New theater, restaurant, bars coming to Atlantic City boardwalk next summer
Atlantic City, the show is about to begin.
Spiegelworld, the team behind the hit “Absinthe” at Caesars Palace Las Vegas, is at work on The Hook at the site of the former historic Warner Theatre on the city’s boardwalk, where it plans to open a venue with a new site-specific show and other amenities in June.
“We’ve been talking about this for years, going down to Atlantic City, trying to work out what would work,” said Ross Mollison, the “impresario extraordinaire” of Spiegelworld. “But basically, what we’re going to do is build a permanent show specifically for Atlantic City which will also be combined with a restaurant and a number of bars. It will be right on the boardwalk, the most exciting location.”
It's the latest chapter in the nearly-century-long history of the Warner, located at 2015 Boardwalk near Bally’s casino. Once a grand movie palace, the theater was built in 1929, seating more than 4,000 patrons. The property was acquired by Caesars in 1977.
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Caesars Entertainment and Spiegelworld announced a partnership in October 2021, investing nearly $75 million to create new entertainment experiences at Caesars properties in Atlantic City, Las Vegas and New Orleans. That partnership includes the Warner Theater project, part of a reported $400 million commitment by Caesars to its Atlantic City destinations.
“I think the time is right,” said Mollison. “When you’re involved in a re-imagining of a place like Atlantic City, which Caesars are undertaking now … it’s a bit like catching a wave. And you just (wonder), ‘Have I paddled too early? Have I paddled too late?’ You just want to get in that sweet spot and it feels to me, for a whole variety of reasons, that (the) sweet spot is there, that Atlantic City is going to see a resurgence in the coming years.”
The Hook will host a year-round live show in a 400-seat theater, as well as the first East Coast location of Superfrico, Spiegelworld’s psychedelic Italian-American restaurant with a current location at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. There will also be what a news release described as “a myriad of discoverable bars with an elevated cocktail program curated by award-winning mixologists.”
The stage show at the Hook is set to be directed by Cal McCrystal, an Olivier Award-nominated director for his work on “One Man, Two Guvnors,” who has worked on everything from the stage version of “The Mighty Boosh” to the “Paddington” films.
Tickets are now on sale for the show, set to open to the public on June 30, 2023. Caesars Rewards customers will be able to earn and redeem rewards at The Hook, and the first guests will be required to book reservations for Superfrico and The Hook together via spiegelworld.com.
Mollison, a native of Melbourne, Australia, spent part of his high school years in Metuchen, and launched Spiegelworld with the debut of “Absinthe” at New York City’s South Street Seaport in 2006.
Spiegelworld and Caesars’ Atlantic City venture will utilize the current façade of the Warner Theater, and the venue’s restaurant and bars will be “fully integrated” into the experience, Mollison said.
“I create spaces with energy, that’s my job, and I want to create it for as broad a demographic as possible,” he said. “There’s nothing that makes me happier than seeing a bunch of 20-year-old kids sitting next to some 80-year-old ladies watching our show together. And the kids are kind of going ‘Holy [expletive], what is this?’ And maybe the ladies are going, ‘This reminds me of vaudeville’ or something. They’re both equally into it and getting something out of it.”
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Atlantic City: New theater, restaurant, bars coming in 2023
