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219 West 42nd Street |
 
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Balcony: 1
Seats: 1,156
Grid Height: 61'
Proscenium Width: 41'
Proscenium Height: 25'
Width/Right Wing: 14'
Width/Left Wing: 10'
Stage Depth: 31'
Rigging: Counterweight
Orchestra Pit: Covered
Dressing Rooms: 14
Approximate Area Measurements:
Total Area: 25,900 s.f.
Area of Footprint: 11,300 s.f.
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THE APOLLO THEATER was built in 1920 by the Selwyn brothers and was to be the block's last addition after the Times Square theater, with which it shared a facade. Designed in the Adamesque style by architects de Rosa and Pereira, the interior was painted tan, rose and blue. The Apollo's auditorium lay on 43rd Street with a long, narrow hallway leading to a 42nd Street entrance.
The theater opened on November 11, 1920 with Jimme, and was followed by Macbeth starring Lionel Barrymore. The first real successes came to the Apollo in 1923 in the form of W.C. Fields starring in Poppy, and then in 1924 with a Gershwin version of George White's Scandals. Five more editions of Scandals played at the Apollo, with stars including Ethel Merman, Jimmy Durante, Ray Bolger and Rudy Vallee. In 1927, Ed Wynn starred in Manhattan Mary, and Bert Lahr and Kate Smith starred in Flying High in 1930. Ethel Merman returned in 1933 to star in Take a Chance.
From 1934 to 1938 the theater ran burlesque before turning to foreign films. In 1978, the theater was renovated and reopened with its entrance on 43rd Street. One year later, the opening of On Golden Pond heralded the return of legitimate theater to the stage of the Apollo, which went on to present The Fifth of July in 1978, Bent in 1979, and The Guys in the Truck in 1983. For the next few years, the theater once again showed movies, until 1987 when it was renamed the Academy and used for jazz concerts, as a cabaret and as a venue for popular music concerts.
The New 42nd Street signed a 99-year master lease, during May 1992, with the City and State of New York for six theaters known as the Apollo, Liberty, Lyric, Selwyn, Times Square and Victory. (The Empire theater came under The New 42nd Street's master lease once it was fully restored in April 2000.) In July 1995, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed for the Apollo and the Lyric Theaters between The New 42nd Street and Livent, a Toronto based theater owner, operator and producer, and a lease was signed in August 1996. Construction on the project to join the two theaters to form an 1,850-seat Broadway musical theater began in August 1996, and on December 26, 1997, Livent opened The Ford Center for the Performing Arts with the New York premiere of Ragtime. In August 1999, SFX Entertainment Inc. purchased Livent, and became the operator of the Ford Center for the Performing Arts. Subsequently, Clear Channel Entertainment purchased SFX and assumed operation of the theater.
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