Purgatorio Delights, Annoys First Guests

Purgatorio, the Halloween pop-up nightclub/performance theater by The Box's Simon Hammerstein and Randy Weiner, opened this past weekend for its two week run in Times Square. Purgatorio promised to combine "combining the energy and glamour of a world-class nightclub with the spectacle and illusion of the theater", and while that sounds fantastic, the place could have easily come off closer to Carnival than The Box with monsters and ghouls.

Blogger Lauren Brown stopped by on opening night and was thrilled by the Purgatorio experience, describing the trip from the Funeral to Heaven (via Hell and Purgatory of course) as "creative, unique, and a crazy fun huge production", and that "Simon and the whole Box crew has done an amazing job pulling this off". Gawker's Brian Moylan mostly agreed, calling Purgatorio "a three-level nightclub that is brilliantly conceived and elegantly executed. Every nook, cranny, hallway, and bathroom is designed with the theme in mind and no detail has been over looked."

Although the space is brilliant and the performances top notch, Moylan compares the scene to "partying in the world's classiest PATH train station, because the crowd is the worst in New York. Guys in untucked button downs and their girlfriends drunkenly wobbling on heels that are too high and in tops that are too tight abound." But minus the costumes, isn't that what Halloween is now all about? So let's celebrate Hammerstein and crew for pulling off a Halloween spectacular, and breathe a sigh of relief that it's ending in 11 days.
· Purgatorio Coverage [~ENY~]
· A Nightlife Hell Where No Fixed Place Has Been Assigned Us [Gawker]
· Purgatorio [Lauren's Big Blog]