Disney opens New Amsterdam.

The rejuvenated 42nd Street New amsterdam Theater was opened for a press preview last week with singing and dancing and not a costumed character in sight.

The light-hearted presentation of plaques to Disney Chairman Michael Eisner and former theater chairs to Governor George Pataki and Mayor Giuliani was kept lively and amicable by the quick-witted and laughing group.

Eisner recovered nicely when he called Giuliani "Mayor Cuomo" after observing that the former Governor and Mayor were helpful in bringing Disney to Times Square. Cuomo was not among the guests.

Eisner then dubbed the duo "Governor Giuliani" and "Mayor Pataki," and later, in a dig that even Eisner groaned at, Pataki promised he wouldn't call the Disney executive "Chairman Ovitz," in a reference to the fired Disney entertainment executive, Michael Ovits.

Governor Pataki received a bigger laugh when he said Mayor Giuliani would look good in the white togas worn by the "Muses" who sang and danced to the gospel flavored "A Star is Born" from the upcoming Disney cartoon feature "Hercules." Giuliani retorted that they weren't dancing in high heels, as he had been at the Inner Circle dinner.

But the group also got down to business and Eisner said he realized "the enormous changes taking place that will make this street and this city the most important street in America."

Citing the performers like Will Rodgers, Eddie Cantor and others who had performed at the former Ziegfeld Follies home, Eisner said he hoped the restoration shows "We are committed to and will continue that long line of successful ventures."

In announcing the Hercules Summer Spectacular and New York City film premiere, Richard Cook, chairman of the Disney Motion Pictures Group, thanked the Mayor and Governor for their "Herculean efforts."

Pataki said the restoration of Times Square was the largest single tourism effort to occur in a long time, and he also thanked the Mayor for "going after quality of life crimes so that companies like Disney" would be attracted to the area.

He praised Eisner, saying "It took enormous vision and confidence to say we could turn around and make this the cornerstone of the Crossroads of the World."

Giuliani said the turning point for Times Square was "the decision of Disney and Michael Eisner to change the reality of this theater and of 42nd Street. Their investment and confidence is the reason people are coming here and saying 'This is not the 42nd Street of a few years ago.'"

A few years earlier, in fact, during a stroll down 42nd Street, Eisner recalled that Mayor Giuliani had insisted that all the porno theaters would be gone.

So when Eisner now wondered where had they gone and answered rhetorically, "To Fifth Avenue?," Governor Pataki quipped, "to New Jersey."

As Eisner objected, "I didn't say that, the Governor said that - everyone in New Jersey comes to Disney World," the snickering Governor and Mayor shook hands like two schoolkids behind Eisner's protesting back.

Among those watching were Charles Gargano, who heads the Empire State Development Corp.; John Tishman and Dan Tishman of Tishman Realty & Construction; Richard T. Anderson, president of the New York Building Congress; Charles Millard, president of the city's Economic Development Corp; Jennifer Raab, commissioner of Landmarks Preservation, Rebecca Robinson, former head of the 42nd Street Development Project and now with the Schubert organization; and Cora Cahan, president of The New 42.

When the curtain was finally lifted, after a phony electrical switch was turned on, the gathered dignitaries looked out from the stage towards the main hall. Then, composer Lebo M and singer Tsidii Leloka, backed with a full African ensemble, sang "He Lives In You" and "The Circle of Life" from "The Lion King" from seats in the first balcony.

Gradually, the house lights were lifted to display the delightful and amazing ornamentation.

The theater has been brought back to life, thanks to a loving restoration by the Disney Imagineers, Hugh Hardy of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, architects, and Tishman Construction Corporation, which served as Construction Manager/General Contractor and brought the project in on time and within budget.

John Tishman said that almost nothing of the carved ornamental work was restored it had to all be re-created. The forestry and fairy-tale colors are muted pastels of mother of pearl, violet, green, pink and ocher. The palette is very much contemporary, but in 1903, when architects Henry Herts and Hugh Tallent designed the theater and the world's first Art Nouveau interior, it was very different from the theater of the day, which was full of golds and reds.

Josef Urban had a large hand in much of the interior designs and worked with Florenz Ziegfeld when that impresario hosted his famous Ziegfeld Follies at the New Amsterdam from 1913 to his death in 1932.

Then, a 450-seat cabaret in a second rooftop theater was home to the raunchy Midnight Follies, but the architects estimate it would take another $25 million to acoustically separate the spaces and bring the other areas up to current code. That still dilapidated space was not on the tour.

The main theater - a cavelike space - has been lovingly restored to seat 1,814, and there are unobstructed views of the stage from both balconies and the orchestra, a remarkable engineering feat for that era.

There are magnificent public spaces, including the not-to-be-missed New Amsterdam Room on the lower level. This former Men's-only smoking lounge has ceiling angels representing the times of day from dawn till dusk along with Hudson Valley, and New York City historical murals painted around the walls of the oval shaped room.

The angels and several other works in the main entrance hall are risque enough to worry that extremists will challenge Disney's family values. So, art works or not, architectural perfectionists should plan early visits before they disappear from moral majority pressure.

Nevertheless, as when visiting a stocked museum, visitors will get lost in the numerous eye-catching ornaments. Sculptural elements depict carved animals from La Fontaine, Aesop and Hans Christian Anderson; there are Shakespearean-themed newel posts and relief panels; a hillside worth of bouquets of flowers; and huge blue peacocks entwined with vines around the proscenium arch.

A tremendous mural over the arch shows the figures of Poetry, Truth, Love, Melancholy, Death, Chivalry, Romance, the Jester, the Lion and the King, and are breathtakingly spectacular, but are hidden from the rear of the orchestra and mezzanine.

The theater opened on October 26, 1903 With "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and certainly, the interiors reflect that theme. From the moment you enter the theater on the south side of 42nd street, just west of the comer Disney store, visitors will realize how delightful this theater was, and thanks to the efforts of hundreds of meticulous crafts people, it now is able to live on for generations to come.

The upstairs is now accessible by elevator, while new but historically touched restrooms were created from portions of the adjoining office building.

The interiors have also been thankfully air conditioned.

Architect Hugh Hardy led a tour of the theater for City Parks Commissioner Henry Stern and Planning Commissioner Joseph Rose, along with another 30 or so guests and journalists. Hardy told Rose that the dozen boxes had been stripped off when the theater was updated as a movie house. They were all completely recreated and each is named for a flower.

Architect Robert A.M. Stern accompanied the tour and oftentimes nudged Hardy to reveal more facts or read inscriptions to the group. Stern had prepared a master plan for the 42nd Street area and initially accompanied Eisner to see the theater. That was long before the company made its commitment to the restoration, for which the City and State later each chipped in $14 million.

On that first visit in 1993, they found plaster and paint peeling, sculptures in pieces, gigantic mushrooms growing and most of the interior open to the weather through holes and water leaks coming from both the ceiling and the basement.

Now, not a trace of water is left - the theater smells sweet, but not new, and a long line of public events are planned. After the oratory "King David" is presented in May, Disney plans a Big Apple premiere of the movie "Hercules," and a special stage show and parade.

On the night of June 14th, beginning at 9:15 p.m., the floats from the retired Magic Kingdom Main Street Electrical Parade will strut across 42nd Street to Fifth Avenue and then up to 66th Street, with 100,000 new bulbs and a new Hercules float leading the way. There will be additional children's events taking place at the Chelsea Piers the entire June 13-15 weekend.

Disney is also preparing "The Lion King" as a full stage show for the New Amsterdam, and hopes it will rival the success of its "Beauty and the Beast," still playing nearby.

Frankly, forget a stage show or film, Disney could charge admission just for folks to see the interior of this majestic theater brought back to life.