Lena Horne Theatre is reportedly set to be unveiled on Broadway during a special block party in November.
According to Deadline, The Nederlander Organization announced that Brooks Atkinson Theatre will officially become the Lena Horne Theatre on Nov. 1. There will be a special star-studded event on 47th Street in NYC that day, which will include “special performances, remarks, an unveiling of the new marquee and a DJ’d block party.”
“By renaming this theatre, new generations of theatergoers will be introduced to the legendary Lena Horne,” The Nederlander Organization said in a statement. The renaming ceremony was reportedly co-produced by Vice President of Production and Touring at Nederlander Christina Selby and Touring Operations Associate Jacquelyn Bell.
“[She was] an entertainer who broke barriers for other Black women to follow in her footsteps, and through this recognition will continue to inspire future generations of theatergoers.”
The late award-winning entertainer and civil rights activist is reportedly the first Black woman to have a Broadway theatre named after her. Lena Horne Theatre’s unveiling will reportedly have “legendary stars and luminaries from the Broadway and entertainment communities” participating. The special event will follow through on a pledge by various Broadway theater owners in 2020 to rename one of their venues after Black theater artists. In September, Cort Theatre–also in Midtown Manhattan–was officially renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre.
Horne was born on June 30, 1917, in the historically Black enclave of Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. She was the first Black woman nominated for a Tony Award for Leading Actress in a Musical for her performance in Jamaica (1975). In 1981, she starred on Broadway in Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, which played at the Nederlander Theatre. Horne received a special Tony Award for the show and two Grammy Awards for the cast recording, among her other trailblazing accomplishments.
In 2010, she passed away from congestive heart failure.
