Jujamcyn Theaters

The Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 2006.

The Jujamcyn Theaters /ˈdʒuːdʒæmsᵻn/, formerly the Jujamcyn Amusement Corporation, is a theatrical producing and theatre-ownership company in New York City. For many years Jujamcyn was owned by James H. Binger, former Chairman of Honeywell, and his wife Virginia McKnight Binger. The organization is now owned by its President, Jordan Roth, and President Emeritus, Rocco Landesman.

The third-largest theatre owner on Broadway, behind the Shubert Organization and the Nederlander Organization, Jujamcyn owns five of the 40 Broadway district playhouses, but has created a much-envied business model that has, at times, accounted for as much as one-third of the gross revenues on Broadway. This business model has involved the combination of real estate – Broadway theatre ownership – and producing –active development of new shows and scripts. Jujamcyn has had some notable successes with this model, which has prompted other theatre operators to emulate this approach, to varying degrees.

History

The St. James Theatre, 2006

William L. McKnight, former chairman of 3M owned several theatres, two in New York and one in Boston. McKnight's daughter, Virginia McKnight Binger and her husband, James H. Binger, a top executive at Honeywell, shared a love of theatre. In 1970 when William McKnight wanted to sell his theatres, Binger stepped in to assist. He found the business fascinating, and after paying the gift tax and selling the Colonial Theatre in Boston, he and Virginia agreed to own and later expand the operation on Broadway.

Jujamcyn derives its name from the names of McKnight's grandchildren, the Bingers' children: Ju[dith], Jam[es], and Cyn[thia]. Over time Binger expanded Jujamcyn to five theatres to create the third-largest theatre-owning company on Broadway. The five Jujamcyn theatres are:

1. St. James Theatre, (acquired in 1957 by McKnight)
2. Al Hirschfeld Theatre, (formerly the Martin Beck Theatre, acquired in 1966 by McKnight),^[1]
3. Eugene O'Neill Theatre, (acquired in 1982)
4. Walter Kerr Theatre (formerly the Ritz Theatre, acquired in 1981),^[2]
5. August Wilson Theatre (acquired in 1981, formerly the Virginia Theatre)

In 1987 Binger brought in Rocco Landesman to run Jujamcyn.^[3] Landesman was a successful theatrical producer and was friendly with Binger from prior theatrical productions and from a shared interest in race horses.^[4] Over the next 17 years Landesman, Binger and the Jujamcyn organization would produce and/or house a successful string of Broadway hits.

Jujamcyn owns just five of the 40 Broadway district playhouses, but created a much-envied business model that has accounted for as much as one-third of the gross revenues. One box office juggernaut was The Producers, which won a record 12 Tony Awards in 2001.^[5] Binger was a life member of the board of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.

After Binger's death

Virginia Binger died in 2002, and James Binger died in 2004.

Rocco Landesman, producer and President of Jujamcyn since 1987, announced that he planned to buy Jujamcyn Theatres, telling the New York Times that he had a long-standing understanding with Binger that he would buy Jujamcyn's five playhouses. The theatres had an estimated net asset value of about $30 million

Landesman closed the deal in February 2005 for $30M, but then tried to sell a 50% stake in the group for $50M to enable an investment in the Cincinnati Reds baseball team - his group lost out to Robert Castellini.^[6]

In 2009 Landesman took a position in Washington as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts ("NEA"), an agency of the United States government. Landesman had been associated with Jujamcyn for 22 years by the time he left for the NEA. Landesman sold a half interest in Jujamcyn to Jordan Roth, a successful 33-year-old theatrical producer who had joined Jujamcyn in 2005. Roth assumed full control of Jujamcyn as Landesman departed for the NEA.^[7] While in his early twenties Roth had produced The Donkey Show, which ran for six years off-Broadway. At Jujamcyn Roth had been associated with successful productions of Spring Awakening (winner of the Tony Award for best musical) and the 2009 revival of Hair. Roth's mother, Daryl Roth, is also a theatrical producer.^[7]

List of theaters

Former theaters

• Morris A. Mechanic Theatre, Baltimore (1995-2000, sold to SFX Theatricals^[9][10])
• Royal George Theatre, Chicago (1993-1997, sold to Reading Entertainment^[11])
• Weidner Center, Green Bay, Wisconsin (producing partner, 1995-1998^[12])
• Orpheum Theatre and State Theatre, Minneapolis (producing partner, 1995-2000, sold to SFX Theatricals^[13][10])
• Orpheum Theater, Omaha (producing partner, 1995-2000, sold to SFX Theatricals^[14][15][10])
• Portland Civic Auditorium, Portland, Oregon (producing partner, 1994-2000, sold to SFX Theatricals^[16][10])
• Ordway Music Theatre, St. Paul (1992-1996^[17][18])

See also

• Broadway theatre
• Jujamcyn Award - award given for 20+ years to outstanding theatre organizations

References

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jujamcyn Theaters.

• Jujamcyn Theaters
• Internet Broadway dBase
• Theatre dBase
• Playbill.com Announcement of Landesman takeover
• Map of Broadway theatres