James Earl Jones Theater (originally Cort Theater)
after opening as the Cort Theater in 1912, this site was renamed the James Earl Jones Theater in 2022
overview
Opened as the Cort Theater in 1912, this venue has staged multiple productions involving major LGBT performers and creators, including Laurette Taylor, Ma Rainey, Clyde Fitch, Thornton Wilder, George Cukor, and Marlene Dietrich, among others.
An early play with a gay character, even if rather subtle, was the 1930s production of The Green Bay Tree, in which Laurence Olivier played the spoiled ward of a gay foster-father.
The venue was renamed the James Earl Jones Theater in 2022.
Laurette Taylor in Peg O' My Heart, 1913. Photo by White Studio. Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.
Under Cover by Roi Cooper Megrue, 1914. Source: Babylon Revisited Rare Books.
Philip Merivale, Eva Le Gallienne, and Basil Rathbone in The Swan, 1923. Source: thegreatbaz.wordpress.com.
Laurence Olivier and Jill Edmond in The Green Bay Tree, 1933. Photo by Vandamm Studio. Source: National Portrait Gallery, London.
Lady Windermere's Fan program, 1946.
Two Shakespearean Actors cast, 1992. Photo by Brigette Lacombe. Source: Lincoln Center Theater.
Cherry Jones and Jon Tenney in The Heiress, 1995. Source: Lincoln Center Theater.
History
Since its opening, the Cort Theater has presented many productions with LGBT associations. Despite the Wales Padlock Law (1927), which forbade the depiction of “sex perversion” on stage, and which remained on the books until 1967, the Cort had one early play with a gay character, even if rather subtle. Laurence Olivier played the spoiled ward of a gay foster-father in Mordaunt Shairp’s The Green Bay Tree (1933-34), also with Jill Esmond. The theater’s first play, and a big hit, was Peg O’ My Heart (1912-14), with Laurette Taylor, which was also revived in 1921. The single biggest LGBT-associated hit was The Magic Show (1974-78), directed and choreographed by Grover Dale, and with actor David Ogden Stiers.
Productions by LGBT creators and with LGBT performers at the Cort included:
- Under Cover (1914-15) by Roi Cooper Megrue
- Beau Brummell (revival, 1916) by Clyde Fitch
- Mother Carey’s Chickens (1917) by Rachel Crothers
- A Regular Feller (1919), with actor George Cukor
- Her Salary Man (1921), with actor Edna May Oliver
- The Swan (1923-24), with actorEva Le Gallienne
- Behold the Bridegroom (1927-28) by George Kelly, and with actor Judith Anderson
- A Most Immoral Lady (1928-29), with actor Blythe Daly
- Maggie the Magnificent (1929) by George Kelly
- Five Star Final (1930-31), with actor Georgette Harvey
- Ladies of Creation (1931), with actor Spring Byington
- Bridal Wise (1932), with actor Blythe Daly
- Most of the Game (1935) by John Van Druten
- Suds in Your Eye (1944), with costume design by Kermit Love
- Lady Windermere’s Fan (revival, 1946-47) by Oscar Wilde, and with scenic, costume and lighting design by Cecil Beaton (who also acted in it)
- Antigone (1946), with actor Katharine Cornell
- Candida (revival, 1946), with actors Katharine Cornell and Marlon Brando
- On Whitman Avenue (1946), with actor Will Geer
- Make Way for Lucia (1948-49) by John Van Druten, based on the novel by E.F. Benson, and with actor Cyril Ritchard
- The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden (1948) by Thornton Wilder
- The Respectful Prostitute (1948) by Thornton Wilder
- As You Like It (revival, 1950), with actor Katharine Hepburn
- In Any Language (1952), with scenic and costume design by Raoul Pene Du Bois
- Champagne Complex (1955), with actor John Dall
- Once Upon a Mattress (1960) (opened at the Phoenix Theater), co-authored and lyrics by Marshall Barer
- The Hostage (1960) by Brendan Behan
- Advise and Consent (1960-61), with scenic design by Rouben Ter-Arutunian
- Harold (1962), with actor Anthony Perkins
- The Riot Act (1963), with scenic design by William Ritman
- The Jockey Club Stakes (1973), with costume design by Albert Wolsky
- King Richard III (revival, 1979), with scenic design by Tony Straiges
- Medea (revival, 1982), with actor Judith Anderson
- Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1984-85) about blues singer Ma Rainey
- Grapes of Wrath (1990; Best Play Tony Award), with book adapted by and directed by Frank Galarti (Best Direction of a Play Tony Award)
- Two Shakespearean Actors (1992), with actors Brian Bedford and Victor Garber
- Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (1994), directed by George c. Wolfe
- The Heiress (revival, 1995), based on the novel Washington Square by Henry James, with Cherry Jones (Best Actress in a Play Tony Award)
- Sex and Longing (1996) by Christopher Durang
- An American Daughter (1997), with scenic design by John Lee Beatty and lighting design by Pat Collins
- Marlene (1999) was about the legendary Marlene Dietrich
- The Green Bird (2000), with actor Edward Hibbert
The venue was renamed the James Earl Jones Theater in 2022.
Entry by Jay Shockley, project director (June 2019, with multiple additions).
NOTE: Names above in bold indicate LGBT people.
Building Information
- Architect or Builder: Thomas W. Lamb
- Year Built: 1912
Sources
“The 1st List of: Gay/Lesbian/Bi Industry People, Both in Front and Behind the Camera,” Internet Movie Database, May 31, 2013.
Adam Hetrick, “The Work of Broadway’s Gay and Lesbian Artistic Community Goes on Display Nov. 14 When the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation Gallery Presents ‘StageStruck: The Magic of Theatre Design’,” Playbill, Nov. 14, 2007.
Cort Theater Designation Report (New York: Landmarks Preservation Commission, 1987).
Internet Broadway Database.
Kaier Curtin, “We Can Always Call Them Bulgarians”: the Emergence of Lesbians and Gay Men on the American Stage (Boston: Alyson Publications, 1987).
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