Despite its illustrious reputation, Amateur Night has struggled to compete in the age of America’s Got Talent, Last Comic Standing, and American Idol. There’s a lot of money out there, a lot of ways to gain more exposure faster. Harlem’s gentrification has played a part in that decline over the past decade, too, as the surrounding community has become less interested in the show than it was in the Sixties and Seventies. Marion J. Caffey, Amateur Night’s producer since 2008, has made it his mission to extend the Apollo’s reach beyond the neighborhood. “I think the Apollo, itself, is a worldwide brand,” Caffey says. “Why [weren’t] we advertising to the world?” He condensed the program to a snappier two hours, revived the emphasis on the personality of the Apollo itself, and reinvigorated the audience’s pivotal role in the proceedings. With a larger marketing department focused on promoting Amateur Night and refreshing the Apollo’s image as a New York–wide institution, the 1,500-seat venue now seems to be on the rebound, especially as it is discovered by tourists visiting the city. Its audience on any given Wednesday, Caffey says, hails from “Russia, Bangladesh, Japan, and India to Philadelphia to 127th Street.”
“Our audience is what makes us unique, in that they get to be so vocal: Are you good or are you gone?” Caffey says of the Darwinian environment that prevails on Amateur Night, when an unimpressed crowd can get a performer yanked in the middle of a song or mediocre stand-up routine. Dismayed by the passive turn the audience had taken in the early Aughts, he implemented a party vibe that starts before the show, adding a DJ to warm up the crowd. “The live experience is what we can offer that no one else can, from the ushers welcoming you into the theater, to passing under the chandeliers and the murals of all the legends and stars that have come through the Apollo,” he says. “When the DJ comes on at 7:30, there are people dancing in the aisles.”
But if Caffey is the man bringing everyone together — the multigenerational and cross-cultural audience, the performers, the Apollo crew — in both body and spirit, it is Mitchell who embodies the history of the place. His knowledge of the underlying mythology and untold truths of the Apollo, and passion for spreading it through the tours of the venue he guides throughout the week, keeps one of New York’s most valuable legacies clear and vital.
Ralph Cooper’s tutelage was instrumental to Mitchell’s enduring knowledge. “We’d be in his dressing room talking about things that happened in the Apollo before I was born,” Mitchell says. “And for some reason, God made me soak up all this info like a sponge, not realizing I would need it.” He kept on learning about the theater and the neighborhood long after Cooper was gone: “I don’t just talk about history; I talk about the truth. Part of the reason I created the tour was because there wasn’t any information out there about the Apollo and its history. It was a little bit contrary to what Ralph Cooper used to tell me. I learned these things about Harlem that were different. I grew up thinking only black people performed at the Apollo, because that’s what it was labeled.”
One thing’s for certain: Those looking to fudge the truth or the history better be on guard. “Sometimes, tour operators doing walking tours in front of the Apollo Theater, they have people from other countries and things. They’re out there giving their narrative on the history of the Apollo and Harlem,” Mitchell says. “I’m standing there going, ‘Where the hell did they get that from?’ These guys, they know me. They’ll see me and say, ‘Hey, Billy, how you doing? Hi, Mr. Apollo.’ But they do not speak while I’m there.” Perhaps they’d rather not compete with the man whose education began on the theater’s back doorstep. Or maybe they realize that, just like the losers on Amateur Night, if they’re no good, they’re gone.
Article Appeared @http://www.villagevoice.com/music/half-a-century-on-the-apollo-gears-up-for-another-season-of-amateur-night-8254934