Inside the Belasco Theatre

[sundayclothes2]

Posted: 4/6/10 at 5:10pm

I happened to walk by the theatre while the doors were open. I took some photos - they came out a bit blurry. They are painting right now and it will be a salmon/orange color - very pleasant. They have restored the detail as well as all the lighting. It will be gorgeous when finished!

[sundayclothes2]

Posted: 4/6/10 at 5:10pm

Updated On: 4/6/10 at 05:10 PM

[sundayclothes2]

Posted: 4/6/10 at 5:10pm

[sit&dither]

Posted: 4/6/10 at 6:28pm

Thanks for the update and for sharing the shots! Where's smaxie with some more insight?

[Smaxie]

Posted: 4/6/10 at 6:48pm

Hiya! I know that they are recreating facsimiles of the Tiffany light fixtures under the overhangs. Also that they discovered a number of original murals that had been painted over and that they were able to send out for restoration. Also that you will now be able to access the balcony from the main entrance.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/6/10 at 6:52pm

That's actually really nice being able to get to the Balcony through the main entrance. I always felt like I was being sent down to steerage on the Titanic whenever I was sitting up there.

It sounds like they're trying to brighten up the theater which will be nice. I do wonder what the ghost thinks of it, though. Has anybody asked her?

[sit&dither]

Posted: 4/6/10 at 7:06pm

Smaxie, I knew it couldn't be long until you were here! Thanks for the info; I didn't know that there were plans to recreate the Tiffany fixtures.

Anybody know if the apartment is being renovated?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/6/10 at 7:10pm

Hopefully, the bathrooms will be renovated as well.

The Ghosts are still in hiding after Dracula.

[wickedfan11]

Posted: 4/6/10 at 7:27pm

I've never sat in the Belasco balcony. How did you have to get to it before the renovation?

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 4/6/10 at 7:30pm

Please say they will take away those dreadful curtains and expose those wonderful boxes at last.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/6/10 at 7:35pm

The bathrooms were renovated awhile back, and there's supposed to be two ghosts - the lady in blue (supposedly a chorus girl who died in an elevator fall - untrue) and Belasco himself.

I don't believe it's possible for the apartment to be renovated at this point. It has huge heating and air conditioning ducts all through it. Where would they put them?

So glad this little jewel of a theatre is finally getting a proper restoration. Are they also putting the small chrysanthemum chandeliers back in? The last time I was there, there were about six of them. There used to be dozens.

eta: unless the boxes were restored as well, those boxes aren't so wonderful. They were destroyed for Rocky Horror and never fixed. Both ugly and dangerous.
Updated On: 4/6/10 at 07:35 PM

[sundayclothes2]

Posted: 4/6/10 at 7:37pm

wickedfan11- From a separate entrance on the street, outside the theatre.

From what I saw it looks like the boxes will be exposed.

[lull89]

Posted: 4/6/10 at 7:39pm

Is it true that the separate entrance dates back to segregation days, and the balcony was only for black people, or is that just an unfounded myth I heard somewhere?

[wickedfan11]

Posted: 4/6/10 at 7:41pm

What did Rocky Horror due to the boxes?

[wonkit]

Posted: 4/6/10 at 7:48pm

I don't know the history of the separate entrance for the Belasco but many European opera houses had separate entrances for the balconies so that the rich people in the stalls did not have to hobnob with the peasants. Covent Garden sends you up a concrete interior staircase from Floral Street (unless the recent reno changed that, too).

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/6/10 at 7:54pm

Many, many theaters had the separate entrances back when, it's just that the Belasco never integrated (so to speak) their balcony. Truth is, though, I seem to recall reading that the separate entrances weren't due to black and white segregation, as the problem was bigger than that. African Americans had separate theaters.

I can't speak to the why of what Rocky Horror did, but the what was that they tore out the walls of the lower boxes. There was nothing at all behind those curtains. Also, over the years, various architectural details have been removed from them to facilitate lighting and sound equipment.

eta: or what wonkit said
Updated On: 4/6/10 at 07:54 PM

[WOSQ]

Posted: 4/7/10 at 10:07am

The Shubert had a separate balcony entrance until 1963 and the Lyceum has one, but they let people in through a pass door now on the way to the mezz. The separate entrances in NY separated the riff-raff, of whom I proudly include myself, in the "peanut gallery" from the tonier clients sitting on the first two levels. They were a class sifter.

Rocky Horror not only ripped out the lower boxes (don't remember exactly why), but took out the orchestra seats too and had tables on that level. Think of the stepped orchestra at Studio 54 for as close a comparison as I can think.

The brains-that-be thought that the Belasco would continue to be a cabaret-type house. (They also thought Rocky Horror would be a big hit like in London, but it closed in about a month.) It wasn't until the original American Buffalo had to move out of the Barrymore and needed a theatre fast that the orchestra seats were put back. This was about 1977.

There is a non-descript door to the right of the box office windows in the lobby. It is my understanding that the stairs behind this door lead up to Belasco's apartment.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/7/10 at 10:23am

"There is a non-descript door to the right of the box office windows in the lobby. It is my understanding that the stairs behind this door lead up to Belasco's apartment."

You are correct, WOSQ. It is one of three entrances to the apartment. The door you speak of leads to the box office, of course, and the house manager's office above that. If you continue upward beyond that, there's a series of long disused, small offices (casting agencies and the like), one stacked above the other. If you keep going, yes, you will eventually enter the apartment via Belasco's private office which still contains his old safes.