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The city’s most infamous former disco is about to get a fresh jolt for the first time in decades.
According to 6sqft, the City Planning Commission certified Roundabout Theatre Company’s application for a permit to generate bonus floor area for Studio 54 on June 1, moving along the long-gestating plan to renovate the current home of The Rocky Horror Show.
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The overhaul is expected to cost roughly $100 million and will be the first comprehensive renovation of the building in nearly a century, as it transformed from an opera house to a TV studio to a disco to a Broadway venue. That means some of its most persistent issues will finally be addressed, including wildly varying sightlines, a lack of dressing rooms and no orchestra pit.
The redesign, led by architects David Rockwell and Ennead, also aims to improve audience comfort and accessibility with upgraded seating and improved legroom. Capacity is expected to shift down to around 990 seats from just over 1,000.
Beyond the interior, the plan includes modernizing building systems and public areas, along with a new marquee.
Studio 54 is just one pillar of Roundabout's Next Stage Campaign. The campaign also encompasses replenishing Roundabout’s financial reserves and the expansion of its education and community programs, from artist residencies and community engagement partnerships to workforce development fellowships and education programs.
"Roundabout’s future will continue to be shaped by the artists who come here to ask bigger questions, take real swings, and respond to our changing world. But in order to make that happen, we need to be able to support our artists, and to make these spaces as inviting and as empowering to them as possible," Roundabout's incoming artistic director Christopher Ashley said in an official statement. "The Next Stage Campaign gives us the chance to carry that essential work forward with real ambition while creating the conditions for what comes next: classics seen with fresh eyes, new work with room to grow, musicals developed with care and courage, and a company ready to meet the next generation of artists and audiences.”
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