The Broadway Theatre: Steamboat Willie, Evita and the Colony That Became One of Five Playhouses on Broadway

By Solomon Rokowsky

The auditorium of the Broadway Theatre, May 2025. Photograph by Epicgenius, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0. No open-license photo of the exterior turned up, so every photo of this theater is an interior.

Why is it called the Broadway Theatre?

The Broadway Theatre at 1681 Broadway is, in the words of the Shubert Organization, "one of only five playhouses that front on the street named Broadway." The Shuberts own it. Its name has a messier history than its address. It opened as B.S. Moss's Colony, a film house, and picked up and dropped several names before settling on the plain one. The Theatre Development Fund (TDF) lists the theater's earlier names as Universal's Colony Theatre, B.S. Moss' Broadway Theatre, Earl Carroll's Broadway Theatre and Ciné Roma. It became a legitimate theater called the Broadway Theatre on December 8, 1930, per TDF and the Internet Broadway Database (IBDB). IBDB says it took the name of another Broadway Theatre that had just been razed. The Shubert Organization gives a different sequence: it says the house went "legit" from 1930 to 1934, was re-christened the Broadway in 1934, and then went back to movies from 1934 to 1940. These accounts do not match, and this article does not try to reconcile them.

Even the street position varies by source. IBDB lists 1681 Broadway at West 53rd Street. The Shubert site describes the location as between West 52nd and West 53rd Streets.

Who built it and when?

The Shubert Organization says B.S. Moss commissioned the architect Eugene DeRosa to design the Colony as part of his chain of movie theaters, many of which also housed vaudeville. IBDB gives the year built as 1924. TDF says it opened as B.S. Moss's Colony Theatre on Christmas Day 1924 as a venue for vaudeville shows and motion pictures. The Shubert page says the original facade and interior were Italian Renaissance in style, and that the facade was resurfaced in polished granite when a skyscraper was constructed above the theater in 1991.

The Shubert page ties the size of the house to its past. Its large capacity made it ideal for musical comedies, and its large stage, originally built to hold an orchestra accompanying silent films, "proved large enough for aircraft." The TDF page gives the depth to the front of the stage as 57 feet 4 inches.

What did the Colony have to do with Mickey Mouse?

Both TDF and the Shubert Organization say Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie, the cartoon that introduced Mickey Mouse to the public, opened at the Colony. TDF dates it to November 18, 1928, and calls it the first Mickey Mouse cartoon released to the public. The Shubert page says it opened in 1928. The two sources diverge on Disney's next visit. The Shubert Organization says the house offered the premiere of Disney's Fantasia in 1939. TDF says Disney returned on November 13, 1940 to debut the feature. The article gives both and does not pick between them. TDF adds that in 1937 the theater, known as Ciné Roma, showed Italian films, and that for a short time in the 1950s it showed Cinerama films.

Looking toward the stage and the mezzanine boxes. Photograph by Epicgenius, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

How did it become Broadway's big-musical house?

IBDB says the Shuberts bought the theater in 1939 and renovated it in 1939, 1956 and 1986, and that its large stage and seating capacity "have made it a popular theatre for musicals through the years." The Shubert page says the house returned to legitimate production in 1940 and has been showcasing live theater ever since, apart from the Cinerama stint in the 1950s.

The Shubert page names Cole Porter and Herbert Fields's The New Yorkers (1930), with Jimmy Durante, as the inaugural theatrical production. It describes a pattern of long-running shows moving to the Broadway from other theaters. Rodgers and Hart's Too Many Girls transferred in 1940 from the Imperial. The Shubert page also names My Sister Eileen (1942), South Pacific (1953, from the Majestic), The Most Happy Fella (1957), Funny Girl (1966, from the Winter Garden), Cabaret (1968, from the Broadhurst), Mame (1969), Fiddler on the Roof (1972) and The Wiz (1977, from the Majestic). It also lists Irving Berlin's This Is the Army, which opened on July 4, 1942 as a benefit for the Army Relief Fund, Billy Rose's Carmen Jones (1943) and Duke Ellington's Beggar's Holiday (1946). Among the stars it names for the 1950s are Sammy Davis, Jr. in Mr. Wonderful (1956) and Ethel Merman in Gypsy (1959).

IBDB's production list includes Evita (September 25, 1979 to June 26, 1983), Les Misérables (March 12, 1987 to October 14, 1990), Miss Saigon (April 11, 1991 to January 28, 2001), Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella (March 3, 2013 to January 3, 2015), a return of Miss Saigon (March 23, 2017 to January 14, 2018) and The Great Gatsby, which opened April 25, 2024 and is listed as running. Broadway Direct names The Great Gatsby as the current show.

The dome and chandelier of the Broadway Theatre, May 2025. Photograph by Epicgenius, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

How many seats does the Broadway Theatre have?

The sources are within a few seats of each other. IBDB lists approximately 1,761 seats, which is the figure many references repeat. Broadway Direct says 1,763, and the Shubert Organization's own theater page says 1,765. The article uses all three and does not choose, since each is a separate snapshot of a house whose layout changes with each production.

The view toward the stage from the orchestra. Photograph by Epicgenius, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

What does the Shubert Organization say about access?

The TDF record lists the depth to the front of the stage as 57 feet 4 inches. The Shubert accessibility page says infrared assistive listening devices are provided for every performance. It says hand-held audio description and captioning devices are available free of charge starting four weeks after a show's official opening, with live captioning by hand-held device on request with two weeks' notice before then. It lists the Shubert Audience Services phone number as 212-944-3700. The orchestra has wheelchair seating, while the mezzanine requires two flights of stairs, which the page counts as 31 steps, and there is no elevator or escalator. A wheelchair-accessible unisex restroom is on the lobby level.

Is the Broadway Theatre a New York City landmark?

This article could not confirm it. A New York Times report of November 5, 1987 said the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) granted landmark status to five Broadway theaters in one afternoon, but the portion of that article available here does not name them. IBDB and TDF do not mention a designation for this theater. A search of the LPC's designation reports did not turn up a report for the Broadway Theatre. Until a designation report is found, treat its status as unconfirmed.

Where can you eat or drink at the Broadway Theatre?

The Shubert Organization's theater page and Broadway Direct both say no outside food or beverage is permitted unless medically necessary. Theatre Refreshment Company describes itself as the exclusive concessionaire for the Shubert Organization's Broadway theatres in New York City. This article found no list of the specific bars or snacks at this house, and no public restaurant inside it. Check the Shubert page before the show.

Who owns the Broadway Theatre today?

The Shubert Organization lists the Broadway Theatre on its own theater pages, and IBDB says the Shuberts bought it in 1939. The theater sits below a skyscraper that the Shubert page says was built above it in 1991. This article did not find a statement of who owns the tower.

Sources

• The Shubert Organization, Broadway Theatre
• Broadway Direct, Broadway Theatre
• Internet Broadway Database, Broadway Theatre
• Theatre Development Fund, Broadway Theatre
• Theatre Refreshment Company, concessionaire for the Shubert Organization
• The New York Times, 5 More Broadway Theaters Classified as Landmarks (November 5, 1987)