In a city full of historic theatres, New World Stages sets itself apart. Bold colors and dramatic lighting mark it as a new space, distinctly contemporary in its design.
But what’s so interesting about New World Stages is not its unabashed modernity; it is the history it pays tribute to. You see, New World Stages was originally built as a multiplex cinema. And, despite being renovated in the early 2000s, in many respects it still is. Except now the stories are alive.
The venue boasts six separate performance spaces, ranging from two large 499-seat theatres to a smartly repurposed, fully functional bar/performance space. This is what makes New World Stages unique: the comfort with which the former multiplex houses such a diverse array of shows.
Although you enter the New World Stages box office at street level, everything else is neatly housed underground, connected by a lobby and hall—nearly a block long, washed with colored lights, and adorned with caricaturist Ken Fallin’s artwork. But the spaces themselves house completely separate worlds.
On Stage 1, the Tony®-winning Jersey Boys follows the real-life story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and features many of the group’s biggest hits. The show feels particularly at home at New World Stages; the principal designer for the space, Klara Zielerova, was also the set designer of the show.
For a completely different experience, The Gazillion Bubble Show delights audience members of all ages with a surprising succession of soapy feats. Fan Yang and his family do more with bubbles than anyone would have thought possible when the show first opened over ten years ago. The Gazillion Bubble Show is a unique and magical experience.
Down the hall, there is a different type of magic brewing at Puffs: Or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic. As might be guessed from the title, Puffs is a playful and irreverent show following three would-be heroes, as they attend a famous wizarding school—in the shadow of a very familiar Chosen One.
If the previous three shows haven’t shown enough range, New World Stages houses yet another Tony Award®-winning musical. The long-running Avenue Q is a puppet show for grown-ups, complete with felt characters, laugh-out-loud jokes, and serious questions about adulting.
And finally The Imbible: A Spirited History of Drinking, playing in New World Stage’s bar-turned-performance-space, traces the 10,000 year history of alcohol consumption around the globe—complete with three complimentary cocktails!
But there is still one more space to fill. With that roster plus another show coming—to be announced later this month—it’s undeniable: New World Stages truly has something for everyone.