THE BEE'S KNEES

I saw The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee when it first opened at the Circle In The Square. I attended one of the first previews of Bee-tlejuice when it first began performances at the Winter Garden. And had I been alive, I bet I would've seen the 1929 production of Queen Bee at the now-demolished Belmont Theatre. What do these all have in common, you ask? Well, "Bee" in their title, of course! 

So, why then, given Broadway's clear connection to bees, was I so surprised to find out that the Broadway Theatre District had their own beehives?!

It's easy to only consider the theaters themselves when thinking of the Broadway Theatre District. But it's a thriving neighborhood full of hotels, restaurants, and gift shops, that, in addition to the theaters, make our theatre district one of the best in the entire world. And it's one of these hotels that reached out to me last week with a special invitation: how would I like to come up to their roof to watch them harvest their honeycombs? A rare opportunity to get an overhead glimpse of the theatre district and meet tens of thousands of bees?! SIGN ME UP.

The idea to house these bee colonies on the roof of the Intercontinental Times Square is the genius of Jonathan Stas. He works on the marketing team at the hotel and has a decades-long background in hotels. He had previously created a similar program atop the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel that proved very successful. And with a bar in the Intercontinental called The Stinger - with a bee as their logo - what could be more perfect? 

The moment I stepped out onto the hotel's roof I peered over the edge - just down the block is Herbert J. Krapp's 1927 Majestic Theatre and the other glittering theatrical jewels of 44th Street. What a glorious sight from above! And there, just to my left on the roof were the beehives. My favorite was the hive labeled "Bar-Bee" (who doesn't love a good bee pun themed to recent cinema?!). I was introduced to Andrew Cote, NYC's most prolific beekeeper. He has one hundred beehives all over New York City, most housed on rooftops high atop the city, unseen by the nearly 8.8 million denizens below. This is clearly a man who loves his job - and what a unique job it is! His hives harvest tons of honey and honeycomb each year, much of which is used in the restaurants of the hotels on which they stand. My question for Andrew? "Have you ever been stung?"

"Sure - hundreds of times each year!" he replied. 

I made it out unscathed and unstung - which is really saying something given how many bees I encountered that morning. Thousands of bees were hard at work within the hives, all controlled by one Queen Bee below. It was a well-oiled machine demonstrating the power of nature, all surrounded by the urban landscape of marquee lightbulbs and skyscrapers. 

When I started the initial historical research that became the foundation for our stories at Broadway Up Close, I was fascinated by the humans that I came across: Producers. Actors. Costume makers. Milliners. Treasurers. Press Agents. Composers. Architects. But one occupation that I didn't anticipate encountering?

Beekeepers!