New Amsterdam Theatre, West 42nd Street, 1907

The New Amsterdam Theatre at 214 West 42nd Street, near Times Square, in New York City. The theater is showing The Merry Widow, an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár, which the first production in the United States opened on 21 October 1907 at the New Amsterdam Theatre, with 416 performances. The New York College of Dental & Oral Surgery is on the right at 216 W 42nd St. Photograph by Geo. P. Hall & Son dated 1907, New-York Historical Society. Continue below...

The New Amsterdam Theatre opened in 1903 and today it is operated by Disney Theatrical Productions. It has 1,702 seats across three levels. Both the Beaux-Arts front and the Art Nouveau interior of the building are New York City landmarks, and the building is on the National Register of Historic Places. The theater was designed in Art Nouveau style by Henry Beaumont Herts and Hugh Tallant for theatrical producers Marc Klaw and Abraham L. Erlanger.

In the early 1990s the 42nd Street Development Corporation was formed to rejuvenate the theatres of Times Square, including the New Amsterdam. The Walt Disney Company was looking for a permanent home on Broadway for its future theatrical enterprises, making it an ideal partner for the restoration.