Liberty Theater On Broadway: The Experience

Location: New York, NY  

This new and unique attraction – to be known as On Broadway: The Experience – is the transformation of the old Liberty Theater hidden away on West 42nd Street. This theater was one of the six original historic theatres in the Times Square area. It was opened in 1904 and designed in the Beaux-Art style popular at the time and was used for live show entertainment. In the 1930’s the Liberty Theater was converted into a movie theater and remained so up until the 1990s. At that time the theater was modified losing exit ways, dressing rooms and other theater back-of-house amenities. With only the stage and audience chamber remaining the Liberty Theater could not be used as a theater. Due to the new superstructure enclosing it – for a hotel, stores, and restaurants – the theater space was rented out over the past thirty years, used as a night club and store.

This new renovation and restoration of the Liberty Theatre will revive the theater with state of the art technology and modern compliances for a unique experience in the Times Square area. This new attraction will highlight the American Musical Theatre in an immersive experience using special effects while watching a movie. Patrons will start at the West 41st Street stage door and will experience being on-stage and seeing “back-stage” preparations for a Broadway show. The updated stage will showcase the inner workings of theatrical rigging, catwalks and dressing rooms. The patron proceeds to the seating either on the orchestra level with 300+ seats and 250+ on the balcony. The theatre will be restored to its historic splendor, providing modern amenities and will be brought up to code compliance. The whole journey as a patron, including the movie experience, is conceived as a continuum of sensations and will not be a ‘static’ event. There will also be an orchestra pit, simulating a “live” orchestra. The orchestra lift will be brought up to stage-level and used for an occasional live event.

As one exits the theatre’s audience chamber the patrons enter a lobby space with concessions, rest rooms and a gift shop and eventually leads out to the hustle and bustle of West 42nd Street rounding out the immersive experience of being On Broadway.