Built in 1903, the New Amsterdam Theatre has long been regarded as the crown jewel of New York's rich theatrical history.
Designed by architects Henry Herts and Hugh Tallant and built at a cost of more than 1.5 million, the New Amsterdam had the
first major Art Nouveau-style interior in the United States and was celebrated as much for the luxury of its decor as for
the size and sophistication of its stage facilities. Soon after the theater opened with a production of "A Midsummer Night's
Dream" on October 26, 1903, "The New York Times" described the New Amsterdam as a "theatrical Louvre -- a dramatic Metropolitan
Museum."
For years the New Amsterdam Theatre was considered the most majestic on 42nd Street. But over time the gilded era of
42nd Street faded into legend, and the New Amsterdam fell victim to decades of neglect and deterioration. Under the direction
of Walt Disney Imagineering, however, architect Hugh Hardy of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates and general contractor Tishman
Construction Corporation have restored the theater to a state nearing its original grandeur.
The essential architecture has been preserved as much as possible, including the theater's elaborately painted proscenium,
ornate friezes, and sculptured terra-cotta balustrades. The lobbies and promenades, decorated with intricate carvings and
wall reliefs of theatrical scenes from Shakespeare, Wagner, and others, lead to the oval auditorium -- 86 feet wide at its
broadest point, 90 feet deep, and 80 feet high from the orchestra floor to the top of the domed ceiling. The proscenium arch,
40 feet wide by 36 feet high, is ornamented with 16 carvings of peacocks and vines sculpted by St. John Issing. Above the
arch is an allegorical mural painted by Robert Blum and Albert Wenzel.
The stage house, underlain by property rooms, is 100 feet wide by 60 feet deep. At one time it had a mammoth freight
elevator for raising and lowering sets. Now a single elevator runs from stage level to the dressing rooms upstairs. An auditorium
on the roof, Aerial Gardens, was for many years a nightclub and cabaret.
In a ceremony on April 2, 1997, The New Amsterdam Theatre was officially reopened. Michael D. Eisner, chairman of The
Walt Disney Company, along with Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Rudolph W. Guiliani, unveiled the newly restored landmark
and announced the Hercules World Premiere Weekend in New York, scheduled for June 13-15. Peter Schneider, president of Walt
Disney Studios and Walt Disney Theatrical Productions, outlined details of two previously announced engagements: a limited
run (May 15-23) of a world-premiere concert event, Alan Menken and Tim Rice's "King David," and the fall Broadway premiere
of "The Lion King."
Disney's "The Lion King" has occupied the theater since its opening on November 13, 1997. Click here for more information
regarding "The Lion King."
The New Amsterdam Theatre was best known as the home of the "Ziegfeld Follies" from 1913 through 1927, as well as the
venue for George M. Cohan's "Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway" and for the 1907 premiere of Franz Lehar's "The Merry Widow,"
starring Vernon and Irene Castle. In the 1920s, Marilyn Miller played the New Amsterdam in "Sunny" and "Rosalie," and Eddie
Cantor appeared in "Whoopee!" In the 1930s, Fred and Adele Astaire made their last joint appearance in the Kaufman-Dietz-Schwarts
revue "The Band Wagon." In 1937 the New Amsterdam presented its last live show, "Othello," starring Walter Huston. Later,
the theater was converted into a movie house.
