The Tarrytown Music Hall is a brick structure in the Queen Anne architectural style that was built in the late nineteenth century to host concerts and other events. In 1980, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and it has remained there since. Just a short distance away from Armonk, NY, it is a great place to go for entertainment.
As the county’s oldest theater still in operation, it is considered to be one of the county’s finest non-residential adaptations of the Queen Anne Style. It is also the oldest theater in Westchester County currently in operation. It was one of the first theaters in the country to show the new kind of entertainment known as motion pictures, which debuted in 1901.
The venue has hosted performances by performers such as Dave Brubeck, Louis Armstrong, and Miles Davis, among others. A number of classical music performances have been recorded there, taking use of the exceptional acoustics of the space. It is one of only 6 percent of theaters in the United States that were constructed before 1900.
It was forced to close in 1976 owing to neglect and structural issues. Shortly after it was placed on the Register, it was purchased and repaired by a local not-for-profit organization. It has remained in business since it was reopened a few years later after undergoing various further restorations and additions. Since then, the venue has hosted a number of significant performances and has been featured in a number of films and television commercials.
Today, the theater presents performances on a daily basis, 365 days a year. A number of films and television commercials have been shot on location at the Music Hall, including The Preacher’s Wife (1996), The Impostors (1998), The Secret Lives of Dentists (2003), Mona Lisa Smile (2003), Game 6 (2005), and The Good Shepherd (2006), a 2006 film directed by Robert De Niro that was filmed in November 2005 on location at the Music Hall. Recent filming at the Tarrytown Music Hall included exterior and interior shots for the 2011 film Henry’s Crime, starring Keanu Reeves, which took place in January 2010.
Currently, the Tarrytown Music Hall is home to the Random Farms Kids Theater (a non-profit children’s theater founded by Anya Wallach in 1996), the Ars Viva Chamber Orchestra (a premiere chamber orchestra), and the Westchester Symphonic Winds (an adult community-based 60-piece wind and percussion ensemble). These organizations are all recognized as resident companies of the Tarrytown Music Hall.
During an acoustic tour of the United States in 2012, the alternative music group guster filmed a DVD at the Music Hall.
As of 2018, The Tarrytown Music Hall Academy, a resident theater arts program for young people, has been established at the Music Hall. The Academy offers a variety of workshops to children from throughout the Hudson Valley and beyond, with a focus on the process of creating theater arts. These workshops include lighting, costume and set design as well as playwriting and stage combat choreography, among other things.