John Golden Theatre facts for kids
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Theatre Masque (1927-1937)
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John Golden Theatre, showing Avenue Q, 2006
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| Address | 252 West 45th Street New York City United States |
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| Owner | The Shubert Organization |
| Type | Broadway |
| Capacity | 804 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | February 24, 1927 |
| Architect | Herbert J. Krapp |
The John Golden Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 252 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in midtown Manhattan. Designed in a Moorish style and opened as part of a three-theater complex for Irwin Chanin by architect Herbert J. Krapp, the present-day Golden was constructed by the Chanin Brothers as part of an entertainment complex including the Royale- now Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, designed for small musicals and large plays, the Majestic, a large musical house, and the Lincoln Hotel (now the Row NYC Hotel, and previously the Milford Plaza). It opened as the Theatre Masque (also known as the Masque Theater) on February 24, 1927 with the play Puppets of Passion. Seventy-six years later it housed another production known for its puppets, the award-winning Avenue Q.
In 1937, impresario John Golden acquired the theatre and renamed it for himself. It also operated as a movie house in the late 1940s and 1950s before it was purchased by the Shubert Organization, who returned it to full-time theatrical use. The exterior of the theatre was used as the location of the movie version of the film A Chorus Line. It is also shown in the background during the opening scenes of All About Eve as the home of Margot Channing's Aged In Wood.
With a seating capacity of only 800, it is one of the smallest houses on Broadway.
The theatre has been closed as of March 12, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It does not plan on opening until January 3, 2021.
Notable productions
- 1929: Rope's End
- 1931: Up Pops the Devil
- 1932: The Great Day
- 1933: Tobacco Road
- 1941: Angel Street
- 1953: Comedy in Music
- 1956: Waiting for Godot
- 1957: Uncle Willie
- 1958: Look Back in Anger; A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green
- 1959: At the Drop of a Hat
- 1960: An Evening With Mike Nichols and Elaine May
- 1961: An Evening with Yves Montand
- 1962: Beyond the Fringe
- 1971: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
- 1972: Sticks and Bones
- 1975: P. S. Your Cat Is Dead!
- 1976: Going Up
- 1977: The Gin Game
- 1980: A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine; Tintypes
- 1981: Crimes of the Heart
- 1983: 'night, Mother
- 1984: Glengarry Glen Ross
- 1988: Eastern Standard
- 1992: Falsettos
- 1995: Master Class
- 1998: Side Man
- 2002: The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?
- 2003: Avenue Q
- 2009: Oleanna
- 2010: Red; Driving Miss Daisy
- 2011: The Normal Heart
- 2011: Seminar
- 2012: The Anarchist
- 2013: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike; A Time to Kill
- 2014: Mothers and Sons; A Delicate Balance
- 2015: Skylight; The Gin Game
- 2016: Eclipsed; The Encounter
- 2017: A Doll's House, Part 2
- 2018: Three Tall Women; The Waverly Gallery
- 2019: Hillary and Clinton; Slave Play
- 2020: Hangmen
Images for kids
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Rusticated terracotta base
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Arch detail
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Sign with the Golden Theatre's name
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The Booth, Schoenfeld (Plymouth), Bernard B. Jacobs (Royale), and Golden (Masque) theaters from left to right
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While showing Avenue Q
