Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre

The Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre opened October 10, 1917 as the Plymouth Theatre — designed by Herbert J. Krapp for the Shubert brothers as one of the theatres that defined 45th Street’s Shubert cluster. It ran under the Plymouth name for 88 years before the Shubert Organization renamed it in 2005 to honor Gerald Schoenfeld, the organization’s late chairman. The facade and auditorium interior were both designated New York City landmarks in December 1987, preserving Krapp’s neoclassical exterior and Adam-style decorative plasterwork.

The house seats 1,069 across two levels. The Shubert Organization’s figures put 653 seats in the orchestra and 392 in the mezzanine, one flight up (31 steps), with 24 box seats. Its current tenant, Buena Vista Social Club, puts a live Cuban orchestra on stage. In our view, centre orchestra is the place to be close to the music, and the front of the mezzanine shows the whole staging.

Historical highlights include John Barrymore vehicles in the late 1910s (Redemption 1918, The Jest 1919) and a long run of Neil Simon comedies in the 1960s including The Odd Couple (1965) and Plaza Suite (1968).

Address: 236 W 45th Street, on the same block as the Booth, the Music Box, and the John Golden — the heart of the Shubert Organization’s 45th Street cluster.