254 West 54th Street
New York, NY 10019
- A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical
Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart stars as jazz legend and American icon Louis Armstrong in this new musical.
Studio 54 originally opened as the Gallo Opera House in 1927 with a production of La Boheme. Impresario Fortune Gallo struggled financially with the opera and eventually began producing nonmusical productions such as Electra, starring Antoinette Perry. After constant failures, the venue was sold in foreclosure after the stock market crash in 1929. It changed names and management numerous times until 1943 when it finally began housing CBS radio and television broadcasts such as “The Johnny Carson Show” and “Captain Kangaroo.” It was then renamed Studio 52. The soap opera, Love of Life, was produced there until 1975. The space was sold to Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, who converted the venue into the famous nightclub Studio 54 in the late 1970s. In 1986, the club closed and was essentially neglected until the Roundabout discovered the venue in 1998. Their Tony award-winning production of Cabaret transferred to the venue after it ran for nine months at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. In 2003, the Roundabout purchased Studio 54. The first show under the Roundabout’s management was Stephen Sondheim’s Tony award-winning Assassins.