54 Below-A Chronicle of “Broadway’s Living Room” or The Care and Feeding of a Cabaret Club
Once upon a time, about fourteen years ago, Richard Frankel, Tom Viertel, Steve Baruch, and Marc Routh had a collective AHA! moment and decided what New York needed was a cabaret club, minus deficiencies they found in existing venues. With a lengthy, successful track record in theater, the men approached their vision with insight and diverse talent. That they were devotees and not just businessmen shows in the final creation.
Marc Routh, Founding Partner; Thomas Viertel, Chairman; Steven Baruch, President; Richard Frankel, Managing Director
“There were few clubs on the west side and none anywhere specializing in the music of Broadway,” said Richard Frankel, Managing Director, 54 Below. “Most were converted hotel ballrooms with poor sightlines. Sound systems were second rate. Food was frequently below par and overpriced. Hospitality ranged from awful to terrible.”
Like truffle hunters, the men went looking for prime location and came across 254 West 54th Street. The original plan was to rent a space on the second floor (54 Above?) When that fell through, Frankel and Co. were shown the cellar. Though it had been through several iterations since the infamous club’s demise, it was a wreck – “concrete floor with puddles and pipes everywhere.” Still…
Photo Courtesy of John Lee Beatty
A second look was taken with accomplished scenic designer John Lee Beatty. The partners described what they wanted: “An elegant, yet comfortable room that elevated the experience, evoking a speakeasy without resembling a theme restaurant.”
Beatty told them he was a set designer, not an interior decorator. “I design stories. Tell me a story,” he suggested. Tom Viertel, described by Frankel as “a businessman and creative person, but not a writer,” came up with the 1919 tale of Jake, who would steal cars for parts and store them in the basement. When Prohibition arrived, Jake started throwing parties with showgirls. The space became a speakeasy.
Photo Courtesy of John Lee Beatty
“John said, ‘I got it’ and gave us this– the great ones give you what you want, but beyond your ability to imagine it,” Frankel tells me. “The décor is so welcoming and evocative, everything else has to live up to it.” Multiple Tony Award winning lighting designer Ken Billington and sound designer Peter Hylenski were added to the mix.
When the club started streaming, it added lighting in order to follow people around the room. Performers can open from the bar area and/or wend their way through tables to the stage. During one of the Grand Hotel reunions, ballroom dancers snaked their way across the back of the club.
Marilyn Maye (Photo Credit: Maryann Lopinto)
As to sound, “We told Peter that nothing was more important, basically giving him carte blanche,” Frankel says. “The bill was for two or three hundred thousand dollars. Having experience with Broadway shows whose budgets were a million three to six, stupid me thought it was a bargain… We were used to pursuing excellence on Broadway. It turned out to be the most valuable stupid thing we ever did.”
Miraculously it took less than a year to open 54 Below in June 2012. The restaurant aimed for excellence from its start. Many clubs were nothing more than room service availing themselves of hotel facilities. This would be different. Danny Meyer’s Consulting firm set up the kitchen and trained personnel. Management likes to promote from within. Careers are made.
Liz Callaway, Ann Hampton Callaway (Photo Credit: Alix Cohen)
“As a commercial venture, a nightclub is a joke,” Frankel says. “We didn’t realize that and ran on fumes – and love for years. We wanted to book younger, less established performers, but the third chorus girl from the left who’s incredibly gifted can attract just so many friends.” Length of an artist’s booking ordinarily depends on how she/he fills the room.
54 Below has presented 250 new musicals in concert since it opened. A Strange Loop, Be More Chill,
and Dead Outlaw first performed on its stage. Joe Iconis, considered family, tries out everything. “His Christmas Extravaganza show show is huger and crazier than anything else seen here with over 50 cast members!” Jennifer Tepper, Creative and Programming Director enthuses. Unique evenings such as
Lee Roy Reams Uncensored! For Adults Only! from which other venues might’ve shied, sell out.
Clint Holmes (Photo Credit: Alix Cohen), Patti LuPone (Photo Credit: Michael Allan Galvez), Lee Roy Reams (Photo Credit: Alix Cohen)
Patti LuPone played a 7 p.m. show and Jeremy Jordan a 9:30 one night. They left each other notes in their respective dressing rooms. Fyvush Finkel, Stew and The Skivvies watched each other’s performance.
54 Below sees itself as both an incubator and chronicler of the history of Broadway in shows presented by Rob Schneider, Charles Kirsch and Scott Siegel, for example. Original cast reunions offer nostalgia and opportunity to see a musical missed the first time around. Tommy Tunes’s 85th Birthday was memorably celebrated at a Grand Hotel Reunion. Marilyn Maye’s are feted with cake for all.
Rob Schneider and Charles Kirsch (Photo Credit: Alix Cohen)
Eighteen months ago, 54 Below went Not for Profit in order to maintain its vision. This affected things in ways apparent and hidden. There was an assumption they’d siphon off food services much like museums. Management made an argument to the IRS that eating is part of a cabaret experience, so the entire operation is NFP, an anomaly. “We took it as an endorsement,” Frankel says.
“Penny Fuller, God love her, was coming up the stage stairs and started falling backward. As one, a table rose, caught and kind of flung her onto the stage as if choreographed. Penny, being a great dancer in her day, did it incredibly gracefully and the audience went berserk,” Frankel recalls.
Melissa Errico and Billy Stritch (Photo Credit: Stephen Sorokoff), Gavin Lee, Carole J. Bufford (Photo Credit: Alix Cohen)
Phil Geoffrey Bond acted as booking manager until Jennifer Tepper took over in 2013. Frankel notes that Tepper thrives on what he calls “a relentless 24 hour game of three-dimensional chess.” I ask her what’s changed since they went NFP. “Predominantly differences are in the initiatives we can now put forward,” she responds.
A new Under 35 Program aptly titled 35 Below, helps younger audience attend at lower cost. An accessible initiative makes ten $15 tickets available to most shows – first come, first serve. The Genesis Project selects five early stage performers. (Plan is to increase this to ten.) Each is offered a fully funded
show, a tape of his/her performance and master classes. The latter will be opened up to 35 Below members at a minor cost. Long term goal is to create a Master Class series that runs year round. Donors get ticket discounts, direct Concierge Line preference for reservations, and occasional opportunities to engage with artists. Not to mention the satisfaction of keeping the art alive.
Norm Lewis (Photo Credit: Alix Cohen), Lucy Arnaz (Photo Credit: Conor Weiss), Tony Danza (Photo Credit: Alix Cohen)
When Lin-Manuel Miranda was writing Hamilton, he came to an 11:30 Writer’s Block show and performed “My Shot.”
54 Below presents 700 plus shows a year with arguably more variety than any club that doesn’t just rent. (Staff member Sandra Bowers handles private events.) Tepper tells me the large majority of these are a collaboration between artists and a programming team. Some shows begin as pitches from 54 Below
to artists, others start vice versa. The club gets involved with content, budget, ticket price, marketing materials, and physical production details.
Sherie Rene Scott and Norbert Leo Butz
One evening Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie Rene Scott were performing when there was a blackout. The only lights illumination was flashlights, cell phones, and music stands. They sang for another half hour until it got too hot without air conditioning.
“Staff sees hundreds of performances a year in search of talent. We have ongoing conversations with agents, managers, and other professional folks. I’m constantly checking out artists at all career points who might be a good fit for 54 Below, whether to make a solo debut, do a headliner run, or be part of a group show,” Tepper explains.
Christine Andreas (Photo Credit: Maryann Lopinto), Tony Yazbeck (Photo Credit: Alix Cohen),
Jason Danieley and Marrin Mazzie (Photo Credit: Fred Cohen)
There are regulars who turn up several times a week or at every performance of an artist. Gail Gordon is an avid fan of Norm Lewis. He brought her onstage to play Peggy Sawyer to his Julian Marsh (from the musical 42nd Street.) She gamely sang.
The club can only now apply for grants as the IRS requires a report on activities and an audit. That took
1 ½ years. “I believe the IRS had been defunded by Mr. Trump at the time so they were short handed,” quips Frankel only half kidding. As it stands the venue must raise one and one half million dollars annually. “We’re hoping grants will cover some of the shortfall.”
54 Below (Photo Credit: Marc Bryan Brown)
“As Broadway’s Living Room, it’s really wonderful when people in the audience know one another and those onstage. That fans can experience this up close and personal is an added opportunity.”
Richard Frankel
Without minimizing the gargantuan effort it takes to run a major club, its committed principals seem to be having a grand time.
Opening Photo: Joseph Moran
