Apollo Theater in NYC donates seating to new Glen Cove venue

Before the curtains can go up at the North Shore Village Theatre in Glen Cove, the audience needs somewhere to sit.

The forthcoming theater at 19 Glen St., the longtime home of the Charles Hardware Store, is in the middle of construction. Last year, the local playhouse signed a 10-year lease to operate a theater there.

Christopher Moll, the playhouse's artistic director, said he purchased about 100 seats but needed 80 more, which came with an estimated price tag close to $35,000. It was steep, especially for a nonprofit looking to establish a community hub, he said.

Then he got a text message, seemingly out of the blue.

A friend sent him a photo and said, "These are available from the Apollo."

The photo showed a collection of seats from the famed Apollo Theater in Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood, which is in the midst of its own renovation. Construction on its Historic Theater is underway and will cause the stage to close for 13 months, according to the Apollo's website. Its stages at the nearby Victoria Theater will remain open. 

"I was on the other side of the country, and I was hesitating a little bit just because I couldn’t be here to facilitate getting them," Moll told Newsday in an interview. "And I mentioned it to my board and I mentioned it to my marketing team and everyone was like, ‘You have to take them.’"

They came to him by way of Lou Albruzzese, a Glen Cove resident and director of operations at the Joyce Theater in Manhattan. He was at the Apollo's last show before the renovations.

As soon as patrons left the auditorium, workers began unbolting seats from the floors.

"I rolled up on 126th Street with a box truck," Albruzzese recalled, and he received some help from theater employees to load up the seats. "I drove them back to Glen Cove and met the next morning with some guys" who helped bring the seats into the North Shore Village Theatre, he said.

A total of 80 seats from the Apollo, in classic red with wooden armrests, will be placed in the community theater, Moll said. 

"These are historic seats from a historic theater," Albruzzese said. "I think legacy is important, and for Chris, opening this new venue and having a connection to a legacy theater like that, it speaks volumes to what he can bring to Glen Cove and the North Shore arts scene."

He said the North Shore Village Theatre’s mission is integral to sharing local art and culture.

"There’s so much high-end art that we don’t get on Long Island, unless you go to the Tilles Center," Albruzzese said, referencing the Brookville venue on the LIU Post campus.

Maria DeLuca, the marketing consultant for the North Shore Village Theatre, said in an interview the seats are "legendary" and will help shape the space "as it comes to life."

The theater is running a sponsor-a-seat program, with each seat costing $500, to raise money for the opening.

Local elected officials have said they hope the theater brings Long Islanders to Glen Cove’s downtown. The city’s 2024 comprehensive plan calls for "a mixed-use experience with entertainment, retail, dining, grocery, performing arts, and cultural attractions."

Creative fundraising is a necessity, DeLuca said, since programs supporting the arts are underfunded. 

"Knowing that there are so many theater and music fans out there in the community, we thought it would be really interesting to be able to keep people’s legacy alive by having them sponsor a chair and putting their name on it," DeLuca said.

Moll said it took longer than expected to secure permits for the renovation, but the first phase of construction is complete. The second phase — which includes adding new insulation and plumbing — is underway and he aims for the theater to open in November.

It’s "an aggressive goal," he said.

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ