Where Is The Theater At Madison Square Garden

Theater in Manhattan, New York City, United States

Hulu Theater
Construction


Full name	Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden
Former names	Felt Forum (1968–89) Paramount Theater (1991–97) The Theater at Madison Square Garden (1997–2007; 2009–18) WaMu Theater (2007–09)
Address	4 Pennsylvania Plaza
Location	New York City, New York
Owner	Madison Square Garden Entertainment
Capacity	5,600
Opened	February 14, 1968 (1968-02-14)
Renovated	1989–91, 2011–13
Architect	Charles Luckman Associates
Services engineer	Syska Hennessy
General contractor	Turner Construction and Del E. Webb Construction Company
Website
Venue Website

The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden is a theater located in New York City's Madison Square Garden. It seats between 2,000 and 5,600 for concerts and can also be used for meetings, stage shows and graduation ceremonies. No seat is more than 177 feet (54 m) from the 30-by-64-foot (9.1 by 19.5 m) stage. Since it is located beneath the main Madison Square Garden arena, the theater has a relatively low 20-foot (6.1 m) ceiling at stage level^[1] and all of its seating except for boxes on the two side walls is on one level slanted back from the stage. There is an 8,000-square-foot (740 m²) lobby at the theater.

History [edit]

When the Garden opened in 1968, the theater was known as the Felt Forum, in honor of then-president Irving Mitchell Felt.^[2] In the early 1990s, at the behest of then-owner Paramount Communications, the theater was renamed the Paramount Theater after the Paramount Theatre in Times Square had been converted to an office tower.^[3] The theater received its next name, The Theater at Madison Square Garden, in the mid-1990s, after Viacom bought Paramount and sold the MSG properties. In 2007, the theater was renamed the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden through a naming rights deal with Washington Mutual. After Washington Mutual's collapse in 2009, the name reverted to The Theater at Madison Square Garden.^[4] In 2018, the theater signed a deal with Hulu to become the "Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden".^[5]

Events [edit]

It was the host for Mike Tyson's fourteenth professional fight against Sammy Scaff on December 6, 1985.^[6] The theater occasionally hosts boxing matches on nights when the main arena is unavailable, or fights between promising boxers who management believe will not fill up "the big room".

Music band Menudo's February 5, 1983, concert at Madison Square Garden was held at the Felt Forum. It was member Xavier Serbia's last official concert with the band (he would return to the band in 1983 for another Madison Square Garden show to substitute for an ill Ricky Melendez) and the first for member Ray Reyes.^[7] This concert was transmitted live to most Latin American countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela, and to the United States.

October 21–22, 1986. Philippine Award-winning Music, Film and Television Megastar Sharon Cuneta performed her New York concert as part of her U.S. concert tour and received a standing ovation. This was also together with the taping of her latest movie Jack and Jill sa Amerika featuring the cities visited during the tour included as a story plot in the movie. The New York concert at the Felt Forum was opposite Elton John's concert at Madison. The October 19 Shrine Auditorium Los Angeles concert caused a traffic jam. As Sharon became the first Filipina artist to sell out the Shrine, Mayor Bradley bestowed the Official Honorary Welcome Key to the City of Los Angeles. While in L.A. there were plans for a record deal from executives as guests watching the L.A. concert. Upon return to the Philippines she continued her television variety The Sharon Cuneta Show on ABS-CBN channel 2. On the third show also featuring Zsa Zsa Padilla and Kuh Ledesma in 1986 she discussed her American schedule from East to West including Washington D.C. San Diego and San Francisco. TSCS ran from 1986 to 1997 as the Sunday night staple which also aired on Los Angeles Channel 18, however on Sunday afternoon. Also a VHS was planned from highlights of the various U.S. concerts.

In 1987, the comedy concert film Eddie Murphy Raw was filmed at the Forum and released in December of that year.

On December 8, 1991, the draw for the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification was held at the theater.

WCW held two live events there, one on April 13, 1993, marking the first time an WCW event was ever held in New York City, and again on June 30, 1996. NXT held one event in the theater on November 16, 2016. Lucha Libre AAA and Impact Wrestling hosted Lucha Invades NY on September 15, 2019.

The theater was home to an annual staging of A Christmas Carol from 1994 to 2003.^[8]

It was the home of the NFL draft from 1995 until 2004. In 2005 the NFL Draft moved to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, after MSG management opposed a new stadium for the New York Jets. It also hosted the NBA draft from 2001 to 2010.

From 2004 to 2006 and in 2008 Theatre of MSG hosted the Jammy Award honoring improvisational music.^[9]

In 2013 A Christmas Story: The Musical was revived at the theater for a limited engagement.^[10]

The first ever mixed martial arts event held at the theater was World Series of Fighting 34: Gaethje vs. Firmino on December 31, 2016.

Future [edit]

In January 2016, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a redevelopment proposal for Penn Station that would involve the removal of The Theater at Madison Square Garden.^[11] ^[12]

References [edit]

^ "Wintuk created exclusively for Wamu Theater at Madison Square Garden" Archived 2009-03-27 at the Wayback Machine, cirquedusoleil.com, November 7, 2007
^ Blair; William G. (January 27, 1989). "Garden to Close The Felt Forum For Two Years". The New York Times . Retrieved July 18, 2014.
^ Holden, Stephen (September 11, 1991). "New Paramount Theater to Give Radio City a Run for Its Music". The New York Times . Retrieved July 18, 2014.
^ "WaMu Theaters name likely to change due to financial crisis". ticketnews.com. Archived from the original on January 10, 2009. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
^ "The Theater at Madison Square Garden Is Now the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden". MSG . Retrieved May 5, 2019.
^ Anderson, Dave (July 8, 1993). "Sports of The Times; The Garden Throws Its Last Punch". Retrieved May 5, 2019 – via NYTimes.com.
^ Victor Sangama Mendoza (December 28, 2010). "MENUDO APERTURA AL CONCIERTO EN EL MADISON SQUARE GARDEN.wmv". Retrieved May 5, 2019 – via YouTube.
^ Hernandez, Ernio (2003-11-28). "Ghosts Lead Scrooge in A Christmas Carol for Final MSG Staging, Nov. 28-Dec. 27". Playbill . Retrieved 2021-04-23 .
^ http://www.jambands.com/news/2008/05/08/trey-mike-page-and-fish-appear-together-at-the-jammys Jambands.com
^ Genzlinger, Neil (2013-12-15). "Boyhood Longing (and Lobbying) for a BB Gun". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-04-23 .
^ Higgs, Larry (January 6, 2016). "Gov. Cuomo unveils grand plan to rebuild N.Y. Penn Station". The Star-Ledger . Retrieved January 6, 2016.
^ "6th Proposal of Governor Cuomo's 2016 Agenda: Transform Penn Station and Farley Post Office Building Into a World-Class Transportation Hub". Governor Andrew M. Cuomo . Retrieved January 7, 2016.