Apollo Theater
Encyclopedia : A : AP : APO : Apollo Theater
- This article is about the Harlem theatre. For the theatre in London, England, see Apollo Theatre. For the theatre in Chicago, see Apollo Theater Chicago.
Located at 253 W. 125th Street in Harlem, the best-known black neighborhood in New York City and probably the country, the Apollo grew to prominence during the Harlem Renaissance of the pre-World War II years. In 1934, it introduced its regular Amateur Night shows. Billing itself as a place "where stars are born and legends are made," the Apollo became famous for launching the careers of artists like Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, Gladys Knight, Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5, Lauryn Hill, and Sarah Vaughan. The Apollo also featured the performances old-time vaudeville favourites likes Tim Moore, Stepin Fetchit, Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham, Jackie "Moms" Mabley, Marshall "Garbage" Rogers, and Johnny Lee.
The club fell into decline in the 1960s and 1970s, but was revived in 1983, when it obtained federal, state and city landmark status. It fully reopened in 1985, and was bought by the State of New York in 1991. It is now run by a nonprofit organization, the Apollo Theater Foundation Inc., and draws an estimated 1.3 million visitors annually.
It is the home of Showtime at the Apollo, a nationally syndicated variety show consisting of new talent.
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.