Bowery Amphitheatre

The Bowery Amphitheatre was a building in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City. It was located at 37 and 39 Bowery, across the street from the Bowery Theatre. Under a number of different names and managers, the structure served as a circus, menagerie, and theatre. It became an armory in 1866.

Formation through the minstrel craze

A group of New York businessmen known as the Zoological Institute or the Flatfoots built the structure in 1833 as the site for a menagerie and circus performances. In 1835, the site was converted into an amphitheatre with a stage and a circus ring, and the name changed to the Bowery Amphitheatre. June, Titus, Angevine & Co. took up residence with their equestrian show.

The owners changed the name again in November 1842 to the Amphitheatre of the Republic. John Tryon leased the building the following year, remaining its operator until 1848. Following a performance by the Virginia Minstrels on 6 February 1843, Tryon gave the structure over largely to minstrel shows, renaming it the New Knickerbocker Theatre in 1844.

Later management

In 1849, the building once again became a menagerie, this time under the management of June & Titus. The new endeavor failed to perform up to expectations, so in 1851 the amphitheatre became a circus instead. Seth B. Howe's circus company became a standard feature. During the 1852-1853 season, regular acts included the Richard Sands & Co. and John J. Nathans & Co. circuses. The next season saw a return to equestrian exhibitions under the management of Henry P. Madigan and Den W. Stone.

During the summer of 1854, Germans Seigrist and Otto Hoym leased the amphitheatre and rebuilt it. It opened on 20 October 1854 as the Stadt Theatre. The Stadt specialized in German-language fare, but it also staged American and English drama. A succession of managers sustained this mixture until the 1863-1864 season. A Stadt Theatre existed in The Bowery in 1871: its opera fell under the direction of Adolf Neuendorff, and was the venue in 1871 for the first U.S. performance of Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin.^[1]

On 3 September 1864, the theatre became known as The Varieties, making variety shows its main draw. This form lasted until mid-October 1865, when A. Montpelier became the manager and owner. He renamed the building Montpelier's Opera House, although he kept its emphasis on variety and melodrama. Montpelier changed the name once more on 20 November 1865. The New National Circus stayed open for six weeks for its final stint as an entertainment venue. The structure was converted into an armory in 1866.

Notes

1. ^ See 'Amuseuments. Opera at the Stadt Theater', New York Times 3 May 1871 [1]. Lohengrin, see 'Musical: Wagner's "Lohengrin",' New York Times 8 April 1871. [2]. See also 'Wagner in The Bowery', Scribner's Monthly Magazine 1871, 214-16.

References

• Brown, T. Allston (1903). A History of the New York Stage: From the First Performance in 1732 to 1901. Dodd, Mead and Company.
• Henderson, Mary C. (2004). The City and the Theatre. New York: Back Stage Books.
• Lawrence, Vera Brodsky (1995). Strong on Music: The New York Music Scene in the Days of George Templeton Strong, Vol. I: Resonances, 1836-1849. University of Chicago Press.