New York City Center
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New York City Center is a 2,750-seat performing arts venue located on West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It is one block south of Carnegie Hall. City Center is especially known as a performing home for several major dance companies as well as the Encores! series and most recently the Fall for Dance Festival.
Early history
Built in 1923, New York City Center was originally the Mecca Temple, a meeting hall for the Ancient Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, also known as Shriners. The Shriners had previously held their meetings at Carnegie Hall. According to Broadway lore, Carnegie Hall management was disturbed by the amount of cigar smoke generated during the Shriner's meetings and evicted them. The Shriners then decided to build their own meeting hall one block to the south. The building's design is Neo-Moorish and features elaborate interior tile work, murals, and a recently restored terra cotta tiled rooftop dome. The 102 foot wide, 54 foot tall dome is covered with more than 28,000 individual tiles. The building was designed by architects Harry P. Knowles (a Master Mason), and Clinton & Russell.
In the early 1940s, the building was slated for demolition when New York City Council President Newbold Morris and Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia decided to convert the building into a home for the performing arts. On December 11th, 1943, with publicist and future producer Jean Dalrymple in charge as the volunteer director of public relations, the "New York City Center of Music and Drama" opened its doors with a concert by the New York Philharmonic. The Star Spangled Banner was conducted that evening by none other than Mayor Laguardia.
Each season, from the 1940s through the 1960s, City Center presented numerous music and theatrical events with many renowned performers appearing there. Helen Hayes, Gwen Verdon, Charlton Heston, Celeste Holm, Marcel Marceau, Bob Fosse, Tallulah Bankhead, Vincent Price, Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn and Uta Hagen have all graced the City Center stage.
New York City Center was also the early home to the New York City Opera and the New York City Ballet. But in the 1970s, with the construction of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, City Center Theater lost those two major companies, and once again faced demolition. This time, with Howard M. Squadron at the helm, the theater was rededicated as "The City Center 55th Street Theater Foundation" and given landmark status.
In 1966, the Robert Joffrey Ballet, became a resident dance company, even changing its company name to "City Center Joffrey Ballet." The Joffrey remained at City Center until 1982.
In 1984, the Manhattan Theatre Club made New York City Center's lower level their home. The Manhattan Theater Club performance space is comprised of a 299-seat theater and a 150-seat theater.
The Present
In 1994, New York City Center launched its first "Encores! Great American Musicals In Concert" productions. The popular series, which continues to this day, spawned the Broadway revivals of Chicago and Wonderful Town.Today, New York City Center is the New York performance home to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre's fall season, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Eifman Ballet of Saint Petersburg, the Martha Graham Dance Company and The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players to name a few.
In 2000, the American Theatre Wing presented a "Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre" award to City Center for the Encores! series.
In 2004, New York City Center began the annual Fall for Dance Festival which featured 30 dance companies in six performances. In 2005, "Fall for Dance" again showcased 30 dance companies, five performing at each of the six nights of the festival.
External links
- [New York City Center Official Website]
- [Internet Broadway Database Listing]
- [Alliance for the Arts web listing]
References
- Botto, Louis. Playbill: At This Theatre (Applause Books, 2002) (ISBN 1557835667)
- Dalrymple, Jean. From the Last Row (James T. White & Company, 1975)
- Doeser, Linda. Ballet and Dance: The World's Major Companies (St. Martin's Press, 1977) (ISBN 031206599X)
- The New York Times, November 17, 1998.
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