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ATT.SectI.7a.qxd 6/30/10 7:13 PM Page 356 STEPHEN SONDHEIM NEWLY RENAMED THE STEPHEN Sondheim Theatre in summer 2010, the old THEATRE Henry Miller’s Theatre is the first and so far only Broadway playhouse designed and built in the twenty-first century. It boasts of being Broadway’s first thoroughly “green” theatre, designed to minimize its energy use and contri- bution to environmental pollution. But it stands on the site and incorporates elements of a far older theatre (which also bore the name Henry Miller’s) with a rich history that leaves it with one foot in the past and one in the future. The distinctive possessive in the “Henry Miller’s” name reflects the philosophy of its namesake. The London-born Miller, who had originated the lead role of John Worthing in the 1895 U.S. premiere of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, was not just an ATT.SectI.7a.qxd 6/30/10 7:13 PM Page 357 ATT.SectI.7a.qxd 6/30/10 7:13 PM Page 358 358 AT T HIS T HEATRE actor and producer of the old school. He was a vive the Depression, wars, numerous recessions, Left to right: Builder of philosopher of theatre design. He believed the and even a long stint as a discotheque. the theatre that bore ideal theatre was not too large or too small, that In fact, Henry Miller’s theatre survived more his name for more than ninety years, producer its stage would be just wide enough to encom- or less intact until 2006, when everything but its and actor Henry Miller. pass the action while occupying a wide range of landmarked facade was demolished, right down (Photo courtesy Cook + the viewers’ field of vision, so they could all the (and into) the Manhattan schist that underlies Fox). better immerse themselves in the illusion being much of the island. But owing to a remarkable presented on the stage. On the other hand, effort by owners the Durst family (notably the A 1920s era PLAYBILL cover for shows at while second balconies were beginning to go developer’s granddaughter, theatre lover Anita Henry Miller’s Theatre. out of fashion, Miller opted to include one. Durst), a brand-new, state-of-the-art, 1,055-seat He was part of the generation of “personal- theatre rose on the same site behind the original The landmarked façade ity” managers like David Belasco, Martin facade, incorporating many of Henry Miller’s of the theatre during its Beck, George Howells Broadhurst, John Cort, original theories and—significantly, in an age of original incarnation, and Winthrop Ames, who built theatres, named corporate branding of theatres—restoring Henry circa 1929. (Photo cour- tesy Cook + Fox) them after themselves, and programmed them Miller’s name (at least for a few months). like a later generation would do with their per- Miller played The Fountain of Youth for thir- sonal websites. Miller’s vision was bankrolled ty-two performances, then appeared in the fifty- by philanthropist Elizabeth Milbank Anderson, three-performance revival of the 1897 John who owned the land on which the theatre was Drew vehicle A Marriage of Convenience, which built. Miller worked in partnership with the opened on May 1, 1918. In the years to come, the producing team of Klaw and Erlanger. theatre hosted many dramas and comedies but Architects Allen, Ingalls, and Hoffman incor- only rarely a musical. Miller produced and/or porated Miller’s theories in the 950-seat gem of a starred in many of the early productions and playhouse, which rose at 125 West Forty-third hired his favorites, like Lillian Kemble-Cooper, Street, half a block east of Times Square. It who appeared in The Fountain of Youth and then opened on April Fool’s Day 1918, just as Germany again in Douglas Murray’s flop Perkins (October was preparing to assault the allies at Ypres, 22, 1918), and Frances Goodrich Ames, who also Belgium, in one of its final offensives of World appeared in Perkins and then returned less than War I, and the day Britain merged her various air- a month later in Jean Webster’s Daddy Long borne fighting forces into the Royal Air Force. Legs, also with Miller (and also a failure, at fif- Henry Miller inaugurated his namesake teen performances). playhouse with Louis Evan Shipman’s romantic Miller seemed to be searching for the kind of comedy The Fountain of Youth, starring none audience-pleasing melodrama that had been his other than himself. Wartime audiences were not bread and butter before World War I, but also try- impressed with the play, but the playhouse itself ing to provide a showcase for writers who might was another matter. In the coming decades many earn the respect of a new generation, like Eugene distinguished American dramas and comedies O’Neill. Thus, in the early 1920s, Miller was both would debut here, along with a bumper crop of slightly behind and ahead of the times and suf- flops, and many great careers would get their fered a series of short runs like Back to Earth starts here. In all, more than 150 shows would (1918, sixteen performances) and Tillie (1919, open at Henry Miller’s, which managed to sur- thirty-two performances) as a result. ATT.SectI.7a.qxd 6/30/10 7:13 PM Page 359 S TEPHEN S ONDHEIM T HEATRE 359 Miller turned over producing responsibilities Times as a “fair to middling whimsy” about a to the team of George M. Cohan and Jed Harris in woman trying to choose between a business- February 1919 with Laurence Eyre’s “comedy of man and a poet. It opened January 7, 1921, and moonshine, madness and make-believe,” Mis’ ran for 105 performances. Nelly of N’Orleans, which was performed by The Irish Players from the Abbey Theatre name star Mrs. Fiske (aka Minnie Maddern Fiske) in Dublin brought over Lennox Robinson’s hit in a thick Creole accent for 127 performances. London play The White-Headed Boy, on One of Broadway’s all-time greatest tal- September 15, 1921. It was the story of a spoiled ents marked a milestone at Henry Miller’s young man who blarneys his whole town into Theatre: composer George Gershwin wrote his believing he’s headed for an adventure in first complete score to a musical, La, La, Canada, when actually he’s just flunked out of Lucille, which bowed here May 26, 1919, with college. The show did not repeat its London suc- lyrics by B. G. “Buddy” DeSylva. It ran 104 cess, and by November 7, 1921, Henry Miller’s performances, interrupted by the late-summer Theatre was ready for its fifth show in less than actors’ strike that helped establish the power a year: The Intimate Stranger. Alfred Lunt and of Actors’ Equity Association, the actors’ Billie Burke starred in Booth Tarkington’s com- union. After the strike, the show tried to come edy about a woman who tests her suitor by pre- back at the Criterion Theatre but managed tending to be much older than she is. This was only a few extra performances, leaving behind Tarkington’s first return to Broadway after his the Gershwin rag “Tee Oodle Um Bum Bo.” success with Clarence, and the new play suf- Eva Le Gallienne starred in Grace Heyer fered by comparison. and Rita Olcott’s Lusmore (September 9, 1919, Three plays had short runs in 1922 before the twenty-three performances), an Irish fancy Selwyn brothers brought in a hit revival of Romeo about a poet hunchback who is suspected of and Juliet on January 24, 1923, starring Jane Cowl having a supernatural birth. and Rollo Peters as the star-crossed lovers. The With the women’s suffrage movement gain- lovers were united in death 157 times. ing steam before women were granted the right The state of modern marriage was explored to vote in 1920, playwright James Forbes brought in The Changelings by two mismatched couples to Henry Miller’s Theatre a reactionary woman’s- and a daughter who elopes with an unsuitable place-is-in-the-home drama, The Famous Mrs. husband. Lee Wilson Dodd’s comedy opened Fair, which gave the theatre its longest run so far, September 17, 1923, with Blanche Bates, Ruth 183 performances, beginning December 1919. Chatterton, and Henry Miller, and it marched Blanche Bates starred as Nancy Fair, a female down the aisle 128 times. It was chosen by Burns war hero who returns home with a feminist agen- Mantle as one of the ten best plays of the season. da but decides to set it aside it when she realizes Six undistinguished plays flitted across her husband (Henry Miller) and daughter Henry Miller’s boards in 1924, leaving barely a (Margalo Gillmore) are drifting away. memory. But April 1925 brought an influential (if A. E. Thomas welcomed the 1920s with a fan- short-lived) comedy, The Poor Nut, by the tasy called Just Suppose, about a European royal father—son writing team of Elliott Nugent and J. much like the Prince of Wales coming to the C. Nugent. It told the story of a nerdy college stu- United States and falling in love with an dent who writes love letters to a beauty contest American girl. Fred Kerr, Patricia Collinge, and winner, proclaiming his love and bragging about Leslie Howard starred in the play. The royal lead his looks and sports prowess. But when she was changed to the “Prince of Koronia” for the shows up on campus to claim her superman, he subsequent film version after Brits objected to has to find a way to live up to his self-created the very notion that their sovereign might con- image.

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