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The Ziegfeld Theatre was a Broadway
Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
 theatre
Theatre

Theatre is the branch of the performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one or more actor, isolated in time and/or Theater , present themselves to Audience." By this broad definition, theatre has existed since the dawn of man, as a result of human tendency for story telling....
 formerly located at the intersection of Sixth Avenue
Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)

Sixth Avenue is a major avenue in New York City's borough of Manhattan. Although the Avenue's official name was changed to Avenue of the Americas in 1945 by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia New Yorkers remained faithful to the old name....
 and 54th Street
54th Street (Manhattan)

54th Street is a two-mile-long, One-way traffic street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan....
 in Manhattan
Manhattan

Manhattan is one of the five borough of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.With a United States Census of 1,620,867 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles , Manhattan, coextensive with New York County, is the most population density county in the United States, w...
, New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
. It was built in 1927 and razed in 1966.

The theatre was named for Florenz Ziegfeld
Florenz Ziegfeld

Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. , called Flo Ziegfeld, was an American Broadway theatre impresario. He is best known for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies , inspired by the Folies Berg?res of Paris....
, who built the theatre with financial backing from William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst I was an United States History of American newspapers Business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. The son of self-made millionaire George Hearst, he became aware that his father received a northern California newspaper, The San Francisco Examiner, as payment of a gambling debt....
. It was designed by Joseph Urban
Joseph Urban

Joseph Urban Born in Vienna, Austria, died in New York City, trained as an architect, known also for his theatrical design and his early illustrations of children's books....
 and Thomas W. Lamb
Thomas W. Lamb

Thomas White Lamb was one of the foremost United States theater and movie theater architects in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is noted for designing New York City Ziegfeld Theatre, as well as Madison Square Garden....
. It opened on February 2, 1927 with the musical Rio Rita
Rio Rita

Rio Rita may refer to:*Rio Rita , a 1927 musical*Rio Rita , a 1929 film starring Bebe Daniels and John Boles, with Wheeler and Woolsey as comedy relief...
, which moved to another theatre when Show Boat
Show Boat

Show Boat is a musical theatre in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. One notable exception is the song Bill , which was originally written by Kern and author-lyricist P....
 opened at the Ziegfeld on December 27, 1927.






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The Ziegfeld Theatre was a Broadway
Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
 theatre
Theatre

Theatre is the branch of the performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one or more actor, isolated in time and/or Theater , present themselves to Audience." By this broad definition, theatre has existed since the dawn of man, as a result of human tendency for story telling....
 formerly located at the intersection of Sixth Avenue
Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)

Sixth Avenue is a major avenue in New York City's borough of Manhattan. Although the Avenue's official name was changed to Avenue of the Americas in 1945 by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia New Yorkers remained faithful to the old name....
 and 54th Street
54th Street (Manhattan)

54th Street is a two-mile-long, One-way traffic street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan....
 in Manhattan
Manhattan

Manhattan is one of the five borough of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.With a United States Census of 1,620,867 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles , Manhattan, coextensive with New York County, is the most population density county in the United States, w...
, New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
. It was built in 1927 and razed in 1966.

The theatre was named for Florenz Ziegfeld
Florenz Ziegfeld

Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. , called Flo Ziegfeld, was an American Broadway theatre impresario. He is best known for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies , inspired by the Folies Berg?res of Paris....
, who built the theatre with financial backing from William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst I was an United States History of American newspapers Business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. The son of self-made millionaire George Hearst, he became aware that his father received a northern California newspaper, The San Francisco Examiner, as payment of a gambling debt....
. It was designed by Joseph Urban
Joseph Urban

Joseph Urban Born in Vienna, Austria, died in New York City, trained as an architect, known also for his theatrical design and his early illustrations of children's books....
 and Thomas W. Lamb
Thomas W. Lamb

Thomas White Lamb was one of the foremost United States theater and movie theater architects in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is noted for designing New York City Ziegfeld Theatre, as well as Madison Square Garden....
. It opened on February 2, 1927 with the musical Rio Rita
Rio Rita

Rio Rita may refer to:*Rio Rita , a 1927 musical*Rio Rita , a 1929 film starring Bebe Daniels and John Boles, with Wheeler and Woolsey as comedy relief...
, which moved to another theatre when Show Boat
Show Boat

Show Boat is a musical theatre in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. One notable exception is the song Bill , which was originally written by Kern and author-lyricist P....
 opened at the Ziegfeld on December 27, 1927. The theatre became the Loew's Ziegfeld in 1933 and operated as a movie theater
Movie theater

A movie theater, movie theatre, picture theatre, film theater or cinema is a venue, usually a building, for viewing film ....
 until showman Billy Rose
Billy Rose

Billy Rose was an United States impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. He is credited with many famous songs, notably "Me and My Shadow" , "It Happened in Monterey" and "It's Only a Paper Moon " ....
 bought it in 1944.

NBC used the Ziegfeld as a television studio
Television studio

A television studio is an installation in which television or video productions take place, either for live television, for recording live to tape, or for the acquisition of raw footage for postproduction....
 from 1955 to 1963. The Perry Como Show
Perry Como

Pierino "Perry" Como was an United States singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with it in 1943....
 used the theatre beginning in 1956. It was one of the locations used for the Emmy Awards in 1959 and 1961.

In 1963 the Ziegfeld reopened as a legitimate Broadway theatre. This was short-lived however, as Rose began to assemble abutting properties for a new real estate project. The Ziegfeld was torn down in 1966 to make way for a skyscraper, the Fisher Bros. Burlington House (later renamed the Alliance Capital, and then AllianceBernstein building.) A movie theatre was built down the street (at 141 W. 54th Street) with the name "The Ziegfeld," and houses photographs of the older Broadway theatre.

A fragment of the Joseph Urban facade, a female head, can be seen in front of the private home at 52 E. 80th Street.. The box from the cornerstone and its contents are in the .

Notable Broadway premieres

  • Rio Rita
    Rio Rita

    Rio Rita may refer to:*Rio Rita , a 1927 musical*Rio Rita , a 1929 film starring Bebe Daniels and John Boles, with Wheeler and Woolsey as comedy relief...
     (1927)
  • Show Boat
    Show Boat

    Show Boat is a musical theatre in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. One notable exception is the song Bill , which was originally written by Kern and author-lyricist P....
     (1927–1929)
  • Ziegfeld Follies
    Ziegfeld Follies

    The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway theatre in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
     of 1931     (1931)
  • Brigadoon
    Brigadoon

    Brigadoon is a Musical theater with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe.It tells the story of a mysterious Scotland village that appears for only one day every hundred years, though to the villagers, the passing of each century seems no longer than one night....
     (1947–1948)
  • Kismet
    Kismet (musical)

    Kismet is a Musical theater written in 1953 by Robert Wright and George Forrest , adapted from the music of Alexander Borodin, and produced by Charles Lederer....
     (1953–1955)


Notable Broadway revivals

  • The Red Mill
    The Red Mill

    The Red Mill is an operetta written by Victor Herbert, with a libretto by Henry Blossom. It premiered on Broadway theatre on September 24 1906 at the Knickerbocker Theatre and ran for 274 performances, starring comedians Fred Stone and David Montgomery....
     (revised version) (1945)
  • Show Boat (revised version) (1946-1947)
  • Of Thee I Sing
    Of Thee I Sing

    Of Thee I Sing is a musical theater with a score by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin and a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. The musical lampoons American politics; the story concerns John P....
     (1951)
  • Music in the Air (1951)
  • Antony and Cleopatra
    Antony and Cleopatra

    Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623.The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Life of Markus Antonius and follows the relationship between Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Mark Antony from the time of the Roman-Persian Wars to Cleopatra's suicide....
     and Caesar and Cleopatra on alternative nights (1951-1952). This was an imported British
    United Kingdom

    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
     production starring Laurence Olivier
    Laurence Olivier

    Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, Order of Merit was an English people Stage actor, Theatre director, and Theatrical producer. He is one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, along with his contemporaries John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft and Ralph Richardson....
    , Vivien Leigh
    Vivien Leigh

    Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier , was an English actress. She won two Academy Awards for playing "southern belles": Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind and Blanche DuBois in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she had also played on stage in London's West End Theatre....
    , and the Old Vic
    Old Vic

    The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road, London. It became a Grade II* listed building in 1951....
     acting company.
  • Porgy and Bess
    Porgy and Bess

    Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward....
     (1953) (the famous world tour featuring Leontyne Price
    Leontyne Price

    Mary Violet Leontyne Price in Laurel, Mississippi in the United States is one of America's most beloved and widely recorded operatic sopranos....
    )


External links