Nederlander Theatre on Broadway

Known over the years as the National, the Billy Rose, and the Trafalgar, the David T. Nederlander Theatre stands in honor of the patriarch of the Nederlander Family, now in its third generation as the owners and operators of many of the most distinguished theatres and concert venues throughout America. Built in 1921, some of the best known plays have been presented here including Cyrano de Bergerac, Private Lives, Julius Caesar, King Lear, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. One of its most distinguished attractions was Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, for which she won a special Tony Award. Located near the heart of the Times Square Theatre District, it was the perfect venue for Jonathan Larson's rock opera, Rent, which was inspired by Puccini's La Boheme. To reflect the aura of the East Village, the theatre facade and interior were decorated to resemble a downtown nightclub. The Nederlander Theatre has 1,232 seats and is one of The Nederlander Organizations nine Broadway theatres.

The show with the longest run in the Nederlander Theatre was Rent! Rent opened at the Nederlander theatre on April 29, 1996 and closed on September 7, 2008 after 5,123 performances. Rent is the 11th longest-running show of all time. Rent features music, lyrics, and book by Jonathan Larson. The original production starred Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jesse L. Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Idina Menzel, Fredi Walker, and Taye Diggs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well as four Tony Awards. Rent received Tony's for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for Wilson Jermaine Heredia. Rent spawned multiple national tours, UK productions, an Off-Broadway revival, international productions, and a 2005 film adaptation starring most of the original Broadway cast.