Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 123

Town Hall Foundation's Marvin Leffler seated and Lawrence Zucker survey the restored Manhattan concert hall which reopens today Goodman A renewed Town Hall opens Carlisle Hart chairman of the New York State Council on the Arts TOWN season includes subscription series by the St Chamber Ensemble and Orchestra the theater company the Dessoff Choirs and the Philhar-mnmia Virtuosi There also is the second year of the Symphony series a long-running low-cost set of concerts that once had been based at Town Hall but moved away for 12 years as the area deteriorated These series all are independently produced Town Hall itself produces a Select Debut series debut performances by promising young musicians Leffler said he hopes that eventually Town Hall will return to its eminence as a major hallj for debuts and for rentals Town Hall charges a rent of $3000 including ushers and other house services Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall costs $3800 and Carnegie Hall has a sliding scale of from $2400 to $4150 depending on day and time "I hope that Town Hall can be what it was 'in the past in service to the Leffler said "especially for those who cant afford high-priced He anticipated that tickets for most events would cost between $10 and $15 "And for emerging artists it could give people an opportunity who get into the more expensive halls or who want the smaller halls I nut us in competition with he said "This adds a place people will want to come The foundation also hopes to regain its former prominence in other fields in addition to music Besides lectures speakers of the past also included Winston Churchill and Booker Washington it was for a long time host to the "Town Meeting of the radio series broadcast over the NBC Blue Network Last spring during the presidential primary campaign a major debate among the seven Democratic contenders was held at Town HalL Leffler said he hopes to resume such discussions and lectures Two sets of radio and television negotiations are under way Whatever the outcome of those talks the hall itself is being reintroduced to New musical cultural life Town acoustics are fammia now the question is whether it can make a new place for itself II By Peter Goodman IS ALL of 90 feet from the rear wall of the balcony to the rear of the stage at Town Hall the distance from a mound to home plate That may be one or die reasons that in its 63 years of existence Town Hall has been known fer the warmth and intimacy of its acoustics For this relatively shallow but wide space holds 1500 seats more than any of other concert halls except Carnegie and Avery Fisher It's a hall that was designed for lectures it was built by the League for Political Education to'advance the cause of suffrage and those who spoke there included Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Mann But it became famous primarily as a music hall for its performances by musicians ranging from Andres Segovia to Joan Sutherland Town Hall was once the No 2 concert ball after Carnegie Its distinguished history is why Marvin Leffler and Lawrence Zucker are longing flirurnni to tha roramnniM today mnrlring the reopening of Town Hall after a $15 million renovation intended to restore the hall to its original appearance Leffler is the president of the Town Hall Foundation and Zucker is the ex-- ecutive director and this marks the capstone of their efforts to refurbish the building a McKim Mead and White landmark on West 43rd Street just off Times Square -Until 1978 when New York University which owned the building gave it to the foundation the ball had been suffering through a long slow deterioration The opening of TJnanln Center in the early 1960s and the decay of the Times Square area combined to eat away at the luster of a Town Hall performance The growth of Lincoln Center had forced even Carnegie Hall to undertake a rescue program when it looked as ifthat venerable hall was going to be torn down Town Hall slowly grew dingier and emptier But once it took over the foundation began to turn things around The ball itselfnow operates in the black Leffler said (its current annual budget is about $600000) and the foundation was able to raise the money needed for the restoration Over the past 2)4 months during which Town Hall has been dosed its seats have been rebuilt and recovered the walla and ceiling painted the lighting modernized The stage has been sanded and polished the facade has been washed The i I a (l MrfJ Jit U-i i building is as dose ps possible to its original 1920 condition "Our motto is "Town Hall the way it was and the way it will Leffler said last week after a tour of the hall During the renovation executive director Zucker recalled pasaersby would often stick their heads in the doom to watch "It was remarkable how many people would say they had gone here when they were 8 or 10 yearn he said "People over and over talked of their debuts The building was given landmark- status In 1980 which means that while it may be renewed it may not be changed The designation has meant for example that seats were restored rather than replaced with new ones £TT ANDMABKING requires the pres-II ervation of appearance and acoua- I 4 Leffler said And since the chairs roomy and soft covered with plush burgundy doth contribute to the special sound of the room they had to remain the same "We had them tested put them in an acoustic dumber measured the fiber be continued The coverings themselves were a little bit of guesswork: The seatcovers had been repaired so often that no one knew what was origins! and what was new Leffler said Concern for preservation went so far that the rear wall made of cement marked off in rectangles so that it looks like stone was coated with a preservative wash rather than painted which might have affected the acoustics he explained Now the hall glows warmly The gold-leaf edging on the balcony gleams softly in the light from the chandeliers the seats look rich and red From the stage the auditorium looks inviting neither glitteringly austere nor immense and intimidating The 43rd Street location which once had been a drawback is once again an advantage Leffler said: "We are in the hottest part of town right now There are new hotels going up and eventually Times Square is going to be refurbished And a convenient plaice to get events begin at 4 pm with "An Afternoon of Jerome a celebration of the 100th birthday produced by the New Amsterdam Theater Company an ensemble baaed at Town Hall Later there will be a dinner i awards ceremony honoring entertainer Kitty a I i i rr.