01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The Apollo Theater's Home, 108 Years Old, Gets a Refresh
Good morning. It's Tuesday. Today we'll get details on a $65 million renovation of the Apollo Theater in Harlem. We'll also find out why public defenders from the Legal Aid Society are threatening to strike.
Neverson Cadesca, a singer who performs under the name Nev, figures in a footnote about the storied Apollo Theater in Harlem. He was the last performer at the last Amateur Night before the Apollo closed for a $65 million renovation. It won't reopen until sometime next year.
How did his set go? 'Performing-wise, I felt really good,' he said later. He wasn't booed off the stage by a crowd that was as raucous as Amateur Night crowds always are. But he didn't win, either. The $20,000 prize went to Emanuel Garilus, a saxophonist from Gainesville, Fla. Even Cadesca was impressed. 'I want to play with that guy,' he said.
'Be good or be gone' has long been the slogan of Amateur Night, the competition that propelled careers long before 'American Idol' came along. It started in 1934 and eventually gave rise to the television program 'Showtime at the Apollo.' Over the years Ella Fitzgerald, the Jackson Five, James Brown and Stevie Wonder all survived Amateur Night. So did Luther Vandross, although he was booed off a couple of times before he won.
But now Amateur Night itself will be gone — except perhaps for a special or two — while the Apollo is reconfiguring seats, removing a wall or two and repainting nearly everything.
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