Jazz at Lincoln Center – Rose Theater

Large theater with box seats and two levels, who knew this was above Columbus Circle? The design is fascinating and the music and other pieces are great — but sit too close and you’re really in for a neck-​twisting affair. Get seats further back in the middle to avoid this problem.
Seat AA8 in the front row was very uncomfortable, and these orchestra seating chairs reminded me of school children sizes. My colleagues were big guys, and they were overflowing in their seats, and knees not comfortable. Not really designed for anyone bigger than 5’10″, I think.
Performances — top notch. Seating — meh. Acoustics — good, though had better (I suspect my seat made a difference too close to the stage).

I went to see Wayne Shorter and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra here recently… what a great show in an equally great auditorium! Ticket prices were reasonable for the balcony and I had great sight lines of the stage from that seating. There is a small bar on the 6^th floor as well as a nice photography exhibit of the orchestra members done as large-​format Polaroids. Had never been here before but will certainly be back. Here is a review of the show in the NYT

The venue is beautiful and the opera we saw was absolutely divine!
Unfortunately the manager of this venue is unprofessional and very unfriendly.
My friend and me spend over $ 80 for this charity event which was stunning, and of course high standard.
The event had champagne reception from 6.30pm — 7pm. We arrived 6.45pm and walked to the bar but sadly we received a very unpleasant welcome from the manager: «the bar is shut, make your way over there!»
NOT: excuse me Ladies … Like everyone else would say… No this manager from the Rose hall was a disgrace his arrogant rude manners really stressed us and made us feel uncomfortable.
We replied, the reception is to 7pm and it is 6.45 pm only, can we have at least a glass of water, please?” He answered:“get out of this area the bar is shut!“
We said to ourselves WOW: «Low standards in high places! Shocking!»
However we then cued to go inside the theater and luckily the mesmerising performance of the first singer was incredible, he was singing like an angel and swept away all the rudeness and negativity from this awful manager.
Tip:
When you go to see a show at the Rose Hall do not expect any gracious welcome from the manager as he is certainly lacking in etiquette.

Beautiful venue. Seating all around the stage. I had seats all the way in the back, in front of the stage, but acoustics was still very good. Comfy seats and lots of leg room for the taller set ;) Saw/​heard Wynton and his band and they were great. This is an auditorium seating venue unlike Dizzy’s Club. No food or drinks in here. Beautiful lighting too. Just wondering, why is it called Jazz at Lincoln Center, when its actually located in the Time Warner Center? and Lincoln Center is blocks away…

I love it. The location, the shopping, the mix of natives/​locals and tourists, the culture, the beauty, the grit, the history, the artists: quintessential NY, NY for those who aren’t natives/​locals.

Rose Theater is a gorgeous venue. The lighting, the sound quality, the seat spacing and views were all top notch. Everything is brand new and very clean. We were happily surprised by how intimate the theater was and the wonderful raised seat in our row (near the end of the alphabet). I felt as if the singer was singing to me from a few feet away.
Outside the theater, the lines for refreshments and drinks move quickly. You can bring your drinks back in the theater. The crowd is a really interesting mix of people, all ages, races and backgrounds.

I camere here to watch Esperanza Spalding, who has not won one, but FOUR grammy awards. I repeat that, FOUR GRAMMY AWARDS.
We had box seats, which are much more spacious than the orchestra seats. The venue is beautiful. Just simply amazing. Words can’t describe it– just look at my pictures. No matter where you sit– orchestra, mezzanine, balcony etc, you will have a great view of the performers. The acoustics are great too.
There was an opening act, she was an awesome jazz singer. I really enjoyed myself. Then there was a 20 min intermission. Make sure you walk around and enjoy the fantastic view of the fountains of Columbus Circle. You can also see Central Park. I really love this place. You can get alcohol, coffee/​tea, snack platters outside the theatre.
Make sure you go early to to to the concert because it does take a bit of time to transport everyone up to the 5^th/​6^th floor by elevator. If you go early, get a drink in Stone Rose Lounge!

Amazing acoustics. We were in what should have been acoustic wasteland (6^th row) and it was still incredible. Definitely a different sort of crowd than you’d see at The Stone (hell, most people in the hall have probably never heard of The Stone) but I’d probably pay to go in there to hear crickets chirp, the sound is so beautiful. I quite like the Time Warner building… you pop out of the subway and you’re practically inside. You can shop at Whole Foods after the show or drop a grand at Per Se on your way downstairs after the show. Views of the park are overwhelming. It’d be perfect if I didn’t hate Time Warner, but that’s purely an aside to this review.
Oh, and if you’re short on cash, you can hang out in the lobby and watch the performances on video most of the time.

Great venue, not as large as Avery Fischer but maybe similar to Alice Tully. I thought it was a great venue, acoustics were amazing and there doesn’t seem to be a bad seat in the house. Came here Tuesday night to see Le Nozze di Figaro and it was an incredible show and the venue definitely enhanced it.
The only drawback is that it’s a pain to get upstairs to the venue, you have to wait for elevators and if there’s a long line it’s a pain. Or you can opt to take the escalators all the way up but still a pain.
There aren’t enough bathrooms, the line was insane at intermission for the bathrooms.
Leaving was a hassle b/​c I opted to take the escalators down and it’s a much more circuitous route but I didn’t want to wait for the elevators.
But other than that, it’s a great venue and I’d definitely come back here to see some shows.

I’m not the biggest fan of jazz, but even I have to admit that this date night out was fun and enjoyable! I wanted to surprise my boyfriend with a pair of tickets to The Best of Blue Note Records special event, given his preference for jazz in general. The relaxed atmosphere was perfect for the evening, and the two performers/​emcees were spot on with their candid introductions to each piece. I especially loved how each musician received special accolades for their contribution to the overall set.
The space itself isn’t very special (hence the 4-​star review), but I felt it was fitting for the type of event. It wasn’t overbearing in any way, and allowed for the musicians to really play to the audience. It was refreshing to see people really enjoy their work and show respect for their fellow musicians. All in all, an unforgettable evening.

To paraphrase Pres Obama: The ‘70s called, and they want their customer service back.
The J.K. Rowling reading on October 16 was a debacle for the Rose Theater. The web site wrongly started selling tickets 12 hours ahead of time. The hall was therefore oversold. So they moved it to another theater.
But! No sign outside the original venue. No sign inside the venue. Ushers had no idea what we were talking about.
Quick! Get refunds from blasé box office staff. Then, run! To the David Koch theater 3 blocks away. Then, cool heels! while other box office finds you tickets at last second!
Whew!
But there’s more! Straw that breaks camel’s back: Only one refund went through!
Now! Every number called sends you to another number! Four today! Stuck in infinite loop! Being chased by Jimmy Carter and Donna Summer! Reconsidering bell bottoms! Send help!. ..

Worth noting– important note!– that this isn’t that close to the «Lincoln Center» stop on the subway. So if you are cutting it close on time, & you get out at Lincoln Center because, well duh, you think you are going to the Lincoln Center? You might have to sprint like six blocks. It… uh, happened to a friend of mine.

Beautiful space! The seats are super comfy and if you are lucky enough to get to sit in a back section, there is no issue with spacing. Acoustics are great and though the congestion is a bit rough getting out after the show, it was still amazing. Only wish is that you got a view of Columbus Circle and the city lights while watching the performance. Rose Hall room has no windows.

I came here for the Christmas edition, and it was a ton of fun. Wynton Marsalis and his group were definitely having fun, and there were some really great arrangements of otherwise classic Christmas songs.
I will say, though, that while the space is beautiful and the music quality is stellar, the seats are a bit too close together. That made full appreciation of the music a bit tough.

What a fantastic venue! I visited for the first time for the recent Cabaret Convention. It’s a large auditorium with three levels, but the design is conducive to the intimate feel needed for jazz and cabaret acts. There isn’t a bad seat in the house. The acoustics and sound system were top notch and the lighting was just right. It’s an ideal location for an elegant evening.

(If I’m not mistaken we are Unilocaling about the venue and not the performance.) I saw a recent jazz vocalist here. The Rose Theater was just right for the performance. The acoustics were great. The room is just the right size and laid out just in the right manner so that a larger audience (than the Allen Room) can still enjoy an intimate space with the artist.
Yeah, it’s a venue inside of a mall, but this is NYC and these are classy, understated spaces situated in an urban setting. It is no different than going to a designated building where you would pass by the same stores. (What time does the bus go back to Weehawken?)
If you get a chance, check out the box seats. Grouped in fours, the seats can be slightly moved to get a little more leg room or maybe to get a little closer to that special someone. Plus, being separated from the masses in the box gives you a chance to really zone out and delve deep into the performance.

I saw Temple of the Golden Pavilion here last night. Putting the poor adaptation of the Mishima classic aside, it was the most bizarre theater experience I’ve ever had.
First, the theatre is in a mall! My husband and I wandered around outside the Time Warner Center looking for any indication of «Rose Theater» as it said on our reservation. Nothing. We finally went into the mall and asked at the information desk — the ticket office is on the first floor and you take elevators up to the theater.
Not much to say about the hallway or waiting area, feels like you’re just in a mall movie theater.
Finally, the show. They started the performance while they were still seating people. Since the show was in Japanese, they had supertitles as is usual. In the first five minutes an irate woman got up and started yelling at the staff that she can’t read the supertitles. Instead of handling her outside immediately they chatter with her while the show is going on and everyone shushing them. After they took her out some staff came in and then started talking to each other inside the theater! WTF?
After that, the rest of the show went fine. Of course I can’t fault Lincoln Center for the quality of the performance, but since there was no curtain there was a lot of confusion over whether the show was finished. The applause was over before I realized I should clap.

Even ignoramuses know enough to associate jazz with classiness. But this venue takes jazz AND class whole different plane. Not only is the place classy (occupying its own floor in a glassy Mid-​Town tower weighted with luxury shops and boutiques), it is intimate and very real, and makes it possible to enjoy the height of musical sophistication without a hint of pretense or exclusion. In short, the Rose Theater represents The Lincoln Center at its best; preserving high arts & culture in this anything-​goes city.
Of course, it helps that I saw Roy Haynes here — and I will not pretend that I knew very much about him before my drummer friend invited me to this event. Though a musically trained person who has been known to enjoy jazz in an ambient sort of way, I am not as technically literate as I should be in the craft. Going into this show, I felt inadequate; that I was not in the same fold as hard core jazz connoiseurs who can scat sing and use basting brushes on cymbals and therefore scarcely deserved to see one of the known jazz masters of all time.
Whether my insecurities had any basis or not, nothing prevented me from enjoying every beat of this show. After reaching the third tier of the building via escalator, we saw that the show had begun, and was being broadcast on small TVs out in the lobby. In our excitement to get inside, we slammed $ 9 Jack and Cokes at the concession stand and were led by kind ushers to balcony seats. I felt like we had the best seats in the house, right at the edge of the rail and boxed in for a bit of seclusion. The minimalist stage accentuated the positioning and the interaction of the performers, and made them appear quite like the bands that people used to imagine in their heads when the radio first came out and naïve America actually believed that little people were inside the machine producing the delightful sounds that flowed out of the speakers. What radiated from the acoustics at the concert indeed sounded radio ready (and I mean that in a laudatory and not derogatory way, despite the shitty quality of mainstream radio music nowadays). I felt like I was watching one of those televised BBC special recording sessions of the ‘60s, when they actually let a few lucky mofos watch Hendrix or Led Zeppelin record a concert front to back.
Looking around, I realized that everyone had the best seat in the house, too. They knew it, and no one was taking it for granted. The self-​conscious whispering and forceful edifying that happens at other special music venues was deliciously absent here, and any other transgression (videotaping, placing a program on a precarious part of the railings), was gently stymied by the vigilant but unobtrusive ushers.
The crowd definitely knew its stuff, too. When Haynes spontaneously started clapping his drumsticks together in a complicated rhythm, the entire audience followed suit, and was actually on the mark [UNlike during figure skating competitions, when the masses begin clapping off the beat and at different times]. The effect was dazzling. Refreshing. Relieving. Awesome. As intended.
At intermission, the house served free champagne, and offered accompaniment by a young and unknown, but not inferior jazz quartet. Nothing felt crowded or aggressive about the bathroom line or the groups stepping up for their complementary tiny bubbles. What an Oasis in Mid-​Town!
Legendary jazz purist and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center Wynton Marsalis emerged for the second half. The imrprovisations shared democratically by all the musicians in this set actually created visions in my bubbly-​infused mind, and pitched everyone into a euphoric state — perfect for feeling the full impact of the 85-​year-​old Haynes’s earnest speech. Giving everyone chills, this energetic man, born in 1925 (!!!) talked about how he used to walk around the same area before the Lincoln Center even existed, and how he could never have conceived of the greatness, pride, and joy he felt that night, still doing what he loved for us all.
In this place, I was able to visit a different place, time, and even world… one that felt fashioned with care and deliberation. A part of me is afraid to come here again, lest the crystalline perfection of my first experience be somehow marred. It wouldn’t take much, because this place was pretty damn perfect last Saturday night, leaving nothing to be added or taken away, but suspended in perfect symbiosis with aural space.