Are there any photos anyone has of Les Miserables at the Broadway theare during the first couple of years of its run. I am curious as to how the Marquee was set up prior to it switching theatres. "If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear" Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll

Love it. Would love to see more. "You have a GRAND day, now!"

Always nice to see the original facade of the Broadway, before it was swallowed up and destroyed by that office building. Same thing happened with the hideous and tacky new front of house for the Palace when the Doubletree was built, and the original Palace office building was torn down. There is a real disconnect in the late 1980s/early 1990s appearance of the facades for both of these theatres, and then stepping into the playhouses themselves. Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

For those that never saw the original Palace Theatre building... Palace Theatre Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

Can you repost those pictures, Smaxie? They're not coming up on my computer.

Should be working now. If not, click on the link. Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

The Broadway theatre is cool, but i always found that corner bit rather odd, how it even takes up space inside the auditorium, I wonder why they didnt remove it when they converted the facade of the theatre, is it a shop or office or something? http://www.flickr.com/photos/27199361@N08/ Phantom at the Royal Empire Theatre

Did they just build the office building around the old facade, or did they tear it down? How to properly use its/it's: Its is the possessive. It's is the contraction for it is...

They tore it down. In the case of the Broadway, the cursive "Broadway" in flashing lights on the marquee (similar to the marquee of the Winter Garden, and slightly visible on the far left of My Oh My's photo) is still often used as an emblem of Broadway itself. So in true New York fashion, it was obliterated. Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

They didnt do any acrual work to the theatre i dont think, looking at an arian shot from MSN, it looks like the tower straddles half of the theatre. anyway, does anybody know what is that block that comes into the balcony used for? if anything? I thought it looked rather odd when i was there, just jutting out of the corner. http://www.flickr.com/photos/27199361@N08/ Phantom at the Royal Empire Theatre

When did they tear it down the original facad? was it between the run of Les Miserables and Miss siagon? Because whenever i see photos of the Miss siagon marquee the facad of the theatre is what we currently see today. And also, why did they move Les Miserables? was Miss Siagon not the right size for the Imperial? And last qustion I swear. Who was the first Valjean at the Imperial? I know that Colm left when the show was still at the broadway. "If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear" Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll

Justin D, if you are referring to the giant red velvet curtain between the front mezz and rear, then it is sometimes pulled across the mezzanine to cut it in half, when the sales are down for a show. I ushered Miss Saigon there many nights when we would pull that and direct the few people with tix up there into empty seats in the front mezz. I hope this answered your question. Show Schedule: Young Frankenstein - 10/22 (Cleveland), Mamma Mia - 11/10 (Cleveland), Wicked - 11/25 (Cleveland), Wicked - 12/10 (Cleveland), Chicago - 1/21 (Cleveland), In the Heights - 2/18 (Cleveland), Xanadu - 3/11 (Cleveland), August: Osage County - 4/22 (Cleveland), Grease! - 5/20 (Cleveland), Fiddler on the Roof - 6/24 (Cleveland)

not quite, I know about the red curtain, it was used when i saw saigon. I was excited that i was not sitting at the back of the mez, then i got there and realised that i was because the curtain was pulled. What i was refering to is what looks like what could be an entire block of seats is taken up with a wall (and a fire hose i think) you can see what i mean if you look at a seating chart (house right) as it seems to corrispond with the strange looking corner block on the outside of the theatre. as for the move, basically the Broadway theatre has a big stage and they needed all the room they could get for Saigon, so they moved Les mis to the Imperial since Les Mis really does not need all that room, just enough for the turntable and big enough wing space for the Baricades to fit in (it works in the Broadhurst which i think is even smaller than the Imperial) Not 100% sure, but i dont think Saigon went in until after the Facade was converted. Anyone else think the lobby area of the Broadway theatre is rather freaky, all that pink and white with mirrors, felt like i wa sin a whore house, but that was back in the Saigon days, dont know if it is the same. http://www.flickr.com/photos/27199361@N08/ Phantom at the Royal Empire Theatre

It's still pink with mirrors! Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

i love that theatre but i cant sit in the last balcony to high for me "what? what is it? do i have something in my teeth? ok lets get this over with : no im not seasick,yes ive always been green, and no i didnt chew grass as a child "

Why the house right rear mezz has a chunk missing: The corner of the Broadway theatre where the box office is and where the large ladies room is in the basement was originally a separate building and not part of the Broadway Theatre at all. There was a ticket broker on the ground floor and then maybe 3 more stories although I don't know what was up there. This tiny building sat empty for a long time. The Shubert Organization finally bought out the owner of this building and during a major renovation of the theatre (early to mid 80s) tore it down and built the extension onto the theatre. This explains why the box office is comparatively large and the basement rest rooms, particularly the ladies room, are of a size and convenience usually unseen in older Broadway houses. I think the new areas were first seen by the sort-lived Fosse musical Big Deal. I think this was step 1 for the facade renovation. They wanted the whole block front to be uniform. Notice that the side of the theatre is still painted battleship gray brick. To put the polished granite facade there, the old brick would have to be removed. Yes, 1675 is cantilevered over the theatre. It is designed as such. The Shuberts not only get air rights money, but since they still own the land underneath both 1675 and the theatre, they get a big chunk of change from a lease on the office building land. During construction of the office building Les Miz opened and while construction was still going on, it did not play a Wednesday matinee. It played 7 a week maybe for the first 18+ months of the run. Once work was finished Les Miz went to a normal 8 shows a week. Everyone's contract was negotiated for 7 performances of a 3:20 long show and overtime was waived in some cases because of the shorter workweek. It cost some extra money when it went to a full week. This long running time is the main reason that about 15-20 minutes has been taken out of Les Miz for current productions. Road operators complained about the overtime. Miss Saigon was expected to be a bigger hit than Les Miz (and for a while it was) and Cameron MacIntosh figured the huge rear mezz would be easier to fill. Les Miz moved to the Imperial and Saigon moved into the Broadway and everybody made lots of money. Lots and lots of money. Why do I know all this stuff? "If my life weren't funny, it would just be true. And that would be unacceptable." --Carrie Fisher

I understand that the office building was being worked on during the original run of the show thus the shorter schedule. I assume that the photo of the Broadway theatre with the Les Miserables Marquee is prior to the full facad renovaton. I was wondering. did Les Miserables ever play the Broadway when the facad finally changed? Or did they change the facad between the two shows? As a side note, I was reading an article a while ago about how a french author was trying to write a sequel to the Hugo novel. The estate was suing him. The article of course talked about how it became a successful musical. They used that photo when they were talking about the show. I had not seen that photo of the Marquee nor never realize that the theatre did look like the broadway. So, I assumed that that theatre was a photo of a theatre that was housing eiather a touring production of the show or a forigen production of the show. "If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear" Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll

I can't deciede which marquee I would prefer. But I'm glad they got rid of that big block part that says "Les Mis" all over it. It's a bit tacky.

That big block/black part covers up the new construction. "If my life weren't funny, it would just be true. And that would be unacceptable." --Carrie Fisher