Every Saturday and Sunday for three weekends, from Sept. 13 to Sept. 28, \u201cThe Layaway\u201d will take over Greek Hall, a small auditorium on the 3rd floor originally used to showcase pianos and stage music performances. It has not been accessible to the public in decades.\n<\/p>\n
The room\u2019s wood-paneled walls, tall, stained-glass windows and ornamented ceiling panel moldings reflect John Wanamaker\u2019s extravagant, fin-de-si\u00e8cle tastes when it was opened in 1911.\n<\/p>\n
For \u201cThe Layaway,\u201d the room has been outfitted with cabaret tables, each fitted with a tasseled lamp. The walls are adorned with strings of moon-and-star silhouettes cut out of perfume advertisements. The stage is built as a round platform with 360-degree uplighting, illuminating the singer from all sides.\n<\/p>\n
The cabaret bar is actually a large, three-sided desk that the Bearded Ladies\u2019 set designers salvaged from the old office of the Army Corps of Engineers, which vacated the 6th floor nearly three years ago<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe asked people what would be the reason for us doing something like this, like, what is needed right now,\u201d Ollove said. \u201cWe kept hearing that people wanted a place of retreat, a place that they could go to and not ignore what\u2019s happening in the world, but where they could take off their armor for a little bit, crack open their hearts and be treated softly and gently.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll still have drag and a lot of camp, of course, but we\u2019re trying to be very intentional to make sure that we\u2019re choosing things that will sound very luxurious and luscious in this space,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n