With Gerald Schoenfeld’s sudden death at 84 on Tuesday, New York lost an unsung hero of the city’s renaissance from its low point in the 1970s.
With his late business partner Bernard Jacobs, Schoenfeld took over the Schubert Organization in 1972, refurbished the company’s 17 theaters and set out reviving a moribund Broadway.
They started that with the play “Equus” in 1974 and the signature musical “A Chorus Line” a year later. Subsequent contemporary classics such as “Cats,” “Phantom of the Opera” and “Les Miserables” introduced millions of new fans to the Great White Way.
All the while, Schoenfeld keenly understood that even great shows meant little if theatergoers didn’t feel safe.
Thus, he pushed successive mayors to make Midtown safe and attractive.
In 1994, the producer found in Rudy Giuliani someone equally committed to Times Square’s revival – and the Big Apple’s comeback was fully under way.
True, the Walt Disney Co. often gets the credit – or blame, in some quarters – for the “new” Times Square. But it was more complicated than that.
It took years of extraordinarily hard work – but Gerry Schoenfeld finally got the job done.