Tarrytown Music Hall - Tarrytown, NY

A NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK



The Tarrytown Music Hall was built in 1885 by William L. Wallace, a local chocolate manufacturer who had the idea to build a theatre in the heart of Tarrytown, NY. Designed by Phillip Edmunds, Wallace's "Music Hall" is now one of the oldest, legitimate, standing theatres in Westchester County. The exterior decoration of the Music Hall is also considered one of the finest examples of Queen Anne decorative brickwork in the region.



The theatre opened on December 12, 1885. In 1901, the theatre became one of the first to show silent films. When the Music Hall was sold to Mary Newman in 1903, vaudeville was a popular evening's entertainment for local patrons.



SAVED FROM THE WRECKING BALL!



In the late 1970s, a proposal to tear down the Music Hall and build a public parking lot were presented to the Village. On February 14, 1980, The Friends of the Mozartina, a small non-profit, educational, and cultural organization made up of local citizens rescued the theatre with the purpose of preserving the historic building and establishing a center for the performing arts.



Today, The Music Hall is a fully operating 840-seat theatre used for concerts, plays, musicals, operas, dance performances, and recordings. Performances are given for schools and the general public. Concertgoers have always been treated to a wonderful experience as the Music Hall has world-famous acoustics. During his 1997 concert, Tony Bennett put his microphone down and told the audience that he didn't need it in the theatre.



Alan Silver, President of In Sync Laboratories Inc., wrote of the Music Hall: "Of other great halls I have recorded in only the Mozartsaal and the large hall of the Musikverein, both in Vienna, and Carnegie Hall in New York City have had equivalent qualities of reverberation and clarity."



Fifty recordings have been made in The Music Hall since 1980. The Music Hall has also been the site of several films and commercials including The Preacher's Wife starring Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington, The Impostors starring Stanley Tucci and Oliver Platt, The Secret Lives of Dentists starring Campbell Scott, and Mona Lisa Smile starring Julia Roberts.



Over the years, many famous visitors have come to the Music Hall. President Roosevelt, President Taft, and President Woodrow Wilson all made special appearances in The Music Hall. Probably one of the most popular visitors to the theatre was Mae West. In 1986 Ginger Rogers directed Babes in Arms, which was a delight for the audience. Notable artists and groups who have performed and/or recorded in the Music Hall since 1980 are Christine Andreas, Joan Baez, Tony Bennett, Dave Brubeck, Meg Bussert, Liz Callaway, Tom Chapin, Judy Collins, Alex Fox, Dizzy Gillespie, Nanci Griffith, Lionel Hampton, The Hubbard Street Dance Co., Kim Hunter, Christine Lavin, Lyle Lovett, Wynton Marsalis, Tom Paxton, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Tito Puente, Leon Redbone, Chita Rivera, Sonny Rollins, Diane Schuur, Martin Sexton, Bruce Springsteen, Gwen Verdon, and Karen Ziemba to name a few.



Artists are booked months in advance. We are looking for signed, national, and international acts. All genres are accepted although we prefer rock, adult rock, progressive rock, contemporary, new age, pop, contemporary, jazz, fusion, folk, etc.



We have a $100,000, tuned, state-of-the-art Meyer Sound System.