The Laurie Beechman Theatre is a 90 seat cabaret-style venue designed by world-renowned designer David Rockwell. The theatre is located on the lower level of the legendary West Bank Cafe on W 42nd St and features a full bar and dinner menu.
Laurie Beechman was a luminous talent whose powerful voice and commanding stage presence left an indelible mark on Broadway. She made her debut as the Star to Be in the original production of Annie, and went on to captivate audiences by creating the role of the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Tony nom) and starring in Cats, Les Misérables, and The Pirates of Penzance, earning a place among Broadway’s most beloved leading ladies.
The venue’s history stretches back to 1978, when the West Bank Cafe reshaped it’s basement into the Downstairs Theatre Bar. Under the artistic direction of comedian Lewis Black, it quickly became a hub for emerging artists, producing hundreds of readings, workshops, and full productions. At midnight on Saturday nights, the legendary Free Show, hosted by composer and music director Rusy Magee, brought to the stage an array of performers and misfits, cementing the West Bank Café as the place to be for young theater artists. The stage was a proving ground for future stars: an undiscovered Tony Shalhoub, Holly Hunter, Mary Testa, and Mark Linn-Baker honed their craft here. It was where Aaron Sorkin developed his first two plays—his debut starring an unknown Nathan Lane. Warren Leight’s Side Man was first workshopped on our stage, with Edie Falco in the cast. Act One remained unchanged from our stage to its Tony-winning Broadway run! Being across the street from Playwrights Horizons, when Sunday in the Park with George needed more rehearsal space, Stephen Sondheim brought over Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin, teaching them Finishing the Hat for the first time at our piano. In the venue’s first fourteen years, more than 1,500 one-act plays were produced, most were terrible, some were legendary, and it immortalized the WBC’s reputation as a hub for the theater community.
As a friend of The West Bank Cafe, when Laurie’s life was tragically cut short by ovarian cancer, she feared she would be forgotten. To honor her legacy, WBC owner Steve Olsen renamed his storied downstairs theatre in her memory—ensuring that her name, like her voice, would forever resonate.
In the 00s, as the Laurie Beechman Theatre, the venue became a home for cabaret, comedy, music, and groundbreaking performances. Joan Rivers made it her creative home, performing over 200 sets—including her last—on our stage. Billboard royalty like Pete Townshend and The Who played four intimate concerts in the space, Cyndi Lauper performed alongside the cast of Kinky Boots, and a young Ariana Grande sang at one of our legendary open mic nights. When RuPaul’s Drag Race exploded in 2009, The Beechman became the place to catch these rising stars, with Jinkx Monsoon enjoying a two-year sold-out residency. The venue also provided a rare, intimate setting for Broadway icons such as André De Shields, Patti LuPone, Alice Ripley, Donna McKechnie, and more. It was here that composers like Joe Iconis and Pulitzer Prize winner Michael R. Jackson found their voices and honed their styles. The list of milestones goes on and on…
Now, as we embark on a new era, we honor this rich legacy by continuing to foster artistic exploration. We are committed to eclectic programming that reflects the breadth of the theatre’s history—embracing everything from play development to cabaret, burlesque, drag, stand-up, and open mics. This is a space where artists come to create, explore, and shine.
Just as Laurie Beechman once declared herself the Star to Be, we look forward to welcoming the next generation of stars to our stage.
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