Eugene O’Neill Theater Reopens After Fire

The Eugene O’Neill Theater has reopened to the public after a three-alarm fire on May 4, and performances of “The Book of Mormon” have resumed after a 23 day interruption.

A total of 25 performances of the comedy smash hit were cancelled due to the blaze, which reportedly cost millions. The NYC Department of Buildings had issued a vacate order after the fire, preventing entry until conditions were rectified.

According to officials, the fire had broken out in an “electrical room” between the fourth and fifth floors of the theater not long after 10 a.m. FDNY Assistant Chief David Simms said that firefighters quickly subdued an initial body of fire, before discovering further flames in a concealed area between the fifth floor and the roof.

“This was a deep-seated fire involving a lot of electrical equipment,” Simms said at a press conference. A hotel next door was evacuated as a precaution, with 192 firefighter and EMS personnel responding to the scene. The blaze took two hours to get under control, with firefighters reportedly cutting a hole in the building’s roof.

According to a Playbill presser announcing the resumption of “Book of Mormon” performances on May 27, it now appears that most damage from the fire was confined to a spotlight room, which may have been the electrical room referenced by the FDNY. That lighting booth remains under a vacate order, meaning that entry is barred.

The auditorium itself reportedly remained untouched by flames, although some water damage was discovered.

The first performance since the fire was held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 27, with special $15 tickets available to celebrate the show’s 15th anniversary. According to the New York Times, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal gave the FDNY a proclamation at the reopening performance.

Matt Stone, one of the creators of the play, also reportedly stepped on stage before the curtain rose to acknowledge the blaze.

This is the third time we’ve opened this show—in 2011 we opened the show, after the pandemic we opened the show and then we had a little fire three weeks ago,” Stone said.

“In New York City, there’s no such thing as a little fire,” he added. “That just doesn’t happen.”

“The Book of Mormon” is the longest-running show in the 100-year history of the Eugene O’Neill theater, having officially opened there in March of 2011. It is now the 10th longest-running Broadway show, one slot ahead of “Beauty and the Beast” and one slot behind the ABBA musical “Mamma Mia!”

In a statement given to the press, ATG Entertainment—which owns the Eugene O’Neill Theater—and the producers of the “Book of Mormon” said that they were “grateful to all of the teams who worked diligently to get the theatre returned to operation quickly and safely, and cannot wait to welcome audiences back.”

The Eugene O’Neill Theater opened in the fall of 1925 as the Forrest Theater, and was known as the Coronet Theater for a brief period of time. In 1959, it was given its current name in honor of a famed playwright, who has written works such as “Long Day’s Journey into Night” and “The Iceman Cometh.” O’Neill passed away in 1953 and the renaming six years later was the first time a Broadway theater was named for a playwright.