HISTORY
Lee Shubert built the Booth Theatre in partnership with the producer Winthrop Ames. Named for the actor Edwin Booth (1833-1893), brother to the infamous John Wilkes Booth, the venue was actually the second New York theatre to bear this name. The first was built by Booth himself in 1869 on 23rd Street and 6th Avenue. Ames’s father had been devoted to preserving the actor’s legacy, so Winthrop’s decision to name this theatre after Booth honored not only the actor, but connected his own family’s interest with the actor’s rich theatrical history. Ames intended to present the most challenging and prestigious productions possible here.
ARCHITECTURE
The Booth was designed by Henry Herts to be one of a pair of playhouses: the Booth and the Shubert Theatres abut each other along Shubert Alley in one seamless unit. Styled with “restrained classicism,” the Booth is the smaller, less extravagant of the two houses. The sgraffito that adorns the exterior of both theaters is the last known surviving example in New York of this once popular decorating technique. Ames had an extensive knowledge of the architecture and technical advances of contemporary European theatres and modeled his theatre and productions after them.
Spotlight on Broadway: Booth Theatre from Spotlight on Broadway on Vimeo.
Details on the Booth Theatre's Accessibility
Access Information
Theatre is not completely wheelchair accessible.
Shubert Audience Services
The Booth Theatre provides accommodations for patrons who are blind, deaf, partially sighted, and/or have hearing loss, except as permitted for accessibility services. The theatre provides infrared assistive listening devices for every performance at the theatre. In addition, beginning four weeks after a show’s official opening night performance, hand-held audio description devices, hand-held captioning devices, and unlimited access to downloadable audio description and/or captioning for personal mobile devices are all available free of charge. Prior thereto, we offer live-caption via CART using a hand-held device, upon request with two-weeks’ advance notice. For assistance, or If you have questions, contact Shubert Audience Services at 212-944-3700 or audienceservices@shubertorg.com. There is also a representative at the Shubert Audience Services kiosk at every performance to assist any patron with any of our devices, software, or technology. Hand-held devices are limited, although additional devices can be obtained with at least twenty-four hours’ notice.
Accessibility by Seating Section
Orchestra: Seating is accessible to all parts of the Orchestra without steps. Wheelchair seating is located in the Orchestra only.
Mezzanine (second level): 2 flights of stairs (up 31 steps). Please note, once on the Mezzanine Level there are approximately 2 steps up/down per row. Entrance to Mezzanine is behind Row H.
Handrails: Available at the end of every stepped seat row in the Mezzanine.
Wheelchair | Companion Seat Locations:
Orchestra: P101 | 102, O101 -102; P105 | P104, O105 - 106; P107 | P108, O108 - 109; P120 | P119, O119 - 120; P110 | P109, O112 -113; P112 P113, O115 - 116
Aisle Seat with Folding Armrest | Companion Locations:
Orchestra: L101 | L102; L120 | L119
Elevators/Escalator
None Available
Restroom
Wheelchair accessible restroom available.
Water Fountain
Located in concessions lobby. Accessible at 36".
Theatre Policies
The use of cameras, recording devices, cell phones, beepers, and other electronic devices during the performance is prohibited. Everyone attending a performance must have a ticket. Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of management. Wheelchair and mobility-impaired seating is intended for patrons with mobility disabilities. Children under the age of four years will not be admitted. No outside food or beverage permitted, unless medically necessary. No weapons permitted on the premises.
NOW PLAYING
KIMBERLY AKIMBO
Life is short. Enjoy the ride.
Final performance April 28.
Don’t miss your last chance to see Kimberly Akimbo, the Tony Award-winning Best Musical about growing up and growing old — in no particular order. It features a book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize and two-time Tony Award winner David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole), music by two-time Tony Award winner Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home), choreography by Danny Mefford (Dear Evan Hansen) and direction by award-winning director Jessica Stone. On Broadway through April 28 only.
“Profoundly funny and deeply moving.” – The New York Times
Kimberly (two-time Tony Award winner Victoria Clark) is about to turn 16 and recently moved with her family to a new town in suburban New Jersey. In this “howlingly funny heartbreaker of a show” (The New Yorker), Kim is forced to navigate family dysfunction, a rare genetic condition, her first crush…and possible felony charges. Ever the optimist, she is determined to find happiness against all odds and embark on a great adventure.
“I loved it from the first note to the last.” – The Washington Post
The American premiere of Arnold Bennet’s The Great Adventure inaugurated the Booth on October 16, 1913. Other productions which graced its stage in its first three decades include Clare Kummer’s A Successful Calamity (1917), Arthur Richman’s romantic comedy Not So Long Ago (1920) starring Eva Le Gallienne and Sidney Blackmer, John Drinkwater’s Bird in Hand (1929), and J. B. Priestley’s Laburnum Grove (1935). In 1936, George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s You Can’t Take It with You opened to huge commercial success and won the Pulitzer Prize.
A vast array of stars visited the theatre in the 1950s and 60s. Shirley Booth was showcased in Come Back, Little Sheba (1950), and Henry Fonda and Anne Bancroft appeared in William Gibson’s Two For the Seesaw (1958). Mike Nichols directed Alan Arkin, Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson in a production of Murray Schisgal’s Luv (1961). Butterflies Are Free (1969) starred Blythe Danner, Eileen Heckart, Keir Dullea, and Paul Michael Glaser.
In the 1970s, the Booth welcomed a number of transfers from Off Broadway. Two shows came from Joseph Papp's Public Theatre: Jason Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning That Championship Season (1972) and Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf (1976). In 1978, The Elephant Man transferred to the Booth after an Off Broadway run.
A number of small-scale musicals achieved critical and commercial success at the Booth in the 1980s and 1990s. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Sunday in the Park with George (1984) won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, one of the few musicals to do so. Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty made their Broadway debut with Once on This Island (1990), and a two-piano revival of Frank Loesser’s operatic The Most Happy Fella (1992) opened to acclaim.
Some modern classics played here in the 1980s and 1990s, including I’m Not Rappaport (1985) starring Judd Hirsch, Robert Morse in Tru (1989), Frank McGuiness’s prison drama Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me (1992), and Having Our Say (1995) with Mary Alice and Gloria Foster as the Delany sisters. A string of one-person shows followed, starting with Barry Humphreys playing his alter-ego Dame Edna Everage in Dame Edna: The Royal Tour (1999), Lily Tomlin in a revival of The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (2000), and Bea Arthur in Bea Arthur on Broadway (2002). Paul Newman returned to Broadway in a much-praised revival of Thorton Wilder’s classic Our Town (2003). The playhouse has been the home to Faith Healer (2006) with Ralph Fiennes and Cherry Jones, The Year of Magical Thinking (2007) with Vanessa Redgrave and the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prizing-winning musical Next to Normal (2009). The Booth was home to High (2011) with Kathleen Turner and Lincoln Center Theater's acclaimed production of Other Desert Cities (2011).
Most recently the Booth hosted the Tony-winning revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2012), Bette Midler's long-awaited return to Broadway in I'll Eat You Last (2013), Bradley Cooper in The Elephant Man (2014) and the Tony nominated play Hand to God (2015) . Amy Shumer made her Broadway debut at the Booth Theatre in Steve Martin's Meteor Show (2017), followed by the first Broadway production of The Boys in the Band (2018) with Jim Parsons, and American Son with Kerry Washington.
THEATRE SPECS
Booth Theatre
222 West 45 Street
Between Broadway and 8th Avenue
New York NY 10036
| Year Built |
|
1913 |
| |
| Seating Capacity |
|
|
| Orchestra |
|
514 |
| Mezzanine |
|
252 |
| Boxes |
|
12 |
| Standing Room |
|
22 |
| |
|
|
| Total |
|
800 |
| |
|
|
| Included in the Numbers Above: |
|
|
| Orchestra Pit |
|
30 |
| Wheelchair |
|
6 |
| Aisle Transfer Arm |
|
8 |
| |
| Theatre Dimensions |
|
| Proscenium Opening: |
36' 2" |
| Height of Proscenium: |
25' 1" |
| Depth to proscenium: |
29' 9" |
| Depth to front of stage: |
33' 4" |
| Stage Type: |
Proscenium |
| |
SEATING CHART
