The Metropolitan Room, the Manhattan jazz cabaret that has hosted many Broadway stars in its 11 years of existence, has signed a lease for a new home on the ground floor of 130 West 29th Street, just blocks from its longtime 34 West 22nd Street location where it rings down the final curtain September 30.
Management says the new location, which is closer to the heavily trafficked Penn Station/Madison Square Garden neighborhood, will have more than double the seating capacity in two showrooms (which can be combined for bigger headliners), plus a restaurant and a piano bar.
The final performances at its 110-seat 22nd Street home will be on September 30 with a full day of performances beginning at 1 PM with Debra Cook, and continuing with the Andrew McGovern Trio at 4, Aziza Miller at 7, Lee Squared: An Evening With Liberace and Miss Peggy Lee at 9:30, and a final closing ceremony at 11 PM. Click here for details.
The club will then move its producing operations to temporary digs at the Triad on West 72nd Street. The new club is expected to open at a date TBA in early spring 2018, according to spokesperson Beck Lee. The current cabaret opened in 2006 on the site of the former Gotham Comedy Club.
Lee said the two main reasons for the move were to increase seating capacity and to relocate to a neighborhood with greater walk-up traffic.
“We're designing our future Metropolitan Room in midtown to be a bigger, better and more flexible venue,” said managing partner Bernie Furshpan, “but the extensive renovations will take several months to complete. Happily, when we bid farewell to our current home on September 30, the Metropolitan Room will partner with The Triad on West 72nd Street, sharing its venue until our new spot is ready to open. This will allow us to present most of our scheduled shows and continue to serve our longtime performers.”
The club said farewell with a bang September 24–25, when it staged a 24-hour performance marathon featuring scores of its longtime headliners.
Known as a launchpad for emerging talents in jazz and cabaret, as well as a showplace for established artists in the theatre, film, and television, The Metropolitan Room has recently hosted appearances by Ed Asner, Liz Callaway, Vivian Reed, Linda Lavin, Baby Jane Dexter, and Euan Morton. Sheryl Lee Ralph concluded a sold-out run at the room July 30. Nightclub legend Marilyn Maye chose The Metropolitan Room as the venue to relaunch her singing career after a 15-year hiatus.
Callaway has been a special guest performer on three of Playbill’s Broadway on the High Seas cruises. Cabins are available forBroadway on the Danube River with Michael Feinstein for November 3-13, 2017, also featuring Julia Murney, Christopher Fitzgerald, Marc Kudisch, Christopher Sieber, Brandon Uranowitz, and Seth Rudetsky.
Tickets are also now on sale for Playbill’s Broadway on the High Seas July 2018 cruise to Iceland, accompanied by Judy Kuhn, Christine Ebersole, Rob McClure, Jarrod Spector, Carmen Cusack, and Sierra Boggess. Visit PlaybillTravel.com for booking and information.
