ON STAGE
Now Playing
THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA
HISTORY
George H. Broadhurst, the Anglo-American manager and playwright (1866-1952), built his eponymous theatre in association with the Shubert brothers. Broadhurst had previously managed theatres in Milwaukee, Baltimore, and San Francisco (and written many popular plays). The playhouse has remained one of the Shubert Organization’s most consistently booked theatres.
ARCHITECTURE
Mirror images of each other, the Broadhurst and the neighboring Plymouth Theatre, which opened within two weeks of each other, were the brainchild of architect Herbert J. Krapp, and were his first independent commissions. While the two playhouses are nearly identical on the outside, the Broadhurst's interior employs Doric columns, and Greek-style cornices and friezes. Its spare exterior is decorated with brickwork, enhanced by touches of stone and terra-cotta trim.
Spotlight on Broadway: Broadhurst Theatre from Spotlight on Broadway on Vimeo.
Details on the Broadhurst Theatre's Accessibility
Access Information
Theatre is not completely wheelchair accessible. There are no steps into the theatre from the sidewalk. Please be advised that where there are steps either into or within the theatre, we are unable to provide assistance.
Shubert Audience Services
The Broadhurst Theatre provides accommodations for patrons who are blind, deaf, partially sighted, and/or have hearing loss, except as permitted for accessibility services. The theatre provides infrared assistive listening devices for every performance at the theatre. In addition, beginning four weeks after a show’s official opening night performance, hand-held audio description devices, hand-held captioning devices, and unlimited access to downloadable audio description and/or captioning for personal mobile devices are all available free of charge. Prior thereto, we offer live-caption via CART using a hand-held device, upon request with two-weeks’ advance notice. For assistance, or If you have questions, contact Shubert Audience Services at 212-944-3700 or audienceservices@shubertorg.com. There is also a representative at the Shubert Audience Services kiosk at every performance to assist any patron with any of our devices, software, or technology. Hand-held devices are limited, although additional devices can be obtained with at least twenty-four hours’ notice.
Accessibility by Seating Section
Orchestra Location: Seating is accessible to all parts of the Orchestra without steps. There are no steps to the designated wheelchair seating location.
Mezzanine Location: Located on the Second Level, up 1 flight of steps. Please Note: On the Mezzanine Level, there are approximately 2 steps down per row. Entrance to the Mezzanine is behind row L.
Handrails: Available at the end of every stepped seat row in the Mezzanine.
Wheelchair | Companion Seat Locations:
Orchestra: J24 | J18 - 20; K23 | J17 - 21; O26 | O24, P24 - 26; Q102 | Q103 - 105; Q112 | Q109 - 111; Q113 | P112 -113
Aisle Seat with Folding Armrest | Companion Locations:
Orchestra: J114 | J113; R1 | R3; R2 | R4
Elevators/Escalator
None Available
Restroom
Wheelchair accessible (unisex) restroom is located on the main level.
Water Fountain
Located in the Rear Orchestra. Accessible at 36".
Theatre Policies
The use of cameras, recording devices, cell phones, beepers, and other electronic devices during the performance is prohibited. Everyone attending a performance must have a ticket. Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of management. Wheelchair and mobility-impaired seating is intended for patrons with mobility disabilities, unless medically necessary. Children under the age of four years will not be admitted. No outside food or beverage permitted. No weapons permitted on the premises.
NOW PLAYING
THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA
Following their triumphant production of The Ferryman, Tony-winning Playwright Jez Butterworth andOscar® and Tony-winning Director Sam Mendes reunite for The Hills of California.
In the sweltering heat of a 1970s summer, the Webb sisters return to their childhood home in Blackpool, an English seaside town, where their mother Veronica lies dying upstairs. Gloria and Ruby now have families of their own. Jill never left. And Joan? No one’s heard from her in twenty years… but Jill insists that their mother’s favorite won’t let them down this time.
The run-down Sea View Guest House is haunted by bittersweet memories of amusement park rides and overdue bills. Back in the 1950s, each night the girls rehearse their singing act, managed by their fiercely loving single mom. But when a record producer offers a shot at fame and a chance to escape, it will cost them all dearly.
“Jez Butterworth is back and he’s still remarkable.” – Time Out
“The Hills of California is a top-of-the-range night out. Flawless Sam Mendes magic.” – Daily Mail
“Hilarious and devastating, The Hills of California will undoubtedly cement Jez Butterworth's reputation as our greatest living playwright.” – Vogue
“A play of beauty, heat and pain, all built on a shattered dream.” – Mail on Sunday
The Hills of California Broadway Show Tickets
The Broadhurst's inaugural production was George Bernard Shaw’s Misalliance on September 27, 1917. Eva Le Gallienne’s long association with the theatre began later that year with a revival of Lord and Lady Algy (1917). George Broadhurst’s first play in his namesake theatre was He Didn’t Want to Do It (1918). His adaptation of Tarzan of the Apes premiered a few years later in 1921.
Other productions of the 1920s and 1930s include the Jeanne Eagels vehicle, The Wonderful Thing (1920), George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly’s successful comedy Beggar on Horseback (1924), the scandalizing The Green Hat (1925) starring Leslie Howard and Katharine Cornell, George Abbott’s Broadway (1926), the musical Hold Everything (1928) featuring Bert Lahr, and Helen Hayes in Victoria Regina (1935). The Group Theatre, innovators of American acting technique, premiered Men in White in 1933, directed by Lee Strasberg and starring Luther Adler, Sanford Meisner, Morris Carnovsky, Elia Kazan, and Clifford Odets. Humphrey Bogart and Leslie Howard appeared in The Petrified Forest (1935), and Bogart’s role in the subsequent film version launched his movie career. Two musicals closed out the decade: Mike Todd’s swing version of The Hot Mikado (1939) with the legendary Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and the hit revue Streets of Paris (1939).
Among the notable hits of the 1940s and 50s were Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians (1944), Anita Loos’s Happy Birthday (1946) with Helen Hayes, a revival of Rodgers and Hart’s Pal Joey (1952), The World of Suzie Wong (1958) starring France Nuyen and William Shatner, Auntie Mame (1956) featuring Rosalind Russell, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fiorello! (1959).
In the 1960s and 70s, the Broadhurst welcomed many legends. Elaine Stritch appeared in Noel Coward’s Sail Away (1961), Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret premiered in 1966 (followed by their Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1993 starring Chita Rivera), and in 1969 Woody Allen starred in his Play It Again, Sam alongside Diane Keaton and Tony Roberts. Neil Simon’s reign at the Broadhurst began in 1972 with The Sunshine Boys, which was followed by Broadway Bound (1986) and Rumors (1988). Other prominent shows were 110 In the Shade (1963), George Furth’s Twigs (1971) with Sada Thompson, A Matter of Gravity (1976) starring Katharine Hepburn, Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus (1980) featuring Ian McKellan, Tim Curry and Jane Seymour, and The Tap Dance Kid (1983). Two Bob Fosse dance revues graced the stage of the Broadhurst: Dancin’ (1979) and Fosse (1999).
The Broadhurst welcomed a revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods (2002), Billy Crystal’s one-man show 700 Sundays (2004), the Tony Award winning best play The History Boys (2006), and revivals of Les Miserables (2006), Equus (2008) starring Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths, and Hamlet (2009) starring Jude Law. More recently, the theatre has been host to Al Pacino in The Merchant of Venice (2010), Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway (2011), a revival of A Streetcar Named Desire (2012). Tom Hanks made his Broadway debut here in Nora Ephron's Lucky Guy (2013), as did Bruce Willis in Misery (2015). Nathan Lane starred in a revival of The Front Page (2016) at the Broadhurst, followed by the musical Anastasia (2017).
THEATRE SPECS
Broadhurst Theatre
235 West 44th Street
Between Broadway and 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10036
Year Built |
|
1917 |
|
Seating Capacity |
|
|
Orchestra |
|
733 |
Mezzanine |
|
429 |
Boxes |
|
24 |
Standing Room |
|
32 |
|
|
|
Total |
|
1218 |
|
|
|
Included in the Numbers Above: |
|
|
Orchestra Pit |
|
30 |
Wheelchair |
|
6 |
Aisle Transfer Arm |
|
13 |
|
Theatre Dimensions |
|
Proscenium Opening: |
40' 0" |
Height of Proscenium: |
25' 0" |
Depth to proscenium: |
31' 0" |
Depth to front of stage: |
33' 2" |
Stage Type: |
Proscenium |
|
SEATING CHART