Here Lies The Club- Page 2

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 9/13/23 at 7:25pm

You may want to research how permits and zoning works but something tells me you won’t and will Probably just respond in all caps. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/13/23 at 8:50pm

The theatre is on a certain permit to house a Broadway show. In order to keep running the venue as a dance club after a performances requires a separate cabaret permit and zoning. You can’t just keep the doors open after a performance and just switch over to dance club mode. Employees and management are then working under the cabaret zoning permit. Even the alcohol zoning permit is different for a Broadway show and dance club. It’s much more complex than the way you think you rationalized it. 

Updated On: 9/13/23 at 08:50 PM

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 9/13/23 at 8:52pm

Not getting involved in this stupid argument except to remind you people that Fatboy Slim has already held an after-party of sorts there one time so far, with him as DJ.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/13/23 at 9:08pm

Matt Rogers said: "Not getting involved in this stupid argument except to remind you people that Fatboy Slim has already held an after-party of sorts there one time so far, with him as DJ."

It was done before the 11pm cut-off and during the Broadway house permit window. His set was over by 11pm - it did not go on past midnight, etc. 

[Kad]

Posted: 9/13/23 at 9:31pm

There have been attempts at theater-night life fusions before. Queen of the Night at what is now the Sony Hall comes to mind. Sleep No More continues to operate its show alongside its bar and cabaret spaces. Countless shows performed at venues like 3 Dollar Bill in Brooklyn, the space on 42nd that was most recently the Playboy Club (not sure what it is now), and others. None, save Sleep No More, have been particularly successful. 

And none of those were a traditional theater. They were either custom built venues or existing nightlife venues that had other programming. A large theater space, as others have explained, is constrained by zoning and permitting laws. There are also considerable technical and logistical demands here.  Here Lies Love is a set in a theatre, it’s not a truly functional night club. It’s intended for a few hundred people to stand sort of dance in for two hours and have an extremely controlled experience.

Moreover, a nightclub wouldn’t support the production financially. The income would go back into the expenses of the nightclub- it would need its own staff, its own technicians, its own technical demands, its own entertainers, and it would all have to be legally distinct from HLL.  And the cost of all of this would be enormous. 
 

It’s a patently unworkable and not feasible idea, full stop. 

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 9/13/23 at 9:42pm

BrodyFosse123 said: "Matt Rogers said: "Not getting involved in this stupid argument except to remind you people that Fatboy Slim has already held an after-party of sorts there one time so far, with him as DJ."

It was done before the 11pm cut-off and during the Broadway house permit window. His set was over by 11pm - it did not go on past midnight, etc."

So what! The show is 90 insufferable minutes. A dance party until 11PM would be a fantastic way for people to get the crappy show out of their minds. Unfortunately I did not have that option when I saw that thing. 

[BroadwaysBroad]

Posted: 9/13/23 at 9:57pm

Mayor adams calls himself the nightlife mayor - could he override the zoning rules and allow this

if he has the authority, seems possible so he’s so pro nightlife 

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/13/23 at 10:08pm

Here Lies Love becoming a real nightclub after the show is exactly as likely as Moulin Rouge becoming a real brothel after hours.

[Kad]

Posted: 9/13/23 at 10:14pm

BroadwaysBroad said: "Mayor adams calls himself the nightlife mayor - could he override the zoning rules and allow this

if he has the authority, seems possible so he’s so pro nightlife"

A mayor cannot unilaterally change or override zoning rules. A mayor is not a dictator. And zoning is merely one reason why this is not a workable idea.

You may as well be proposing that The Lion King becomes a zoo on its off days.

Updated On: 9/13/23 at 10:14 PM

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 9/13/23 at 11:06pm

Honey, liking vodka sodas and being a Broadway fan ain’t a qualification. 

[BroadwayPatriot]

Posted: 9/14/23 at 11:04am

It’s not really transformed into a club - it’s an elaborate set designed for a show - I can see keeping the set and maybe doing a disco review kind of Broadway show instead of here lies love - probably would make more $$$ but turning the Broadway theater into a permanent club would mean Shubert probably selling it and the new owners getting a different permit from city - NYC is micro managed socialism - it would take like a few years to get the “ permission” from the city etc. nobody is doing this - Shubert has no reason- there is no “ club” scene in Times Square any longer - I can see a new show using the same set lol 

[Kad]

Posted: 9/14/23 at 11:49am

BroadwayPatriot said: "NYC is micro managed socialism"

No, it's not.

 

[MayAudraBlessYou2]

Posted: 9/14/23 at 11:56am

I understand what OP is trying to say, but as others have pointed out and I wont belabor, it will not work. (Also, your reference point of Sapphire across the street is...lol. That is a "gentlemen's club" aka strip joint, and about as far away from the likes of House of Yes as one can get). 

This discussion brings up some initial disappointment for me though: as much as I adore this show, it absolutely should have stayed an Off-Broadway event. Imagine if Here Lies Love had developed its own custom venue like Sleep no More did with the McKittrick or Great Comet did with Kazino? It could have run on its own unique schedule, created a space that truly functioned as a night club, and even built a separate entity bar/restaurant. Perhaps it would have been one of the very few shows to crack the "theater-as-nightlife" code. (The Donkey Show ran successfully like this for a decade in Boston, many in NYC have tried but ultimately closed up shop like Queen of the Night). Alas, it was not meant to be. They waited far too long to make the journey to Broadway and I fear that the landscape has pivoted too much for this to truly turn into a success (combined with opening far away from any potential awards season bump, and the self-inflicted controversy with the musicians union before they even started, it's a major uphill climb). The Broadway Theater is not turning into a nightclub any time soon, and unless they have a constant stream of guest DJ nights for small sets that are done before overtime kicks in, it seems like the audience has hit its levelling out point. Unfortunately, the weekly operating costs are higher than that point.

[DrMonicaDeMoneco]

Posted: 9/14/23 at 1:20pm

Are we seriously still entertaining this topic!?

enough! 

[Robbie2]

Posted: 9/14/23 at 1:22pm

DrMonicaDeMoneco said: "Are we seriously still entertaining this topic!?

enough!"

Thank you Doc

[JBradshaw]

Posted: 9/14/23 at 7:00pm

Didn’t “cabaret”, before studio 54, at the Henry millers turn into a club after performances? 
I remember lines waiting to go in when leaving 8pm Saturday night shows. 
The movie “center stage” when they went out dancing was filmed there. 

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/14/23 at 7:33pm

One other thing: you’re floating the ideas of cheaply hiring strippers and go-go dancers for the club. But those two groups are very close to going Equity, so it’s not gonna happen as a “cheap cash grab.”