Broadway Will Get a New Theater

British theater magnate and producer Howard Panter, the co-chief executive of the Ambassador Theater Group, is planning to open New York's 41st Broadway theater. Panter is refurbishing the Hudson Theater, for which he has acquired a long-term lease from current owners Millennium Hotels and Resorts. The West 44th Street venue, a historic space from 1903 that housed the original production of Arcenic and Old Lace, among other shows, is currently a wedding party destination and convention center.

As TheaterMania reported earlier this year, Ambassador Theater Group, which already runs Broadway's Lyric Theater, has market for other New York properties for some time. In addition to the Lyric, the company also runs the Kings Theater in Brooklyn as well as four theaters in Louisiana and Texas.

Broadway's other houses are controlled by three organizations: the Shuberts (which own 17 theaters, as well as Shubert Alley), the Nederlanders (which own nine theaters in New York), and Jujamcyn (which owns five theaters). Panter's Ambassador Theatre Group controls 40 theaters across Europe and Asia.