Broadway's first theatre named after a Black woman honors late actress and civil rights activist Lena Horne.
On Tuesday (November 1), an official celebration commemorated the renaming of the Broadway theatre on West 47th Street in Horne's honor, per CNN.
The theatre was initially built in 1926 and named the Mansfield Theatre. It was renamed in 1960 after late New York Times drama critic Brook Atkinson.
Horne began her illustrious career as a teenager at the Cotton Club in Harlem. She went on to become a trailblazing entertainer, earning a number of Tony and Grammy awards and starring in several big and small screen projects. She died in 2010.
The theatre named in her honor still has the original chandelier hanging inside of it. It seats over 1,000 people and is one of The Nederlander Organization’s nine Broadway theaters.
The musical “Six” is currently playing at the newly named theatre.
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