Thursday, November 27, 2014
10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Shubert Theatre
Backstage: In honor of the publication of “The Untold Stories of Broadway, Volume 2,” we asked theater historian (and one of Backstage’s future power players of Broadway) Jennifer Ashley Tepper to share some of the stories she learned from her extensive interviews. Here are six facts about the famed, 101-year-old Shubert Theatre on West 44th Street, currently home to “Matilda.”
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4 comments:
This was a pretty sweet article, and it definitely made me want to read Jennifer Ashley Tepper's books. I worked in the offices right across from the Shubert Theater this past summer, and I always wondered what was on the top floors of the building. It is so interesting to read about all of the stories and architecture that make up this gorgeous theatre. I cannot help but imagine all of the other stories that the Broadway theaters have collected over the years. It is really amazing to think about how temporary our art can be, but how the memories and traditions in our industry still seem to remain strong. When I was little, I always imagined Broadway theaters to be giant, state of the art facilities. However, after reading this article and experiencing some Broadway houses this summer, I learned that these theaters have tiny backstage space, run down dressing rooms, and quirky remnants of shows past. And in a way, this history makes these theaters all the more magical.
I'm actually interested in reading Ms. Tepper's books and seeing what some of these stories and such are that she's found. Our industry has a very rich and vibrant history full of interesting stories and trivia that most people are not aware of at all. We recently had a class where our guests mentioned many times that by having a theatre degree it makes you very interesting at dinner parties. And this article really shows how people outside our industry are so interested in what goes on and really have no idea. None of the stories mentioned here really surprised me because I've seen similar things and so it all makes sense but that's the world we live in. Broadway has this stigma on it of being this big flashy world with the best of everything but that's because what we portray onstage is very different from what is going on backstage. Broadway houses are small, and cramped with not a lot of space for anything other that what is put onstage and is it's not onstage it's a jigsaw puzzle of everything fighting for space. Which always makes for interesting stories about how things end up working. So I can understand how things that seem to be very mundane to us are fascinating to everyone else.
Yeah, I'm gonna buy this book. I live for these tiny pieces of trivia because they really breathe life into old buildings like these. For instance, the tidbit about the garden especially made me smile. But the parts about A Chorus Line really got to me. Every night the stagehands turned off the air conditioning in order to have that one specific monologue heard. And what difference it made! It really boils down to little things like these that make theatre unique. Also, turning the star dressing room into a stage management office: ha! That's great. The connecting doors between theaters is the best one, though. That really is something special.
I clicked on this article because I knew nothing about the Shubert Theatre. I thought that these facts were great and it was interesting to read a fact article that moved away from reciting statistics. These facts were great because they had personality. I personally loved the idea of leaving a time capsule in a theatre you worked in and then ten years later working there again and being able to dig up all those memories. I also liked the idea of someone deciding to treat their cast equally and not give a lead character this grand dressing room. Its these sort of facts and tidbits that make a place interesting to someone who has never been.
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