NYTimes & Photos: Henry Miller's Theatre to Reopen on Broadway!- Page 2

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 5/3/09 at 10:49pm

CATS- You are only seeing one wing. In almost ALL proscenium theatres, one wing has very little space, because it is taken up by the fly gallery, comprised of at least three levels (stage level, or the deck, operating level, or the fly rail, and brick loading level, or the grid)

For all we know, they may have a full side stage on SR. (and for those of you who enjoy learning new things every day, a theatre that has a full side stage has equal amounts of room offstage as they do on the stage deck itself. Some big opera houses will actually have 4 full side stages. One SR, One SL, one US, and one under the deck itself.)

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 5/3/09 at 11:53pm

Yay for the large ladies loo!

I can't help but wish it still had leopard carpet.

[RyToast1]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 12:33am

I've been inside you guys. It's beautiful, classy and modern all at the same time. The wing space is huge, there is tons of space below the stage.

It's just stunning.

[Kad]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 12:44am

"Hopefully, this will replace that God-awful Studio 54, a real fire trap if there ever was one. Whatever quibbles are being raised about the new Henry Miller's, it sure beats the agony of going to Studio 54. "


...I rather like Studio 54. A lot. Do you hate EVERYTHING related to Roundabout, include their theatre spaces?


As for the Henry Miller, I like it. It's reflective of present architectural trends. It's about time we had a modern Broadway house.

Updated On: 5/4/09 at 12:44 AM

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 12:47am

Reminds me of the Vivian Beaumont.

[timote316]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 1:25am

In the image posted... is that a second balcony at the very top?

And I'm with TheActr97J on this, it just looks kind of boring now. It's still got time before opening, but as of right now, kind of drab.

And I also love Studio 54.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 7:40am

Just the one mezz.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 8:28am

With a modern theater, I expect every seat to have a good view. There's no sense that they shouldn't.

I would have thought the same thing about the newly refurbished Nederlander, but about a third of the Orchestra seats are partial view.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 9:06am

The Nederlander is nearly 90 years old. What did you expect from the reopening? -that they had knocked it down and built a new one!
Calling Studio 54 a firetrap is calling all other theatres firetraps too. All buildings in New York have to meet the same safety and fire regulations.

[mattrob]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 9:08am

I wouldn't say this is the first new theatre in over 20 years. I know its made up of pieces from the Apollo and the Lyric, but wouldn't the Ford Center/Hilton, completed just over 11 years ago, count as a new theatre as opposed to a renovation?

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 9:11am

MamasDoin'Fine, I would have expected that the new seats on the new floor would have been repositioned in a way so that they all gave a full view of the stage. It only makes sense. They did gut the whole Orchestra section and tear out all the seats.

[singtopher]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 9:17am

The proscenium looks rather wide. I assume most shows would use a fair amount of masking. And I'd say it reminds me more of the Marquis than the Beaumont.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 9:19am

The Biltmore (Friedman) is an example of a theatre that, when it was refurbished and reopened a few years ago, every seat was positioned so that they offered a full view of the stage.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 9:24am

It just looks cold and unatractive

[Jane2]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 9:53am

I love the way it looks.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 9:58am

It just looks cold and unatractive

That's what I heard about Corine nude.

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 9:58am

It definitely reminds me of the horrid Marquis.

Foster, does the large amount of partial view seats in the Nederlander have anything to do with the scenic design for Guys and Dolls, or is it strictly the positioning of the seats?

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 10:01am

It's really just the set, from what I've heard. And all they did was pretty up the Nederlaender, removing years and years of RENT wear and tear. I doubt they changed the seating plan.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 10:02am

Well, the back wall is a TV screen. I sat in D-7 and missed about a third of it. I also missed a chunk of upstage right.

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 10:13am

It sounds like sh*tty planning on the part of the designer.

[masb19872]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 11:55am

"Foster, does the large amount of partial view seats in the Nederlander have anything to do with the scenic design for Guys and Dolls, or is it strictly the positioning of the seats? "
It's the set. I sat in a seat for Guys and Dolls that I'd sat in for Rent. For Rent, it was pretty much a full view seat. For Guys and Dolls, we pretty much had no chance of seeing more than half the stage. We wound up moving six rows back after the first songs. And that theatre was definitely a firetrap prior to the renovations.

I like the new Henry Miller theatre, from what I've seen. Theatres are often reflections of the times they were built/refurbished in, like any other building. Updated On: 5/4/09 at 11:55 AM

[caitlinette]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 12:02pm

In slide 3 from the Times slideshow it almost looks as though there is a second balcony because in the upper righthand corner of the picture there seems to be an exit sign.

[Justin D]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 2:28pm

there's only one balcony, you can see it in the diagram that was out for a while now.

I loke the modern touch, and atleast this one has an interesting looking roof (based again on the drawing that was out before) unlike something like the Minskoff or the Gershwin.

I guess like all things, It is much more expensive these days to build anything opulant than just functional. To build a theatre like the New Amsterdam these days would cost about double.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 3:38pm

105 more seats than the old Miller.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 5:01pm

Yeah the Nederlander sucks as far as a view goes. I would rather sit up in the Mezz. They should have just deleted a few seats. I see no reason why any seat should be partial view. It just seems rude, especially when you could just sell them as full view and make more money - if they were full view.