Video: Broadway's Newly Refurbished Majestic Theatre Reopens With a Performance of Gypsy's Iconic Overture

Curtain up! Light the lights! The Majestic Theatre has now officially reopened. The theatre was previously home to the long-running Broadway show The Phantom of the Opera. When that show closed in 2023 after running 35 years on the Broadway, the Majestic also went dark as it underwent a belated makeover, including renovations to modernize the theatre in time for its first post-Phantom tenant: a Broadway revival of Gypsy starring Audra McDonald.

On September 9, the newly renovated Majestic officially reopened, in a ceremony overseen Robert E. Wankel, Chairman and CEO of the Shubert Organization (which owns the Majestic). Also present at the event was Tony-winning director George C. Wolfe, who is directing Gypsy, and star McDonald.

As part of the event, music director Andy Einhorn led a full orchestra in a rousing performance of the show's iconic overture, while on the stage of the Majestic, with the newly renovated house in the background. See the performance above.

According to Wankel in his remarks, the Majestic's renovations, "to bring the interior back to the former glory," were extensive. "And it includes replacing the entire stage floor, rigging system, dressing room blocks, restoring all of the ornamental plaster work and architectural detail (including a multi-million-dollar paint job, a four-step process), new carpeting, new seats, new expanded bathrooms, we've increased the facilities by 40 percent," said Wankel. The theatre's original red marquee has also been restored.

Wankel also added that because Phantom of the Opera had its own chandelier that fell onto the stage every night, the original Majestic chandelier had been in storage in the theatre's flies for the past 35 years. Now it's been refurbished and hung in the auditorium of the Majestic (and free of opera ghosts).

Wankel then turned the microphone over to Wolfe, who explained why the Majestic was perfect for the revival of Gypsy. For one, he pointed out, that Mexican Hayride, starring Gypsy Rose Lee's sister, June Havoc, played the Majestic. "I'm doubly honored to be here, to be inside of this astonishingly brilliant, gorgeous, stunning building, to be part of a legacy, hopefully, of extraordinary shows that have happened here," said Wolfe. "And I am humbled, and I am really, really grateful that the voices of Gypsy, that the voices of all the artists who have ever worked on this show will be with us, cheering us on."

As previously reported, this revival of Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, and Arthur Laurents' seminal 1959 musical will be a markedly different take on the work. The musical, which follows the real-life burlesque artist Gypsy Rose Lee and her fraught relationship with her domineering stage mother, has played Broadway five times. This newest revival will feature, for the first time, Black artists in the major roles—including six-time Tony winner McDonald as Rose, Gypsy's mother.

"I'm, of course, unbelievably thrilled that you're here at the Majestic when I made my Broadway debut across the street at the St James Theatre in The Secret Garden, 500 years ago," said McDonald jovially during the event. "Like many other actors, we have our three roles, and I've been dreaming of playing Mama Rose for as long as I can remember. And I am so so honored and excited and ready to get to work to discover this role, to discover this show with George's incredible guidance."

Performances of Gypsy will begin November 21 ahead of a December 19 opening night.

Camille A. Brown will choreograph the production, with further creative team members and casting to be announced. The producers include Tom Kirdahy, Mara Isaacs, Kevin Ryan, Diane Scott Carter, Peter May, and Thomas M. Neff.

Visit GypsyBway.com.

See photos from the reopening event below.