Apollo Theater
Landmark Harlem theatre on 125th Street, home of Amateur Night since 1934.
The building opened in 1914 as Hurtig and Seamon's New Burlesque Theater, a neo-Classical house designed by George Keister with a terracotta facade and about 1,500 seats. Black patrons were not admitted. After burlesque was suppressed in the early 1930s, Sidney Cohen and Morris Sussman reopened it in January 1934 as the 125th Street Apollo Theatre, aimed squarely at Harlem's Black audiences. Within a few years it had become the leading stage for African American performers in the United States.
Amateur Night, introduced in 1934, remains the theatre's signature event, complete with the tradition of the Executioner sweeping unsuccessful acts from the stage and a tree stump from the demolished Lafayette Theatre kept in the wings for luck. Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Gladys Knight, Jimi Hendrix, the Jackson 5 and Lauryn Hill all appeared early in their careers. The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1983 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Highlights
- Amateur Night, running in various forms since 1934
- Terracotta neo-Classical facade of 1914 by George Keister
- Tree of Hope stump kept backstage for performers to touch
- Apollo Stages at The Victoria, a second venue opened in 2024
