switchboard controlled the lights above the stage.
2009 reconstruction From 2004 to 2009, the old theater was replaced with a 1,055-seat theater designed by COOKFOX, architects of the Bank of America Tower, with Adamson Associates Architects as the architect of record. The rebuilt theater covers . Severud and Tishman had to excavate up to below street level, since the new auditorium could not rise above the old facade. This makes the theater one of two subterranean houses on Broadway. The ground-level entrance contains the mezzanine, with the orchestra level located below. The ground level has a bar and cafe, and there is an upper mezzanine with a restaurant. Two-thirds of the seating, as well as a lobby bar, are at orchestra level. The interior retains artifacts from the original structure. These artifacts include the original emergency-exit doors and the plaster frieze from the auditorium.
The theater's interior was designed to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold green-building standards. The environmental features include recycled wall panels, locally quarried marble, and waterless urinals. This makes the Stephen Sondheim Theatre the first Broadway theater to meet LEED standards. The rebuilt theater's design was influenced by input from numerous government agencies, theatre companies, and other organizations. For instance, the women's restroom was designed with 22 stalls, three times the number required under building code, and the men's restroom was designed with 10 stalls, one and a half times the code requirement. In addition, the Stephen Sondheim is fully accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, with 20 viewing stations, a drinking fountain, and a restroom for disabled guests.
History 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. Miller had leased the lot from its owner, Elizabeth Milbank Anderson. Paul Allen and Ingalls & Hoffman were hired for the design. Allen had been involved in the project partially because Miller had a history of working with Allen's sister, actress Viola Allen.
Early years