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A CHANGE IS GONNA COME (Clockwise from top) In 2004, Takahiro hon­ ors the venue's good-luck charm, the Tree of Hope, at the Amateur Night Super Top Dog Finals; the revamped seats; the Tree of Hope, a stump dat­ ing to around 1934 and which was once located at 131st St. and Seventh Ave., known then as "The Boulevard of Dreams" because of its theaters; the new marquee; Capone, who will host Amateur Night this Wednesday. ------

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hough the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty come in just ahead of it, the .A:pollo Theater is still one of 's most popular tourist sites and a national landmark - so it's time 's grand shrine of rhythm and blues got an extreme makeover.

The perfonnance space reopens Wednes· 'We replaced all the seats, [but] they're day after a summer hiatus with the return of still a replica of the original ones," says a 72-year-old tradition, Amateur Night Procope. 'We've completely redone the aUhe Apollo (now hosted by Capone), stage, as well as our greenroom, which a welcome by New York Congressman will make it better for cocktail parties and and a perfonnance by hip­ other pre-concert events." hop. yiolinists - and previous Amateur Upcoming shows include Dionne War­ Night winners - Nuttin But Stringz. wick's return to the Apollo on Sept. 21 af­ Despite all the ambi- The theater, built in 1914, was in need of ter many years, the solo debut of "Ameri­ tious plans, it's impossible to more than just a quick touchup, says tour can Idol" winner Fantasia Barrino on Sept. forget the history of the place. <14.' Ii,stor and longtime Apollo mainstay 22 and Queen Latifah on Nov. 11 . And "When they cut up the stage, I was in Biil!YiMitchell. a new batch of shows for the syndicat- tears," admits the 56-year-old Mitchell, ''When people walk past, they see the ed series "Showtime at the Apollo" (which who tells stories about everything from new marquee," says Mitchell, who began launched in 1987) will tape at the end of his grandparents seeing the debut of Ella working at the Apollo when he was a kid September. Fitzgerald to the night comedian Bill running errands for starS like Redd Foxx, Sometime in the next two years, the Maher asked for the air conditioning to Ray Charles and Moms Mabrey. theater will briefly shut down again for be turned off and the crowd sweated and "Inside, the audience will see plasma more interior restoration. But even during drank and laughed like crazy. screens on the walls, a brand-new stage, that work, the Apollo will forge ahead with "I was crying when they tore up that new seating and new stairs. We've taken plans to raise money for an endowment floor - I know all the greats that have per­ a beating from fans for the way the place (it's a nonprofit organization), continue fonned on that stage," Mitchell says. "I had looked in the past. Now, when one comes the recently launched internship program the construction guys give me a piece of it. to the , they say, 'My God, for high school students, and prepare for I'm going to have it framed. look at this place.' " its annual fund-raisers as well as a 75th­ "The rest of it was thrown away. People [t's the latest step in a multiyear, top­ anniversary celebration that will last from have come in and said, 'You could have put to-bottom revamping of the Apollo, July 2009 through the end of 2010. that on eBay.' " • where "Amateur Night" has reigned every Wednesday since 1934. Certainly e¥€lyone has noliced rhe new marquee. But preBident an.d REFLECTIONS Among the CEO Janelle Procope sayS the thousands of performers c f.Mes are the most signifi- to shake, rattle and roll fSince the Apollo's doors on the Apollo's storied ,~ e reopened in 1981 by stage are James Brown fl' 'I Sutton, the business­ (above), Diana Ross and and one-time Manhattan the Supremes (left) and ugh president. then-Little Stevie Wonder (below). The Apollo back in the day (1.1, advertising a show by Otis Redding and the Marvellettes, among others, on its old 125th St. marquee.

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