SUNY Orange, "If you have the dream, we have the way!"SUNY Orange

Behind the Bright Lights: The Great Broadway Theaters

a lecture with slides by Anthony Robins,

  • an historian specializing in NYC architecture and history
  • former Deputy Director of Research and Director of Survey at the New York Landmarks Commission
  • former Director of Education and Programs at New York's Municipal Art Society
  • presently Director of Survey at Thompson and Columbus, Inc., NYC
  • a founding member of the Art Deco Society of New York
  • author of books and articles

Wednesday, October 10, 2007 @ 7pm

Orange Hall Theater

Photo: Anthony RobinsThe lecture entails information about theaters built during the early 20th century in and around Times Square with specifics about the theatrical personalities who commissioned these buildings and their concepts about what they wanted, from sight lines and acoustics to architectural styles. According to Anthony Robins, "Many were built as lavish headquarters for Broadway's great impresarios, who spared no expense in their decor. The Belasco Theater - designed for David Belasco, the self-styled "Bishop of Broadway" - boasts Tiffany glass, paneled wooden ceilings, and murals by the New York Ash-Can School artist Everett Shinn. The Georgian facade of the Little Theater, built for aristocratic New England producer Winthrop Ames, suggests a Colonial New England manor house, into the intimate drawing room of which Ames cordially invited his audience. Other great Broadway houses include the recreation of the Petit Trianon in Versailles built for producer John Cort; the pseudo-Florentine palace built for the Theater Guild, and the delicately sculpted Music Box built by Irving Berlin for his Music Box Revues."

Books

  • The World Trade Center (Pineapple Press, 1987)
  • Heritage Trails New York Guide to Downtown (1995)
  • Alliance for Downtown New York, Downtown Open House (four self-guided tours to Downtown, 1995-1998)
  • Subway Style (New York Transit Museum; published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2004)

Articles

New York

  • "Once Upon a Time: Before There Was a SoHo," SoHo Style (Summer 1999).
  • "Courting Beauty: Judges Give Architect Cass Gilbert His Due," Preservation (October 1998).
  • "Behind Broadway’s Bright Lights, A Legacy Endures" (the great Broadway theaters), Gourmet (June 1996).
  • "Theaters," "Movie Palaces," "Thomas Lamb," "Herbert J. Krapp," "Herts & Tallant,"
  • "The World Trade Center," New York Encyclopedia (Yale University Press, 1995).
  • "Touring Houdini’s New York," New York Times Weekend Section (October 28, 1994).
  • "Riverdale," Metropolis (July-August 1993).
  • "New York from Classic to Moderne: Local Architects Remember, Everyday Masterpieces (Princeton Architectural Press, 1988)
  • "Top This One: The Continuing Saga of the Tallest Building in the World," Architectural Record (January 1987).
  • "The Pastoral Suburb of Fieldston," Metropolis (December 1984).
  • "Raymond Hood’s New York Skyscrapers," Art Deco News (1984).
  • "New York City’s Art Deco Landmarks," New York’s Inside Design (Vol. 2, No. 1, 1981).

Travel

  • "San Jose," New York Times Travel Section (1999).
  • "The Stony Side of Costa Rica" (architecture of the cities of the Central Valley), New York Times Travel Section (October 29, 1995).
  • "In Australia’s Great Cities, Art Deco Gleams On," New York Times Travel Section (May 1, 1994).
  • "World Congress Uncovers Pacific Art Deco," Progressive Architecture (December 1993).
  • "New York Signature on London Landmarks," New York Times Travel Section (June 21, 1992).

Historic Preservation

  • "Historic Preservation and Planning: The Limits of Prediction," Journal of the American Planning Association (Vol. 61, No. 1, Winter 1995).
  • "Coping with History: Cultural Landmarks," National Trust for Historic Preservation: Preservation Forum (May-June 1994).
  • "Anti-Demolition League Saves Synagogues," Forward (July 8, 1994).
  • "Theater Preservation Update: London 1989," Architectural Record (November 1989)

Public History Installations

  • Heritage Trails Historic Sitemarkers, erected in Lower Manhattan 1997-98, revised 2004 (New York's answer to Boston's Liberty Trail)

Interviews
On the subjects of New York history, architecture, and historic preservation:

  • Channel 5 Television (Great Britain): on New York's Art Deco architecture
  • National Public Radio: On the World Trade Center as an urban icon
  • BBC Radio: Renovation of New York's Grand Central Terminal
  • WCBS- FM radio: Historic preservation and the New York City Landmarks Commission
  • "Straight Talk," WOR-TV: The great movie palaces
  • "Curtain Time," Crosswalks Cable Television Network: Preservation of New York's Broadway theaters
  • Manx Radio: Historic preservation
  • Bronx Cable TV: Landmarks of the Bronx
menu_temp

Contact Us:
Dorothy Szefc
Coordinator of Cultural Affairs (Middletown)
(845) 341-4891
cultural@sunyorange.edu

Nicole Shea
Coordinator of Cultural Affairs (Newburgh)
(845) 341-9386

All Cultural Affairs Events are open to the public and all buildings are universally accessible.

NOTE: All artists' images on these pages are copyrighted and are used by kind permission of the artists. Please do not download, reproduce or use without permission.