Plymouth, Royale to be renamed for executives

NEW YORK (AP) -- Two Broadway theaters, the Plymouth and the Royale, will be renamed for executives of the Shubert Organization, which owns more than a dozen New York theaters.
The Plymouth will become the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, the organization's board of directors said recently. Schoenfeld has been chairman of the Shubert Organization since 1972. The Royale will be renamed the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, after Jacobs, the company's president from 1972 until his death in 1996.
Dedication ceremonies will take place next spring.
"They [Schoenfeld and Jacobs] played leading roles in the renaissance of Times Square. Most significantly, they have used the resources of the company to nurture the artistic community of the theater, contributing greatly to the vitality of Broadway," board member John Kluge said in a statement.
Among the shows produced on Broadway by the Shubert Organization are "Cats," "Dreamgirls," "Sunday in the Park With George," "Jerome Robbins' Broadway," "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" and "Dancin'."
The Plymouth, built in 1917, and the Royale, constructed 10 years later, are among Broadway's most sought-after theaters for plays and small musicals. They are located side-by-side on a prime West 45th Street block in the heart of the theater district.
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