Kings Theatre Celebrates 90th Anniversary!
FLATBUSH – Saturday, September 7 marked the 90th anniversary of Brooklyn’s majestic Kings Theatre and the historic venue celebrated with performances by a couple of popular indie bands, a Happy Hour Tour, and an expansion.
Opened in 1929 as the Loew’s Kings Theatre—one of the largest cinemas built in the U.S.—the former movie theatre previously accommodated 3,000 audience members. Last month, installation of a special seating system was completed at the theatre to allow for the easy removal of rows in the orchestra section to accommodate 1,000 general admission patrons. Fans filled up the new pit area at the Phantogram show on September 5 and The Ranconteurs on September 7.
Along with the additional space inside the theatre, this past August Kings launched a series of intimate performances in the lobby space, starting with a comedy night featuring local comic Ray Dejon with Smokey Suarez and Timmy Hall. The new lounge area has capacity for 200 seated guests or 400 general admission standing guests, according to Sarah Weiss, the Director of Marketing for Kings Theatre. The next event presented in the lounge will feature a performance by Khalil Kain & the True Groove All Stars on Thursday, September 26.
Last year, Kings debuted the courtyard space adjacent to the theatre to host community events and to provide a place for patrons to gather before shows, replete with local food and beverage vendors.
Along with its usual eclectic programming in the coming weeks—including a Pyer Moss fashion show, authors Malcolm Gladwell and Ta-Nehisi Coates discussing their new books, comedian Eric Andre’s Legalize Everything Tour, and Finding Ashley Stewart 2019 featuring Salt “N” Pepa, Faith Evans, and Kid Capri—Kings Theatre will return to its roots and present several film events this fall, Weiss said.
Movie events include two nights of Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live on September 19 and 20 and screenings of Napoleon Dynamite and Blair Witch Project with Q&As with the actors in October.
For the holiday season, the theatre will present the Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker, The Brooklyn Nutcracker, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer the Musical in December.
If you missed the Happy Hour Tour last week, you will have two more chances to explore the lavish Kings Theatre’s on Saturday, September 21 and Saturday, September 28.
Business for the original Loew’s Kings Theatre steadily declined from the 1950s through the mid-70s before it was eventually shut down. The venue was reopened by an independent operator as the Kings Theatre in June 1977, but closed again after just six weeks, according to cinematreasures.org. After various plans for the venue fell through over the years—including talks of demolishing the building, transforming it into a shopping mall, or converting it into the 12-screen Magic Johnson Theatre—the revitalized Kings Theatre finally reopened in February 2015 with a sold-out performance by Diana Ross.
Learn more about Kings Theatre and see the full Fall 2019 schedule at kingstheatre.com.
Kings Theatre
1027 Flatbush Avenue (between Tilden Avenue & Duryea Place), Flatbush