No wonder they're flying high at Lincoln Center: The 2,544-seat David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center has re-opened after a full renovation of the original 1964 Philip Johnson/John Burgee building. The interior work, by JCJ Architecture, was funded in major part by, yes, Mr. Koch and his gift of a cool $100 Million. A slightly less splashy unveiling than what accompanied the refreshed Alice Tully Hall, but the lobby has a whole new look formed in glass and light from the very busy bunch at Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
Inside, the theater is now all state-of-the-art, with digital this and that, a levitating orchestra pit, new seating configurations (with aisles!) and "acoustical enhancements" that aim to strike a much needed balance between the needs of its two primary tenants, the New York City Opera (where they like their sound lively) and the New York City Ballet (where silence is golden). Outside, the biggest show—aside from the dancing waters could be the ballet atop the new canopies stretching out to Columbus Avenue. Those floating platforms, made of three-ply panes of glass, could prove to be the best performance space in town.
