Photos: Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne Documentary THIS PLACE MATTERS! TEN CHIMNEYS Premieres

A new documentary entitled This Place Matters! Ten Chimneys premiered on Monday, October 6, 2025, at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City. BroadwayWorld was there and you can check out photos below!

The film explores the lives and loves of one of the most fascinating and influential couples in theater history – Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. Often referred to as “the first couple of the Broadway stage,” they had three great loves: each other, the stage, and their Wisconsin estate called Ten Chimneys.  A studio for artistic work and expression and the spiritual home for leading theater artists from the mid-1920's through the 1960’s – celebrated actors, writers, and directors journeyed to Ten Chimneys to relax, rejuvenate, and collaborate on projects that became milestones of American theater.

The documentary features luminaries of the American stage including Alan Alda, Jason Alexander, Carol Channing, Tyne Daly, Colman Domingo, Olympia Dukakis, Barry Edelstein, Joel Grey, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Alfred Molina, David Hyde Pierce, Phylicia Rashad, and Lynn Redgrave, with narration by Lunt-Fontanne Fellow, Sharon Lawrence. Additional information can be found at tenchimneys.org.

For more than four decades, Lunt & Fontanne were considered the King and Queen of the Broadway stage, revolutionizing theater with innovations that we now accept as commonplace: overlapping dialogue, turning their backs to the audience, passionate physical contact, and a level of truth and realism in everything they did that simply could not be found on the stage prior. They retreated to Ten Chimneys every summer for personal and artistic rejuvenation. Ten Chimneys was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2003, for the significance of its owners to the history of performing arts, and for its distinctive architecture and decoration.

This Place Matters! Ten Chimneys offers a rare look into the lives of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, their beautiful home, and the legacy that keeps artists coming back time and again, as well as theater lovers visiting Ten Chimneys for a look at the legend.

Photo Credit: Bruce Glikas