Palace Theatre
1564 Broadway, New York, NY10036
Seats Approximately 1735
The theatre was built by Martin Beck in 1913 and opened with vaudeville shows from the Keith Circuit. From its opening to its change to cinema, The Palace lured the best and brightest in vaudeville. Designed by architects Kirchoff and Rose, Martin Beck's theatre experienced quite a few problems even before it opened. When the theatre finally opened it was not successful for quite some time until Keith booked French actress Sarah Bernhardt.
The bookings for the Palace took off, and within a few years it was the most sought after place for vaudevillians to perform. To "play the Palace" meant that a performer had reached the peak of their career. With the rise in popularity of film and radio and the Great Depression, vaudeville began its decline, and business slackened even at the Palace. In 1929 the two-a-day vaudeville shows were increased to three. By 1932, the Palace moved to four shows a day and dropped it's admission price. On 16th November 1932 the Palace moved to a full bill of movies. This date is generally regarded as the death of vaudeville. The Palace limped on, and in the 1950s the RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) chain tried to revive vaudeville with shows by such names as Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland. While the shows were successful, they did not lead to a revival of vaudeville.
In 1966, the Palace reopened as a theatre with the original production of the musical Sweet Charity. As a legitimate theatre, the Palace has seen such shows as George M! and Applause, and more recently shows like Will Rogers Follies in 1991, Disney's Beauty and the Beast in 1994 and Aida in 2000. The musical All Shook Up closed at the Palace on September 25th, 2005. Lestat officially opened at the Palace on April 25th, 2006, but closed on May 28th, 2006 after just 72 performances (33 previews and 39 regular performances).
Book London and Broadway Theatre Tickets
Visit London and see Lion King Musical