Selwyn Theatre
The Selwyn Office Building collapsed unexpectedly on December 30, 1997, forcing a redesign of the redevelopment plans.
Selwyn Theatre original facade, circa 1918
George Keister, architecture. White Studio, photography. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
THE SELWYN THEATRE was built by Edgar and Arch Selwyn in 1918, behind the brothers’ six-floor office building. The theater’s auditorium, designed by architect George Keister in an early Italian Renaissance style, was painted blue and antique gold, and it was decorated with large murals, wreath moldings, dentils, scrolled modillions and stone balusters.
Opening night on October 2, 1918 found Jane Cowl starring in Information, Please, which she also wrote. After the play’s failure, Ms. Cowl returned in The Crowded Hour, which had better luck with audiences. The theater’s first real successes, though, came with Buddies in 1919 and Tickle Me in 1920. Then, in 1921, two of Broadway’s luminaries—Mrs. Leslie Carter and John Drew—joined to star in Somerset Maugham’s The Circle. George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly presented their musical Helen of Troy, New York in 1923, followed by Charlot Revue starring Beatrice Lillie, Gertrude Lawrence and Jack Buchanan. Kaufman returned to the stage of the Selwyn in 1924 with co-author Edna Ferber and their play The Royal Family, which caricatured the flamboyant theatrical personalities of the Drews and the Barrymores. Other successes were 1928’s This Year of Grace starring Beatrice Lillie and the play’s author Noel Coward, Cole Porter’s Wake Up and Dream in 1929, and then Three’s a Crowd with Fred Allen, Clifton Webb and Fred MacMurray.
The Selwyn showed movies between 1934 and 1950, until its use was returned to legitimate theater with Sartre’s The Respectful Prostitute, a condensed, hour-long show that ran five times a day, alternating with a feature film. This experiment of combining stage and screen entertainment continued for just one more show, Ladies Night in a Turkish Bath, after which the Selwyn became a double-feature movie house.
Selwyn Theatre marquee with double feature, circa 1987, Photo: Battman
New 42 Studios and American Airlines (now Todd Haimes) Theatre, circa 2015, Photo: Alexander Severin
In May 1992, New 42 signed a 99-year master lease with the City and State of New York for the seven historic theaters known as the Apollo Theatre, Empire Theatre, Liberty Theatre, Lyric Theatre, Selwyn Theatre, Victory Theatre and Times Square Theatre. A lease was signed, in September 1997, between New 42 and Roundabout Theatre Company for the use of the Selwyn Theatre. The original Selwyn office building collapsed unexpectedly on December 30, 1997, destroying the adjacent historic theater’s facade and forcing a redesign of the redevelopment plans. Renamed the American Airlines Theatre, the Selwyn Theatre re-opened on July 27, 2000 with Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of The Man Who Came To Dinner. In 2024, the American Airlines Theatre was renamed the Todd Haimes Theatre after the late artistic director and CEO who led Roundabout for 39 years.
The Selwyn is one of the historic theaters profiled in Spotlight on Broadway, a multimedia project of the City of New York’s Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment.
