Roberta Allen, FF Alumn, winter news 2. Art Gallery, Manhattan, Feb. Harvey Lichtenstein, who transformed a moribund Brooklyn Academy of Music into a dynamic showcase for cutting-edge performing arts and its Fort Greene neighborhood into a cultural hub during his 32 years there as the executive producer, died on Saturday at his home in Manhattan.
He was His son John confirmed his death. He said Mr. Lichtenstein had a stroke about seven years ago, and had been in declining health over the past few months. When Mr. Lichtenstein arrived at the academy in , its stately building on Lafayette Avenue, erected in , needed extensive and costly renovation. Portions of it had been rented out, and there had even been talk of tearing down the building and using the site for tennis courts.
Many members of Mr. Lichtenstein wrote in a reminiscence in The New York Times in , after he had announced his retirement as the president and executive director. The season, Mr. And audiences grew. All the while, Mr. Lichtenstein hardly seemed to pause to draw breath, and those who dealt with him knew he was a man with a mission. His ebullient managerial style could also become blunt and abrasive. There were some missteps, including Mr.
Lichtenstein and Mr. The problem was solved when Mr. Lichtenstein suggested they take a look at the Majestic, an abandoned theater built in and later used as a movie house, on nearby Fulton Street.
There they climbed a ladder, entered through a window and found what they decided was the perfect performance space, surrounded by an ocean of decay. Seating was reduced to just under from a little more than 1,, and although there had been some patching and painting, there was no effort to fully modernize. Both Mr. Brook wanted the theater to remain in an unfinished, distressed state β an archaeological link to the past.
