"With only 400 seats, there is a connection between the audience and the stage that simply isn't possible in a large theater," Jill Glazer, board president and co-founder of Glazer Hall, said in an August WeekendBroward-PalmBeach report on the 2026-2027 season. That small room explains most of what follows. The old Royal Poinciana Playhouse now runs a calendar from October into spring. Its first-run film screenings carried it through the summer. Its most popular December nights were marked sold out before Halloween.
Taken together, the building on the lake side of The Royal Poinciana Plaza no longer works like a winter-only event venue. It is the island's regular stage, cinema and dining room again, and its season now starts well before the island fills.
A first season that began halfway through winter
John Volk designed the Playhouse, which opened in 1958. It went dark in 2004 after its last tenant, Clear Channel Communications, left, according to Palm Beach Daily News reporting. The building stayed empty for more than two decades, but a 1979 restriction required that it be used for performing or visual arts, lectures or special events. In May 2022, the Town Council considered an amendment to that restriction as part of the agreements for its new cultural use.
WS Development, which redeveloped the building under a long-term Plaza lease, spent years looking for an operator before choosing INNOVATE, the company chaired by Palm Beach resident Avie Glazer. Smith & Moore and Spina O'Rourke led the restoration's architecture teams. The arts center took the name Glazer Hall in 2025. The building is still called the Royal Poinciana Playhouse.
The doors reopened on January 22, 2026, with what the Palm Beach Daily News described as a sold-out first performance by the Amazing Acrobats of Shanghai Circus. So the inaugural season started deep into the winter calendar. Even so, the Palm Beach Daily News reported in May that the venue had hosted more than 80 events in that first season.
The summer test
In most years, the first real test of an island venue comes when the island empties out. Glazer Hall met it with movies. Its Summer Cinema Series was meant to bring first-run films back to Palm Beach for the first time in nearly five decades. After selling more than 3,000 tickets from its May launch onward, the venue told the Palm Beach Daily News that it plans to keep showing films whenever its schedule allows.
The restored theater has retractable seating, windows facing the water, film projection and a layout that can be reconfigured. A movie night and a ballet company can share the same week. The current calendar lists films, family programs, speakers and Lunch & Learn sessions alongside jazz, classical, dance, comedy and cabaret.
A fall calendar, for the first time since 2004
Because of the summer run, this season started in October instead of January. The opening weeks featured the Ravi Coltrane Quartet, a Taylor Swift program from The Rock and Roll Playhouse, and screenings of Gone With the Wind and Hocus Pocus. The Coltrane date has since moved. The August announcement listed it for October 2, but the venue's calendar now shows the quartet on Wednesday, March 31, 2027.
Here is November as currently listed on glazerhall.org:
- Friday, November 6: Broadway performer Cheyenne Jackson
- Wednesday, November 11: singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright
- Saturday, November 14: Tony Danza with Sinatra & Stories
- Sunday, November 15: a Sabrina the Teenage Witch cast reunion, one of five shows the Palm Beach Post reported as new additions on October 8
- Thursday, November 19: Rocky in Concert, with a live orchestra playing Bill Conti's Academy Award-winning score
- Saturday, November 21: Miami City Ballet in American Odyssey
November also includes a film screening with a Q&A and a Lunch & Learn conversation with René Silvin and Hugo Vickers. A René Silvin program on Marjorie Merriweather Post already carries a sold-out banner on the venue's homepage.
Where the season tightens
By December the calendar gets much busier, and seats get harder to find. The lineup includes The Hot Sardines on December 3, Matteo Bocelli on December 8, Kenny G on December 10, John Mulaney on December 12, Chelsea Handler on December 16, Storm Large on December 19 and Cirque Musica Holiday Wonderland on December 26. The season announcement also lists the New York Philharmonic, Anthony Nunziata and a book reveal for Kit's Garden in Palm Beach in December. As of late October, the Bocelli and Handler dates were already marked sold out on the homepage.
With 400 seats, the order in which tickets are released matters, and Glazer Hall sells to its members first. According to the membership page, the Ensemble Circle level at $2,500 gets advance notice of every event and can buy two tickets per event before the public on-sale. The $5,000 Producer's Circle raises that to four tickets per event and adds invitations to select performances and a film screening. The $10,000 Director's Circle adds artist meet-and-greets when possible. Every tier includes early access to the lobby, bar and Waterview Terrace before events. Higher tiers go up to a $100,000 President's Circle. The venue also offers a five-year Legacy Member commitment.
"We want GLAZER HALL to be a cultural home for Palm Beach – a place where there is always something new to discover." Allison Stockel, executive director, quoted by WeekendBroward-PalmBeach
Single tickets are priced show by show. The Ravi Coltrane Quartet listing, for example, runs $150 to $175.
Into the new year
The current listings run all the way to April:
- January: Norm Lewis on the 9th, the Glenn Miller Orchestra on the 23rd, and American Ballet Theatre from January 29 through 31
- February: Howie Mandel on the 4th, Ballet Hispánico on the 17th, Preservation Hall Jazz Band on the 19th, Twin Peaks: A Conversation with the Stars on the 21st, and Masters of the Telecaster on the 24th
- March: The Fab Faux on the 5th, James Valenti on the 6th, and Direct From Sweden: The Music of ABBA on the 7th
- April: the Vienna Girls Choir on the 1st, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue on the 8th, and Justin Hayward on the 19th
The venue says it will keep announcing more events, so all of these dates are subject to change.
The rest of the building
Tutto Mare shares the old Playhouse with the theater. It opened to the public on January 3, 2026, in the former Celebrity Room. Its co-owners, Gianpaolo de Felice and Gabby Karan de Felice, also run the Tutto Il Giorno restaurant group, as the Palm Beach Daily News reported. The 200-seat dining room opens onto a 64-seat lakefront terrace. Bonetti/Kozerski Architecture designed the interiors, and the Celebrity Room's historic ceiling mural was restored. Palm Beach Illustrated describes a view across Lake Worth Lagoon and Palm Harbor Marina.
A night at the building usually involves three practical choices:
- Arrival. Glazer Hall offers complimentary valet right outside the door, plus self-parking inside the Plaza.
- Dinner. Tutto Mare is in the same building. The Plaza also lists The Honor Bar and Palm Beach Grill among its restaurants.
- Timing. Members can enter the lobby, bar and Waterview Terrace before each event. Everyone else follows the curtain times listed on each show page.
Stephanie Schwed works from Worth Avenue and keeps track of island life through all twelve months, including the restored Playhouse's calendar. If you'd like to talk about life on the island this season, or about a home within reach of Royal Poinciana Way, Stephanie Schwed would be glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.
