Beacon Theatre

Beacon Theatre

Location	Broadway, New York City, New York
Type	Indoor theater
Built	1929
Opened	December 24, 1929
Renovated	2009
Owner	Warner Bros. Brandt Theatres Singer and Metz Madison Square Garden, Inc. (current)
Seating type	fixed
Capacity	2,829
Beacon Theater and Hotel
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	2124 Broadway, Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates:	40°46′50″N 73°58′52″W / 40.78056°N 73.98111°W / 40.78056; -73.98111Coordinates: 40°46′50″N 73°58′52″W / 40.78056°N 73.98111°W / 40.78056; -73.98111
Built:	1929[2]
Architect:	Walter W. Ahlschlager
Governing body:	Private
NRHP Reference#:	82001187 [1]
Added to NRHP:	November 4, 1982[3]

The Beacon Theatre, also known as the Beacon Theater and Hotel, is a historic New York City theater on upper Broadway in Manhattan. A 2,894-seat, three-tiered movie palace, it was designed by Chicago architect Walter W. Ahlschlager for motion pictures and vaudeville. Today it is one of New York's leading live music and entertainment venues, and controlled by Madison Square Garden, Inc.

The theater was the site of the 2011 Tony Awards, which was broadcast on CBS.

History

The Beacon Theatre was originally conceived by film producer Herbert Lubin in 1926 as part of a projected chain of deluxe New York City movie palaces. The planned Roxy Theatre Circuit was to be operated by Lubin and Samuel L. "Roxy" Rothafel with the famous Roxy Theatre as its flagship. Planned as the Roxy Midway Theatre, the future Beacon was designed by Walter W. Ahlschlager of Chicago, the architect of the 6000 seat Roxy, as a smaller mate to the larger Times Square theater.^[4] However, the collapse of Lubin's fortunes 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 theater's delayed opening featured a talking picture (Tiger Rose with Lupe Vélez), silent films having already become obsolete.^[5]

Later operated by Brandt Theaters, the Beacon continued as a primarily first-run movie theater into the early 1970s. In 1974 Steven Singer bought the theater to present live pop concerts promoted by Stephen Metz. They were followed by Marvin Getlan and Allen Rosoff who bought the theater in 1976 and continued its new life as a major presenter of live concerts, including a series of 1976 concerts by the Grateful Dead. In 1987, an effort to convert the theater into a nightclub was blocked in court 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.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.^[3]

Entertainment

The Allman Brothers Band

Starting in 1989 the The Allman Brothers Band began a run of twenty straight years performing at the Beacon Theatre. Over the decades their appearance there became something of a pilgrimage for fans attending multiple nights of concerts for sold-out crowds.

In 2009 the Allman Brothers Band celebrated its 40th anniversary, marked by inviting famous musical guests from an impressive array of genres. Dedicated to the band's founder and late leader, Duane Allman, the concerts lasted for three weeks rather than three days. Some of the invitees included Eric Clapton, who back in 1970 invited Duane to perform with Clapton's then band, Derek and the Dominos, on the album Layla, Boz Scaggs, and Levon Helm, formerly of The Band, who arrived the first day with his own drum kit.^{[citation needed]}

In January 2010 it was reported that Beacon's management had booked an extended run of a new Cirque du Soleil production, forcing the Allman Brothers Band to move its annual New York concerts to a new venue, the United Palace Theater. According to The New York Times, this marked the end of a string in which the Allmans had played "190 shows over the past 20 years", beginning in 1989.^[6]

However, the Allman Brothers were invited back to the Beacon Theater in 2011, and played 13 shows from March 10 to the 26th. The March 25 show was their 200th at the Beacon.

Other bands, concerts and award shows

With its superior acoustics designed for the musical accompanyment of pre-sound moving pictures, the theater was long the leading Upper West Side venue for R&B, Pop, jam bands and rock concerts.

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. Conan O'Brien taped his Late Night 10th anniversary special at the theater in 2003, and made a brief return to New York with a week's worth of shows for his current series, Conan, from October 31 to November 3, 2011. 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. Progressive metal band Dream Theater performed at the theatre in August 2009 on their Black Clouds & Silver Linings tour.

In November 2006, the theater commenced a 20-year lease by Cablevision, which also leases Radio City Music Hall and owns Madison Square Garden. The company announced a planned $10 million renovation of the theater. While one or two others survive as churches, the Beacon is the last of Manhattan's many lavish 1920s 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.

On November 10, 2010 it was announced that the Beacon Theatre would host the 65th Tony Awards, which took place on June 12, 2011.^[7] On July 25, 2011 it was then announced that the theatre will host the Tony Awards again in 2012.^[8]

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 elaborate gilded plaster moldings, polished hardwood, and brass staircase rails. Corridor murals depict atmospheric Eastern scenes of trading caravans complete with elephants, camels and other animals.^[5]

Location

The Beacon Theatre is located at 2124 Broadway in New York City. Traveling from Midtown Manhattan its closest subway station is 72nd Street (1 2 3 trains), two blocks from the theater.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Beacon Theatre (New York City)

• Official Beacon Theatre website
• Theatre.com listing for Beacon
• Cinema Treasures listing for the Beacon
• Vintage photos of the theatre Theatre Historical Society of America, Joe Coco Collection
• Beacon Theatre 2009 Restoration Photos

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