What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play! Though The Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room isn't coming back, a new cabaret is coming to fill its void—and this one has a real pedigree. Come June, the 160-seat 54 Below will open its doors (you guessed it) just below the storied Studio 54 space in Midtown. And the newcomer isn't just about capitalizing on its upstairs neighbor's famous name, there is some serious talent involved in this one. Life is a cabaret, after all!
Seriously though, some Broadway bigs are already attached to sing there (things kick off with Patti LuPone and then already booked are—deep breath—Ben Vereen, Brian d'Arcy James, Megan Hilty, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Linda Lavin, Andrea Martin, Rebecca Luker, Julia Murney, Jackie Hoffman, Lea DeLaria, Eden Espinosa, Michael Arden, Tony DeSare, and Mx Justin Vivian Bond!) and, just as importantly, Danny "Shake Shack" Meyer's Union Square Hospitality group sibling Union Square Events is consulting on the menu. All of which leaves the decor—and yup, that's got some "names" attached too. According to the Times:
Several Tony Award-winning designers were enlisted to create what [producer and collaborator on the project Tom] Viertel called “an elegant take on a speakeasy.” Sketches of the room show dark wood paneling and plum-colored seating, with almost every chair within about 30 feet of the stage. The space was designed by the architect Richard H. Lewis along with the set designer John Lee Beatty and the lighting designer Ken Billington, both Tony Award winners.
The Roundabout Theater is not going to run the bar the way the Public runs Joe's Pub downtown—it is an entirely separate operation. Which is to say, 54 Below is not affiliated to Roundabout. It just happens to be run by a bunch of successful producers and theater folk. And we aren't complaining. The hope is to create a space that "will be more elegant than the average speakeasy." According to Viertel the team, "wanted something that was highly intimate but at the same time dramatic."
You can already buy tickets to performances there online at 54below.com. Prices range from $30—$70 a pop.
