SEATING CAPACITY: 1761
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The Broadway Theatre is one of only five playhouses that front on the street named Broadway. It opened in 1924 as B. S. Moss's Colony, a premiere film house. The most notable film that played there in the early years was Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie which opened in 1928, and introduced American audiences to an adorable rodent named Mickey Mouse. The theatre went "legit" from 1930 to 1934, when it was re-christened the Broadway. From 1934 to 1940, the house was once again dedicated to motion picture exhibition, and offered the premiere of Disney's Fantasia in 1939. In 1940, however, it returned to legitimate stage production and, except for a brief stint as a Cinerama movie theatre in the 1950s, has remained in the business of showcasing live theatre ever since. B. S. Moss commissioned architect Eugene DeRosa to design the Colony as part of his chain of movie theatres, many of which also housed vaudeville. The large size of the theatre (1,765 seats) made it ideal for musical comedies, and its large stage, originally built to accommodate an orchestra to accompany silent films, proved large enough for aircraft. The original facade (like the interior) was built in the Italian Renaissance style, and then resurfaced in polished granite when a skyscraper was constructed above the theatre in 1991.
On December 30, 2019, producers Scott Rudin, Barry Diller, and David Geffen announced that West Side Story had broken the all-time Broadway Theatre house record for a single week, with a gross of $1,807,025.94. In 7 performances the previous week, West Side Story broke the record (with a gross of $1,497,319) held by Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella ($1,479,889.97, established on 12/29/13, for an 8-performance week). This new record also represented an all-time box office high in the 62-year life of West Side Story on Broadway.
Accessible seating is available for this performance as indicated on the seating map. Theatre is not completely wheelchair-accessible.
Orchestra location: Seating is accessible to all parts of the Orchestra without steps. Wheelchair seating is located in the Orchestra only.
Mezzanine location: Located up two flights of stairs (30 steps). Once on the Mezzanine level, there are approximately two steps up and down per row. Entrance to Mezzanine is behind Front Mezzanine row F and in front of row A of the Rear Mezzanine.
Handrails: Available at the end of every stepped seat row in the Mezzanine.
There is one (unisex) wheelchair accessible restroom located on the lobby level.
The Broadway Theatre provides at least 10 infrared assistive-listening devices for every performance at the theatre. Beginning four weeks after a show’s official opening-night performance, at least 10 audio description devices are available for every performance at the theatre. In addition, there is unlimited access to downloadable audio description software for personal mobile devices, available beginning four weeks after a show’s official opening night performance, which provides an automated detailed account of the visual of the production, free of charge, for blind or partially sighted patrons. The theatre also offers handheld devices and software that provide captioning for deaf or hard-of-hearing patrons, available beginning four weeks after a show’s official opening-night performance.
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