Eugene O'Neil Theater

Completed 1926

Architect Herbert J Krapp

The Forrest Theater was named to honor America's first internationally known actor, Edwin Forrest, the histrionic tragedian partly responsible for the Astor Place riots of 1849. This is a typical Shubert-built, Krapp-designed theater: a simple facade shrouding an elegant Adamesque interior

The theater opened on November 24, 1925 with a performance of Mayflowers. In 1934, Tobacco Road, which had opened at Theater Masque in 1932, moved to the Forrest. The bulk of the show's 3,182 performances were staged at this theater. In 1945 the theater's name was changed to the Coronet. Then, on November 11, 1959 the theater was renamed for Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, author of Anna Christie, Long Day's Journey into Night, Mourning Becomes Elektra and The Iceman Cometh, among other intense psychological dramas. You'll notice below a string of Neil Simon hits played the theater, starting with The Last of the Red Hot Lovers in 1969. Simon then owned the Eugene O'Neill and sold it to the Jujamcyn organization in 1982. The interior of the theater was designated a New York City landmark in December 1987

1944 Arthur Miller's Broadway debut show, The Man Who Had All the Luck, has nothing but bad luck. It closes after 4 performances

1945 Betty Field and Wendell Corey star in Elmer Rice's comedy Dream Girl

1947 Arthur Miller has better luck this time around. His All My Sons stars Ed Begley and Arthur Kennedy and is directed by Elia Kazan. Tonys go to Miller for outstanding playwright, Kazan for outstanding director and Kennedy for outstanding supporting performance

1952 A revival of The Children's Hour stars Patricia Neal and Kim Hunter

1955 Arthur Miller is back with another classic-in-his-own-time, A View from the Bridge, starring Van Heflin, J Carroll Nash, Eileen Heckart and Jack Warden

1957 Ralph Richardson and Mildred Natwick star in Jean Anouilh's comedy Waltz of the Toreadors

1958 This is memorable. The cast of The Disenchanted includes Rosemary Harris and George Grizzard, but this is Jason Robard Sr's first time on Broadway since 1922. The kicker? He shares the stage with Jason Robards Jr, who goes on to win a best actor Tony for his performance

1962 Herb Gardner's A Thousand Clowns nets Sandy Dennis a Tony; she stars opposite Jason Robards Jr

1963 She Loves Me, the charming Joe Masteroff-Jerry Bock-Sheldon Harnick musical, directed by Harold Prince, stars Barbara Cook, Daniel Massey, Barbara Baxley and Jack Cassidy

1969 James Coco stars in Neil Simon's comedy Last of the Red Hot Lovers

1971 Peter Falk, Lee Grant and Vincent Gardenia are directed by Mike Nichols in Neil Simon's latest comedy The Prisoner of Second Avenue. Gardenia and Nichols earn Tonys

1973 Let's have a Neil Simon drama for a change. Christopher Plummer, Marsha Mason, Frances Sternhagen, Rene Auberjonois and Barnard Hughes (whew!) share the stage in The Good Doctor

1975 Tovah Feldshu originates the role of the Yeshiva boy in the Leah Napolin-Isaac Bashevics Singer drama Yentl

1976 He's back. Neil Simon is back to comedy with Tammy Grimes, George Grizzard, Jack Weston, Barbara Barrie and Leslie Easterbrook starring in California Suite

1980 And again. Neil Simon's I Ought to Be in Pictures stars Ron Liebman, Joyce Van Patten and Dinah Manoff, who earns a Tony for her performance

1983 We need a flop, so let's throw in the heralded Moose Murders. All 1 performance of it

1985 Roger Miller's music and lyrics combine with William Hauptman's book to produce the Tony-winning musical Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Dan Jenkins, Ron Richardson, John Goodman and Rene Auberjonois star, directed by Des McAnuf. Williams, Hauptman, McAnuf and Richardson win Tonys

1988 David Henry Hwang's Tony-winning drama M Butterfly stars John Lithgow and BD Wong. Wong earns a Tony, as does director John Dexter

1990 Charles Durning's performance opposite Kathleen Turner earns a Tony in this revival of Tennessee William's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

1991 Okay, so its only 14 performances. But its Dickens. It's The Christmas Carol. Its Patrick Stewart

1992 The Louis Jordan-Clarke Peters Revue Five Guys Named Moe takes to the boards for 445 performances

1994 Tommy Tune directs and choreographs this revival of Grease. The practice of rotating celebrities in and out of principal roles ensures a long run

1999 First Lee J Cobb did it. Then Dustin Hoffman did it. Surprisingly, now Brian Dennehy does it. Each star of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman interprets Willy Loman in his own way. Dennehy rivals the best and earns a Tony as does Elizabeth Franz, director Robert Falls and the show itself