Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater is a multi-use theater at 253 West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a popular venue for Black American performers and is the home of the TV show Showtime at the Apollo. The theater, which has approximately 1,500 seats across three levels, was designed by George Keister with elements of the neoclassical style. The facade and interior of the theater are New York City designated landmarks and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The nonprofit Apollo Theater Foundation operates the theater and a recording studio at the Apollo Theater, as well as two smaller auditoriums at the Victoria Theater.
The Apollo was developed by theatrical producers Jules Hurtig and Harry Seamon as a burlesque venue in 1913, and originally served only white patrons. In 1928, the Minsky brothers leased the theater for their own burlesque shows. Sydney Cohen acquired the theater in 1934, and it became a venue for black performers. Frank Schiffman and his family operated the theater from 1935 to 1976. A group of black businessmen briefly operated the theater from 1978 to 1979, and former Manhattan borough president Percy Sutton bought it at an auction in 1981. The Apollo reopened in 1985 following a major refurbishment that saw the construction of new recording studios. In September 1991, the New York State Urban Development Corporation bought the Apollo and assigned its operation to the ATF. Further renovations took place in the mid-2000s, and an expansion of the theater commenced in the 2020s.
Among the theater's longest-running events is Amateur Night at the Apollo, a weekly show where audiences judge the quality of novice performances. Many of the theater's most famous performers are inducted in the Apollo Legends Hall of Fame, and the theater has commissioned various works and hosted educational programs. Over the years, the theater has hosted many musical, dance, theatrical, and comedy acts, with several performers often featured on the same bill. In addition, the theater has hosted film screenings, recordings, and tapings, as well as non-performance events such as speeches, debates, and tributes. The Apollo has had a large impact on African-American culture and has been featured in multiple books and shows.
Site
The Apollo Theater is located at 253 West 125th Street, between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. The irregular land lot has frontage on both 125th Street to the south and 126th Street to the north. The site covers, with a frontage of on 125th Street and a depth of. The theater is adjacent to the Victoria Theater to the west. Several MTA Regional Bus Operations routes stop outside the theater, while the New York City Subway's 125th Street/St. Nicholas Avenue station, served by the, is located one block to the west.Design
The theater was designed by George Keister with elements of the neoclassical style. It was one of several theaters that Keister designed in that style, along with the Belasco Theatre, Bronx Opera House, Selwyn Theater, and Earl Carroll Theatre.Facade
The theater's main facade is on the south, toward 125th Street, and is three stories high. The ground floor has been renovated several times and consists of a ticket office to the west and a storefront to the east. The modern design of the ground floor dates to a renovation completed in 2005. The eastern side of the ground floor contains a glass-and-steel storefront, with monitors installed in place of the original display cases. The modern-day box office is a semicircular steel structure that protrudes outward.The second and third stories are made of white glazed terracotta, which dates from the theater's opening in 1914. A cornice with dentils runs horizontally across the facade just below the second floor. The second- and third-story windows are arranged vertically into four bays. The bays are separated by three fluted pilasters topped by capitals in the Ionic order, and there is a paneled pilaster with Tuscan capitals outside each of the outermost bays. The capitals of all five pilasters contain anthemia. Within each bay, the second and third floors each contain a square window and are separated by spandrel panels with shields and fluting. Above the third-story windows are spandrels with Greek fret designs, as well as a metal cornice with modillions.
A steel marquee was added above the ground floor in the 1940s; it stretched half the width of the facade and bore the name "Apollo" on its two side elevations. The marquee displayed letters with the name of the entertainer who were performing that night. Jack Schiffman, the son of former theater owner Frank Schiffman, recalled that the marquee also displayed various additional signs or movie posters. A vertical sign with the name "Apollo" was erected near the western end of the facade in the 1940s. A modern marquee with LEDs, resembling the original marquee, was installed in 2005. At the same time, the original vertical sign was replaced with the current yellow-and-red blade sign.
Interior
The theater has an L-shaped plan, with a narrow lobby leading to the main entrance on 125th Street, as well as the auditorium at the rear on 126th Street. Although the interior underwent several modifications in the mid-20th century, many of the 1910s-era decorations remained intact in 1983. The theater's original decorative features were preserved during the mid-1980s renovation.Lobby
The main lobby is a long and narrow space; some observers, including Jack Schiffman, have likened it to a bowling alley. The space was modified significantly in the 1930s and again in the 1960s, and the lobby was enlarged in the late 1970s. Following another renovation in 2006, the Tree of Hope, a stump that performers rubbed for good luck, was moved to the lobby.The lobby occupies the western half of the ground level frontage on 125th Street; the eastern half of the frontage houses a store. The original main lobby had a group of murals. By the early 1970s, the lobby had been redecorated with a montage of notable entertainers who appeared at the Apollo. There was also a ticket office and box office on one wall of the lobby. The modern-day lobby has two staircases, which lead to the first and second balconies of the auditorium. The space is illuminated by four grand chandeliers. There is a gift shop near the entrance., a cafe is planned to be built within the lobby; it is expected to open in 2025.
Auditorium
The auditorium is at the north end of the building and is rectangular in plan, with curved walls, a domed ceiling, and two balcony levels over the orchestra level. The Apollo Theater was cited as having 2,000 seats in the 1930s and 1,700 seats in the 1970s; it was described in 1985 as having 1,500 or 1,550 seats. By the early 2010s, the theater had 1,536 seats. The seats were refurbished in the 1980s and again in 2006, when wide cranberry-colored seats were installed. The bottom of each row of seats is illuminated by aisle lighting. In addition, there is a seating area for disabled patrons. On each level, the seats are divided by two central aisles. As part of a 2024 renovation, the Apollo Theater Foundation planned to add 29 seats on the orchestra level.The rear end of the orchestra contains a standing rail with scagliola. Scagliola decorations, composed of scrolls supporting a triangular pediment, are also placed around the doorways on the rear wall of the orchestra. Fluted columns on the orchestra level support the first balcony; the lower parts of the columns are devoid of ornamentation. The orchestra is raked, sloping down toward an orchestra pit in front of the stage. The front walls of the auditorium flank a flat proscenium opening in the center.
The balconies are also raked and contain similar scagliola decorations to the orchestra level. The balconies' fronts have brass handrails and are decorated with plasterwork motifs. At the first balcony are square columns supporting the second balcony. The second balcony was described by author James V. Hatch as "the bird's nest", since audiences in the second balcony could see the entire theater. On either side of the proscenium are two boxes each on the first and second balcony levels, which are accessed by their own staircases and are housed within round-arched openings. The spandrels above the arches contain classical motifs, and the boxes have varying amounts of decorations. The proscenium arch has a surround with colonnettes on either side of the arch and a molded band and entablature running atop it. The surround and entablature both contain decorative plaster motifs.
Above the boxes and the proscenium arch is a cornice with large dentils, as well as a plaster frieze decorated with foliate motifs. The ceiling is slightly coved at its edge. At the center of the ceiling is a semicircular dome with a medallion surrounded by a molding of cornucopia. The theater was mechanically advanced for its time, with a ventilation system to remove cigarette smoke, as well as electric lights. The ventilation system was rebuilt when the theater was renovated in the 1980s, and lighting trusses were added at that time.
Other spaces
In addition to the main auditorium, the ground floor had a store to the east of the lobby. There originally was a cafe and cabaret in the basement, which served as a rehearsal space and was converted into a staff recreation room in the 1940s. In addition, there were a ladies' parlor and men's smoking room, which were enlarged in the 1940s. The second story originally had a dining room, while the third story had meeting rooms and lofts. By the 1980s, the second and third floors were being used as storage space and offices, with small rooms on both stories. The third floor also has a sound stage; to accommodate this use, the windows on that story were covered up in 1985.When the Apollo Theater was developed, the dressing rooms were placed in a separate annex with showers and baths. The dressing rooms are simple in design. There is a wall of signatures in the dressing room. The Apollo's historian Billy Mitchell said in 2012, "Anyone who's been to or performed at the Apollo in the last 20 years has their name on the wall—from Pee-wee Herman to the president of the United States".
A production studio for TV broadcasts and video productions was constructed on top of an adjacent wing during the 1980s. The studio is variously cited as covering,, or. It could record 24 tracks at once and was equipped with 96 microphone lines connecting with the auditorium. The studio has been used by media companies such as advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi and Black Entertainment Television.