The Diamond Horseshoe Century Theatre Mayfair Theatre Stairway Theatre Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe | |
.jpg) The exterior of theParamount Hotel. Sony Hall is located in the basement of this building. | |
 Interactive map of Sony Hall | |
| Address | 235 W. 46th St. New York City United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°45′34″N73°59′13″W / 40.75944°N 73.98694°W /40.75944; -73.98694 |
| Operator | Blue Note Entertainment Group |
| Type | FormerBroadway house |
| Capacity | 1,000 standing, 500 seated |
| Current use | Concert venue |
| Opened | December 24, 1938 (1938-12-24) |
| Website | |
| www | |
Sony Hall is aconcert venue operated byBlue Note Entertainment Group located on West 46th Street in theTheater District, Manhattan, New York City. Like many theaters in NYC, it has served many functions since its opening in 1938. Located in the basement of theParamount Hotel, it began asBilly Rose's Diamond Horseshoenightclub where the 1945 filmDiamond Horseshoe was filmed, and later spent time as aburlesque theater before becoming a legitimateBroadway theater under the namesCentury Theatre,Mayfair Theatre, andStairway Theatre. As a Broadway theater, it is best known for the transfer of theTony Award-winning original Broadway production ofOn Golden Pond in 1979. After becoming a private venue through the 1980s and remaining mostly closed through the 1990s and 2000s, it reemerged in 2013 after a 20-million-dollar renovation as a theater hosting theimmersive productionQueen of the Night. It is currently run as a live music performance venue showcasing audio and visual technology bySony.
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TheParamount Hotel was constructed in 1927 nearTimes Square. TheFrench Renaissance-inspired building was the only hotel designed byThomas W. Lamb who is mostly known for his theaters and cinemas.[1] The hotel opened in 1928, and ten years later, onChristmas of 1938,Billy Rose opened a nightclub in the basement of the building, namedBilly Rose's Diamond Horseshoe.[1][2] Rose, a theatrical producer, was already well known for his work withthe Ziegfeld Follies and withOscar Hammerstein II on the large-scale production ofJumbo, but he also was the creating force behind themed nostalgic nightclubs in New York such as theBilly Rose Music Hall.[2][3] The Diamond Horseshoe was one of these themed clubs with Rose designing it as aGay Ninetiessaloon.[2] The first show in the venue wasThe Turn of the Century, a romantic retelling ofDiamond Jim Brady andLillian Russell's relationship interspersed withburlesque acts. The club became well known for the "Long-Stemmed Roses", the scantily clad house chorus girls who were all over 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) tall,[1][2][3] and was called by a critic at theNew York Times, “the most zestful, gorgeous and lovable pleasure palace in town.”[4]Gene Kelly is known to have choreographed one performance of the Long-Stemmed Roses,W.C. Handy was a regular entertainer, and the club attracted the likes ofOrson Welles andSugar Ray Robinson.[3]
1945 saw the premiere ofDiamond Horseshoe, a film byGeorge Seaton starringBetty Grable, set and filmed in the Diamond Horseshoe.[2][5][6] The influence of this film could not keep the club afloat and it closed in 1951 due to shifts in taste in entertainment away from lavish revues and towards more intimate fare.[2] For some time afterward, the basement operated as theSonja Henie Ice Palace, with a skating rink.[7]
The hotel's operators leased the Paramount's basement as a theater in December 1960.[8] The space was operated by the partnership ofIrving Maidman andNorman Twain.[9][10] Russell Patterson renovated the basement into the Mayfair Theatre, a 299-seatoff-Broadway venue.[7][11] A skating rink was removed from the space and a 56-foot-wide (17 m) stage was installed, an unusually wide stage for an off-Broadway venue; the stage's width could be reduced to 26 feet (7.9 m) for intimate productions.[7] The theater opened in March 1961 with the playRoots byArthur Wesker.[12][13] The Mayfair lasted two years before Maidman converted it to a cabaret. Maidman cited the large number of competing off-Broadway venues as a reason for the closure.[14]
By 1969 the theater was being used to showburlesque and a new agreement specified that beginning April 25, 1970, the space would no longer be rented as "a Burlesque Theatre or for the exhibition of 'adult' or 'sex exploitation' films".[8] Shortly after this agreement the space was renamed theStairway Theatre and hosted two short-lived Broadway productions,The Castro Complex andA Place Without Doors over three months.[15][5] These productions were not successful and in 1971 the theater returned to a burlesque house in violation of its lease.[8]
Two theatrical productions were hosted between 1974 and 1976 under the monikerMayfair Theatre,[15] but in 1978, the theater was once again renamed, this time to theCentury Theatre and began presenting Broadway caliber theater once more.[5] The most notable production of this time period was the transfer of the original Broadway production ofOn Golden Pond in 1979, which won aTony Award for Best Actress in a Play forFrances Sternhagen as well as theDrama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play.[5][15] The theater's run as a Broadway house ended in 1982 withWaltz of the Stork, amusical written and performed byMelvin Van Peebles.[5][15]
Throughout the 1980s the theater was used for a few notable special events including the memorial luncheon forAndy Warhol in 1987 and Vanity Fair's fifth-anniversary celebration in 1988.[2] Over the next few decades there were attempts to reimagine the space as concert halls,supper clubs, anddiscotechs but each attempt failed due to costs and other issues. Mostly the space sat empty and slowly decayed.[16]
In 2011 the developerAby Rosen purchased the Paramount Hotel and, after a 20-million-dollar renovation, the theater reopened in 2013 onNew Year's Eve as theDiamond Horseshoe.[2][4] The new incarnation of the space was specifically designed for the newimmersive theater pieceQueen of the Night, produced byRandy Weiner andSimon Hammerstein, the creators ofThe Box[2] and instruments in bringingSleep No More fromLondon to New York.[4]Giovanna Battaglia, the creative director ofQueen of the Night, called the redesign of the space, "a cross between a church, an opera house, and a bordello."[3] The renovations included "hammered-gold floors, greenvelvet stage curtains held back by four-foot-long hands, and a bejeweled ceiling inspired by Catholicmonstrances."[3] Most original elements in the room were not able to be preserved due to deterioration.[17] The lavish production, which was loosely based onMozart'sThe Magic Flute, was directed byscenic designerChristine Jones, and the title role was performed byMartha Graham Dance Company principal dancerKatherine Crockett.[4][2]
Queen of the Night ran for exactly two years, closing on December 31, 2015. For the next few years the theater existed as a private venue until reopening on March 27, 2018, as Sony Hall, aconcert venue.[18] This new space is run byBlue Note Entertainment Group, who also run New York'sHighline Ballroom, in partnership withSony.[19][18] Many of the design elements introduced forQueen of the Night were retained, only minor paint and upholstery details were changed as well as extending the stage slightly into the room.[18] The real changes came in the audio visual realm as Sony used the hall to showcase new sound, video, and listening technologies it developed, and introduced a new street levelcafe. The current 12,000 square foot (1,100 m2) venue includes a full-service restaurant and bar and can hold 1,000 people standing or 500 people seated.[19] The first concert in the renovated space was byMGMT, aSony Music-signed rock band.[18]
The original incarnation of the space was designed byThomas W. Lamb as anostalgic take on a saloon from the 1890s, including walls painted deep red and white, period-appropriate light fixtures, and posters ofvaudeville stars dotting the walls.[2][20] This interior crumbled due to years of neglect and most original elements in the theater were not able to be preserved due to deterioration.[17] Due to the state of the hall, it was gutted as part of its renovation for the 2013 production ofQueen of the Night.[21] This renovation and redesign was carried out by architectural firmStonehill & Taylor withMeg Sharpe designing the interiors, creative direction by Giovanna Battaglia, andDouglas Little designing the production's scenery.[17][22] Due to the nature of immersive theater, theQueen of the Night scenery was fully integrated into the architecture, but edited out during the minor 2018 Sony Hall renovations.[17][18] The overall design nods to the real history of the space while infusing an imagined history created for the production ofQueen of the Night.[21]
The exterior of the hall is marked by one of a pair of ornatemarquees that were installed as part of the 2013 renovation, with the other marking the entrance to the Paramount Hotel.[17] Once inside, the entrance to Sony Hall is down a grand marble staircase, restored in 2013, which has beendistressed withscenic painting techniques to appear more dilapidated than it truly is.[21][23] The base of the stairs features preserved bronze display cases,[17] and the entrance door has knobs in the shapes of hands with open palms.[23]
Once inside, the main room's interior, while largely new construction, takes design cues from Lamb's original intent. Thelunettes andfrieze recall the former design of the space, and the grand ceiling design draws precise inspiration from the original ceiling.[17] While the whole space is designed with curves to give a sense of motion, this is most noticeable in the highly ornamental ceiling.[23] This ceiling breaks classical architectural traditions and is designed with multiple domes and trim framing out a center ellipse containing afiber optic night sky that gives the illusion of volume.[17][23][20]
The walls are lined with antique faceted mirrors above curvingbanquette seating built in tiers with additional curving railings.[22][20][23] Additional raised seating pods dot the space and, according to an article onArchitizer, the bar is designed to resemble an, "intricate 19th century distillery with tubes and flasks traveling up the walls and along the ceiling.[23]
| Theater name | Production | opened | closed | ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Diamond Horseshoe Century Theatre | Queen of the Night | December 31, 2013 | December 31, 2015 | [2][18] |
| Century Theatre | Waltz of the Stork | January 5, 1982 | May 23, 1982 | [15] |
| A Taste of Honey | June 24, 1981 | November 8, 1981 | ||
| Heartland | February 23, 1981 | March 15, 1981 | ||
| Emlyn Williams asCharles Dickens | January 14, 1981 | February 1, 1981 | ||
| Banjo Dancing | October 21, 1980 | November 30, 1980 | ||
| Of the Fields, Lately | May 27, 1980 | June 1, 1980 | ||
| On Golden Pond | September 12, 1979 | April 20, 1980 | ||
| Lone Star & Pvt. Wars | June 7, 1979 | August 5, 1979 | ||
| Manny | April 18, 1979 | May 13, 1979 | ||
| Are You Now or Have You Ever Been | February 6, 1979 | March 4, 1979 | ||
| Taxi Tales | December 28, 1978 | December 31, 1978 | ||
| The American Dance Machine | June 14, 1978 | December 3, 1978 | ||
| Patio / Porch | April 13, 1978 | April 30, 1978 | ||
| Mayfair Theatre | Dance With Me | January 23, 1975 | January 4, 1976 | |
| Tubstrip | October 31, 1974 | November 17, 1974 | ||
| Stairway Theatre | A Place Without Doors | December 22, 1970 | January 16, 1971 | |
| The Castro Complex | November 18, 1970 | November 22, 1970 |