ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY: ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908): JANUARY 1900

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

JANUARY 1900

This blog is dedicated to preserving a record of Brooklyn theatre theatre-related images based largely on publication in nearly a half-dozen contemporary Brooklyn newspapers and one weekly magazine (Brooklyn Life) of 1898-1908. It also lists the week-by-week productions at each legitimate theatre from January 1898 through December 1908. It is adapted from my earlier blog, BROOKLYN THEATRE FROM 1898: AN ILLUSTRATED CHRONOLOGY and is intended as a supplement to a forthcoming two-volume book also called ACROSS THE RIVER FROM BROADWAY: ANNALS OF THE BROOKLYN STAGE (1898-1908).

The book covers everything related to Brooklyn theatre during the first decade of the former city's first decade as a borough of Greater New York, including plays, playhouses, productions, people, producing policies, scandals, lawsuits, fires, accidents, brawls, ethnic theatres, crimes, religious attacks, rivalry with Manhattan, and so on. The focus is on legitimate theatre, but considerable attention is paid to developments in vaudeville and burlesque as well.

To find a specific month, please use the search box in the upper left corner. May-June and August-September are always joined, so searches for one of those months should be, for example, May-June 1906.

Samuel L. Leiter

Author: BROOKLYN TAKES THE STAGE: NINETEENTH-CENTURY THEATER IN THE CITY OF CHURCHES (McFarland: 2024).

JANUARY 1900

*=novelties (recent plays new to Brooklyn)

January 9-14:
Amphion: The Dairy Farm
Bijou: The King of Rogues*
Columbia: Robespierre; The Merchant of Venice; The Amber Heart; Waterloo; Nance Oldfield; The Bells (Henry Irving, Ellen Terry)
Gayety: The Floor Walkers* (Ward and Vokes)
Montauk: Why Smith Left Home
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty, Grand Opera House

January 15-20:
Amphion: The Girl of the Barracks (Louis Mann and Clara Lipman)
Bijou: Shaun Rhue; Kerry Gow (Joseph Murphy)
Columbia: Barbara Frietchie* (Julia Marlowe)
Grand Opera House: The Floor Walkers (Ward and Vokes)
Montauk: The Man in the Moon, Jr.* (Sam Bernard)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty, Gayety

January 22-27:
Amphion: The Man in the Moon, Jr. (Sam Bernard)
Bijou: In Old Kentucky
Columbia: Barbara Frietchie (Julia Marlowe)
Grand Opera House: Finnigan’s Ball*
Montauk: The First Violin;* Cyrano de Bergerac; Beau Brummel; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Richard Mansfield)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty, Gayety

January 29-February 3:
Amphion: The Christian (Viola Allen)
Bijou: King of the Opium Ring
Columbia: Rupert of Hentzau (James K. Hackett)
Gayety: Finnigan’s Ball
Grand Opera House: At Piney Ridge (David Higgins)
Montauk: Miss Hobbs *(Annie Russell)
Vaudeville/burlesque: Hyde & Behman’s, Brooklyn Music Hall, Empire, Star, Novelty