Imperial Theatre


Imperial Theatre The Imperial Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 249 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan. The theatre seats up to 1417 people.

The Shubert Organization's fiftieth venue in New York City, it was constructed to replace their outdated Lyric Theatre. Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp specifically to accommodate musical theatre productions, it opened on December 25, 1923 with the Oscar Hammerstein II-Vincent Youmans production Mary Jane McKane.
Among the famed 20th century composers and lyricists whose works were housed here are Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Irving Berlin, Harold Rome, Frank Loesser, Lionel Bart, Bob Merrill, Stephen Sondheim, Jule Styne, E.Y. Harburg, Harold Arlen, and George and Ira Gershwin. Performers who have graced the stage include Gertrude Lawrence, John Gielgud, Clifton Webb, Montgomery Clift, Mary Boland, Ray Bolger, Desi Arnaz, Mary Martin, Ethel Merman, Zero Mostel, Danny Kaye, Jerry Orbach, Shelley Winters, Bernadette Peters, Ben Vereen, Hugh Jackman, and John Lithgow.

Notable productions since 1960
1960: Gypsy A Musical Fable
1961: Carnival!
1963: Oliver!
1964: Fiddler on the Roof
1967: Cabaret
1968: Zorba
1970: Minnie's Boys; Two by Two
1971: On the Town
1972: Pippin
1977: Mark Twain Tonight!; Chapter Two
1979: They're Playing Our Song
1981: Dreamgirls
1985: The Mystery of Edwin Drood
1988: Chess
1989: Jerome Robbins' Broadway
1990: Les Misérables
2003: The Boy from Oz
2005: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
2006: High Fidelity
2007: Coram Boy, August: Osage County
2008: Billy Elliot the Musical



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