The Nederlander Organization, founded in 1912 by David T. Nederlander in Detroit, and currently based in New York City, is one of the largest operators of live theaters and music venues in the United States. Its first acquisition was a lease on the Detroit Opera House in 1912. The building was demolished in 1928. It later operated the Shubert Lafayette Theatre until its demolition in 1964 and the Riviera Theatre, both in Detroit. Since then, the organization has grown to include nine Broadway theaters, making it the second-largest owner of Broadway theaters after the Shubert Organization, and a number of theaters across the United States, including five large theaters in Chicago, plus three West End theatres in London.
Contents
Current venues
Broadway theatres
Gershwin Theatre
Lena Horne Theatre
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
Marquis Theatre
Minskoff Theatre
Nederlander Theatre
Palace Theatre
Richard Rodgers Theatre
Neil Simon Theatre
West End theatres
Adelphi Theatre (co-owned with Andrew Lloyd Webber's LW Theatres)
Aldwych Theatre
Dominion Theatre
Chicago theatres
Auditorium Theatre (booking rights; owned by Roosevelt University)
Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place
Cadillac Palace Theatre
CIBC Theatre
Nederlander Theatre
Other US venues
Centennial Hall – under contract with the University of Arizona, Tucson
The Grove of Anaheim – Anaheim, California
Pantages Theatre – Los Angeles
Balboa Theatre – San Diego
Civic Theatre – San Diego
San Jose Center for the Performing Arts – San Jose, California
San Jose Civic Auditorium – San Jose, California
Santa Barbara Bowl – Santa Barbara, California
Durham Performing Arts Center – Durham, North Carolina
Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts – Greensboro, North Carolina
North Charleston Performing Arts Center – North Charleston, South Carolina
Heritage Bank Center – Cincinnati, Ohio and its tenant, the Cincinnati Cyclones Professional Ice Hockey Team
National Theatre – Washington, DC under contract with The National Theatre
West Harbor Amphitheater Los Angeles—under development as of 2023.
Former venues
Former Broadway theatres
Biltmore Theatre (sold)
Henry Miller's Theatre (sold)
Mark Hellinger Theatre (sold)
New Amsterdam Theatre (sold)
Other former venues
Alpine Valley Music Theatre – East Troy, Wisconsin (sold)
Arie Crown Theater – Chicago (1977–1986; contract ended)
Arrowhead Pond – Anaheim, California 1994–2004(management contract ended)
Birmingham Theatre – Birmingham, Michigan (1979-1994; contract ended; reverted to cinema)
Bogart's – Cincinnati (sold)
Concord Pavilion – Concord, California (management contract ended)
Curran Theatre – San Francisco (sold in 2010)
Masonic Theatre – Detroit (management contract ended)
Detroit Opera House – Detroit; owned and operated by Michigan Opera Theatre (interest sold in April 2021)
Fisher Theatre – Detroit (sold in April 2021)
Fox Tucson Theatre – Tucson, Arizona (changed venues)
Fox Theatre – San Diego (management contract ended)
Golden Gate Theatre – San Francisco (sold in April 2021)
Grand Riviera Theater – Detroit (closed 1974; demolished 1999)
Greek Theatre – Los Angeles (1975-2015; contract ended)
New World Music Theater – Tinley Park, Illinois (sold)
Broadway Direct
In 2011, the Nederlander Organization launched Broadway Direct. Broadway Direct is a ticketing platform for a range of New York based shows. They also publish Broadway news.
Subscription series
Best of Broadway (North Charleston)
Broadway In Chicago
Broadway In Detroit
Broadway Los Angeles (formerly Los Angeles Civic Light Opera)
Broadway San Diego (formerly San Diego Playgoers)
Broadway in Tucson
Truist Broadway (Durham, North Carolina)
Legal actions
In 1993, the Orange County Fair Board purchased the remaining 30 years of Nederlander's 40-year lease on the Pacific Amphitheatre for $12.5 million. The board filed suit against Nederlander in 1995 maintaining that the organization placed restrictive sound covenants in the sale contract that made the venue unusable and therefore eliminated it from competing with the nearby Greek Theatre and Arrowhead Pond.
In January 2014, Nederlander settled a suit with the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York City over violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under the consent decree, Nederlander agreed to make alterations within three-years to nine of its theatres in New York to make them more accessible and pay a $45,000 penalty. The case was one in a series filed by the U.S. Attorney against a number of public venues in the city.