New York’s Palace Theater Gets an $80 Million Refresh (and 30 Feet Higher) (2024)

The Palace Theater, among the oldest and largest of Broadway’s houses, is a lavishly baroque jewel, built in 1913 for vaudeville but later transformed into a movie house and, since 1966, a presenter of plays and musicals. Seen on its stage over the years: Sarah Bernhardt and Judy Garland, “La Cage aux Folles” and “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

For six years, the theater has been closed for an unusual reason: A developer hoisted the 14-million-pound structure 30 feet, making room for retail below and replacing the hotel above. The developer also paid for an $80 million renovation of the theater, and now the Palace is reopening.

The Palace already has its initial bookings. In October, performances will begin for “Tammy Faye,” a musical about the televangelist, with songs by Elton John and Jake Shears.

But first, on May 28, Ben Platt kicks off an 18-performance concert residency to promote his new album.

“People are going to be coming in wanting to take in the theater, and we want to give them space and a moment to take in where they are,” Platt said. “You can feel the positive ghostliness of everything that’s come before.”

The theater interior in 1913.

via Harry Ransom Center

How important is the Palace?

Here’s what the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission said in 1987: “If one theater in New York’s Broadway theater district were to be named the most famous, the privilege would fall virtually uncontested to the Palace.”

The Palace has always been part of something bigger. It opened in 1913 as part of an 11-story office tower. By the early 1990s, a 43-story hotel had replaced the office tower. And now, for $2.5 billion, that tower has been replaced with TSX Broadway, a 46-story mixed-use development.

Because the theater interior is landmarked, preserving it was a top priority. The project was painstaking — it took nearly four months to lift the theater 30 feet, with careful vibration monitoring.

The Palace was designed by the architectural firm Kirchhoff & Rose of Milwaukee. In 1913, The New York Times reported that “the theatre embraces all the most modern ideas in stage construction,” that smoking was restricted to the balcony, and that “there is also an animal room, in which anything from a trained monkey to an acting lion can be accommodated.”

Architects used historical images to recreate lost elements. Missing plaster faces were replaced using molds of those that survived. “The goal was to make it seem as if the building hadn’t been touched,” said Lesa Rozmarek, a project architect, “so you’re stepping back in time.”

By the 1930s, the Palace had to supplement vaudeville with film screenings. One side effect: a projection booth was constructed at the rear of the balcony. Later, that was expanded for theatrical lighting.

The project architects, PBDW Architects, found a way to remove the booth, restoring the visual integrity of the balcony, by relocating spotlights into an unused attic space behind decorative grilles. They even installed an elevator and a bathroom for the follow-spot operators.

The list of performers who have played the Palace is quite long — Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Josephine Baker and Diana Ross. But no artist is more closely associated with the theater than Garland, who had extended runs there in 1951, 1956 and 1967.

The upper lobby now features a display of Garland memorabilia as well as other historic Palace artifacts.

Platt said he expects to pay homage to Garland and to her daughter Liza Minnelli (who also played the Palace) during his concerts.

The challenge is this: Hundreds of people seek relief during a brief intermission. And it’s been hard to address because many of the theaters are landmarked and boxed in by other buildings.

The Palace was able to double its restroom capacity by using non-landmarked areas to add 29 stalls, 21 sinks and 2 urinals.

When the Palace originally opened, The New York Times described a brightly decorated dome with “a chandelier of old ivory bronze fourteen feet across.”

Sometime over the last 111 years, that chandelier disappeared.

In fashioning a central lighting fixture for the building’s new life, the architects combined the shape of the original with the Art Moderne and Art Deco styles favored in subsequent renovations. They also made sure the new chandelier was contoured so as not to obstruct the relocated spotlights.

The Palace Theater, circa 1920, is on the right, facing what is now Father Duffy Square.

Alpha Stock/Alamy

The Palace, owned by James L. Nederlander and Stewart F. Lane, sits at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 47th Street — a prime location in Times Square but also a congested one. Entering had become an obstacle course. So the theater’s owners ceded their Broadway-facing entryway as part of the development deal.

“The Palace actually, for as stunning as it is, never had the entranceway it deserved — it was basically just a hallway to the street,” said Nick Scandalios, chief operating officer at the Nederlander Organization. He said the move has resulted in “a grander and more gracious entrance.”

The Palace now has 1,648 seats, down from 1,740 in 2018 and 1,800 in 1913. The seats are wider, and there is more legroom. The Palace is also more accessible, with additional wheelchair locations, and an elevator to all floors.

The theater added 10,000 square feet to its front-of-house and backstage areas; improvements include new rigging for lighting and lifts for the orchestra and set pieces.

“Walking in there, I have the same feeling I had when I was 7 and 8 years old,” Nederlander said. “No pun intended, but it’s like I just walked into a palace, and it goes all the way back to vaudeville.”