Walter Kerr Theatre (Broadway)
Formerly the Ritz, this theatre was renamed the Walter Kerr in 1990, in honor of the Pulitzer-winning drama critic of "The New York Times" and "The New York Herald Tribune."
Jujamcyn Theatres, which owns this intimate house, has spent millions to restore the theatre to its original splendor. The first restoration in 1983 returned the house to legitimacy after years as a movie theatre. The second restoration in 1990, the work of the Roger Morgan Studio, Inc., has made this one of Broadway's most impressive playhouses.
The restoration of vintage Broadway legitimate theatres admirably continued with the reopening of the Ritz Theatre at 219 West Forty-eighth Street on May 10, 1983. Jujamcyn Theatres, the company that owns the St. James, Martin Beck, Eugene O'Neill, and Virginia theatres, spent $1.5 million in renovating the Ritz and adding it to its growing list of houses.
The Ritz was built by the Shuberts as a sister theatre to their Ambassador Theatre on West Forty-ninth Street. It was built in a record sixty-six days in 1921. The architect was Herbert J. Krapp, the eminent theatre designer of that era, and the interior was done in Italian Renaissance with much gold leaf and Italian scrollwork.
On March 21, 1921, the intimate new house (under 1,000 seats) opened with Clare Eames in John Drinkwater's Mary Stuart, preceded by a pantomime called "A Man About Town" that included in its cast the future opera composer Deems Taylor.
The Ritz flourished in the 1920s with some distinguished plays and players. A 1921 highlight was an ebuillient performance by Ina Claire in Bluebeard's Eighth Wife. Roland Young appeared in Madame Pierre the following year, and in 1923 Katharine Cornell was admired in The Enchanted Cottage, as was Lynn Fontanne in In Love with Love. Audiences in 1924 were spellbound by Sutton Vane's eerie Outward Bound, starring Alfred Lunt, Leslie Howard and Margalo Gillmore as dead passengers on a boat that is sailing to the "other world." The same year unveiled Hassard Short's Ritz Revue, hailed for its scenic splendors, and John Galsworthy's Old English, starring the noted character actor George Arliss.
A saucy Claudette Colbert graced "The Kiss in a Taxi" in 1925, followed by Helen Hayes in Young Blood, and Frank Morgan, Ralph Morgan, and Estelle Winwood in A Weak Woman. The next year found a young Ruby Keeler tapping in "Bye, Bye, Bonnie;" the beautiful Grace George in The Legend of Leonora; and Alice Brady and Lionel Atwill in "The Thief."
On the day after Christmas 1927 bubbly Miriam Hopkins and Frank Mcllugh cheered first-nighters in "Excess Baggage," followed by another winner, Janet Beecher in "Courage," which ran until May 1929. The decade came to an end with the successful "Broken Dishes," with Donald Meek and a young actress named Bette Davis, who was immediately snapped up by Hollywood.
Highlights of the 1930s at the Ritz included the famed comedy team of Smith and Dale in a hit play called "Mendel, Inc;" noted monologist Ruth Draper in some of her celebrated character sketches; the thriller "Double Door;" Frank Lawton and Mildred Natwick in "The Wind and the Rain;" Dennis King and Leo G. Carroll in Mark Reed's delightful "Petticoat Fever;" Ilka Chase and Peggy Conklin in "Co-Respondent Unknown;" the Surry Players (including Shepperd Strudwick, Anne Revere, and Katherine Emery) in a revival of "As You Like It;" and Jessica Tandy and Dame Sybil Thorndike in J.B. Priestly's "Time and the Conways."
During the late 1930s the Federal Theatre Project (also known as the WPA Theatre) staged some exciting productions at the Ritz. Among them were T.S. Eliot's verse drama "Murder in the Cathedral;" the stirring "Power," staged by the WPA's "Living Newspaper" unit, which ran for five months; and a lavish production of "Pinocchio" that ran for 197 performances.
In 1939 the Ritz became the CBS Theatre No. 4, where live radio shows were broadcast, including the programs of the "Town Crier," drama critic Alexander Woollcott. On December 22, 1942, the theatre went legit again with Leonard Sillman's "New Faces of 1943," with the producer onstage to introduce some new faces, including John Lund and Alice Pearce. After that, the long-running "Tobacco Road" moved in from the Forrest Theatre. Toward the end of 1943, NBC took the theatre over; later, so did ABC, for use as a radio and TV studio.
It was not until December 1970 that the Ritz returned to legitimacy, with previews for a new rock opera called "Soon." The show, which opened on January 12, 1971, marked the Broadway debuts of Peter Allen, Nell Carter, and Richard Gere. Also featured in the cast were Barry Bostwick, Marta Heflin, and Leata Galloway. Unfortunately, it closed after three performances. Later that year, Rip Torn and Viveca Lindfors played a brief run in Strindberg's "Dance of Death."
Following a major renovation in late 1971, the Ritz reopened on March 7, 1972, with the short-lived thriller "Children, Children," starring Gwen Verdon. In 1973 it housed a production of the British farce "No Sex, Please, We're British." Shortly thereafter, the theatre was christened the Robert F. Kennedy Children's Theatre and, for a while, showed films. Now, under the Jujamcyn banner, the Ritz has been restored to its original legitimate splendor.
According to Interior Design magazine, the total interior renovation of the Ritz was achieve by Karen Rosen of KMR Designs, Ltd., in Manhattan. Her client, Richard Wolff, then president of the Jujamcyn Theatre Corp., requested that the Ritz be made elegant by restoring its classical feeling of the 1920s. Ms. Rosen chose a color scheme of pink/mauve/gray touched with black to reflect the twenties look while appealing to current tastes. She restored ceiling decorations and murals and designed Art Deco-type sconces, chandeliers, balcony, and ceiling lights to achieve illumination without jarring glare.
The restored Ritz reopened on May 10, 1983, with the incredible troupe of jugglers and entertainers known as "The Flying Karamazov Brothers."
This was followed by the acclaimed "Ian Mckellen Acting Shakespeare," a one-man show of brilliance (1984); "Dancing in the End Zone," a play with Pat Carroll and Laurence Luckinbill (1984); "Doubles," the hit comedy about four tennis players, starring John Cullum, Ron Leibman, Austin Pendleton and Tony Roberts (1985); Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood, a revue of Kern melodies which brought back Elizabeth Welch, an American singer of fame in the 1930s who scored a huge success in "London musicals" (1986); a new play called "A Month of Sundays" (1987); the musical "Late Nite Comic" with music and lyrics by Brian Gari and a book by Allan Knee (1987); the comedy team of Penn & Teller (1987); and the musical "Chu Chem" (1989).
When the refurbished Ritz Theatre was rechristened the Walter Kerr in 1990, the inaugural production was August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson," which won both the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Awards for the season's best play. After that came Paul Rudnick's amusing "I Hate Hamlet," with Nicol Williamson playing the ghost of John Barrymore and sparkling performances by Celeste Holm, Adam Arkin, Jane Adams and Evan Handler. "Crazy He Calls Me" lasted briefly in 1991 and then came another August Wilson play, "Two Trains Running," which won a Tony Award for Larry Fishburne as best featured actor in a play.
"Angels in America: Millennium Approaches by Tony Kushner," caused a sensation here in 1993, winning the Pulitzer Prize, the Tony Award and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for the best play of the season. Additional Tony Awards went to Ron Leibman (Best Leading Actor), Stephen Spinella (Best Featured Actor) and George C. Wolfe (Best Direction of a Play). In 1994 Part II of "Angels in America: Perestroika" opened and was critically acclaimed.
Recent productions include Doubt; Gem of the Ocean; Sixteen Wounded; Take Me Out; Proof; A Moon For the Misbegotten; Waiting in the Wings; The Weir; The Beauty Queen of Leenane; Present Laughter; Seven Guitars; Patti LuPone on Broad way; Love! Valour! Compassion!
Theatre Information:
219 West 48th Street
New York, NY 10036
US
Box Office: Tele-Charge (212) 239-6200
Public Transportation:
SUBWAY: Take the N,R,W to 49th Street or 1,9 to 50th Street, walk South to 48th Street and West to the theatre; Take the C,E to 50th Street, walk South to 48th Street and East to the theatre.
Handicap Access:
ACCESS INTO THEATRE: Theatre is not completely wheelchair accessible. Please be advised that where there are steps either into or within the theatre we are unable to provide assistance. ORCHESTRA LOCATION: Seating is accessible to all parts of the Orchestra without steps. Wheelchair seating is available in the Orchestra only. MEZZANINE LOCATION: Located on the 2nd Level: up 34 steps from Orchestra. BALCONY LOCATION: Located on the 3rd Level: up 15 steps from Mezzanine. Balcony seating is available at the Box Office only ($24/Wednesday Matinee $19). RESTROOM: Not wheelchair accessible. Men's restroom is located 18 steps from Orchestra. Ladies' restroom is located 19 steps from Orchestra.
Contact Us | Advertise | Privacy Policy
Send questions and comments to the Webmaster
Copyright © 2008 Playbill, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|