Apollo Theater

Overview

The Apollo Theater on West 125th Street opened as a Black performance stage on January 26, 1934. Ella Fitzgerald won its Amateur Night that November; James Brown recorded Live at the Apollo there in 1962. It has remained a central stage for Black popular music ever since.

The building at 253 West 125th Street was constructed in 1913–14 as Hurtig & Seamon's New Burlesque Theater, designed by architect George Keister in a neoclassical style for white audiences only, the same segregation that governed nearly every Harlem venue of the era. Sidney Cohen acquired the property in 1933, installed Morris Sussman as manager, and struck the all-white admission rule. On January 26, 1934, they reopened it as the Apollo Theater with an 'all-colored review' called Jazz a la Carte headlined by Benny Carter's orchestra, Ralph Cooper, and Aida Ward; proceeds from opening night went to the Harlem Children's Fresh Air Fund. Frank Schiffman (already operating other Harlem theaters) became co-manager and soon co-owner with Leo Brecher from 1935, and the Schiffman-Brecher families would run the Apollo until the late 1970s. By 1937, according to Schiffman's own records, the Apollo was the largest employer of Black theatrical workers in the United States and the only New York theater hiring Black people in backstage positions. Amateur Night (whose roots trace to Ralph Cooper's earlier 'Harlem Amateur Hour' at the Lafayette Theater) launched at the Apollo in 1934, with Cooper presiding as MC. Its Tree of Hope, a shellacked elm stump salvaged when New York widened Seventh Avenue and cut down the original tree that Harlem performers had rubbed for luck since the 1920s, became the stage-right talisman that every act touches before stepping to the mic. Ella Fitzgerald touched it before her winning set on November 21, 1934 (she came onstage intending to dance, pivoted to singing, and walked out with the $25 prize). Billie Holiday debuted in 1937 and Sarah Vaughan won in 1943; performers have kept up the practice since. James Brown rented the theater at his own expense on October 24, 1962, and recorded Live at the Apollo, released in 1963 on King Records. It spent 66 weeks on the Billboard pop chart, peaked at #2, and was later named the greatest live album of all time by Rolling Stone. Bobby Schiffman took over day-to-day management from his father Frank in 1961 and ran the theater through its soul and early funk era, booking Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, and, repeatedly, James Brown, until economic pressures and competition from large arenas forced a closure in January 1976. The theater briefly reopened in 1978 under new ownership (Bob Marley, Parliament-Funkadelic, and Sister Sledge performed that run), then closed again in November 1979. In late 1981 Percy Sutton's Inner City Broadcasting Corporation purchased the building for approximately $220,000–$225,000, with the understanding that renovation costs would dwarf the purchase price. City and state landmark designations followed in June 1983 (the facade and interior both protected); the National Register of Historic Places listing became official in 1984; and the theater reopened in 1985 after extensive renovations. The syndicated television series It's Showtime at the Apollo, created with Sutton's involvement and first broadcast September 12, 1987, carried Amateur Night into living rooms nationwide through 2008. The Apollo was incorporated as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) under the Apollo Theater Foundation on December 4, 1992. In February 2024 it opened the Apollo Stages at the revitalized Victoria Theater, two flexible studio spaces at 233 West 125th Street, one named for former president Jonelle Procope, and in August 2024 unveiled plans by Beyer Blinder Belle for the first full-scale restoration of the historic theater itself. The Historic Theater closed for the work on July 1, 2025, with programming continuing at the Apollo Stages at the Victoria; the restored marquee was relit on June 10, 2026, with a phased reopening expected from late 2026 and a full public opening in spring 2027. The renovation doubles the lobby, installs new seating, and restores original plasterwork. The Schiffman family papers from the Apollo's 1931–1985 run are held at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (NMAH.AC.0540), a primary archive for the theater's business and booking records.

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