Orpheum Theatre
126 2nd Avenue,
New York,
NY
10003
126 2nd Avenue,
New York,
NY
10003
4 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Meyer & Schneider
Functions: Live Theater
Previous Names: Orpheum Concert Garden, New Orpheum Theatre, Orpheum Repertory Cinema
Nearby Theaters
The site on which the Orpheum Theatre stands is alleged to have been a concert garden as early as the 1880’s and, as such, to be one of the oldest continuously operating places of gathering for entertainment events in New York City.
A 1904 NY Times article describes a visit to the Orpheum Theatre as an evening which began with entertainment from a Hungarian orchestra, continued with dinner in the 7 o'clock hour, and concluded with a three-hour stage show by a Viennese theatre company.
The theatre was part of the exploding Second Avenue Yiddish theatre scene in the early decades of the 20th century but was exhibiting motion pictures by at least 1921. By 1926 it was operated by the Meyer & Schneider circuit. Additional references indicate that it continued to do so through the mid-1950’s.
In 1958, the theatre became a home for legitimate theatre, referred to in some press accounts of the time as the New Orpheum Theatre, seating just 299 persons (down from a reported seat count of 560 while a cinema earlier in the decade). By 1971 it was screening classic movies as the Orpheum Repertory Cinema. Though the Off Broadway venue continued to occasionally show film (hosting, for example, an International Film Festival for Children in 1971 and a weekly Film Makers' Festival in 1980), in the 1980’s and 1990’s it became a venue primarily associated with two productions: the original stage version of “Little Shop of Horrors” (1982-1985) and “Stomp” (February 27, 1994-January 8, 2023 = 11,472 performances).
Contributed by
Damien Farley
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Recent comments (view all 27 comments)
From the photos I have seen, the interior of this Orpheum has been stripped to the brick walls – a long and narrow auditorium.
The Orpheum has had a number of successful live productions over the years. I saw Your Own Thing there which opened on June 13, 1968 and ran for 933 performances.
I can recall, “The World of Ray Bradbury,” (1965) and, “The Ginger Man,” (1963). Later on came the pre-Broadway run of “Little Shop of Horrors.” “Oleanna,” “Key Exchange,” “Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll,” Check out it’s rich past here:
http://www.lortel.org/lla_archive/index.cfm?search_by=theater&id=103
Then Stomp happened and creativity died. But that’s what happened to New York in a nutshell.
Is Stomp not playing? Are they remodeling the theater?
No, “Stomp” is definitely playing. No stopping “Stomp.”
Two photos added
The 1962 Off Broadway revival of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes opened here on May 15th. This production incorporated some of the changes made to the original version which appeared in the movie. It won the prize for best Off Broadway Revival. The CD features Hal Linden and Eileen Rogers.
1974 photo added credit Chris Protopapas. Courtesy 70s/80s New York City Facebook page.
Hello-
in reference to the point made in the intro that the locale of the Orpheum has hosted some sort of entertainment complex since the late 1880s. the same can be said of the recently closed 86th St. East. its locale hosted an entertainment complex of one sort or another since the late 1880s as well.
One tiny bit of updating needed here is that the NYC production of Stomp! Closed in January 2023 after all those decades. The theatre has since been used for a short run of a one-woman show, and like has future such bookings, so it’s in no danger of going anywhere. It, and the Minetta Lane Theater, are actually owned by a subsidiary of Reading Cinemas, which is of course the corporate successor the Reading Railroad. Because what else is a the holding company of a defunct railroad supposed to do after transferring all its railroad holdings to Conrail and state transit agencies except become the shell company for a new cinema chain?