Hard Hats Required
Last Thursday, I got to go on a tour of the new Perelman Arts Center through Harvardwood. Donning hard hats and high visibility vests, we were led around by artistic director Bill Rauch.
The building is covered in thin slices of marble, so it feels like you’re inside a giant seashell. Built on the World Trade Center site, its investors include Ronald Perelman, Mike Bloomberg, and David Geffen. The lobby, which features a small stage, will be totally open to the public, with a restaurant by Marcus Samuelson.
The theaters, with walls that can come up or down, allow for multiple configurations. The smallest, which is covered in walnut panels, supposedly imitating the sound of a clearing in the woods, is for intimate performances. (The seats, I’m happy to report, were extremely comfortable, with cushy velvet armrests.) The largest theater — named like Lincoln Center’s, after Geffen — has options for in-the-round seating, and steep or shallow rakes.
The upcoming season — which Rauch said will include five concerts on the theme of refuge, and a concert in which a grand piano is lowered onstage — will be announced mid-June.