Gotham’s Lincoln Center unveiled its newly refurbished Alice Tully Hall Thursday, ahead of inaugural performances that begin Sunday.
Reopened venue is the first to return to public use since the beginning of the multiyear renovation plan for the entire Lincoln Center campus. The hall has been shuttered for nearly two years during construction.
Designed by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Tully Hall looks out onto Broadway with a high glass wall instead of its former closed facade. The expanded lobby, including a restaurant that will be open all day, is visible from the street, as is a dance studio used by Juilliard students.
The interior of the auditorium itself, now called the Starr Theater, is largely sheathed in a wood skin, parts of which can be illuminated by LEDs underneath. Two automated stage extensions and a film screen are among the bells and whistles.
Redone facility also includes expanded dressing rooms, chorus rooms and a warm-up and rehearsal room as well as a larger freight elevator to accommodate more extensive physical productions.
Programming at the venue kicks off with a festival of performances, including a show by Stew and Heidi Rodewald, the duo behind Broadway tuner “Passing Strange.”
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