Inside the TheatreStep Inside Broadway’s Samuel J. Friedman TheatreOn the anniversary of venue’s reopening on November 6, 2013, take a tour inside the historic theatre.
By
Hannah Vine, Marc J. Franklin
November 06, 2019
Playbill’s photo series, Inside the Theatre, captures the dazzling architecture and unseen details of the world’s most famous theatres, taking you inside all 40 of Broadway's currently-operating houses. On the anniversary of venue’s reopening on November 6, 2013 step inside the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, currently home to The Height of the Storm starring two-time Olivier and Tony winner Jonathan Pryce and three-time Olivier Award winner Eileen Atkins.
The Friedman opened as the Biltmore in 1925, designed by Herbert J. Krapp for Irwin Chanin. The theatre premiered the comedies The Heiress, My Sister Eileen, and Barefoot in the Park, as well as the legendary rock musical Hair in 1968. The empty Biltmore Theatre fell into disrepair in the late 1980s, plagued by vandals, arsonists, and looters. In 2001, Manhattan Theatre Club purchased and fully restored the theatre, and it was renamed after press agent Samuel J. Friedman in 2008.