For other theatres by this name, see Orpheum (disambiguation)

The Orpheum Theatre, located on Second Avenue

Second Avenue (Manhattan)

Second Avenue is an avenue on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan extending from Houston Street at its south end to the Harlem River Drive at 128th Street at its north end. A one-way street, vehicular traffic runs only downtown. A bicycle lane in the left hand portion from 55th...

 near the corner of St. Marks Place in the East Village

East Village, Manhattan

The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...

 neighborhood of lower Manhattan

Lower Manhattan

Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...

, New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, is a 299-seat Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...

 theatre. It is the home of the New York production of Stomp

Stomp (dance troupe)

Stomp is a percussion group that uses the body and ordinary objects to create a physical theatre performance.-History and performances:...

since it opened in 1994; over 5,000 performances of the show have taken place there.

There may have been a concert garden on the site as early as the 1880s, but there was a theatre there by 1904. During the heyday of Yiddish theatre

Yiddish theatre

Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues; melodrama; naturalist drama; expressionist and...

 in Manhattan, the venue was the "Player's Theatre", and was part of the "Jewish Rialto" along Second Avenue. By the 1920s, the theatre was exhibiting films, but was converted back to dramatic use in 1958, with the first production, Little Mary Sunshine

Little Mary Sunshine

Little Mary Sunshine is a musical that parodies old-fashioned operettas and musicals. The book, music, and lyrics are by Rick Besoyan. The musical should not be confused with the 1916 silent film of the same name ....

, opening in November 1959.

Significant productions include the revival and revamping of Cole Porter

Cole Porter

Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...

's musical Anything Goes

Anything Goes

Anything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London...

in 1962, The Me Nobody Knows

The Me Nobody Knows

The Me Nobody Knows is a musical with music by Gary William Friedman and lyrics by Will Holt. It debuted off-Broadway in 1970 and then transferred to Broadway. It received the Obie Award and a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical...

in 1970, The Cocktail Party

The Cocktail Party

The Cocktail Party is a play by T. S. Eliot. Elements of the play are based on Alcestis, by the Ancient Greek playwright Euripides. The play was the most popular of Eliot's seven plays in his lifetime, although his 1935 play, Murder in the Cathedral, is better remembered today.The Cocktail Party...

in 1980, Key Exchange

Key exchange

Key exchange is any method in cryptography by which cryptographic keys are exchanged between users, allowing use of a cryptographic algorithm....

in 1981, Little Shop of Horrors

Little Shop of Horrors (musical)

Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman...

in 1982, Sandra Bernhard

Sandra Bernhard

Sandra Bernhard is an American comedian, singer, actress and author. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy in which she often bitterly critiques celebrity culture and political figures. Bernhard is number 97 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of...

's Without You I'm Nothing in 1988, The Lady in Question

The Lady in Question

The Lady in Question is a 1940 film directed by Charles Vidor. It stars Brian Aherne and Rita Hayworth.-Cast:*Brian Aherne as Andre Morestan*Rita Hayworth as Natalie Roguin*Glenn Ford as Pierre Morestan*Irene Rich as Michele Morestan...

in 1989, Eric Bogosian

Eric Bogosian

Eric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,...

's Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll in 1990, John Leguizamo

John Leguizamo

Jonathan Alberto "John" Leguizamo is an Colombian-American actor, producer, voice artist, and comedian.-Early life:...

's Mambo Mouth in 1991, and David Mamet

David Mamet

David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...

's Oleanna

Oleanna (play)

Oleanna is a two-character play by David Mamet, about the power struggle between a university professor and one of his female students, who accuses him of sexual exploitation and, by doing so, spoils his chances of being accorded tenure...

in 1992.

External links

• "Orpheum Theatre" at the Internet Off-Broadway Database