Completed 1903

Architect Herts & Tallent

Along with the New Victory, Lyceum and Hudson theaters one of the oldest surviving legitimate theaters on Broadway. In 1902 impresarios Marc Klaw and Abraham Erlanger followed Oscar Hammerstein to 42nd Street. But just barely. The theater they commissioned Herts & Tallant to build across from Hammerstein's Republic has a narrow entry on 42nd Street with, the bulk of the house on 41st Street. The 42nd Street Beaux-Arts entrance opens into the finest Art Nouveau theater interiors in NYC. Carved and painted plaster, carved stone, carved wood, murals and tiles—all combine to evoke what it was like going to the theater at the turn of the century. A production of Shakespeare's Midsummer Nights Dream opened the theater on Nov 2, 1903. Florenz Ziegfeld staged his Follies at the New Amsterdam from 1913 through 1927, along with various editions of his other revues, known under various names including The Midnight Frolic and The Nine O'Clock Revue, on the theater's rooftop stage

As were many other legitimate theaters during the Depression years, the New Amsterdam was converted to a movie house in 1937. The Nederlander Organization purchased the theater in 1982 and, planning to piggyback on the proposed redevelopment of the Times Square area, started on a problem plagued reconstruction program to return the theater to legitimate use. Major structural problems, combined with the uncertainty of the City's economic health (which had the Times Square redevelopment project in fits and starts), repeatedly delayed the reconstruction. New York State purchased the New Amsterdam in 1992 and subsequently resold it to the Walt Disney Co for $29 million. The complete reconstruction of the theater between 1995 - 1997 signaled Disney's confidence in Times Square and anchored the further redevelopment of the area

1906 Victor Moore, Fay Templeton and Donald Brian star in Forty-five Minutes from Broadway, with a book by George M Cohan, music by George M Cohan and lyrics by George M Cohan. George M Cohan did not star

1907 A production of Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow runs for 416 performances

1910 The Otto Harbach-Karl Hoschna musical Madame Sherry runs for 231 performances and stars Jack Gardner, Ralph Herz and Lina Arbarbanell

1911 Hazel Dawn is The Pink Lady in her Broadway debut. The show, with music by Ivan Caryl and lyrics by CMS McLellan runs for 312 performances

1913 Flo Ziegfeld produces the first of his Follies revues at the New Amsterdam. This installment features Leon Errol, Frank Tinney and Ann Pennington

1913 Victor Herbert's musical Sweethearts stars Christie MacDonald

1914 Ziegfeld's Follies are back along with Leon Errol and Ann Pennington, this time joined by Bert Williams and Ed Wynn, in his very first Follies

1914 The great husband and wife dance team Vernon and Irene Castle make their last Broadway appearance in Irving Berlin's first musical Watch Your Step

1915 to 1920 Ziegfeld starts his Midnight Frolics on the rooftop stage of the New Amsterdam in 1915. Ziegfeld's Follies fly high through the late teens, with performers such as Bert Williams, Ed Wynn, May Murray, George White, Leon Errol, Fanny Brice, Theda Bara, Ina Claire, Ann Pennington and Lillian Lorraine sharing the bill. WC Fields makes his Follies debut in 1915, Will Rogers makes his in 1916, Eddie Cantor in 1917 and Marilyn Miller bows in 1918. After Prohibition goes into effect in 1920, the Midnight Frolics, which depended on after-theater drink sales, become the Nine O'Clock Revue, a show sustained by admission charges

1920 Ed Wynn stars in a revue of his own, The Ed Wynn Carnival, with Marion Davis

1920 Marilyn Miller, Leon Errol, Walter Catlett and Helen Morgan star in the Guy Bolton-Jerome Kern musical Sally. The show runs for 570 performances

1925 Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern collaborate on the musical Sunny. The show stars Marilyn Miller and Clifton Webb. A young Pert Kelton has a bit part; in the 50s she becomes not at all well-known as Alice Cramden in the first few episodes of the Honeymooners, later replaced by Audrey Meadow

1928 Sigmund Romberg and the Gershwin brother's combine for the musical Rosalie, starring Marilyn Miller, Jack Donahue and Frank Morgan

1931 Fred Astaire is in on his way out to Hollywood and The Band Wagon is his and sister Adele's last show together

1932 Even the best have a dry spell. Irving Berlin has not had a show on Broadway in 5 years. Face the Music has a book by Moss Hart, is directed by George S Kaufman and stars Mary Boland. It limps through 165 performances

1933 The Otto Harbach-Jerome Kern musical Roberta stars Bob Hope, Tamara Drasin, Sidney Greenstreet, Fay Templeton and George Murphy

1997 After a 60-year hiatus, the New Amsterdam reopens as a legitimate venue with a musical production of King David

1998 The Lion King opened to glowing reviews and glowing audiences. Critics doubted the Disney organization had the right stuff for Broadway, but the show takes the Tony for best musical, as do Julie Taymor for direction and Garth Fagan for choreography