Nutcracker

The Broadway Theatre is a modern three-storey theatre which was built from a former cinema in the basement under the Broadway arcade of the palace of the same name between Na Prikope and Celetna streets. One of the largest functionalist new buildings in Prague's Old Town, it was built on the site of older houses in 1936-1938, designed by Bohumir Kozak (1885-1978) and Antonin Cerný (1896-1976). The palace was built by the Italian insurance companies Assicurazioni Generali and Moldavia Generali, and before the war the palace also housed the Czechoslovak branch of Metro Goldwyn Mayer. It was a magnificent work for its time. Jiří Hilmera (1925-2008) a Czech art historian specialising in theatre architecture and scenography described the Brodway Cinema as a space of 'anachronistically elongated proportions with frontally facing boxes in the background of the stalls, but again with boxes on the balcony arms oriented transversely and brought up to close to the side edges of the projection screen. It is perhaps the last of Prague's cinema halls where the orchestra pit was still being designed (at the time of the full spread of sound film)." Other original equipment of the cinema was also above standard. In its auditorium, luxurious leather armchairs, hot air heating and hearing aids were installed. The cinema had state-of-the-art projection and sound equipment. In 1941 the cinema was renamed UFA-Victoria to commemorate the victorious battles of the Third reich. After the end of the war, the course was reversed and the cinema was named Sevastopol. In 1957 it became a preview cinema and in the 1980s it was the most visited cinema in Prague.