The Metropolitan Room, the Manhattan jazz cabaret that has hosted many Broadway stars in its 11 years of existence, is closing its doors at its longtime 34 West 22nd Street location in September, with plans to move into a bigger new midtown New York location in 2018.
Management is in final negotiations to move to an unspecified West 29th Street location near Penn Station/Madison Square Garden that will have more than double the seating capacity in two showrooms (which can be combined for bigger headliners), plus a restaurant and a piano bar.
The final performance at its longtime 110-seat 22nd Street home will be September 30. The club will then move its producing operations to temporary digs at the Triad on West 72nd Street. The new club is expected to open at a date TBA in early spring 2018, according to spokesperson Beck Lee. The current cabaret opened in 2006 on the site of the former Gotham Comedy Club.
Lee said the two main reasons for the move were to increase seating capacity and to relocate to a neighborhood with greater walk-up traffic.
“We're designing our future Metropolitan Room in midtown to be a bigger, better and more flexible venue,” said managing partner Bernie Furshpan, “but the extensive renovations will take several months to complete. Happily, when we bid farewell to our current home on September 30, the Metropolitan Room will partner with The Triad on West 72nd Street, sharing its venue until our new spot is ready to open. This will allow us to present most of our scheduled shows and continue to serve our longtime performers.”
The club will go out with a bang 9 PM September 24 through 9 PM September 25 when it stages 24-hour performance marathon featuring “scores” of its longtime headliners.
The club’s last bookings at 34 West 22nd Street will be on Saturday September 30 with a full evening of performances beginning at 4 PM. Click here for a complete schedule of remaining bookings.
Known as a launchpad for emerging talents in jazz and cabaret, as well as a showplace for established artists in the theatre, film, and television, The Metropolitan Room has recently hosted appearances by Ed Asner, Liz Callaway, Vivian Reed, Linda Lavin, Baby Jane Dexter, and Euan Morton. Sheryl Lee Ralph concluded a sold-out run at the room July 30. Nightclub legend Marilyn Maye chose The Metropolitan Room as the venue to relaunch her singing career after a 15-year hiatus.
Callaway has been a special guest performer on three of Playbill’s Broadway on the High Seas cruises. Cabins are available forBroadway on the Danube River with Michael Feinstein for November 3-13, 2017, also featuring Julia Murney, Christopher Fitzgerald, Marc Kudisch, Christopher Sieber, Brandon Uranowitz, and Rudetsky, as well as other exciting talent to be announced.
