Shubert Theatre (New Haven)
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The Shubert Theatre is a 1600-seat theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, originally opened in 1914. It was designed by Albert Swazey, a New York architect, and built by the H.E. Murdock Construction Company. It was the second theatre built by the Shubert Organization, after the Shubert Theatre on Broadway, and its full original name was Sam S. Shubert Theatre. It is currently run as a non-profit organization by CAPA, the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts.
Because it was an attractive and modern theatre in a metropolitan area outside of but not too far from New York City, the Shubert Theatre attracted many producers as a location to try out shows before bringing them to Broadway. Richard Rodgers arranged the premiers of many of the shows he wrote and co-wrote to run at the Shubert, including all five of the most famous shows written by Rodgers and Hammerstein. In 1947, A Streetcar Named Desire premiered in the Shubert, beginning both the play's and Marlon Brando's rises to fame. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the Shubert continued to attract rising stars, playing a home to early appearances of such actors as Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, Andy Griffith, Sidney Poitier, and even former First Lady Nancy Reagan, among others.
The theater was immortalized in many films from that era, most famously in All About Eve.
However, in the 1970s, the popularity of the Shubert began to decline, and in late 1976 it closed and was threatened with destruction. Instead, it was purchased by CAPA and refurbished by the Fusco Corporation, to reopen in December 1983. Since then, it has returned to its status as a pre-Broadway premiere theatre, opening shows ranging from Proposals by Neil Simon, to Frank Wildhorn's musicals Jekyll and Hyde and The Civil War. It also offers a variety of other types of performances, including dance and concerts, and has a number of education and outreach programs.
