The Great Theatre Massacre of 1982

[morosco]

Posted: 3/31/13 at 2:01am

Five Broadway Stages Faced the Wrecking Ball for a Marriott

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 3/31/13 at 11:38am

Wonderfully poignant. from RC in Austin, Texas

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 3/31/13 at 12:05pm

Thank you so much for that! I knew bits and pieces, but it's wonderful to see all that narrative put together with the historical images.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 3/31/13 at 12:14pm

Love Susan Sarandon's face... PRICELESS.

Otherwise this is a very sad yet informative article.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 3/31/13 at 4:11pm

I was there for the big rally in front of the theatres on March 22, 1982. Joe Papp, Tammy Grimes, Christopher Reeve (prior to his accident), Betty Comden and Adolph Green were all there and staged an act of civil disobedience standing in the path of the bulldozers. they were all carted away in paddy wagons. Then the demolition began with a vengence....so sad to lose those beautiful old theaters but (we were assured) a newer even better theatre would be built into the new hotel... which is how we got The Marquis.

Not long after most of the historic theatres were granted landmark status. It will make future demolitions much harder (though not impossible.) Even sadder then was to stroll by the old Biltmore theatre, it had been damaged by vandals and fire and looked... well, like a setting for FOLLIES.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/31/13 at 4:29pm

This is alledged progress.

To think the barn known as the Marquis replaced them. NY has lost so many theaters (legit & movies) it goggles the mind.

[Kevin Norte]

Posted: 1/29/14 at 3:48pm

Would you believe The Original Morosco Theatre is still standing. I only recently became aware that New York's Morosco Theatre was Oliver Morosco's second. The first opened in 1913 in Los Angeles. While its name was changed after Morosco became somewhat notorious, the name "Morosco Theatre" can still be seen in the facade behind the marque.

Checking out Broadway's old theaters of the superb

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 1/29/14 at 4:06pm

I was there and remember it like it was this morning. A heartbreaking experience.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/29/14 at 4:43pm

This still breaks my heart.

[Kevin Norte]

Posted: 1/29/14 at 6:01pm

I became an activist with Save The Theatres during that period. My job on March 21 1982 was to tie up a pay phone at the Court House so that Joe Papp and Company, who were waiting at Cafe Ziegfeld could get in place. My efforts were futile because the judge set the dissolution of the Protective order for the next morning. My boyfriend was on the other end of the phone. I was 20 and he was 19. Honest. It was horrible in a Titanic sort of way but we bonded. The next day, we climbed into the ruins through an unguarded fire escape next to the adjoining hotel and took a piece of plaster and a Playbill from the final show that played there. No one has to believe us. They did not salvage anything. The lights, curtains, seats, and everything as if was planning to open were destroyed that day in a savage brutal act that was an emotional assault that both of us were never quite over. In our grief, well, there was a bright spot. We are married now and were the volunteers who gave the recent tours of the Morosco Theatre in Los Angeles. People are actually captivated with the tale of the Great Theatre Massacre of 1982. NRDC were our side's attorneys and inspired me to become an attorney. My husband became a planner.
I believe that for many of us the passion still runs raw even after 30 years.
Thank you and remember, Save The Theatres.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 1/29/14 at 6:53pm

If the theatres had been replaced by a fabulous building - elegant, distinguished, properly scaled - it would still have been a sad loss for the theatre world, but one could look at the new building with pride and say, look at the beautiful edifice we got in their place! Instead, we got the daylight obscuring, soul-crushing concrete excrescence, the Marriott Marquis. It's a bleak, depressing fortress, with no connection or relation whatsoever to the city it's in. Once inside, you could be anywhere in the United States or the world for that matter, which seems the antithesis of a New York experience - or perhaps exactly the bland, faceless, personality-free quality the Marriott company had in mind when the monstrosity was designed and constructed. I still hope for a day when someone - anyone - says, 'You know what? We made a terrible mistake. The architectural renderings got screwed up and the design that went up was really intended for Skokie, Illinois. We've decided we're going to just take it down, and start all over.'

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 1/30/14 at 4:38am

Speaking of... where is that awesome thread detailing Broadway's lost theatres? There were some great pics there.

[Jacobonce]

Posted: 1/30/14 at 8:41am

"The architectural renderings got screwed up and the design that went up was really intended for Skokie, Illinois."

Psssh, I live near Skokie, IL and there isn't a single building there that is as ugly as the Marriott Marquis.

Updated On: 1/30/14 at 08:41 AM

[Kevin Norte]

Posted: 1/30/14 at 9:00am

This is a great piece on it.
Keith York City The Great Theatre Massacre of 1982

[StageStruckLad]

Posted: 1/30/14 at 12:11pm

I wonder if the architectural firm that "designed" that Marriott monstrosity now hangs its head in shame? Probably not.

[macnyc]

Posted: 1/30/14 at 1:13pm

Thanks for posting the Keith York City link. Fascinating!

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 1/31/17 at 5:59am

Of the current Broadway theatres, which ones have existed the longest?  

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 1/31/17 at 6:24am

Isn't it the Lyceum or the New Amsterdam?

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/31/17 at 7:22am

Also The Hudson. 

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 1/31/17 at 7:37am

StageStruckLad said: "I wonder if the architectural firm that "designed" that Marriott monstrosity now hangs its head in shame? Probably not."

Actually, I'm pretty certain that it was designed by the biggest starchitect of the time (although the term hadn't been invented), John Portman. And I suspect it's a prime part of the firm's portfolio, alongside the Hyatt Embarcadero Center in SF and the Peachtree (something) in Atlanta. It was quite the dazzling accomplishment in its time. And today, provides a prime electric board to Broadway, manages to fit an immense hotel and large theatre into the center of Times Square, and provides another block of pass-through beyond Shubert Alley. Concrete brutalism? Yeah. That's specifically what the style is. I suspect it'll even be trendy in a year or two. To me, the unforgivable design decision is the carpet. Have you seen it? Worse than the worst in Las Vegas. 

Yes, I would have LOVED for the old theatres to be retained and I have no great love for the Marquis, although I DO appreciate the leg room. I treasure old theatres, tally the ones I have yet to see (Majestic, Winter Garden, Ambassador, American Airlines) and have joined in the celebration of the reopening of the Curran Theater, here in SF. 

Yet, to hear Gerald Schoenfeld (yeah, one of "the lawyers" ) tell the story, either in his own book or Michael Riedel's, times were dire in Times Square. And it's not as if any shows had to wait for a theatre to open up. Many of today's houses were dark for years at a time. 

Perhaps, as the destruction of Penn Station paved the way for historic preservation nationwide and the beautiful restoration of Grand Central Terminal, the 1982 massacre paved the way for the protection and celebration of the wonderful (mostly) Broadway houses we know so well today.

(Full disclosure - we've started staying there on our theatre visits because my husband has ambulatory issues and there is literally no more convenient hotel for our shows.)

Updated On: 1/31/17 at 07:37 AM

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 1/31/17 at 12:01pm

The Lyceum is the oldest continually operating Broadway House. It, the New Amsterdam, and the Hudson were all built simultaneously and opened within a month of each other (The Hudson opened first).

None of them are the oldest theatre in NYC though. The New Victory is several years older and there may be ones even older elsewhere in the city.

Updated On: 1/31/17 at 12:01 PM