all photos: Jeff Martin
DC’s most talked about new venue is also one of DC’s most talked about OLD venues. If, over the last few years/decades, you’ve spent any time in the general Shaw/U Street area (and lets face it, you’re reading BYT right now so chances are you’ve spent PLENTY of time in the general Shaw/U Street area) you’ve at least once walked/biked/driven past the space on 7th Street NW and lamented how it is a shame that this theatre is resting there unused.
Now, starting Monday, the long wait is over. The stage where Ella Fitzgerald got her feet wet in an amateur singing contest, the Supremes played their very first show and Duke Ellington is a regular is back in action, with a $29 million facelift and everyone from Wale to Bad Brains to The Roots to Esperanza Spalding to some awesome BYT parties booked there in the upcoming months.
And if that information in and of itself is not enough to get you excited, the state of the arts facilities inside will. Covered top to bottom in walnut, with a space flexible enough for both seated and standing shows, the space looks like a cross between a supper club on the balcony level (celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson is in executive charge of the menu) and a more spacious/more fancy/more everything jazz club for the new millennium.
Plenty to look forward to.
For full schedule and details of upcoming shows go to: http://www.howardtheatre.org/home.html
