Laurie Beechman Theatre

The Laurie Beechman Theatre (formerly the West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theater Bar) is an 80-seat[1] dinner theater in the basement of the West Bank Cafe at 407 West 42nd Street in the Manhattan Plaza apartment complex in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City.

Laurie Beechman Theatre
Address407 West 42nd Street
LocationManhattan, New York City
Coordinates40°45′31″N 73°59′34″W
OwnerSteve Olsen
TypeCabaret
Capacity80
Opened1983
Website
www.westbankcafe.com/beechman_theatre.html
Interior of the Laurie Beechman Theatre prior to a show on October 9, 2014

The theater is named for Laurie Beechman, who was a Broadway singer/actor and cabaret performer.

History

The theater was opened in 1983 by the West Bank Cafe owner Steve Olsen. The cafe/theater is in Manhattan Plaza, which was specifically built to house people who are active in New York's theater scene. Bruce Willis was a bartender in the restaurant. Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and Sean Penn were regulars.[2]

Olsen experimented with the venue, offering it for jazz and cabaret. Lewis Black, Rand Foerster, and Rusty Magee proposed staging plays at what initially was called the West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theater Bar. Over the course of 14 years, Foerster was the Artistic Director, Black was the playwright in residence, and authored forty plays there, and Magee was the musical director. More than 1,500 one-act plays have been performed at the theater.[2]

Initially, the theater was strictly drinks only. However, it has evolved to include dinner before the show. Joan Rivers often performed there, as has Karen Finley.

On August 27, 2014, Joan Rivers gave her final performance at the theatre.[3] The following day, Rivers suffered a cardiac arrest resulting from complications during a procedure on her vocal cords, and died on September 4, 2014.

On Christmas day 2020, the Cafe ran a telethon to raise needed funds to stay open. Among the notable performers who appeared on the program were Matthew Broderick, Al Pacino, Betty Buckley, Nathan Lane, André De Shields, Marissa Mulder, Pete Townshend, and the Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. The telethon raised its target of $250,000 within the first ninety minutes of the show.[4][5]

See also

References
  1. "Open Table Profile". opentable.com. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
  2. "The West Bank Cafe". newyorkrestaurantinsider.com. July 2007. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
  3. "Joan Rivers Dead At 81, Daughter Melissa Says In Statement", CBS New York, September 4, 2014
  4. Harms, Talaura (25 December 2020). "Broadway Stars Come Together for Save West Bank Cafe Virtual Telethon December 25". Playbill. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  5. O'Brien, Phil (25 December 2020). "West Bank Cafe Christmas Day Telethon Blasts Through Fundraising Target in 90 minutes". W42ST. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
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