Times Square Victory

From its opening as Oscar Hammerstein's initial showcase in 1900, when it was called called The Republic, The New Victory Theater has seen many firsts. It is the first performing-arts space built in New York City to survive for active use today and the first built in the city's current theater district around Times Square. Its $11.4-million renovation for a very different theatrical crowd, as well as modern codes, required far more than simple restoration, however.

As part of a recent effort to upgrade the long run-down Times Square district, The New Victory Theater two months ago became the first legitimate stage to reopen in a nine-theater revival spearheaded by nonprofit New 42nd Street, Inc. This organization operates on a combination of public and private monies, including $14 million contributed by a private developer back in the headier 1980s, when office towers were included in the renewal plan. But where white-tie audiences once arrived by limousine, the new audiences are school children arriving in buses. In its latest incarnation, the Victory is New York's first theater devoted exclusively to young audiences. It opened with a Canadian...