New Amsterdam Theatre
Active
Suddenly one of these gypsies, in trembling opal, seizes a cocktail out of the air, dumps it down for courage and, moving her hands like Frisco, dances out alone on the canvas platform. A momentary hush; the orchestra leader varies his rhythm obligingly for her, and there is a burst of chatter as the erroneous news goes around that she is Gilda Gray’s understudy from the Follies.
The Great Gatsby
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Built between 1902 and 1903 and opened on 26 October 1903. Designed by Herts & Tallant, with a Beaux-Arts exterior and an Art Nouveau interior, and a structure conceived with advanced mechanical systems for its time. It had 1,702 seats over three levels, with an orchestra and two cantilevered balconies; above the main auditorium it also had a rooftop theatre, opened in 1904, which also functioned as a studio. In the 1920s it was one of the epicentres of New York entertainment: between 1913 and 1927 it housed the Ziegfeld Follies, and its producer, Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., kept an office there and exploited the roof space. After later periods as a movie theatre (from 1937), the building underwent a major renovation between 1995 and 1997 (Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer) and came to be operated by Disney Theatrical Productions, hosting major musicals.
"The Little Café", a musical with a book by C. M. S. McLellan, ran from November 10, 1913, to March 14, 1914.
"Ziegfeld Follies", a variety revue by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., inspired by Paris’s Folies Bergère, ran from 1913 to 1927.
