St. James Theatre (Broadway)
This theatre opened as Erlanger's Theatre in 1927 and was renamed the St. James in 1932. Now owned by Jujamcyn Theaters, it has been the home of many famed musicals as well as dramas and comedies.
Recent productions have included "Swing!;" "The Civil War;" "High Society;" "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum;" the rock opera "The Who's Tommy" (five Tony Awards); "The Secret Garden," winner of three Tony Awards; Tyne Daly (Tony Award) in a splendid revival of "Gypsy;" Bill Irwin in "Largely New York;" "Jerry's Girls," an evening of Jerry Herman songs with Chita Rivera, Dorothy Loudon and Leslie Uggams; the Gershwin musical "My One and Only," which won Tony Awards for Tommy Tune as Best Actor and another for Tune and Thommie Walsh for choreography; and the huge hit "Barnum" that won Tony Awards for its star Jim Dale, for David Mitchell's sets and Theoni V. A"dredge's costumes.
During the 1970's Joseph Papp brought "Two Gentlemen of Verona" here from Central Park, and it won a Tony for Best Musical and another for Best Book (613 performances). Other productions included a revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire"starring Lois Nettleton; Alice Faye and Gene Nelson in a revival of "Good News;" a twentieth anniversary revival of "My Fair Lady" with George Rose winning a Tony Award; "On The Twentieth Century," which won Tonys for its male stars, John Cullum and Kevin Kline, for its creators, Comden and Green and Cy Coleman, and Robin Wagner for his sets"
Highlights of the 1960's included Laurence Olivier and Anthony Quinn in "Beckett;" "Do Re Mi," starring Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker; "Luther" with a Tony Award performance by Albert Finney; and the phenomenal "Hello, Dolly!" starring Carol Channing, which won a record ten Tonys and played for 2,844 performances.
The biggest hits of the 1950's were a revival of "Peter Pan," starring Jean Arthur and Boris Karloff with a Leonard Bernstein score; Rodgers and Hammerstein's magnificent "The King and I" starring Gertrude Lawrence in her last stage appearance (Tony Award) and featuring Yul Brynner (Tony Award); the Tony Award-winning musical "The Pajama Game" and the popular musical "Li'l Abner." In 1957 the Shubert Organization sold this theatre, and it was acquired by Jujamcyn. The following year, the theatre was beautifully renovated for the opening of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Flower Drum Song."
In the 1940's Helen Hayes and Maurice Evans starred in "Twelfth Nigh;" Orson Welles directed "Native Son" with Canada Lee; Katharine Hepburn and Elliott Nugent cavorted in :"Without Love;" the epic Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" delighted critics and audiences for five years; and Ray Bolger enchanted in Frank Loesser's "Where's Charley?"
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