Gaiety Theatre (New York)
The Gaiety Theatre was a Broadway theatre at 1547 Broadway in New York City from 1909 until 1982, when it was torn down.
The office building that housed the theatre The Gaiety Building has been called the Black Tin Pan Alley for the number of African-American song-writers, who rented office space there.
It was designed by Herts & Tallant and owned by George M. Cohan. The theatre introduced revolutionary concepts of a sunken orchestra (the previous configuration had the orchestra on the same level as the seats in front of the stage) and also not having pillars obstructing sight lines for the balcony.
It opened on September 4, 1909 with the Fortune Hunter.
The theatre's biggest hit was Lightnin' which played for 1,291 performances starting August 16, 1918. It would become a silent film.
Read more about Gaiety Theatre (New York): Minksy's, Victoria, Embassy 5, Black Tin Pan Alley
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“The theatre is the best way of showing the gap between what is said and what is seen to be done, and that is why, ragged and gap-toothed as it is, it has still a far healthier potential than some poorer, abandoned arts.”
—David Hare (b. 1947)