Apollo New Works Preview

Thursday, October 14 at 7:30pm ET

Location: Digital Stage

Tickets: Free with RSVP

Learn More

Apollo New Works is a groundbreaking series of commissions dedicated to the creation of a diverse, 21st century American performing arts canon. With a focus on the African American and African diasporic narrative, the commissioning initiative provides audiences access to some of the new works while in process and allows artists to respond to and be inspired by Harlem, the Apollo, and its communities.

This dynamic evening of performance and conversation on the digital stage provides an inside look at the creative processes behind some of the inaugural Apollo New Works commissions, which will premiere during the opening of the Victoria Theaters. Among the engaging participants are artist and historian Kamau Ware and his immersive Black Gotham Experience, three playwrights from The New Black Play Fest, New York-based multimedia group Soul Science Lab, and New York City- based scholar, playwright, and director Talvin Wilks.

Leadership support for the Apollo New Works initiative is provided by the Ford Foundation. The New Black Fest is funded by the HBO Fund for Theater, The Black Seed and is also supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Commissioning support for Soul Science Lab is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts.

Apollo Teen Takeover 2021 – What’s Next?

Friday, October 15 at 8pm ET

Location: Digital Stage

Tickets: Free with RSVP

Learn More

The Apollo has long served as a launchpad for many legendary artists, showcasing their unique artistry on our historic stage. Created by participants in the Apollo Theater Academy’s High School Internship Program, Teen Takeover is a celebration of art and culture developed by the next generation of inspiring young artists and administrators in a variety of artistic disciplines.

During the pandemic, young creatives have been sharing their talents and embracing new artistic practices while cultivating new audiences across social media platforms. Curated by the creative youth, Apollo Teen Takeover 2021 picks up as we emerge from quarantine to showcase the newly acquired skills of these artists and influencers on the digital stage in an inspiring evolution of Gen Z creativity.

Teen Takeover is a part of the Apollo’s Pathway to Careers in the Arts which is generously supported by Steve and Connie Ballmer, Disney, Fund II, the Hearst Foundations, the Ellis L. Phillips Foundation, The Pinkerton Foundation, The Neuberger Berman Foundation, and the Verizon Foundation.

Jamie Foxx: Act Like You Got Some Sense Book Tour

Saturday, October 16 at 8pm ET

Location: Apollo's Historic Theater

Tickets: Start at $49.50

Learn More

Moderated by: Nick Cannon

Every ticket includes a signed copy of Jamie's memoir ACT LIKE YOU GOT SOME SENSE. Books will be distributed at the show.

ImageNation’s Cocktails and Sōl Cinema – Devil’s Pie: D’Angelo

Thursday, November 4 at 7pm ET

Location: Digital Stage

Tickets: $7 ($5 for A-List subscribers)

Buy Tickets

“Equal parts Marvin Gaye and LL Cool J, the consummate musician, and the coolest guy in the room” (Pitchfork), D’Angelo took the music world by storm with his exceptional musical prowess and virtuosic artistry. But behind platinum selling albums, multiple Grammy Awards, and sold-out world tours was a soul singer who descended into darkness and left the public eye as a result of the pressures of success, only to return out of nowhere with a landmark soundtrack of his lost years.

Step into the world of this musical icon and former Amateur Night at the Apollo winner in this digital stage presentation of the acclaimed documentary Devil’s Pie: D’Angelo. Following the screening, there will be a conversation with Imagenation’s founder Moikgantsi Kgamaand the film’s director Carine Bijlsma.

NY Comedy Festival Presents Smart Funny & Black Live

Friday, November 12 at 7pm ET

Location: Apollo's Historic Theater

Tickets: $39 - $81

Buy Tickets

Smart Funny & Black, created by comedian/actress/producer, Amanda Seales (HBO Insecure) brings your favorite funny folks to the “Hall of Flava,” to compete, in a head to head battle of wits that tests their knowledge of black history, black culture, and the black experience.  After a night of fun as hell games, flanked by a live band, and a turnt up audience, each show ends with one guest, literally, taking the “L”, the other, taking the crown, and being inducted into the, “Illustrious League of Master Blacksperts”.

For The Record Presents:
Shoshana Bean Sing Your Hallelujah

Monday, December 13 at 7:30pm ET

Location: Apollo's Historic Theater

Tickets: Start at $52.50

Buy Tickets

In 2018 and 2019, Broadway star and Billboard #1 recording artist Shoshana Bean began a holiday tradition with her acclaimed, sold out ​shows at ​the ​Apollo. ​In 2020, Shoshana filmed a ​documentary ​concert event at our legendary theater entitled ​​Sing Your Hallelujah​. This December, she returns to perform that concert live. ​

Sing Your Hallelujah​​ captures the spirit of connection, reflection and joy. With fresh interpretations of holiday classics and appearances by very special guests, this year’s concert honors the nostalgia and comfort of tradition while embracing new reasons to sing! Produced by For the Record Live ​

Kwanzaa: A Regeneration Celebration

Sunday, December 26 at 7pm ET

Location: Digital Stage

Tickets: Pay What You Wish

Buy Tickets

An Apollo tradition for more than 15 years, the annual Kwanzaa Celebration returns to bring together families and to create and build communities in an uplifting evening of celebration and reflection. ​

Featuring the Forces of Nature Dance Theatre under the leadership of Abdel Salaam and hosted by Imhotep Gary Byrd, the 2021 edition of the Kwanzaa Celebration on the Apollo Digital Stage features traditions from across the country in a powerful evening of music, percussion, and modern and African dance. This powerful evening of intergenerational festivities allows audiences to celebrate the holiday season with moments of unity, self-determination, sharing, and giving back to local communities. ​

Coca-Cola is the lead sponsor of the Apollo’s annual Kwanzaa Celebration. Additional support for the Apollo’s 2021 Kwanzaa Celebration is provided by Citi.

Uptown Hall: MLK Activism, Athletics, and the Arts

Sunday, January 9 at 3pm ET

Location: Apollo Historic Theater and Digital Stage

Tickets: Free tickets will be available on Jan, 3 2022. RSVP now event reminders and receive a notification as soon as tickets are released.

RSVP

For more than eight decades, the Apollo has served as a gathering place and convener for local community residents as well as people from across New York City. That tradition continues as the Apollo partners with WNYC in an annual celebration of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in collaboration with the March on Washington Film Festival.

Hosted by various WNYC radio hosts, this commemorative and uplifting event brings together scholars, cultural and community leaders, and activists to engage in conversations and performance exploring Dr. King’s legacy and how his work is continued today. This year’s though-provoking discussion focuses on the long-standing connection between activism, artistry, and athletics and how the struggle for social justice affected influencers from the likes of Nina Simone and Muhammad Ali to John Legend and Colin Kaepernick, and how they in turn affected the struggle for social justice.

Spring 2022 First Look

Please stay tuned for our full Spring schedule. Join the A-List to receive our updates and announcements.

Amateur Night at the Apollo

Returns Wednesday, February 16, 2022! Check out our calendar for the full schedule for Amateur Night at the Apollo.

Location: Apollo's Historic Theater

Tickets: Start at $25 (including a $3.50 facility fee)

Buy Tickets

Known as one of America’s most popular live entertainment experiences, Amateur Night at the Apollo attracts performers and audiences from around the world in a classic talent competition that has launched the careers of countless legendary artists, from Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, and Stevie Wonder to Lauryn Hill, H.E.R., and Machine Gun Kelly.

After nearly two years of being dark, the classic competition returns to shed light on the careers of a whole new roster of stars. Be a part of the notoriously “tough” audience in an interactive evening unlike any other, and lend your voice to decide who will “be good or be gone” to win the triumphant $20,000 grand prize.

Coca-Cola is the lead sponsor of Amateur Night at the Apollo

The Gathering: A Collective Sonic Ring Shout

Saturday, May 7, 2022 at 8pm ET

Location: Apollo's Historic Theater

Tickets: Start at $20 (including a $3.50 facility fee)

Buy Tickets

First practiced by enslaved Africans in the West Indies and in the United States, a Shout (or Ring Shout) is an ecstatic, transcendent religious ritual in which worshipers move in a circle while shuffling, stomping, and clapping to open a space to collectively grieve, awaken joy as a source of liberation, and find love as a form of resistance.

This new evening-length work, co-commissioned by the Apollo, brings the ancestral tradition of the Ring Shout into a contemporary context, taking audiences on a sonic quest rooted in the ritual tradition with a diverse array of contemporary multidisciplinary artists. Anchored by an 80-member orchestra and a 50-voice choir composed of both professional and amateur singers from multiple African American churches and choral ensembles in New York, this not-to-be-missed event features new musical works including New York premieres by Carlos Simon and Joel Thompson paired with new commissions from Toshi Reagon, Jason Michael Webb, and Lelund Thompson created to honor our present need for a collective space of remembrance.

The Gathering: A Collective Sonic Ring Shout is generously supported by Art for Justice and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, with additional funding from JPMorgan Chase.