Bijou Theatre, Broadway theater in Manhattan, United States
The Bijou Theatre was a theater on West 45th Street in Manhattan's Theater District, with seating for around 600 people and French-style architectural details throughout its interior. The relatively small size of the hall meant that the stage and the audience sat very close to each other.
The theater was built in 1917 by the Shubert Brothers and remained part of the Broadway scene for over six decades. It was torn down in 1982 to make room for the Marriott Marquis Hotel.
The Bijou Theatre became known for staging works by European playwrights such as Chekhov, Ibsen, and O'Neill for American audiences. These productions gave the house a reputation as a place where serious drama took center stage.
The Bijou Theatre no longer exists and has been replaced by the Marriott Marquis Hotel, which still stands at the same address in the heart of the Theater District. Those interested in the history of the site can find archival material and photographs at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Between October 1948 and November 1950, the house screened the film The Red Shoes without interruption, a run lasting 107 weeks. This was highly unusual for a Broadway theater and turned the Bijou into a gathering point for film lovers during those years.
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