New Victory Theater

Profile

In the 1970’s it was a XXX-movie house, and the location for one notorious scene in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Overhauled during Rudy Giuliani’s 42nd Street crackdown in 1995, the theater’s 499-seat auditorium now has seats upholstered with handsome melon-green fabric adorned with images of bees (a pun on former theater owner David Belasco’s last initial). Overhead, sitting astride the rim of the auditorium’s domed ceiling, are eight pairs of chubby-legged golden putti. Attending a performance in the theater, with its ornate woodwork and velveteen atmosphere, is like being invited to the sumptuous private playhouse of an early 20th century swell (incongruous for a place that's so tyke-friendly). While the emphasis is on family programming, not all works presented here are appropriate for very young children. — Eric V. Copage