Studio 54
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Studio 54 was a legendary New York City disco located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan. It opened on April 26, 1977 and closed in March 1986. Studio 54 briefly reopened in 1994 after a multi million dollar renovation. A well known artist hand painted the ceilings[citation needed]. John Blair and Jason presented "Sundays at Studio 54," which catered to gay clientèle. It currently serves as a venue for the Roundabout Theatre Company, with a 900 seat theatre equipped with two full service bars. Studio 54 was operated by the flamboyant, publicly visible Steve Rubell and retiring silent partner Ian Schrager. Hedonistic Rubell was known for hand selecting guests from the always huge crowds outside, mixing beautiful "nobodies" with glamorous celebrities in the same venue.
A successor club, Studio 54, Las Vegas opened its doors in December 1997.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early years
The theatre originated as the Gallo Opera House in 1927, and over the course of the next decade changed its name several times. It became known as the New Yorker Theatre in 1930, the Casino de Paris in 1933, the Palladium Theatre in 1936 and the Federal Music Theatre in 1937. Later in 1937, the name was changed back to the New Yorker Theatre. This name would remain until CBS purchased the facility in the 1950s, renaming it Studio 52.
From the 1950s to the mid-1970s, CBS used the location as a radio and TV stage that housed such shows as What's My Line?, The $64,000 Question, Password, To Tell the Truth, Beat the Clock, The Jack Benny Show, I've Got a Secret, Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour, and Captain Kangaroo. The soap opera Love of Life was produced there until 1975.
In 1976, CBS concentrated most of its New York broadcast functions around the corner to its storied Ed Sullivan Theater (CBS-TV Studio 50) or west to the CBS Broadcast Center, and sold Studio 52. The Ed Sullivan Theater once had access to Studio 54 through an access door which was cinder-blocked during the Theater's Letterman Renovation [1]. The building was purchased and renamed for its street address, 254 West 54th Street, a location already noted for another tenant in the building, famed disco record label West End Records, as well as being the former home of Scepter Records.
[edit] Years of operation
Studio 54 was operated by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager. "Studio", as it came to be called, was notorious for the hedonism that went on within; the balconies were known for sexual encounters, and drug use was rampant. Its dance floor was decorated with a depiction of a Man in the Moon that included an animated cocaine spoon.
In 1979, Rubell and Schrager were arrested for skimming $2.5 million, and the club was closed with one final party called "The End of Modern-day Gomorrah," on February 4, 1980. New York lawyer Gary Naftalis successfully represented Schrager in the ensuing tax evasion prosecution. After the club's closing, cocaine and money were found in its walls.
The club reopened on September 12, 1981, when it was bought for $4.75 million by restaurant and nightclub owner Mark Fleischman. Celebrities continued to frequent the club, though the level of sensationalism was far toned down from its original levels. This second incarnation closed down in March, 1986, due to changing tastes.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the venue was known as The Ritz, and hosted rock concerts. In 1994, after becoming a strip club for a few years, the club finally reopened with much fanfare with a live concert by disco stars Gloria Gaynor, Vicki Sue Robinson, and Sister Sledge. The club again went into bankruptcy the following year until 1998, when it was acquired by the Roundabout Theater Company and renamed The Roundabout Theater at Studio 54.
[edit] Roundabout Theater at Studio 54
In 1998, Roundabout staged a revival of the Broadway musical Cabaret (musical), which played at the theater until 2004. Later, the theater hosted revivals of the Stephen Sondheim musicals Assassins and Pacific Overtures. In 2005, the Roundabout housed a revival of Tennessee Williams' immortal drama A Streetcar Named Desire starring John C. Reilly and Natasha Richardson. 2006 welcomed a revival of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera starring Alan Cumming and Cyndi Lauper. The Apple Tree, starring Kristin Chenoweth, and 110 in the Shade, starring Audra McDonald will be revived here in 2007.
The second floor of the theater is still used as a nightclub on weeks when plays are not being staged; when it does so it operates under the name Upstairs at Studio 54. In recent years, singers such as Gloria Estefan and Jody Watley have performed there as a tour stop. There have also been huge, and very popular, "disco parties" held there. The most notable of these well attended nights were held in 2004 and 2005.
[edit] Studio 54, Las Vegas
After the New York club closed down in 1995, Studio 54 moved to Las Vegas, located at the MGM Grand.
[edit] Studio 54, Berlin
In January 2005, MGM announced that they were scouting for the proper location in Berlin, Germany to open Studio 54 Berlin. The project is lead by Joseph Jackson, father of Michael and Janet.[2]
The plans for a second continuously-operating Studio 54 has caused fans of the original to charge that MGM is only interested in the commercialization and franchising of the Studio 54 name, and that these clubs will be nothing more than regular discotheques with the Studio 54 name.
[edit] Studio 54, Prague
Studio 54 is an afterhours club in Prague, Czech Republic. http://www.studio54.cz/ The name and the hedonism are all that are shared with the original studio. "Studio", as it is referred to in Prague as well, is where one would go when they haven't had enough dancing when most clubs are thinning out at 4am or so. The basement dancefloor is often packed at 7am, and the party can continue well into the next afternoon. Upstairs is a very plain restaurant.
[edit] Studio 54, Vienna
A disco using the Studio 54 name also exists in Vienna, Austria.[3] This locality, which has no connection to the Las Vegas establishment it shares its name and logo with, opened in December 2004.[4]
[edit] Cultural impact
During its heyday it played a formative role in the growth of disco music and nightclub culture in general.
The disco was depicted in the 1998 film 54 and was the model for the club featured in the movie, The Last Days of Disco. It was parodied in the 2002 movie Austin Powers in Goldmember as Studio 69.
[edit] Celebrity regulars
- Bianca Jagger
- Liza Minnelli
- Elizabeth Taylor
- Halston
- Andy Warhol
- Salvador Dalí
- Jan des Bouvrie
- Mick Jagger
- Jerry Hall
- Bob Fosse
- Stevie Nicks
- Debbie Harry
- Sela Ward
- Truman Capote
- Margaux Hemingway
- Elton John
- Janice Dickinson
- Diana Ross
- Sylvester Stallone
- Olivia Newton-John
- Valentino
- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
- Brooke Shields
- Grace Jones
- Sophia Loren
- Christopher Reeve
- Yul Brynner
- Betty Ford
- Dustin Hoffman
- John Belushi
- Bette Midler
- Gloria Vanderbilt
- Martha Graham
- Gia Carangi
- Rick James
- Neil Bogart
- Roy Cohn
- Robin Williams
- Dolly Parton
- Eartha Kitt
- Mikhail Baryshnikov
- Gilda Radner
- Cher
- Goldie Hawn
- Lauren Hutton
- Divine
- Michael Jackson
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Maria Shriver
- Diane von Fürstenberg
- Warren Beatty
- Gloria Swanson
- Tatum O'Neal
- Karl Lagerfeld
- Calvin Klein
- Rod Stewart
- Jack Nicholson
- John F. Kennedy, Jr.
- John Travolta
- Valerie Harper
- Diana Vreeland
- Donald and Ivana Trump
- Richard Gere
- Reggie Jackson
- Ann Miller
- Francesco Scavullo
- Jennifer Grey
- Lillian Carter
- Kate Harrington
- Bjorn Borg
- Frank Sinatra
- Geraldo Rivera
- Zsa Zsa Gabor
- Farrah Fawcett
- Al Pacino
- Cheryl Tiegs
- Shirley MacLaine
- Vitas Gerulaitis
- Bella Abzug
- Harvey Martin
- Pelé
- Cornelia Guest
- Christina Onassis
- Margaret Trudeau
- Mark Gastineau
- Rudolf Nureyev
- Frankie Valli
- William S. Burroughs
- Ron Wood
- Gina Lollobrigida
- Yves Saint-Laurent
- Vladimir Horowitz
- Jessica Lange
- Allan Carr
[edit] Performers
- Madonna (also a regular)
- Gloria Gaynor
- A Taste of Honey
- The Village People
- Chic
- Donna Summer (also a regular)
- Grace Jones (also a regular)
[edit] DJs
[edit] External links
- Broadway Theatre Guide with full show details for the Studio 54
- Official website for Roundabout Theater at Studio 54
- The complete Studio 54 website, Dutch
- Fansite of Studio 54
- Photo Gallery of the Opening of the German Studio 54 in Berlin
- Studio 54 Belgium (Antwerp)
- Studio 54 Vienna
- "Studio 54 Goes German", Deutsche Welle, January 24, 2005
- Studio 54 at the Internet Broadway Database
- Ian Schrager
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Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since March 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles lacking sources from October 2006 | All articles lacking sources | 1977 establishments | Broadway theatres | CBS television network | Disco | New York City cultural history | Nightclubs in New York City | LGBT nightclubs | New York City nightlife