Gustav Amberg
No discussion of German theater in New York would be complete without mentioning Gustav Amberg. Hailed as one of the most influential figures in German-American theater history, Amberg is best known for managing the Thalia Theater through its closure in 1888 and then opening his own theater, the Amberg Theater (later known as the Irving Place theater) by 14th street (Rothfuss 357).
The Irving Place Theater – via MCNY
The Amberg was the first German theater to open outside of Kleindeutschland, foreshadowing the eventual shift of the German populace uptown.
“…[T]he better class of Germans have been begging me to establish myself somewhere up town, and give German performances, which could be seen without a descent to the Bowery” – Gustav Amberg (qtd. in Koegel 117)
Amberg is credited for bringing German theater to a non-German audience. His obituary in The New York Times had this to say about him:
“He had early begun the innovation of not limiting his advertisements to the German newspapers, and had gradually brought to his theatre a steady patronage of art lovers who did not know German at all.”
Emanuel Reicher
While Amberg was one of the first influential figures in the history of this tradition, Emanuel Reicher would be among the last. German-American immigrant theater had more or less matured by the 1910s. Reicher exerted most of his influence between 1915 and 1923, during which time time he was the manager of the Garden Theatre.
Emanuel Reicher, 1908 – via Wikimedia Commons
During his 8-year tenure, he formed the Modern Stage group which ran productions at the Garden. Presumably targeting cultured audiences, these productions offered admission only through reserved ticketing.
“The Modern Stage makes its chief appeal to those interested in the presentation of notable plays with a company of artists, carefully selected and directed, where the company and not its individual members dominate. It is the purpose of the founder to create a repertoire company which shall be used to present plays of every nation… There will be no general box office sale. Admission is by previous subscription only.” – Emanuel Reicher, Oct. 17th, 1915 (qtd. in The New York Times)
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