Photorealistic shot of a grand, dark theater auditorium with red seats, an illuminated ghost light on stage, and dramatic light rays streaming through domed stained glass windows.

The Ed Sullivan Theater is dark these days. Not so much physically — the tradition of the ghost light still stands, and a glow comes through the stained-glass windows that were restored and reinstalled in 2015 when Stephen Colbert’s show moved in — but “dark” in the theatrical sense. Nobody is performing there. In its current form, the building is, if not quite a white elephant, at least a paler-than-ideal one. Late-night talk TV is a fading business, particularly taped-the-same-day-at-considerable-expense-in-Manhattan late-night talk TV. Nor are the networks doing much in the realm of the televised spectacular anymore. What will happen to the stage where Elvis’s swiveling pelvis was kept demurely out of frame, where the Beatles made their American debut, where Jackie Mason may or may not have flipped the bird at the host, where Topo Gigio found inexplicable fame? Will CBS/Paramount develop a new show there, use it for special events, put in some live-audience show along the lines of The Masked Singer or American Idol, mothball it indefinitely, or try something else entirely? Or just sell it off? The lobby and auditorium of the theater have been designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, so it can’t easily be turned into, say, a Trader Joe’s. Also, it’s part of a 13-story office building; even just for the upstairs space, the building would go for tens of millions. Mehr sehen