Todd Haimes Theatre

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Built by brothers Arch and Edgar Selwyn in 1918 and originally named the Selwyn, this theatre’s years as a distinguished, legitimate house were ended by the Depression and it became a movie theatre until the late 1990s. The nonprofit Roundabout Theatre Company restored and renamed it, making it the company’s permanent home, and the American Airlines Theatre officially opened July 27, 2000, with Nathan Lane headlining a revival of The Man Who Came to Dinner.

In the years since, Roundabout has offered splendid and often award-winning revivals of such classics as Betrayal, Major Barbara, The Women, and A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. Roundabout has also continued its commitment to the work of the late Arthur Miller and Harold Pinter, having staged The Man Who Had All the Luck, After the Fall, The Price, The Caretaker, and Old Times. Musical revivals have also found a home here, including Big River, Harry Connick Jr. in The Pajama Game, Violet, and Kristin Chenoweth in On the Twentieth Century. The hit comedy The 39 Steps opened here in 2008, followed by revivals of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, A Man for All Seasons, Hedda Gabler, and The Philanthropist, as well as Patrick Marber’s After Miss Julie and Nöel Coward’s Present Laughter. Sherie Rene Scott’s Everyday Rapture was next, with revivals of George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Terence Rattigan’s Man and Boy, Athol Fugard’s The Road to Mecca, the farce Don’t Dress for Dinner, Cyrano de Bergerac, Picnic, The Big Knife, The Winslow Boy, Machinal, The Real Thing, Noises Off, Diane Lane in The Cherry Orchard, The Price, Marvin’s Room, and Time and the Conways. John Lithgow: Stories by Heart opened at the start of 2018, followed by a revival of Travesties and the world premiere of Theresa Rebeck’s Bernhardt/Hamlet.

The Selwyn first opened with Jane Cowl in Information Please, which Cowl immediately followed with The Crowded Hour. But the Selwyn’s first real hit was the WWI musical Buddies, starring Roland Young and Peggy Wood. In 1921, Somerset Maugham’s The Circle, starring Leslie Carter, John Drew, Estelle Winwood, and John Halliday, also proved successful.

After a series of disappointing shows, Helen of Troy, New York, a musical by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly, proved a favorite. The Selwyn had another winner with the second edition of London’s famed Charlot’s Revue. The sophisticated revue returned with three of its original stars: Beatrice Lillie, Gertrude Lawrence, and Jack Buchanan. In 1927, the Selwyn housed its greatest hit: George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber’s The Royal Family. Another stylish revue, 1929’s Wake Up and Dream, starred Jack Buchanan, Jessie Matthews, and exotic dancer Tilly Losch, who introduced Cole Porter’s “What Is This Thing Called Love.” The next revue here, Three’s a Crowd, starred Clifton Webb, Fred Allen, Libby Holman, Tamara Geva, and Fred MacMurray. It had a brilliant score by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz and was the recipient of an award from GE for Hassard Short’s lighting.

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