New Amsterdam Theater

Restoration of the New Amsterdam Theater

Completed 1903 

Architect Herts & Tallant

When it was built, the New Amsterdam Theater was the largest theatre in New York, and could seat 1800 people.  It opened in November of 1903, with Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream.  Over the years the New Amsterdam housed a variety of plays and musicals She stoops to Conquer, George M. Cohan's Forty-five Minutes from Broadway, and The Merry Widow.  In 1913, the New Amsterdam became the home of the Ziegfeld Follies.  The Follies brought many of the greatest Broadway actors and actresses to the New Amsterdam.  Leon Errol, Bert Williams, Fanny Brice, Will Rogers, and W.C. Fields are some of these performers.  Along with the Follies, Ziegfeld produced many revues and musical comedies in the rooftop theatre.  In 1914, the rooftop theatre was renamed Danse de Follies and  Ziegfeld added a dance floor on the rooftop.  Later, in 1923, the rooftop would be renamed again, to the Frolic Theatre.

The New Amsterdam was affected by the depression.  While shows produced inside the New Amsterdam remained fairly constant through the early thirties, the rooftop theatre suffered.  In 1936, the New Amsterdam was closed.  The rooftop theatre was reopened the next year, but for radio use rather than live productions.  After the New Amsterdam reopened in 1937, productions of plays were limited.  The final live production in the New Amsterdam before its transformation into a movie theatre, was a production of Othello starring Walter Huston.  The theatre remained a movie theatre into the 1980's, when the owners, the Nederlanders, proposed to renovate the theatre.  This project was cancelled when problems were discovered in the main supporting beam.

In 1993, the Walt  Disney Corporation brought the New Amsterdam back from the dead. At an estimated restoration cost of  $34 million the Disney Corporation agreed to restore The New Amsterdam to its former glory. Their restoration is stunning, both from the outside, where Times Square now bursts with a scrubbed-up neon glow, and on the inside, where the overdone baroque decor from the days of the Ziegfeld Follies has been lovingly returned to its former splendor. In the lobby, which contains elevators to take you to the mezzanine levels, you'll be greeted by uniformed ticket takers who look like they stepped out of a 1930's movie. To your right is a spacious and well-stocked refreshment area. The New Amsterdam Room downstairs, a broad round space connecting the men's and lady's lounges, is reached by grandly carpeted spiral staircases and features deluxe upholstered benches on which you can wait for  the rest of your party to take care of business in the restrooms or at the inevitable (but elegant) souvenir stand. (And there are attendants at each of the lounges, too.)

The grand reopening of the New Amsterdam took place in May of 1997, with a concert staging of  King David.  Later that year, a stage version of the highly successful full-length cartoon The Lion King was presented at The New Amsterdam.  The Lion King went on to win the Tony Award for best musical in 1998 and has been playing to capacity crowds since its opening.  Needless to say it will be playing the New Amsterdam for years to come. 

Disney has published a stunning coffee table book ($47.25) about the theatre called simply The New Amsterdam. Lavishly illustrated, this volume by theatre historian Mary C. Henderson recounts the history of the theatre from its heyday as the home of the Ziegfeld Follies through its years as a movie house and then a decaying unused landmark to its exciting rebirth this year. The book also includes many before and after photos illustrating the renovation process.