New Victory Theater
The New Victory Theater is the oldest operating theater in the vicinity of Times Square in New York City . With a capacity of less than 500 seats in its auditorium, it is now part of the Off-Broadway theaters rather than Broadway , despite its central location (229 West 42 Street) .
It was built by the cigar manufacturer and opera impresario Oscar Hammerstein I (the grandfather of the lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II ) and opened in 1900 under the name Theater Republic . In the first performance, Lionel played Barrymore . Two years later it was leased by playwright and producer David Belasco , who called it the Belasco Theater and performed melodramas and comedies there . George Arliss , Mary Pickford , Fay Bainter and Lillian Gish performed here. In 1910 the theater was renamed Theater Republic back. In 1927, the play Porgy , which served as the basis for George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess , was premiered here, directed by Rouben Mamoulian .
The global economic crisis since 1929 reduced the gloss. From 1931 to 1941 the theater became the setting for US burlesque , a kind of variety show with a hint of striptease and lewd comments. It was named Minsky's Burlesque after its operator, Billy Minsky . Gypsy Rose Lee stripped here, Phil Silvers hosted, and Abbott and Costello did weird interludes.
In 1942 the theater was converted into a cinema and was named Victory . The area saw the decline since the 1960s as a porn cinema.
The New Victory was the first theater to be taken over and renovated by the city as part of the redevelopment of the theater district. In 1990 it was bought by the state and city of New York and declared a listed building. In 1994/95 the architecture firm Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer restored the shape of the theater in Belasco's time.
As a non-profit organization, the theater has been specializing in children's and family events since 1995.
