Front of House: Observations from a Decade on the Aisle (21 page)

Denise worked steadily on Broadway from early 1997 through March 2010, with extended breaks in 1998, 2000 and 2004-5 for travel and school. She was either a regular or a long-term sub at the following Broadway shows:

1997-1999
(sub);
2000
(regular sub):
Cats
(Winter Garden)

1997-2004
(sub);
2004-2010
(regular):
The Phantom of the Opera
(Majestic)

1998-1999:
Art
(Royale)

1999:
Kat and the Kings
(Cort)

2001:
The Invention of Love
(Lyceum)

2001:
If You Ever Leave Me…I’m Coming With You!
(Cort)

2001:
Sexaholix
(Royale) (regular sub)

2002:
One Mo’ Time
(Longacre)

2002:
The Elephant Man
(Royale)

2002:
The Graduate
(Plymouth) (regular sub)

2002:
Prune Danish
(Royale)

2002-2003:
Def Poetry Jam
(Longacre)

2003:
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
(Royale)

2003:
Enchanted April
(Belasco)

2003:
Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks
(Belasco)

She also subbed at the following shows between 1997 and 2010:

Belasco Theatre:
A Doll’s House; Follies

Ambassador Theatre:
Aint’ Nothing but the Blues; Chicago; Hedda Gabler

Broadhurst Theatre:
Dance of Death; Fosse; Never Gonna Dance; Once Upon a Mattress; Proposals

Broadway Theatre:
Blast; Bombay Dreams; Miss Saigon

Circle in the Square:
Metamorphoses

Edwin S. Booth Theatre:
The Old Neighborhood

Ethel Barrymore Theatre:
The Life; The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife

Eugene O’Neill Theatre:
Grease

Imperial Theatre:
Les Misérables

John Golden Theatre:
Master Class; Side Man

Longacre Theatre:
Judgment at Nuremberg; The Young Man from Atlanta

Lunt-Fontanne Theatre:
Into the Whirlwind

Lyceum Theatre:
Inherit the Wind; The Sunshine Boys

Martin Beck (now the Al Hirshfeld) Theatre:
Annie

Marquis Theatre:
Victor/Victoria

Nederlander Theatre:
Rent

Neil Simon Theatre:
The King and I

Plymouth (now the Shoenfeld) Theatre:
Jekyll & Hyde

Royale (now the Jacobs) Theatre:
Copenhagen; Master Harold and the Boys; One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; Sexaholix; Triumph of Love

Sam S. Shubert Theatre:
Chicago; Gypsy

St. James Theatre:
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Walter Kerr Theatre:
Forever Tango; Present Laughter

Winter Garden Theatre:
Mamma Mia

Off-Broadway
(most as a regular staff member):

New Victory Theater:
Cirque Éloize; Different Fields; The Green Bird; Paul Taylor Dance Company; Sheila’s Day; Snowflake; Storytelling Festival

Public Theater (Delacorte and Lafayette St. venues):
Antony and Cleopatra; Caucasian Chalk Circle; Henry V; Henry VI; One Flea Spare; Peter and Wendy; The Repugnant Story of Clotario Demoniax; Timon of Athens; etc.

Belasco, David.
Return of Peter Grimm, The
(Novelisation). New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1912.

Belasco, David.
Six Plays.
Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1928.

Belasco, David.
Theatre Through Its Stage Door, The.
New York and London: Harper & Brothers Publishing, 1919.

Botto, Louis and Viagas, Robert.
At This Theatre.
New York: Applause Books, 2002.

Eaton Travis, Doris and Morris, J.M.
The Days We Danced.
Seattle: Marquant Press, 2003.

Frayn, Michael.
Copenhagen.
1998.

“Lyceum Theatre.” Shubert Organization,
www.shubert.nyc/theatres/lyceum.

Masteroff, Joe.
Cabaret.
Lyrics and music by John Kander and Fred Ebb. 1966.

Morrison, William.
Broadway Theaters: History and Architecture.
New York: Dover Publications, 1999.

Pickford, Mary.
Sunshine and Shadow.
New York: Doubleday and Co., 1955.

van Hoogstraten, Nicholas.
Lost Broadway Theatres.
New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1997.

Webber, Andrew Lloyd and Stilgoe, Richard.
Phantom of the Opera, The.
Lyrics and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe. 1986.

Denise Reich
is an Italian-born, New York City-raised American-European freelance writer and photographer. She currently contributes to the Canadian magazine
Shameless.
Her work has appeared in publications in the USA, Canada, Bermuda, South Africa and Eastern Europe, and has been translated into several languages.

During her years as a Broadway usher Denise worked at more than fifty different productions in twenty-five theaters, including Cats,
The Phantom of the Opera, Def Poetry Jam, Art, Enchanted April
and many others. During the same period of time she completed her four-year degree, did post-graduate work, traveled to five continents, was published in numerous magazines and books, went through four operations, and lived in seven different places.

Denise currently lives on the West Coast and drinks lots of Café du Monde coffee. She holds a BA from Marymount Manhattan College.