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Circle in the Square Theatre

Broadway theatresSpecial Tony Award recipientsTheatres completed in 1972Use mdy dates from September 2021
Godspell @ Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway
Godspell @ Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway

The Circle in the Square Theatre is a Broadway theatre in midtown Manhattan at 235 West 50th Street in the Paramount Plaza building. It is one of two Broadway theaters that use a thrust stage that extends into the audience on three sides.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Circle in the Square Theatre (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Circle in the Square Theatre
Broadway, New York Manhattan

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Wikipedia: Circle in the Square TheatreContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 40.7621 ° E -73.9848 °
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Paramount Plaza

Broadway 1633
10019 New York, Manhattan
New York, United States
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Godspell @ Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway
Godspell @ Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway
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American Theater Hall of Fame

The American Theater Hall of Fame in New York City was founded in 1972. Earl Blackwell was the first head of the organization's Executive Committee. In an announcement in 1972, he said that the new Theater Hall of Fame would be located in the Uris Theatre (then under construction, now the Gershwin). James M. Nederlander and Gerard Oestreicher, who leased the theater, donated the space for the Hall of Fame; Arnold Weissberger was another founder. Blackwell noted that the names of the first honorees would "be embossed in bronze-gold lettering on the theater's entrance walls flanking its grand staircase and escalator." The first group of inductees was announced in October 1972.Eligible inductees come from disciplines including actors, playwrights, songwriters, designers, directors, and producers who have had a career in American theater for at least twenty-five years and at least five major production credits on Broadway. Selections are made each year by voting members of the Theater Hall of Fame and the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA). Induction takes place at a ceremony at the Gershwin Theatre in New York City, where the plaques containing the names of the inductees are hung.Since 1998, full accounts of the annual induction ceremonies, with quotes from both inductees and their presenters, have appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. An index to these articles is on the ATCA website. An annual Theater Hall of Fame Fellowship Luncheon has been held annually since 2004 to salute a member "who continues to work on Broadway and also presents grants to emerging theatre artists."

Paramount Plaza
Paramount Plaza

Paramount Plaza, also 1633 Broadway and formerly the Uris Building, is a 48-story skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Emery Roth and Sons, the building was developed by the Uris brothers. Designed by Der Scutt of Ely J. Kahn & Jacobs, the building was developed by Sam Minskoff and Sons. Paramount Plaza occupies a site bounded by Broadway to the east, 51st Street to the north, and 50th Street to the south. The building has been named for its owners, the Paramount Group. The building has a slab-like massing, rising straight from street level to the roof, 669 feet (204 m) above ground. The facade is covered in dark glass and carries the name of German company Allianz near the roof. There is a sunken plaza on the eastern side of the building, leading to the 50th Street station of the New York City Subway, as well as a pedestrian corridor and driveway under the western side. The driveway and corridor lead to the building's two Broadway theaters: the 1,900-seat Gershwin Theatre on the second floor and the 650-seat Circle in the Square Theatre in the basement. The Uris Buildings Corporation leased the site of the Capitol Theatre in 1967 and proposed a skyscraper on the site. The two Broadway theaters were included in exchange for additional floor area, and the building opened in August 1971. The building went into foreclosure in May 1974, just two years after it was completed, and the Paramount Group bought a majority ownership stake in the building in 1976. J. C. Penney and Sears initially took up much of the building's space, though the subsequent tenants came from a wider variety of fields, including law and finance. The retail space and plazas have been renovated multiple times during the building's history. The Paramount Group and several banks jointly owned the building until 2011, when Beacon Capital Group acquired a partial ownership stake; Paramount assumed full ownership in 2015.

Circle in the Square Theatre School

Circle in the Square Theatre School is a non-profit, tax exempt drama school associated with Circle in the Square Theatre; it is the only accredited conservatory attached to a Broadway theatre.It offers two 2-year full-time programs: a Professional Theatre Workshop, and a Professional Musical Theatre Workshop. The musical theatre program is unique in that it's identical to the acting program, except for additional musical classes. This gives the musical theatre students important, deep acting training so they can graduate as true, professional triple threats. There is also an option to earn a joint BFA in Theatre or Musical Theatre with Eckerd College in Florida. Additionally, Circle offers seven-week summer intensives for acting and musical theatre students. Circle in the Square Theatre School's primary objective is to train actors and singers for work in professional theatre, film, and television; it utilizes an eclectic curriculum to expose the students to various acting styles, methods, and techniques. Theodore Mann started the highly selective school in 1961 with 15 students in a Greenwich Village venue on Bleecker Street when Circle in the Square Theatre was an Off-Broadway venue. In 1972, it moved to its current Broadway location in the Paramount Plaza. Its student body is now approximately 75 students. Jacqueline Brookes, the Broadway actor, was a member of the faculty from 1973 until her death in April 2013.Circle in the Square Theatre School offers its students the rare opportunity to train and perform in the Broadway Theatre, and see the shows at Circle for free.

Gershwin Theatre
Gershwin Theatre

The Gershwin Theatre (originally the Uris Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 222 West 51st Street, on the second floor of the Paramount Plaza office building, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Opened in 1972, it is operated by the Nederlander Organization and is named after brothers George and Ira Gershwin, who wrote several Broadway musicals. The Gershwin is Broadway's largest theater, with 1,933 seats across two levels. Over the years, it has hosted musicals, dance companies, and concerts. The Gershwin was designed by Ralph Alswang. It was one of the first theaters constructed under the Special Theater District amendment of 1967. The theater's main entrances are from a midblock passageway that runs between 50th and 51st Streets. There are escalators leading from the ground floor to the second-story lobby and rotundas. The American Theater Hall of Fame, which contains inscriptions of the names of over 500 notable theatrical personalities, is placed within the lobby and rotundas. The Gershwin's orchestra level, which has about 1,300 seats, is more than double the size of the mezzanine level, which has about 600 seats. The Uris Buildings Corporation built the theater within the Uris Building, now Paramount Plaza, in the 1960s in exchange for several additional floors of office space. The Uris opened on November 28, 1972, with a performance of the musical Via Galactica. Following several flops, the theater was rented out for concerts and dance specials in the 1970s. The musicals The King and I and Sweeney Todd had relatively long runs at the end of the decade. The theater was renamed the Gershwin during the 37th Tony Awards in 1983, the first of six Tony Awards ceremonies to be hosted there. In the 1980s, the theater hosted concerts; its first straight plays; and musicals such as Singin' in the Rain and Starlight Express. The theater continued to host concert appearances in the early 1990s, as well as musicals such as Show Boat, and was renovated in 1993. The Gershwin has been home to the musical Wicked since 2003.

Mark Hellinger Theatre
Mark Hellinger Theatre

The Mark Hellinger Theatre (formerly the 51st Street Theatre and the Hollywood Theatre) is a church building at 237 West 51st Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, which formerly served as a cinema and a Broadway theatre. Opened in 1930, the Hellinger Theatre is named after journalist Mark Hellinger and was developed by the Warner Bros. as a movie palace. It was designed by Thomas W. Lamb with a modern facade and a Baroque interior. It has 1,605 seats across two levels and has been a house of worship for the Times Square Church since 1989. Both the exterior and interior of the theater are New York City landmarks. The facade on 51st Street is designed in a modern 1930s style and is constructed with golden and brown bricks. The stage house to the west and the auditorium at the center are designed as one unit, with a cornice above the auditorium. The eastern section, containing the building's current main entrance, includes statues flanking the doors, as well as an overhanging marquee. The 51st Street facade was originally a side entrance; the main entrance was originally at 1655 Broadway but was closed in the 1950s. In contrast to the exterior, the theater has a Baroque interior. Its rotunda lobby contains eight fluted columns, a balcony, and a domed ceiling with several murals; a basement lounge exists under the lobby. The auditorium has a coved ceiling with murals, as well as boxes and a deep stage. For the first two decades of the Hellinger Theatre's existence, it largely served as a cinema under the Hollywood Theatre name. Vaudeville was presented in 1932, and some legitimate productions were shown intermittently from 1934 to 1942. The theater was briefly known as the 51st Street Theatre in 1936 and 1941 and as the Warner Theatre from 1947 to 1948. Anthony Brady Farrell bought the theater and renamed it after Hellinger, reopening it as a legitimate theater in 1949. The theater was subsequently acquired by the Stahl family in 1957 and the Nederlander Organization in 1976. The Hellinger hosted some hits from the 1950s to the 1970s, including My Fair Lady and Timbuktu!, but its later productions were mostly flops. By 1989, a lack of Broadway productions prompted the Nederlanders to lease the theater to the Times Square Church, which bought the building two years later.

Jack Dempsey's Broadway Restaurant
Jack Dempsey's Broadway Restaurant

Jack Dempsey's Broadway Restaurant, known popularly as Jack Dempsey's, was a restaurant located in the Brill Building on Broadway between 49th Street and 50th Streets in Manhattan, New York City.Owned by world heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey, the restaurant originally opened for business as Jack Dempsey's Restaurant on Eighth Avenue and 50th Street, directly across from the third Madison Square Garden, in 1935. Most nights would find Dempsey's famous proprietor on hand to greet guests, sign autographs, pose for pictures, and hold court with people from all walks of life. It was next door to Jack J. Amiel's Turf Restaurant on Times Square. Amiel became famous as the owner of the "underdog" horse Count Turf who won the 1951 Kentucky Derby. A few years after his Derby win, Amiel became a co-owner of Jack Dempsey's Restaurant. A favorite attraction of the restaurant was its famous cheesecake. In a letter to New York in 1973, Dempsey wrote, "Jack Dempsey's cheesecake has been in existence for almost 40 years. And in New York it is an institution in itself. It is baked on our premises, eaten in our restaurant, as well as airmailed all over the United States and Europe. We have had requests for our cheesecake from tourists who come to New York from faraway places; we've fulfilled requests over the years from France's late President Charles DeGaulle, who had his cheesecakes sent several times a year."The restaurant closed in 1974.

Ambassador Theatre (New York City)
Ambassador Theatre (New York City)

The Ambassador Theatre is a Broadway theater at 219 West 49th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1921, the Ambassador Theatre was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed for the Shubert brothers. It has 1,125 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. The auditorium interior is a New York City designated landmark. The theater is oriented on a diagonal axis, maximizing seating capacity on its small site of 100 by 100 feet (30 by 30 m). The facade is largely made of golden brick and is simple in design. The most prominent part of the facade is a curved entrance at the southeast corner, facing Broadway, where a lobby leads to the rear of the theater's orchestra level. The auditorium contains Adam-style detailing, a large balcony, and box seats with decorated arches above them. The auditorium contains a segmental proscenium arch topped by a curved sounding board. The Shuberts developed the Ambassador, along with the neighboring O'Neill and Walter Kerr theaters, after World War I as part of a theatrical complex around 48th and 49th Streets. The Ambassador opened on February 11, 1921, with the musical The Rose Girl. The Shuberts sold the property in 1935, and it was intermittently used as a CBS broadcast studio, a movie theater, and for live theater until 1945. The Ambassador then hosted foreign films in the late 1940s and was a studio for the DuMont Television Network in the early 1950s. In 1956, the Shuberts assumed ownership again, returning it to use as a live theater. Though many of the Ambassador's productions in the 20th century were short runs, it has hosted since 2003 the musical Chicago, the second-longest-running Broadway show as of 2021.