Talk:Longacre Theatre/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: Rublov (talk · contribs) 17:34, 9 March 2022 (UTC)

Hello, I will be reviewing this article shortly.

Infobox and lead

 * named after the historical moniker of Times Square — advise rephrasing this. First of all, it would probably fit better in the previous sentence since the origin of its name has little to do with the number of seats or its current operator. It's also a bit difficult to understand. Perhaps it was designed by Henry B. Herts and named after the nearby Longacre Square, now Times Square?
 * Fixed. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Here and throughout, the the in the Shubert Organization should either be capitalized or omitted from the wikilink. Prefer the former as the title of the article is The Shubert Organization.
 * Done. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Does facade need to be linked? Also, given that the name of the article is Façade, should it be spelled with the cedilla?
 * I linked it because in previous reviews of other articles, reviewers have pointed out that this could be an uncommon term. As for the cedilla, I think the spelling with diacritics may be a WP:ENGVAR issue, and I'd rather not change it unless the diacritic is necessary. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * the auditorium interior — auditorium doesn't work as an adjective here; the auditorium's interior? the interior of the auditorium? simply the auditorium?
 * Fixed. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Architectural description of the building, while nice, is in my opinion a bit too detailed for the lead. there are service entrances to the sides can certainly be omitted, and probably some other details as well.
 * I've trimmed it a bit. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * housed several flops — is the use of housed here theater jargon? Normally you wouldn't speak of a theater "housing" a play.
 * I reworded it. I would not say it's jargon specifically, as it's not rare to see a source saying that a theater houses a show, but I've changed it anyway. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * returned... to legitimate use — even with the wikilink the use of "legitimate" in this sense is surprising. I'd recommend expanding it to legitimate theater use or otherwise rephrasing it.
 * Done. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * gained a reputation for hosting few hits — bit unclear to me. Does it mean the theater had a reputation for being unsuccessful?
 * Yes. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * documented by the book The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway — unless the book is especially important I'd omit this.
 * Removed. According to one source, the book's publication led to a self-fulfilling cycle of the Longacre not hosting successful productions, but I could not find this in other sources. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

Site

 * the surrounding area was generally developed with — repeated developed from the previous sentence; simply the surrounding area had is better.
 * Fixed. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * a mixture of low-rise residences and industrial uses — the coordination of "residences" and "uses" doesn't work; industrial buildings perhaps?
 * Fixed. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * previously occupied by four residences — I guess you mean simultaneously rather than in sequence? I think a row of four residences would help clarify.
 * Yeah. I meant geographically, not chronologically, and it did not occur to me that the sentence could be construed another way. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

Design

 * The theater is operated by the Shubert Organization. — doesn't belong in this section.
 * Removed. A similar issue came up in Talk:James Earl Jones Theatre/GA1. I guess I should have fixed this article beforehand. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

Facade

 * Early news articles about the theater described it as having a facade of "gray limestone and terracotta" — Any reason to quote here? Why not just say it had a facade of gray limestone and terracotta?
 * Removed the quotation marks. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * a female statue representing drama — not sure what this means. As in, a personification? If so, capitalizing "Drama" would aid comprehension.
 * Done. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * lions' heads — not 100% sure about this, but shouldn't it be lion's heads? In the singular it would certainly be lion's head.
 * These are multiple heads of lions, but the design of each head is the same, so you might be correct. However, the fact that there are multiple heads led me to write "lions' heads". Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * meanwhile, Playbill cites 1,045 seats — I would say although instead of meanwhile.
 * Fixed. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * The auditorium's color scheme → The auditorium's current color scheme to differentiate from the original color scheme mentioned earlier.
 * Done. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Staircases lead from the promenade to the balcony levels; they contain wrought-iron railings. → Staircases with wrought-iron railings lead from the promenade to the balcony levels.
 * Done. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

Interior

 * Playbill should be italicized.
 * Done. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

History

 * Don't wikilink "the" in "the Great Depression".
 * Fixed. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Manhattan's theater district had begun to shift from Union Square and Madison Square during the first decade of the 20th century. — seems irrelevant since we're talking about Times Square.
 * It's related to the previous sentence. Manhattan's theater district moved, from Union and Madison Squares, to Times Square during that time. It is also mentioned because the Longacre was part of this development boom. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * I would put this sentence first then so that it flows chronologically. Also, might be worth noting that the movement was in a northern direction for readers unfamiliar with New York City geography. Ruбlov (talk) 02:11, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

Development and early years

 * Harry H. Frazee — just Frazee since you already introduced him. But maybe it would be better to introduce him here instead.
 * I removed the link here. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * My comment was actually referring to the mention of Frazee in the first paragraph of "Development and early years"; you mentioned him one paragraph earlier, in the paragraph under the main "History" header. Now the first mention gives only his last name while the second mention gives his full name; this should be flipped. Ruбlov (talk) 02:11, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * The Longacre Theatre was one of nine theaters — Recommend beginning this paragraph with The Longacre opened on May 1, 1913 instead and making this the second sentence: It was one of nine theaters....
 * Done. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

1920s to early 1940s

 * This section could use a bit of summary style as it is heavy on dates and names.
 * Done. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

Mid-1940s to 1960s

 * Same comment as in lead about legitimate productions.
 * Done. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

1970s and 1980s

 * Link New York Supreme Court.
 * Done. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

1990s to present

 * The court would process misdemeanor summonses isued in Midtown, reducing the backlog of cases at the New York City Criminal Court — "issued" is misspelled. But I'd recommend folding this into the previous sentence, e.g. setting up a community courtroom to process misdemeanor summonses.
 * Fixed. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * This will be followed by a revival of Macbeth in early 2022 — has this happened?
 * It has not. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

Notable productions

 * Does every play need two citations here?
 * I think having multiple refs in this section increases the verifiability of the productions (some shows are only recorded by Playbill and the Broadway League, while others are also recorded in the book refs). Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * What determines whether or not a production is notable enough to make this list?
 * This is a list of all productions that have articles and were recorded in the Internet Broadway Database entry for this theater. So, it's literally "notable" productions, since every show with an article is listed. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

Box office record

 * Kind of a random section. Would probably work better under "History".
 * Done. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

General comments

 * Images are relevant and properly licensed.
 * I won't require this to pass GA but a couple of the images have a slight tilt which should be corrected:
 * File:W 48 St Dec 2021 08.jpg
 * File:W 48 St Nov 2021 35.jpg
 * I will fix these soon. Sometimes I hold my camera at a weird angle, which may explain these. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Earwig does not report any copyright violations.

Nice article. My concerns are mostly prose nitpicks which should be easily addressed. Putting on hold. Ruбlov (talk) 18:40, 9 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your review. I have addressed the issues you brought up. Epicgenius (talk) 01:09, 10 March 2022 (UTC)
 * I left two follow-up comments on this review. But I'm going to go ahead and pass the article now. Congratulations! Ruбlov (talk) 02:11, 10 March 2022 (UTC)