Storytellers
Storytellers
In this section you’ll find the individuals featured in the videos on each of the 40 theaters. From actors and producers to historians and architects, scenic designers to costumer designers, each person contributes a unique perspective on Broadway’s enduring legacy.
Actors
Matthew Broderick
Actor
We were always trying to figure out how to keep that audience happy.
- Matthew Broderick
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Zoe Caldwell
Actor
The theater is dangerous and that is what we love about it.
- Zoe Caldwell
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Kristin Chenoweth
Actor
I was a part of something that I knew would go down in history.
- Kristin Chenoweth
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Glenn Close
Actor
There is an energy field that you generate when you are on the stage that rolls out over the audience.
- Glenn Close
Alan Cumming
Actor
I never came to America until I was 30 and I was 33 when I did Cabaret and it was like I had a rebirth - New York is now my home.
- Alan Cumming
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Arlene Dahl
Actor
My dream was always to play the Palace. Like the song goes, unless you played the Palace you were nowhere.
- Arlene Dahl
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Andre De Shields
Actor
The people who perform in these theaters are emotional and spiritual historians. No other medium brings together the narratives of all peoples across the planet.
- Andre De Shields
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Harvey Fierstein
Actor
I've been on Broadway for 30 years and I am still wide-eyed about it.
- Harvey Fierstein
Sutton Foster
Actor
This is a thrilling moment in musical theater history
- Sutton Foster
Victor Garber
Actor
The Bernard Jacobs is one the great Broadway houses; I always feel completely secure and looked after.
- Victor Garber
Whoopi Goldberg
Actor
Those theaters were made for a different time
- Whoopi Goldberg
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Joel Grey
Actor
The Broadhurst is large yet very intimate. It is one of my favorite theaters and it probably has something to do with Cabaret.
- Joel Grey
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David Hyde Pierce
Actor
Here we were in this big, grand, serious theater playing this ridiculously absurd comedy very seriously and somehow it worked.
- David Hyde Pierce
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Jeremy Irons
Actor
Something happens between you and the audience every night
- Jeremy Irons
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Nathan Lane
Actor
Why do I always play morally corrupt people? I seem to have a knack.
- Nathan Lane
Angela Lansbury
Actor
The theater is the thing that really fills my life in ways that I can't compare to anything else.
- Angela Lansbury
Laura Linney
Actor
When you intersect with the theater for the first time it is really great - it opens up a world, a community, a philosophy of life.
- Laura Linney
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Donna McKechnie
Actor
It's amazing to see the whole country, the whole world come to these few blocks because of the excellence.
- Donna McKechnie
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Cynthia Nixon
Actor
In a beautifully designed theater you have the confidence to know that visually and orally you are going to reach the audience.
- Cynthia Nixon
Mary-Louise Parker
Actor
The audience really feels like another character in the play, when everything becomes really really quiet you can feel people breathing. It is indescribable.
- Mary-Louise Parker
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Adam Pascal
Actor
Every show became so vital and full of emotion, we felt that we owed every performance to Jonathan Larsen and his memory.
- Adam Pascal
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Chita Rivera
Actor
The theater makes you broaden your life, it's a great place. I'm a lucky girl.
- Chita Rivera
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Brian Stokes Mitchell
Actor
If I were a theater I would be the Al Hirschfeld.
- Brian Stokes Mitchell
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Matthew James Thomas
Actor
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Tommy Tune
Actor
You haven't lived until you've played the Palace.
- Tommy Tune
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Ben Vereen
Actor
In its own way, Broadway is a sacred space
- Ben Vereen
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Architects
Fred Basch
Architect
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Jay Cardinal
Architectural Conservator
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Hugh Hardy
Architect
We all paid attention to the lighting because if you changed the lighting you change everything.
- Hugh Hardy
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Duncan Hazard
Architect
It was in terrible shape, the roof had been left open and water had been getting in for a decade.
- Duncan Hazard
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Francesca Russo
Restoration Architect
Behind the Scenes
John Lee Beatty
Scenic Designer
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Denny Berry
Associate Choreographer
This house seems to put its arms around the show; it all feels like we are one.
- Denny Berry
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Andre Bishop
Artistic Director, Lincoln Center Theater
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Eric Bogosian
Playwright
It is exciting to be in a place and one person can be on a stage and you feel that they are talking right to you no matter where you are sitting in the house.
- Eric Bogosian
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Rick Elice
Book writer
Millions of people all having an experience that hopefully made them thank God for the day they were born.
- Rick Elice
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Edward Emmet
Grandson, Irving Berlin
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Jules Fisher
Lighting Designer
The lighting became another character.
- Jules Fisher
Susan Goulet
House Electrician, Booth Theatre
The Booth is warm and welcoming and bright and colorful and it just makes you want to sit down and see a show.
- Susan Goulet
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Michele Gutierrez
House Electrician, Al Hirschfeld Theatre
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Bill T. Jones
Director/Choreographer
Movement for me is living sculpture.
- Bill T. Jones
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Erich Jungwirth
C.O.O. Lyric Theatre, LLC, General Manager
The Lyric Theatre is 95% new but if you sat down and looked around you would feel it was 95% old
- Erich Jungwirth
FEATURED IN:
Natasha Katz
Lighting Designer
It's all old fashioned lighting equipment that we would have used 30 years ago
- Natasha Katz
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Moises Kaufman
Playwright/Director
As a working playwright/director it has been incredibly rewarding to have my work on Broadway
- Moises Kaufman
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Tom Kitt
Composer
I felt the history of the Booth the minute I walked in. So now that Next to Normal is part of that history it is a wonderful feeling for me.
- Tom Kitt
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Tony Kushner
Playwright
These Broadway houses, especially theaters like the Walter Kerr, are some of the most perfectly designed proscenium theaters on the planet and really are a national treasure.
- Tony Kushner
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Nina Lannan
General Manager
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Eugene Lee
Scenic Designer
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William Ivey Long
Costume Designer
Magic happens in front of our very eyes
- William Ivey Long
Kathleen Marshall
Director / Choreographer
There are a handful of Broadway theaters that are the crème de la crème for Broadway musicals
- Kathleen Marshall
Alan Menken
Composer
When writing a musical the choice of the theater is very important, in my mind having a theater as a home and the sense of feeling at home is a constant thrill.
- Alan Menken
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Lin-Manuel Miranda
Composer/Lyricist
Nothing prepares you for walking into the Richard Rodgers Theatre and seeing your block up on that stage.
- Lin-Manuel Miranda
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Roger Morgan
Theater Designer
Fred Olsson
Former Facilities Director, Majestic Theatre
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Scott Pask
Set Designer
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Diane Paulus
Artistic Director, American Repertory Theater
Broadway will remain a vital hotbed of artistic expression as long as it keeps exciting work as part of its landscape
- Diane Paulus
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David Rockwell
Set Designer
The theaters are a microcosm of what makes the City so great.
- David Rockwell
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Paul Shaffer
Conductor
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Bartlett Sher
Director
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Charles Strouse
Composer
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Julie Taymor
Director
I felt and we all did that the New Amsterdam was made for the Lion King. It has the colors of greens of the forest and jungle; it is so perfect for a show like that.
- Julie Taymor
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Twyla Tharp
Director/Choreographer
Broadway theater is a place to be treasured and when you work there you are the custodian of people's hopes, fears and dreams.
- Twyla Tharp
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Sergio Trujillo
Choreographer
Broadway presented me with the ability to achieve the American dream
- Sergio Trujillo
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Tony Walton
Set Designer
Laurel Ann Wilson
House Manager, Booth Theatre
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George C. Wolfe
Director/Book writer
Broadway is at its fundamental base a populist art form, it was created by people for people.
- George C. Wolfe
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Jerry Zaks
Director
I make sure the actors are playing their material in a way that makes it as available to as many people as possible
- Jerry Zaks
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Executives and Producers
Cora Cahan
President, The New 42nd Street
The theaters that drove the development of 42nd Street at the turn of the 20th century drove the development of 42nd Street at the turn of the 21st century.
- Cora Cahan
Ted Chapin
President and Executive Director, Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization
Oklahoma! took characters, subtext, dance, song and all of it worked towards telling the story.
- Ted Chapin
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Michael David
Producer
It is where we go to church, it just happens 8 times a week and it only happens in the theater.
- Michael David
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Peter Entin
Vice President of Theatre Operations, Shubert Organization
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Bert Fink
Senior Vice President, Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization
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Bernard Gersten
Executive Producer, Lincoln Center Theater
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Barry Grove
Executive Producer, Manhattan Theatre Club
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Todd Haimes
Artistic Director, Roundabout Theatre Company
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Paul Libin
Executive Vice President, Jujamcyn Theatres
Broadway is always changing, it changes with the times because it reflects the culture and the culture is always changing.
- Paul Libin
Marty Markinson
Co-Owner, Helen Hayes Theatre
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Kevin McCollum
Producer
Every time I am in a slightly sour mood, I just have to go and watch Avenue Q and laugh about the human condition.
- Kevin McCollum
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Lynne Meadow
Artistic Director, Manhattan Theatre Club
We are supported to take risks and that is what our mission is.
- Lynne Meadow
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Jimmy Nederlander Sr.
Chairman, Nederlander Organization
The name of the game is seats.
- Jimmy Nederlander Sr.
Jimmy Nederlander
President, Nederlander Organization
If your word's no good, you're no good. My father taught me that.
- Jimmy Nederlander
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Daryl Roth
Producer
You sit in your seat as an audience member you look at the walls and beautiful frescos, and you feel as though you are in a place of beauty and something wonderful is going to happen.
- Daryl Roth
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Jordan Roth
President, Jujamcyn Theaters
These buildings have been here long before we were here and they will be here long after we are here.
- Jordan Roth
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Nick Scandalios
Executive Vice President, Nederlander Organization
What you want to do in theater restoration is to honor what the forbearers and the creators of the building have created.
- Nick Scandalios
Thomas Schumacher
President, Disney Theatrical/Producer
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Phillip Smith
Chairman and Co-CEO, Shubert Organization
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David Stone
Producer
Comfort means a lot to audiences.
- David Stone
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Jeffrey Tick
Co-Owner, Helen Hayes Theatre
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Jack Viertel
Senior Vice President, Jujamcyn Theaters
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Robert Wankel
President and Co-CEO, Schubert Organization
A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
- Robert Wankel
Barry Weissler
Producer
Nobody wanted to give us any money for Chicago, so we put a great deal of our own money into it and it was a serendipitous moment for us.
- Barry Weissler
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Harold Wolpert
Managing Director, Roundabout Theatre Company
We were attracted to this theater because it had a splendor underneath that we wanted to bring back to life.
- Harold Wolpert
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Historians
Donald Albrecht
Curator, Museum of the City of New York
He knew what would save New York and make it a world class city and that was not just business and finance but entertainment and culture.
- Donald Albrecht
Andrew Dolkart
Architectural Historian, Columbia University
Today we basically go to the theater in 1920s theaters.
- Andrew Dolkart
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Jeffrey Eric Jenkins
Theater Historian
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Thomas Mellins
Urban Historian
By the 1920s theater is a very public event and New Yorkers are drawn to public events.
- Thomas Mellins
Matthew A. Postal
Historian, NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
Helen Sheehy
Theater Biographer
Robert Tierney
Chairman, NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
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