CBS2 gets look inside Broadway inspired Civilian Hotel on West 48th Street
NEW YORK -- When you think of Broadway, maybe you imagine taking in a great show and a dinner, with a stroll through Shubert Alley.
CBS2's Dave Carlin has more on a new hotel where you can immerse yourself in theatricality.
"The entrance is a kind of narrow backstage entrance, inviting you into the kind of privilege world the theater making," David Rockwell said.
A shiny Broadway-inspired destination called the The Civilian is a dream realized for Rockwell, the famed architect and designer of interiors and stage sets.
"It's a look into a world you don't get unless you're working in the theater," he said.
What Rockwell has created inside a new hotel on West 48th Street bursts with Broadway everywhere you look. It has a bar, restaurant and more than 200 rooms.
"Then you get into the elevator and you see the mark of an artist, and Paul Tazwell's 'Hamilton' sketches," Rockwell said. "The best pictures in groups that creates this kind of sense of process, and in the rooms there's one, two or three sketches from amazing set and costume designers."
Of another sketch he said, "This moment in 'Pippin,' which Tony Walton design and Bob Fosse directed, and Ben Vereen was in. That's one of my favorite things in the place, right there."
Among the many treasures are original Kinky Boots, a Phantom mask, some props from "Hamilton" and Rockwell's own award-winning stage work is sprinkled in.
"We're looking at 'She Loves Me.' Amazing experience," Rockwell said, "and every element in the store was custom made."
"I knew that that's what I wanted to do for a living. I wanted to create places that brought people together," Rockwell added. "I was more like the person who made the show. I wasn't as interested being in the in the show, although as a kid I was as well."
If what theater lovers experience in there feels like being backstage or in a star's dressing room, that's no accident.
Drink in the creativity in a bar with a floor-to-ceiling collection of set models. And in a soon-to-open restaurant, light fixtures celebrate the historic nearby theaters.
"So it's almost creates like like a glow in the restaurant from the Broadway theaters, themselves," Rockwell said.
The spot is just like a fantastic Broadway set, full of razzle dazzle, movement and joy.
The public is invited to the second floor bar. A restaurant with a menu of comfort food opens in early summer, along with a rooftop bar.
