- There's a particular theater in New York City that means a great deal to me.

And when I was in vaudeville, before I went into the movies or anything, The Palace Theatre in New York City was the goal, the goal of all vaudeville acts.

Now, I never played The Palace until many years later, and it was a great thrill for me to open The Palace Theatre on Broadway.

And I'd like to sing the song that I sang that night.

(lush music) (lush music continues) (lush music continues) ♪ I played the states, the capitol ♪ ♪ But people said don't stop ♪ until you've played The Palace ♪ ♪ You haven't played the top - The Palace Theatre is an icon.

- Well, getting to perform there was awesome.

- It holds amazing memories for me.

- When you go to sleep at night, you think about like, "I'd love to see my name on a marquee," it's The Palace is is number one, I think, of anywhere in the world.

- I think, to me, The Palace Theatre is Broadway.

You just feel it when you're in there.

It feels really special.

- When you think about all the great acts that have gone through, it feels like that's where it all begins and ends.

- Playing The Palace Theatre was one of the great thrills of my life.

- The Palace Theatre is majestic.

- Oh, top of the heap, top of the heap.

♪ So, it became the Hall of Fame ♪ ♪ The Mecca of the trade ♪ When you had played The Palace ♪ ♪ You knew that you were made - The Palace is when you really have made it.

♪ So, I hope you'll understand my wondrous thrill ♪ ♪ 'Cause vaudeville's back at The Palace ♪ ♪ And I'm on the bill (bright music) - [Frank] For the past century, playing The Palace has been synonymous with making it as a performer.

- It's the pinnacle.

It was the pinnacle of vaudeville.

It's the pinnacle of Broadway today.

It's now the pinnacle of an architectural miracle of lifting a 14 million pound theater 30 feet in the air.

- [Frank] Recently, the building itself has starred in a show, the likes of which have never been seen.

In a feat of engineering brilliance, this landmark Broadway theater was raised 30 feet above Times Square into a new 46-story tower, which will also house a hotel, a permanent outdoor stage suspended above Times Square, and multiple levels of retail space.

(bright music fades out) (sparkling music) On May 6, 2024, after five years of being closed for the restoration and renovation, co-owners James L. Nederlander of the Nederlander Organization and Stewart Lane officially welcomed the Broadway community back into the legendary Palace Theatre.

So Jimmy, here we are.

- Yeah.

- In your theater.

- Home, sweet home.

- It looks amazing.

- I consider the theater as the brothers and sisters I never had.

This theater went away on holiday, and now it's back and it's back in my family.

And I'm very proud.

I'm very happy.

And there's another theater available on Broadway for shows to play.

- When did your dad first buy The Palace Theatre?

- He was walking down Broadway with a producer, general manager named Joe Harris.

And Joe said, "Jimmy, why don't you buy this theater?"

So my father said, "Well, it's The Palace Theatre, "one of the greatest theaters ever on Broadway."

So, he got into it with the owners and bought it.

And we eventually had Stewart Lane as a great partner.

But this was 1964.

- Why do you think artists are so fascinated by this space?

- I think if you look at the history of who's played here, I think that's pretty incredible.

(steady music) - [Frank] The Palace was built by Martin Beck and opened as a vaudeville house in March of 1913.

A year later, Variety wrote that it was the greatest vaudeville theater in America, if not the world.

In the coming decades, greats such as Ethel Barrymore, Sarah Bernhardt, Sophie Tucker, Fanny Brice, Bob Hope, Eddie Cantor, and Jack Benny all played the stage there.

However, due to the advent of talking pictures and the Great Depression, in 1935, The Palace closed as a vaudeville house and began to solely show movies.

- When RKO actually bought The Palace Theatre, the first movie to play here was "Top Hat," an RKO movie.

Of course, it makes perfect sense.

In the early forties, "Citizen Kane" premiered here at The Palace Theatre.

- [Frank] In 1949, live performance once again began playing at The Palace.

And two years later, Judy Garland gave one of the most storied performances of all time.

- We all know she got fired from MGM.

And everybody said, she's not gonna work, and all of these things.

And then she was booked at The Palace Theatre for 19 weeks.

Who would play The Palace Theatre for 19 weeks?

And she said, "I'm going to."

On opening night there were 5,000 people in the streets, and traffic came to a halt.

She had to get out of the car and walk to the theater.

- Wow.

- It was craziness.

And that's when it became home.

- She was fantastic.

Everything you ever heard about Judy Garland was true.

- [Frank] Garland's residency became so closely associated with the theater that the staircase at the back of the house is now famously referred to as the Judy Garland Staircase.

- There was something for me highly romantic about being in The Palace.

I would do my rounds of the dressing room.

And then I would walk through the basement and come up what's famously known as the Judy Garland Staircase.

When you would walk up that really tight metal circular staircase and you'd think, "What was Judy thinking when she did this?"

How can you not?

Right?

When she would make this fantastic entrance from the back of the theater, but she's walking up it, and you're feeling her.

And then you open this door and this ginormous orchestra section is in front of you.

There's something about that view and the feeling that you're in The Palace, it's thrilling.

- There's something about standing in full costume right next to the door to the Judy Garland Staircase and watching the audience watch the show.

I did feel in that moment, like, "Wow, "I can't believe I'm doing this."

- Nobody really made an entrance like that.

From coming into the house, they would always sort of come in from the sides.

And she decided to do that.

And I think that that was a way of saying, "I wanna be among the people."

- [Frank] When Jimmy Nederlander Sr. purchased The Palace Theatre in the mid sixties, he turned it into a proper Broadway house and reopened it with the 1966 hit musical "Sweet Charity."

(steady music continues) - One of the treasures of my life is that I played the legendary historical Palace Theatre five times.

My first Broadway show was "Sweet Charity."

And it was a big occasion because The Palace, the historic iconic Palace Theatre, we were gonna reopen it.

The front of the house was in great shape.

Backstage, it was a mess.

Filthy dirty, dust in the air.

And the dressers went out in the alley and brought in the old carpeting to put down in the basement for us to stand on.

And they hung up sheets to partition off the boys from the girls when we would make our changes.

And that's what the backstage looked like.

But it was a dream come true.

My first Broadway show reopening the legendary Palace Theatre, and then also to have seen Gwen Verdon in the movie of "Damn Yankees," and to know of her past history and Bob Fosse, to be in the show with them.

Bob Fosse was a genius.

And it's very interesting.

Everyone thinks that everyone is so secure when you get to that status.

Not necessarily so.

I used to sit in the room when the two of them would work.

And I remember one day Bobby did a step and then Gwen did the step and he said, "I don't know whether any of this (bleep) "is any good or not.

"On you everything looks good."

And he was right.

They would do it, but then when Gwen did it, it became art.

(bright music continues) (flowing music) - [Frank] The following year, Judy returned with a new concert residency called "Judy Garland at Home at The Palace."

And this time she brought a special guest performer with her.

So it's 1967, you find out you're gonna play The Palace with your mom.

- Right.

I remember meeting John Bubbles.

I remember that Harold Arlen was there every single day.

And then I remember going into the theater and finding my dressing room and watching her from the wings.

This was different.

This was where she was at home, and she was incredibly happy.

And then I remember opening night.

She was scared, I was scared.

And she walked on that stage and they erupted and I thought, "No, it's gonna be okay.

(Frank laughing) "It's gonna be...

This is all gonna be good."

And then when I came on, I sang "Singing In the Rain."

And I came off stage and I remember thinking to myself, "I did it.

I'm okay.

"And I played The Palace."

(flowing music continues) - [Frank] Although 1967 would be the last time Judy would play The Palace, her other daughter, Liza Minnelli, would go on to have two successful iconic residencies there as well.

(lively music) - I remember walking into the theater as a little kid and just being amazed at this Palace.

And the first show I saw here was "George M!"

Quite an experience.

- [Frank] "George M!"

with the great Joel Grey?

- Yes, sir.

- And Bernadette Peters.

- Yes.

Yes.

- On stage.

- Playing brother and sister.

- Yes.

Yes.

- What do you remember about Joel Grey?

- He was just larger than life on stage.

(audience applauding) (lively music) ♪ You're a grand old flag ♪ You're a high-flying flag ♪ And forever in peace may you wave ♪ - Well, George M. Cohan was the great song-and-dance man of his time.

- I saw Joel Grey twice in "George M!"

What a phenomenal production.

Joel never left the stage.

Singing, dancing.

- I had a tap routine.

I was not a tap dancer.

I learned to tap to (bleep) tap to play the great George M. Cohan.

And what I would do, I would go under the stage and I would run the tap routine every single night to make sure I remembered it.

- It's really wonderful to realize that I've played The Palace.

I mean, really wonderful.

My singing teacher in those days was only four doors down from the stage door.

And so that street was very familiar to me.

I had a hooker ask me, "Where'd you get those pants?"

I have a whole history on that street.

(chuckles) - I was privileged by that time after a couple of shows to be in on the auditions.

And she auditioned, and it was magic.

Total, utter magic.

And I knew she was gonna be a star.

- So "George M!"

was your first principal Broadway contract?

- It actually was, yeah.

- [Frank] Do you remember the first time walking into the theater knowing that this is gonna be your home as a company of "George M!"?

- Yeah, but watching Joel absorb the whole thing.

I remember Joel being so excited, just so excited.

- When you got on the stage and you knew you were part of that history, oh, it was...

It was deep.

- We were where we belonged.

We were in a vaudeville house.

And I just felt...

I felt like I was living in that time actually.

- It just felt like you were surrounded by vaudeville, which was finished.

But we had one taste, one last good taste.

- You were so proud to be in the place, in a hit, and you just kind of felt like, this is my town now all of a sudden.

(soft bright music) - [Frank] "Applause" opened in 1970, and gave The Palace another hit musical.

- Theater royalty would come.

And whenever they were in the audience, they would come backstage.

Noël Coward came with the Lunts.

- Oh my God.

- And Lynn Fontanne was sitting on the couch over here.

And Noël Coward was sitting next to her.

And she pushed my hair off my forehead.

She said, "Don't keep your hair over your forehead."

She said, "You have a marvelous profile."

And she looked at Noël and she said, "Doesn't he have a marvelous profile?"

(Frank chuckles) And Noël just gave me the biggest carouse, and he said, "I like him straight on actually."

(both laughing) And that's what I did.

- That's great.

- I fell to the floor.

- I have a souvenir from The Palace Theatre that I received when I was doing "Applause" there with Lauren Bacall.

On my birthday I lusted after this gorgeous mirror.

And so the kids got it for me one night.

They replaced it with another mirror, so they didn't steal it necessarily, they just replaced it.

And I treasure that.

And it's down in my hallway now.

So, I have a piece of The Palace with me all the time.

My mother would come to The Palace Theatre.

They didn't sell the two side boxes, they didn't sell those.

And so Sam Handelsman, our company manager, used to take my mother up there so she could see the show for free.

She loved Coca-Cola.

She wouldn't buy it there at the refreshment stand because she said, "They charge too much money."

So she would carry her Coke in her purse.

And when Lauren Bacall had her ballad in the first act, when she was like, ♪ Hurry back, hurry back you'd hear the can pop.

And I knew that mom was having her Coca-Cola.

And so after the show, Sam would bring my mother down to Betty's dressing room, and then she would wait for me there 'cause I always came down after the show.

And so Bacall said, "Well, hon, "would you like another Coke?"

(chuckles) (bright music continues) I became very close with Lauren Bacall, and we clicked that very first day of rehearsal.

And we became very close friends for the rest of her life.

- How was it working with Lauren Bacall?

- It was great.

- Yeah?

- Yeah, we had a great time.

And it didn't hurt of course, that the thing won the Tony for Best Musical, so it was very special.

(flowing music) But to just stand on that stage, I remember going out there when the work light was on and just standing there, going, "My God, look at this place.

"I'm now part of this history."

(bright music) - The Palace Theatre is the epicenter of entertainment.

And when I got to do "Oklahoma!"

there in 1979, I felt like I had arrived.

- What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of your time in "Oklahoma!"

at The Palace?

- It was just a place where I felt like I cut my teeth.

It was just a barnyard party.

(chuckles) It really was.

- When I was coming to New York as a young dancer, I was invited to The Palace to see that production of "Oklahoma!"

And I will never forget Christine Ebersole as Ado Annie.

She was full out.

She was everything I dreamed of in a performer.

- I remember my dressing room was up on the fourth floor.

I guess, walking down those stairs and walking up those stairs, you think about all of the actors and performers that came before you that stepped up on those stairs.

It's got so much history.

And it still, it surrounds you.

It hasn't left.

(bright music continues) (flowing music) - No show goes past The Palace Theatre until I get a chance to look at it first, so I can take personal responsibility for the shows that are here.

And it's been a long, successful career.

We used to be the house of hits, the gem in the Nederlander chain.

- [Frank] Stewart Lane, known to many as Mr. Broadway, is an award-winning producer and the co-owner of The Palace.

- Every day I check on The Palace Theatre on the box office.

I check to make sure that things are running smoothly there.

I'll even walk past it on 47th Street to make sure that the marquee is on full blast.

- [Frank] Additionally, he's written books about the theater industry, his latest being a complete history of his iconic theater.

- "It Happened at The Palace."

I'm really proud of this book.

There are a lot of personal pictures there.

There's me and Jimmy Sr. and Jr. at The Palace Theatre.

When we were renovating the theater, we were trying to save memorabilia, pieces of it.

So I've got this slab of marble, which I'm gonna make into a table, so I'll always have a piece of the Palace Theatre with us here.

- [Frank] Talk to me a little bit about how you became part owner of The Palace Theatre.

- I've been a script reader for Jimmy for several years, during my acting days here in New York.

And when I made the transition into house managing, I started seeing that there was an opening in producing.

So I went to Jimmy and I said, "Jimmy, you know, "I'd really like to become a producer now."

And he said, "Well, I'll take you around "and you can see it from the bottom up."

There's our "Frankenstein," the notorious non-musical that was the most expensive play to close in one night.

A $2 million play closed in one night, very tough period for the theater industry.

There was a time when theaters were like hen's teeth, you couldn't get them.

And there was an opportunity when Jimmy was trying to refinance, so he was really happy to have me on board as a partner.

And this was back in 1981.

We opened with "Woman of the Year," which ran two years and won four Tony Awards.

- What was the first show you danced on stage at The Palace?

- I came to New York in 1980, and they were having an audition for a swing for "Woman of the Year" starring Lauren Bacall, which was playing The Palace.

They were in previews, I believe.

They hadn't even opened.

And I went to the audition, and it was my second audition and I got the show.

And I remember it was like you had to be six-two and under, and I was six-four-and-a-half.

And so I wore baggy sweatpants and kept my knees bent the whole audition.

And I got the part.

(both chuckling) But it was my second show and it was "Woman of the Year" with Lauren Bacall.

Lauren Bacall!

- Tell me about that.

- Lauren was Betty if you got to know her.

She was notorious for being tough.

(bright music continues) I was warming up, and there were these dummies dressed on stage, and I knocked one over in my warmup.

And she was walking to her first position for the start of the show, and she saw me knocking them down.

She said, "Be careful with the dummies.

"Be careful with the chair.

Be careful with the lift."

She liked to be a ballbuster.

And the stage manager was behind her, David, and he said.

And I said, "I am careful with the dummy.

"I am careful with the chair.

I am careful with the lift."

She went, and she walked on stage.

The next day she comes in, I'm warming up in the basement.

She comes in, "Good show last night, Jerry."

She knew my name and she knew who I was and she complimented me.

And from that day forward, she was a friend.

(bright music continues) - [James] She was always nice to me.

Very stern.

- A legend, a legend.

- A legend.

When my father wanted her to extend in "Woman of the Year," all of a sudden a jewelry case came and she said, "Well, listen, you know, "this is why I would extend."

Lo and behold, she's wearing it.

(both chuckles) - So diamonds were the way to Lauren's heart?

- Diamonds were the way to her heart, yes.

(Frank chuckles) (bright music continues) - [Frank] So you're producing "Woman of the Year," and that's the first show where you are now co-owner of The Palace Theatre.

What was that night like for you being in this theater?

- Frank, I grew up on Long Island here in Great Neck.

And on the Sunday when we get the New York Times, I would grab the Arts and Leisure section and go through it ravenously to find out what's going on in the theater industry.

This is what I wanted to do with my life.

So the idea of being here on opening night, owning a piece of New York, The Palace Theatre with a Broadway show, it only gets better when you get, one, nominated for a Tony, and two, when you actually win the Tony.

When "La Cage Aux Folles," when it was announced that we won that year, my life had total meaning.

It all came together.

It all made sense.

(audience applauding) (bright music) - Bonsoir, bonsoir.

La Cage Aux Folles welcomes you to our world famous review, starring the notorious and dangerous Cagelles.

Ladies and gentlemen, I warn you to remain in your seats while Les Cagelles perform.

The management will not be responsible for your safety.

- [Frank] "La Cage Aux Folles," really one of the great shows written for the American musical theater.

- Couldn't agree more.

- Premiered here.

- It was one of those shows that just took off.

The word of mouth was fabulous, the reviews were fabulous.

Unfortunately, it was during the time of the AIDS crisis where it wasn't a happy time, but this show made so many people happy.

And so many people enjoyed coming back.

It was one of the great highlights of my life watching this and watching it evolve from Boston to New York and New York to all over the country.

(flowing music continues) - This was a major musical because not only did I really believe in what the show had to say in terms of social commentary and acceptance, but Jerry Herman had written a terrific score for it.

And Harvey Fierstein had written a terrific funny book.

We came to New York in August of '83, and it was an amazing opening.

Interesting enough, the New York Times had called us a good old-fashioned musical.

And we didn't know whether that was a good thing, or was that a bad thing.

It turned out to be a really good thing.

- "La Cage" was groundbreaking in the sense that it was the first time we saw a love story between two men in a musical on stage that I knew of or remember.

- People kept telling me, "No one's gonna come see a show like this."

I said, "You're missing the whole point of it.

"It's about love, it's about family, it's about acceptance "done with comedy and music.

"What could be better?"

- Were you nervous with doing a show like "La Cage" during a time when men were dying of AIDS?

- (sighs) No, only because it was such a beautiful story about love and relationships.

I thought if this doesn't work, nothing will.

- And now I beg you, open your eyes.

You have arrived at La Cage aux Folles.

- The first time I set foot in the building was for my interview in 1987.

And I got to go to see "La Cage Aux Folles."

I sat in a box that's over my right shoulder now and watched it in awe.

- Nick, you started out with Nederlander, the company that owns The Palace Theatre, back in 1987.

- I'm very blessed.

I started working for Nederlander in 1987.

And Jimmy Nederlander Sr. very quickly became my mentor and advocate.

And now having the privilege to be there for Jimmy, his son.

- [Frank] Nick Scandalios is the Chief Operating Officer of the Nederlander Organization.

- Those are original marquee letters from The Palace.

(bright music continues) This folder is everyone who's requesting a theater in New York City in the next two years.

Oh, if it's part of The Palace planning, it's all in this drawer.

(bright music continues) When I first started, we were in a small building that was cantilevered over the very Palace Theatre.

So for the first six months I worked here, it was the very oldest part of Nederlander New York.

- The Palace has an amazing location.

And a developer came to us, they wanted to build a hotel above The Palace.

Now, The Palace had just recently been landmarked, so I said, "You can't touch it, this is sacrosanct."

But they said, "No, no, we're gonna tear down "maybe the five stories of offices above The Palace, "put an A-frame around it to protect it, "and then build a 40-story hotel."

And, by God, they did.

- In 1991, the musical that opened the new Palace was "Will Rogers Follies."

And it went on to win Best Musical.

(majestic music) (majestic music continues) (bright music) - Hello.

Welcome to Broadway's world famous Palace Theatre here in New York City.

My name's Tommy Tune, and I'm the director and choreographer of the show you're about to see, "The Will Rogers Follies."

- Tommy Tune, phenomenal talent.

What a wonderful man to work with.

Really stuck his nose to the grindstone, listened to the producers as we gave our ideas, had his own ideas, and really opened up a show that had a lot of sizzle and a lot of steak, and won all those Tony Awards.

- Tommy Tune, at his height, he just did a magnificent job.

The great Jerry Mitchell was still an actor.

- [Frank] In the chorus.

- [Nick] He was in the chorus dancing on a drum.

(lively music continues) - "Will Rogers" was such an unbelievable musical.

It's everything I love about musicals.

It was "The Follies," it was big.

It was just of its time.

It was one of those big Broadway extravaganzas.

There was so much in the show that inspired me as a young wannabe director-choreographer, that I then took with me when I left the show.

I made my first choreography reel in the basement of The Palace Theatre, wanting to be a choreographer, creating from 11 o'clock until one in the morning in the basement of The Palace Theatre.

- Another major moment that came from "The Will Rogers Follies" was the creation of "Broadway Bares," right?

- Yeah, so I'm in this show and I'm dancing naked on a drum practically.

Thank you, Willa Kim.

And it's 1991, and I've lost so many friends to AIDS.

So I call other guys who are in Broadway shows, "Miss Saigon," "Crazy For You," who have exceptional bodies, and I put together my version of "Magic Mike" on a bar.

We make $8,000.

I say, "I can do this better, I'll add girls."

We make 17,000.

Six months later, I said, "I can do this better, I'll add themes."

We make 32,000.

It's grown into this massive thing.

All total "Broadway Bares" has raised, I think, about $27.2 million for Broadway Cares.

But it was in that theater on that stage with that company that creative idea was born.

And so many of us in the business have had experiences at The Palace Theatre where magic happened.

(inspirational music continues) - [Frank] After "Will Rogers" ended its run, Nederlander teamed up with Disney to transform The Palace into the most magical place on Broadway.

The next show at The Palace was "Beauty and the Beast."

- [Nick] Absolutely.

- And that began this incredible relationship between Nederlander and Disney.

And "Beauty" was the first.

- "Beauty" was it.

♪ Be our guest, be our guest ♪ Our command is your request - In 1994, "Beauty and the Beast" opened on Broadway.

And that was a real experiment.

- The idea of putting "Beauty and the Beast" on stage really starts with Robert Jess Roth.

He was doing a theme park production of it.

There was no Disney Theatrical Group.

It opens in March of 1994, and two things happened.

The first is critics were remarkably dismissive, and yet the audience engaged profoundly with this.

♪ Please be our guest (lively music continues) - It became a full classic Broadway show.

And it's been produced in every corner of the world, not to mention every high school, every summer stock company.

- I remember when it started and there were naysayers who were saying, "Well, you know, "it's Disney, it's Disneyland, da da da da da."

As my father would say, it won the Chase Manhattan Award.

(Frank chuckles) - [Frank] That's right.

That's right.

- "Beauty and the Beast" still holds the record for the longest run at The Palace.

And then we transferred it to the Lunt, another theater run by our dear friends at Nederlander.

- The thing that we do together, Disney and Nederlander, is we imagine the impossible and we try and do it.

When "Beauty" was here, and it was five years old, we had started to talk about "Aida."

"The Lion King" was beginning to roll out across the country, and we had this meeting where in one deal we made the deal to renovate the Lunt-Fontanne, move "Beauty and the Beast" to the Lunt-Fontanne, make some adjustments to The Palace, put "Aida" in The Palace, and restore the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles and do an open-ended run of "Lion King" in LA.

That was all in one conversation.

- Wow.

When did you first see "Beauty" in The Palace?

And what was your initial reaction to that?

- When we were prepping "The Lion King" movie to open, I went to see it again.

And we premiered "Lion King" at Radio City Music Hall that Monday morning.

After the premier, Elton John, Tim Rice, a few of us were in the room talking to Elton about what he would wanna do next.

And he said, "Well, you know, you just did "that 'Beauty and the Beast' on stage at The Palace.

"I don't wanna make another animated movie right away, "but how about if I did a Broadway show?"

And in that room on the 13th of June 1994, I pulled out of my pocket a list of titles that we had been developing for other stuff for animation.

And I just said, "What about 'Aida,' "adapting the Giuseppe Verde?"

And he went, "Oh."

And then Michael Eisner said, "That's an idea."

And we laid the plans to do "Aida" long before we ever spoke about doing "Lion King" on stage.

♪ Aida, Aida ♪ Aida - Heather Headley, when I say The Palace Theatre, what's the first thing that comes to mind?

- It was the best of times and it was the best of times.

Schumacher is a genius when it comes to producing things.

He knows exactly what works.

Elton, he really poured into us.

Elton would come to that show twice a week.

Tim Rice would come in and change lyrics.

I remember times that he'd come to me and he'd say, "Heather, I have to get on the plane tonight back to London, "but there's a lyric that I want to try.

"Can I have them write it?"

(chuckles) So there was one time that there was a kid in the pit with, (Heather chuckles) doing the lines and I was like, um... ♪ The past is just another land for ♪ I'm just pretending.

I was looking down and I just like, ♪ The future is apparent You know what I mean?

- That is great.

- Yeah, because he would have to take a red eye and he needed to hear the song.

(calm music continues) I remember when we were teching the show and Bob Falls, our director, had said, "We're gonna tech 'Easy as Life.'"

And I was like, "Okay, great.

"We're gonna have stuff around it."

And he goes, "No, it's gonna be you in a black dress, "on a black stage with one spotlight."

♪ Until I think about him as he was when I last touched him ♪ ♪ And how - Heather Headley became a star in one moment.

- That feeling when Heather Headley was standing at the lip of the stage singing "Easy as Life," if you didn't get chills, you were dead.

♪ All I've ever wanted ♪ And I'm throwing it away ♪ It's easy ♪ It's easy as life - I was leaving "Aida," and Disney, sweet as they are, they said to me, "Is there anything that you want?"

I said, "I want a piece of the stage."

And so the night I left, they gave me a piece of the stage.

That place is, it was, it will always be home for me.

And I'm grateful to it for everything that happened there.

As I started, it was the best of times, and it was the best of times (flowing music continues) - Getting to return to The Palace Theatre as the director-choreographer of a musical, any musical, but especially "Legally Blonde," it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

(upbeat pop music continues) - Do you have a favorite memory of seeing a specific show in The Palace Theatre?

- Well, "Legally Blonde."

(chuckles) It remains one of my favorite musicals.

I think it's one of the most underrated musicals.

- I agree.

- I decided I wanted real dogs in the show.

So the dog was supposed to come out on stage at the end of "So Much Better," jump into Laura Bell's arms and she would hold the dog up, blackout, that's the end of "So Much Better."

We rehearsed it and the dog has been aces, aces, aces.

Now there's an audience, and the audience is screaming that first preview, roaring, and the dog is in the wings.

The dog's not coming, the dog's not coming.

The dog's not coming.

I'm sitting in the house watching and I'm going, "Where's the dog?

Where's the dog?

"Where's the dog?"

Dog doesn't come.

Laura Bell decides, "I'm just gonna jump in the air."

And she jumps in the air, and as she does, Bonnie Becker calls, "Blackout," with Laura Bell in the air.

And I said, "Cut, print.

That's how we're doing it.

"Cut the dog.

We're not having the dog come out."

- And that stayed.

- Stayed in the show.

(upbeat pop music continues) (audience applauding) (audience cheering) - To play The Palace Theatre means to be connected to your idols.

(steady music) - [Frank] Ethan Slater played the title character in "SpongeBob Squarepants."

- To get to play and make believe and tell stories on the same stage and in the same dressing rooms, breathing the same air that the people who told the stories that made you wanna be a storyteller.

- Yeah, yeah.

- It's a really special thing.

- You have a Joel Grey story.

You know Joel Grey famously played The Palace Theatre.

And he also saw you in "SpongeBob."

- Yeah, when we were doing "SpongeBob," I was told that Joel was coming to see the show.

And he walks in the door and he's looking around my dressing room.

And it's really quiet and I'm incredibly nervous.

And then he says, "What year is it?"

And I said, "It's 2018."

And he goes, "April 2018, "50 years ago today "I opened 'George M!'

in this very dressing room."

- Wow.

(flowing music continues) - Playing The Palace, even back in the day was a sign of you made it.

Right?

- Yeah.

- Did that ever cross your mind when you were playing SpongeBob, starring as SpongeBob in "SpongeBob?"

- I was reading the autobiography of my favorite actor, who's Buster Keaton.

And I was in the section of his time in vaudeville.

And Buster is left alone on the stage of The Palace Theatre.

I'm reading this as I'm walking through Times Square and I'm just going to The Palace to do my show.

And I just feel this deep connection to it.

And as I arrived in the dressing room, there's an announcement, they say, "Could be cast please gather in the green room."

Which you know is never a good sign.

- (chuckles) That's true.

- And they tell us, "Despite strong sales, "despite all of that, "The Palace is gonna be renovated, "and so we have to be out in six weeks."

But I feel really grateful to have been at least like one line on the Wikipedia page of The Palace Theatre.

(flowing music continues) (steady music) - I came today because it's really a very special day to me.

We're taking down the letters on really what I believe is the most important historic theater in Times Square.

- [Frank] On September 21st, 2018, L&L Holding Company, Mayfield Development, Fortress Investment Group, and the Nederlander Organization unveiled plans to develop TSX Broadway, a $2.5 billion development located at the corner of 47th Street and Broadway.

- TSX Broadway is an amazing platform.

And our goal was to create a high technology-oriented 21st century platform for a variety of different kinds of uses.

- When I heard about this, when I was doing the research, I said, "This is a great thing, this is a great project."

- [Frank] Robert Israel was the executive hired to project manage the demolition of the existing structure and construction of a 46-story mixed use tower featuring a 661-room hotel, retail space, and the elevation and renovation of the historic Palace Theatre.

- I met with David Levinson.

And when I met with David, they had informed me that they were actually going to attempt to lift The Palace Theater.

- How could you actually take a Broadway theater that's landmarked and jack that theater up 30 feet in the air when you have on top of it a 45-story hotel?

Never been done.

Broadway theaters have been moved, but no one's lifted it.

- [Frank] Tony Mazzo, president of Urban Foundation Engineering, was the engineer approached about lifting The Palace.

- In 1998, we were asked to move the Empire Theater on 42nd Street, which is also a landmark theater.

We moved it 170 feet down the block in less than five hours.

- How did you lift The Palace Theatre 30 feet?

- Well, it didn't come to me right away.

I went to the job site one day.

I was watching the steel guy lower these big steel beams in sections down into the shaft that we had drilled.

And it just came to me.

I said, "You know, if we can reverse the system "where we can lift that 60 foot beam out of the hole, "the way he brought it in, "I can configure a 30 foot stroke hydraulic jack "out of this caisson."

And we actually got a patent on this idea because it was the key to elevating this 7,000 ton, 125-foot long by 85-foot wide by a 100-foot high, a magnificent structure that had to be saved and preserved.

- This is a very special building.

It's landmarked.

- If Landmarks didn't approve the lifting of the theater, it would not have gotten lifted.

Because of the way The Palace was constructed, and it was a brick box with no facade, the outside was never landmarked, only the inside was landmarked.

And so one could say that that was also another elemental reason that you could do this 'cause there was no facade to protect.

- The Landmarks Commission, they thought that the project made sense.

47th and Broadway was the most highly populated corner in the United States.

And when you infuse 1,700 more people who come out after the theater's over, it's bedlam.

And so bringing the theater up two floors and creating the under-space at street level, new commercial space, to have those 1,700 people spew into this intermediate area where they can dine, they can shop was a great idea.

And the commissioner of Landmarks said to the team, "This is a great idea."

But then she looked at me and she said, "But you got one shot at this."

- When you guys officially announced that this was happening, I remember there were naysayers.

- That's never gonna work.

No chance.

- Okay, well now it's going to hell.

- I was so nervous.

- How are they gonna do that?

- How can you do that?

- Hmm.

- We all felt it.

- Yeah.

- We all knew, everybody, if you don't get The Palace right, it doesn't matter what you do to the rest of the development.

- [Frank] To make room to raise The Palace, the preexisting 1991 tower needed to be demolished and space needed to be cleared while the theater was being prepared for the lift.

- [Tony] Normally in the construction process, you demo, you excavate, and then you build new structure.

We actually were doing all three of those things at the same time in this project because we had to from a schedule perspective.

- It's literally without question, the game of Jenga.

When I say Jenga, I really mean playing Jenga live.

- [Frank] After nearly half a decade of dreaming, planning, and preparing, on January 7th, 2022, the combined teams of L&L and Urban Foundation Engineering conducted a bump test where they first attempted the unprecedented lift.

(machine whirring) - [Project Manager] All right, lift initiate.

(machine whirring) - Where were you the day of when you guys flipped the switch to start moving The Palace Theater up?

- I was right down there with them right in the basement.

Everything that was supposed to happen happened, and everything that wasn't supposed to happen didn't happen.

And so we were ready.

And so on Valentine's Day, February 14th, we actually commenced.

- We had almost 50 people in the theater when we were doing these lifts.

- [Tony] When the building started to rise above the sidewalk and you could feel and see the sunlight coming through, it was a great feeling.

It was going up an average of two feet a day.

We had a manifold that controlled 34 different locations where these hydraulic jack systems were located.

It's a 1,700 seat theater, 125-feet long by 85-feet wide by a 100-feet tall.

It weighs 7,000 tons.

But we averaged about two feet a day.

And in 15 days we were up 30 feet.

- When that happened, if you were standing within the site, the amount of space, the amount of depth that we had created now was amazing.

- It was a tremendous vote of confidence for us that we could actually build and execute this project.

It's special.

- [Tony] It was a very jubilant moment for everyone.

- Everything was safe.

We hadn't damaged the theater.

That theater lift was the culmination of four years of planning with Urban, Tony Mazza, the Nederlander family, the rest of the architectural and design team.

And it was just a great feeling that we had achieved that.

- This was something that I think everybody was engaged in.

And to be here at the front row center on the greatest stage in the construction world to do something like this was really personally rewarding for everybody who was on site.

(soft upbeat music) - In the job interview, because I was being hired specifically for this project, I just kept having to keep myself from exploding and being like, "You still have to negotiate your salary.

"You can't let on that you're super excited about this."

- [Frank] Lesa Rozmarek was the project and preservation architect at PBDW Architects.

- We upgraded our sprinkler system, all electrical systems, HVAC, plumbing.

Every single building system was ripped out and replaced in this building.

- [Frank] The Nederlander Organization removed close to a hundred seats to make seats wider and to add more leg room for patrons.

And the restroom capacity doubled with an additional 29 stalls and 21 sinks.

Three different architecture firms collaborated on the incredible restoration.

The TSX Project architect of record, Mancini Duffy, created a beautiful lobby on 47th Street as well as the Sky Lobby, both new spaces that were a result of the lift.

Building envelope architect Perkins Eastman was responsible for the new marquee.

And Rozmarek's firm, PBDW was the historic preservation and theater preservation architect responsible for the meticulous restoration efforts, which included recreating missing details and preserving the theater's interior to appear unchanged by renovations.

Everything in this theater is custom made.

- [Lesa] It truly is.

The carpets are completely custom.

All of the house curtains that you see, that's a custom fabric that we made based upon a historic photograph.

The wall coverings here in the auditorium were also based upon a historic photograph.

When you enter the world of preservation architecture, you enter into the world of custom-made.

- The theater is also much more accessible for patrons compared to what it was before.

- So we're 100% ADA compliant now.

We have accessible seating at all levels of the theater now.

And we also have a back-of-house elevator that takes performers directly to the stage.

- We just took an elevator up to the spotlight booth, which this got a whole redo as well.

- Yeah.

You can't do that in any other theater.

A fully accessible spotlight booth.

- The new chandelier is pretty epic.

And it's new.

That was not here before.

- Evidently some time in the 1940s, the original chandelier disappeared.

We noticed that every time work had been done in the building, it had been done in an art moderne fashion.

So the chandelier you see has the shape of the historic chandelier, but it was executed in an art moderne fashion.

- [Frank] How does it feel knowing that from now on anytime an audience member comes into this theater to see a show, it has your stamp on it?

- It's a pretty cool feeling to have been a part of its history.

- The Palace Theatre, to me, is the pinnacle of my career.

- To see it today is just an amazing, amazing feat of construction and design and engineering.

- I want people to know we built it for them.

We built it for their pleasure, their enjoyment, their ability to share and entertain each other and be entertained, that's why we built it.

(majestic music) (majestic music continues) - Getting to reopen The Palace was a life highlight.

It's like my wedding, my bar mitzvah, and reopening The Palace.

(chuckles) - [Frank] In an homage to the great artists of the past, on May 28th, 2024, Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award winner Ben Platt took up a three week concert residency to reopen The Palace Theatre.

- It's one of those dreams that I don't think you necessarily can really have for yourself until it's a reality.

I always dreamt of being part of this community and being on Broadway.

I know that I loved making music, but the idea of doing my own show in a space as meaningful as this, I think isn't something that I ever dreamed for myself until it became real.

And so I really tried from that very first day that we went in to just let things happen as slowly as possible and try to really process and take them in.

First thing I saw, because we used it in this video when I first arrived, was this new giant hydraulic lift situation that they have in the pit.

I got to elevate and see The Palace kind of grow before me for the first time.

So that was incredible.

My favorite color is blue, and I find it to be a very calming, warm, happy color.

And there aren't a lot of theaters that have all blue seats.

And so that was my first gasp of thinking about how beautiful it was, is just seeing like a sea of blue.

And I really enjoyed that decision.

(both chuckling) And you just look up and it's magnificent and weirdly palatial in the way that only these theaters can be.

And none of that is lost, which I think is really relieving.

There's a lot of odes to the history of the building.

(flowing music) (flowing music continues) - [Frank] How does it feel to have played The Palace?

- I feel a lot of pride, and it just feels like everything else is cherries at this point because it's like when you get to do something like that, it's, if that's all I ever got to do, that would be fine.

(flowing music continues) - Kudos to Ben.

Ben understood the moment in ways that were unimaginable.

It was such an exhale moment for me.

I was like, "I'm gonna remember this moment forever."

(calm music) (calm music continues) (audience applauding) (audience cheering) (bright music) (bright music continues) - [Frank] A few months later, Elton John returned to The Palace with his musical "Tammy Faye," which was the first Broadway show to play the newly-restored theater.

- What The Palace represents is not only the history of what Broadway and American theater can be, but the future of what it's going to promise.

I wanna keep it alive and vibrant.

This is a Broadway theater, this is The Palace Theatre, and we expect things from The Palace, and I'd like to deliver that for generations to come.

- What do you think your dad would say if he walked in those doors today and walked down this aisle and saw what you guys did to The Palace Theatre?

- I think he'd be very proud.

I think he would smile, say, "Nice job, boys."

- Jimmy, congratulations.

- Oh, please, all of us.

The whole theater community.

- Congrats.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering) (inspiring music continues) (cheers continue) (applause continues) (cheers fade) (applause fades) ♪ Give my regards to Broadway ♪ Remember me to Herald Square ♪ Tell all the gang at 42nd Street ♪ ♪ I will soon be there ♪ Whisper of how I'm yearning ♪ To mingle with the old time throng ♪ ♪ Yes, give my regards to Old Broadway ♪ ♪ And say that I'll be there 'ere long ♪ - I understand you tried to even see The Palace when they were working on that.

- Yeah, Tina and I were walking down the street.

- Tina Landau, your director.

- Tina Landau, yeah.

And we were walking past the construction gate.

And someone had left it open, which feels like that's on them, you know?

So Tina and I kind of like poked our heads in and we were like, "Yeah, yeah, let's go see."

And we walked three steps in and immediately two police officers came and escorted us out.

(chuckles) - So my husband and I, we were friends, and so he would come and see the show.

My dressers would always say, they'd say, "Who do you wanna date?"

And I was like, "Eh, somebody like Brian, but not Brian.

"We're just friends, you know."

And everybody would say, "He likes you."

Elton even was like, "I think he likes you."

And I was like, "No, no, no."

You know.

And so we did.

We did fall in love in that theater.

- When I would get the poster from the show, if your name was on the poster, I would have you sign the poster.

Betty said, "Why don't you leave the poster here "and everybody that you meet have them sign your poster?"

Rudolf Nureyev, the Kennedys, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, all those names are on the poster.

- I wanna talk about, with "Beauty," Toni Braxton.

- There's a fun thing about Toni.

If she had something to do in the evening that she couldn't, that she had to get out immediately, she would actually drop the Belle costume stage right.

She would take off the wig, she had her wig prep underneath it, she'd put a baseball hat on, she'd take the eyelashes off, put on a leather jacket and a pair of jeans, and she walked out with the audience and got into her black SUV, and they didn't know they were standing next to Toni Braxton.

- One of my trips inspecting the construction, I'm walking through The Palace Theatre and I'm now on the stage.

And I realize, "I'm on the stage of The Palace Theatre.

"I have to start singing."

The greatest performers all wanted to perform and sing on the stage of The Palace Theatre.

And I got to do it.

So it was a lot of fun.

(lush music) ♪ And so ♪ With deep humility ♪ I stand in front of you ♪ I'm proud to play The Palace ♪ It's like a dream come true ♪ That is why I'd like to shout it up and down ♪ ♪ Just to tell Broadway ♪ That the two-a-day ♪ Is back in town (lush music continues) (audience applauding) (applause fades out)