Tarrytown Music Hall Builds Future for Academy in New (Old) Building

A centipede-like double line of Washington Irving School 3rd graders bobs and weaves through the lobby of Tarrytown Music Hall after seeing their peers in a matinee of Roald Dahl’s Willie Wonka Jr. The bubbling, youthful energy is typical of a day at the Music Hall Academy, a performing arts program for students.

If the powers that be have their way, in a short time these prospective thespians will be bobbing and weaving through their very own theatrical space, just down the block – in the historic 1912 Veterans Memorial Building (aka Hillcrest Theater) on 57 Main Street, across from the YMCA and Vanderbilt buildings.

The Hillcrest has a history parallel with the Music Hall. Founded in 1912 as a movie theater, it was purchased by Music Hall owner Robert Goldblatt in the 1920s and later donated to the Veterans for $1.00 with a proviso in the deed that no movies were to be shown, essentially wiping out the competition.

Half a century or so later, the nonprofit music hall credits board member Peter Fisch and his colleague Konstantine Tettonis, real estate attorneys in Manhattan, for helping to seal the deal on the purchase of Hillcrest, which was finalized in December 2025. The 4,200 square foot space, acquired by the music hall’s nonprofit arm, Friends of the Mozartina, allows the Music Hall Academy, which was founded in 2008, to inculcate local students in the arts and dream big.

And dream big they must, for the long-abandoned building will require approximately $2,000,000 in renovations. But wandering the dusty space with Music Hall Theater Manager Karina Ringeisen, with a bit of Wonka-esque “pure imagination,” it’s possible to envision children performing elevated acrobatics under the high ceiling (the Academy’s Circus Arts program includes aerial arts like silks, lyra, cube, Spanish web and static trapeze), rehearsing a play on the stage—or even, perhaps, patrons having a drink on a rooftop bar. This sort of visionary thinking is what led Karina’s parents Berthold and Helen to mortgage their home in the late 1970s and save the then-foundering Music Hall to begin with, after all.

Phase 1 of the renovations, for which the organization is raising funds from its community and supporters, will focus on the bare minimum requirements to have the building inhabitable and operational: reinforcing steel beams, repairing HVAC systems, replacing wiring, and making the space ADA accessible. Later improvements of the aesthetic sort include remodeling the lobby, lightboxes for posters and a catering area, as well as dressing rooms and showers for the Academy students.

The Academy is currently restricted by sharing the Music Hall with other events. “We need the space,” says Ringeisen. “We do so many things at the same time!” Even with the new space, some Academy programs will continue in the Music Hall. The Academy currently offers classes in a dozen categories and gives more than 1,000 Westchester, Rockland and Bronx students a taste of the artistic life.

Kevin Kearins, Musical Academy Director, mentions that a variety of contributions are possible. “We’re offering naming rights to the building as well as individual theater spaces, and companies sometimes provide matching grants. You can give any amount and still be a part of the restoration.”

Kearins says that the programs are true confidence builders for participants. For example, in the theatrical productions, there may be 15 different children alternating in the starring role: multiple Dorothys or Wonkas taking center stage. “It’s a real chance to learn how to sell yourself,” said Kearins, who led 130 3rd-8th grade students from Sleepy Hollow Middle and Washington Irving Schools in the recent Willie Wonka Jr. as part of the Academy’s free School Theater Residency.

Hopes remain as high as the theater ceilings. “We’ve interviewed two architects to realize our vision on paper,” says Ringeisen, who grew up dancing through the corridors of the Music Hall, watching her parents restore its first landmark performance space. “We hope to be up and running within a year,” she says of the second. “Our dream is to offer what we’re doing seven days a week,” explains Kearins. “We want these kids to feel like Hillcrest is a second home.”

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_{Photos of Hillcrest Theater by Susan Nagib. Photo from the Music Hall Academy’s production of ‘Cats’ courtesy of Tarrytown Music Hall.}