Classic theater’s space-lift
‘New’ City Center
Last Updated: 8:20 AM, October 24, 2011
Posted: 3:02 AM, October 24, 2011
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For years, airlines have bragged about increased legroom -- and now City Center can, too.
The neo-Moorish auditorium on West 55th Street was built by the Shriners in 1923 and dedicated 20 years later, by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, as “the people’s theater” -- home to first-rate dance and theater, rotten sightlines and worse-than-economy-class seating.
But that was so $56.6 million ago.
Tomorrow night, Mayor Bloomberg will bring the baton down on the gala opening of a newly renovated jewel. Not only have the hall’s best features been restored and repainted, but even audience members in the balcony will finally be able to sit back and see the stage.
“One of the things we wanted to accomplish with this renovation was to create a physical space that’s on par with the level of artistry you see on our stage, and I believe we’ve succeeded in that,” said Arlene Shuler, City Center’s president and CEO.
“Now, not only can you see the best in dance and musical theater at City Center, but you can do so in comfort -- in a beautiful theater with 21st-century amenities.”
On West 55th Street, midway between Sixth and Seventh avenues, City Center wasn’t easy to find. It had no marquee, and, given the building’s landmark status, didn’t seem likely to get one. Finally, the firm renovating the building discovered a loophole: a tiny notation in the 1923 structure’s blueprint citing “anchors for a future marquise [sic].”
“We assumed they weren’t planning to hang French nobility,” quipped Duncan Hazard, a partner at Ennead Architects. The new marquee goes up today.
But the most dramatic improvement, as those who’ve suffered through the otherwise glorious “Encores!” series and “Fall for Dance Festival” will tell you, is the seats: There are now 500 fewer of them -- but the new ones are up to 5 inches wider than the ones they’ve replaced.
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