Beacon Theatre
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| Beacon Theatre | |
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| Location | Broadway, New York City, New York |
| Type | Indoor theater |
| Opened | 1929 |
| Seating type | Reserved |
| Capacity | 2,800 |
The Beacon Theatre is an historic New York City theater on upper Broadway in Manhattan. A 2,800-seat, three-tiered concert hall and early movie palace, it was designed by Chicago architect Walter W. Ahlschlager as a forum for vaudeville, musical productions, and motion pictures. Today it is one of New York's leading live entertainment venues.
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[edit] History
The Beacon Theatre was originally conceived in 1927 as part of a projected chain of deluxe New York City movie palaces. The planned Roxy Theatre Circuit was to be operated by Samuel Roxy Rothafel and Fox Theatres with the famous Roxy Theatre as its flagship. Planned as the Roxy Midway Theatre the future Beacon was designed by W. W. Ahlschlager, the 5000-seat Roxy's architect, and built as a smaller mate to the great Times Square theater. However the 1929 financial collapse of the Fox Film Corporation doomed the Roxy scheme and the Midway was never opened. The nearly completed theater sat vacant for a time and was eventually acquired by Warner Theatres to be a first run showcase for Warner Brothers films on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The renamed Warner's Beacon Theatre opened on December 24, 1929. Designed as a silent film showplace, the theatre's delayed opening featured a talking picture (Tiger Rose with Lupe Velez), silents having already become obsolete.
Later operated by Brandt Theaters, the Beacon continued as a primarily first-run movie theater into the early 1970's. In the mid 1970's the theater began its new life as a presenter of live concerts. In 1986, there was an effort to convert the theater into a nightclub, but in 1987 a judge blocked the request on the grounds that it would irreparably damage the theater's historic and protected architecture. Subsequently the theater underwent a revival in its concert hall business, filling New York's low-to-mid-sized venue notch between the larger Radio City Music Hall and various smaller clubs and ballrooms.
While not located in Midtown Manhattan, it is reached from there via express 2 or 3 or local 1 subway trains to the 72nd Street (IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line) station two blocks from the theater.
| Beacon Theatre | |
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| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
| Location: | 2124 Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, New York |
| Built/Founded: | 1929[1] |
| Architect: | Walter W. Ahlschlager |
| Added to NRHP: | November 4, 1982 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 82001187 [2] |
With its superior acoustics designed for vaudeville, the theater is now the leading Upper West Side venue for R&B, pop, and rock concerts. Headliners in the modern era have included Bob Marley, Motorhead, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, King Crimson, Tori Amos, James Taylor, Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, Bob Weir (of Grateful Dead fame), Phish, Queen, Taylor Hicks, They Might Be Giants, and many others. Govt. Mule annually performs 3 nights at the theater at end of December known as their "Beacon Run". From the mid-1990s on, the musical act most associated with the theater has been The Allman Brothers Band, who take over the venue in March of each year for an extended series of shows known among the group and their fans as "The Beacon Run". The venue has become a second "Fillmore" for the band.
The theater's stage has also supported political debates, gospel choirs, and a wide variety of dramatic productions. VH-1 broadcast its popular production Divas Live from there. Many of George Carlin's HBO comedy specials have been broadcast from or filmed there. In the 2000s, the Beacon Theater often offers light comedy geared toward African-American audiences, making it a favorite destination for troupes working the Chitlin Circuit. The 2008 IMAX film of a live concert by The Rolling Stones, Shine a Light, directed by Martin Scorsese was filmed at the Beacon Theatre.
In November, 2006, the theater commenced a 20-year lease by Cablevision, owner of Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden. The company announced a planned a $10 million renovation of the theater. [3]
While one or two others survive as churches, the Beacon is the last of Manhattan's many lavish 1920's movie palaces still operating as an entertainment venue with its original fantasy architecture intact. As such it holds a special place in the cultural life of New York.
[edit] Architecture and Decor
The Beacon's ornate neo-Grecian interior features thirty-foot-tall Greek goddesses flanking the proscenium arch of its curtainless stage, which can rise from its basement level carrying a full classical orchestra. Under its marquee is an exterior lobby with tile flooring extending to the sidewalk along Broadway between 74th and 75th Streets, across from the Beaux-Arts Ansonia Hotel. Entry is gained through its bronze-doored vestibule into an opulent two-story circular lobby. White marble floors give way to mahogany bars on both the orchestra and mezzanine levels, and two more levels provide access to both the foot and top of its steeply inclined upper balcony. Exquisite detailing abounds throughout, including polished hardwood and terra cotta moldings, brass staircase rails, and corridor murals depicting Eastern scenes of trading caravans with elephants, camels and other animals depicted.
[edit] References
- ^ White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot; AIA Guide to New York City, 4th Edition; New York Chapter, American Institute of Architects; Crown Publishers/Random House. 2000. ISBN 0-8129-31069-8; ISBN 0-8129-3107-6. p.343.
- ^ New+York County listings at the National Register of Historic Places
- ^ [1]
[edit] External links
- Official Beacon Theatre website
- Theatre.com listing for Beacon
- Cinema Treasures listing for the Beacon
- Beacon Theatre is at coordinates Coordinates:
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