Harlem's Apollo Theater To Get Major Renovation

HARLEM, NY — For one of the first times in its hundred-year history, the Apollo Theater will undergo a major renovation, the famed Harlem venue said Tuesday — also announcing the departure of its longtime leader.

The 125th Street theater will get a "full-scale renovation and upgrade" starting around Spring 2024, updating its exterior while adding an expanded lobby, new bar and cafe, a restored orchestra pit, upgraded theater seating, new lighting and sound systems, an enhanced soundstage and improved restrooms, the Apollo says.

Work on the 108-year-old building is still subject to approval from the city's landmarks commission. Once approved, the Apollo will need to close for six months during construction, with the first performances in the renovated theater slated for Spring 2025.

But the Apollo won't be fully out of commission during that time: by Fall 2023, it aims to open two new theaters a few doors down within the new Victoria Theater Redevelopment project, which will host the Apollo's programming during the renovation.

The renovation was made possible through a $70 million capital campaign — of which $63 million has already been raised, thanks in part to a $10 million grant from the state government and other funding from the City Council and the city's Department of Cultural Affairs, the Apollo says.

Meanwhile, Jonelle Procope, who has served since 2003 as the Apollo's president and CEO, announced Tuesday that she would retire next June, having transformed the once-struggling theater into an "internationally recognized cultural institution."

"The Apollo is a powerful catalyst for progress and innovation, and as we near the completion of the capital campaign and begin restoration of the Historic Theater, it is the right time to welcome the next president who will lead the Apollo into the future," Procope said in a statement.

The separate Victoria Theater project will entail two new theaters controlled by the Apollo, seating 199 and 99 people each, on the third and fourth floors of the new 26-story tower rising at 233 West 125th St.

Once open next year, the 25,000-square-foot spaces will host year-round programming that celebrates Harlem's cultural heritage, and be rented out at reduced rates to local artists and Harlem-based arts groups, the Apollo says.

Though the upcoming project is billed by the Apollo as its first-ever "full-scale restoration," the theater has undergone upgrades before — former Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton and his family invested more than $20 million into renovating the theater starting in the 1970s.

That yearslong project added everything from chandeliers to an elevator to air conditioning to a recording studio, enabling the creation of the long-running TV show "It's Showtime at the Apollo."

Related coverage: Harlem's Apollo Theater To Open Historic Expansion Next Year