Rosenthal recounts Studio 54's history and Roundabout ownership
Rosenthal traces the building's history from the 1927 Gallo Opera House through CBS studios and Studio 54, then explains Roundabout moved there in 1998 and purchased it in 2003 with city help, operating it as a not-for-profit theater since.
Chris mentioned that the theater has a 100-year-old history.
It started in 1927 as the Gallo Opera House.
It was to compete with the Metropolitan Opera House, and we know what happened in that competition.
So later it was purchased by CBS for its radio and television shows, studios.
And then after that, it went through kind of a fallow time until 1977, where it became the famous or something infamous Studio 54.
And between 43 and 77, for the use for television studio, the floor was straightened so that the seats came down and the orchestra pit was filled.
After Studio 54, which to my surprise only lasted two years, in our minds it looms much larger, the building went through a period of
difficulty and eventually went into a foreclosure and was purchased by the Allied partners.
Finally, in 1998, Roundabout, whose cabaret show was having
the results of an emergency, had to move to another theater quickly, and it moved to this theater because it suited cabaret with its flat floor.
In 2003, Roundabout purchased Studio 54 with the help of the
of the city and has run it, operated it since 2003 as a not-for-profit theater.