In 1954, Radio broadcaster
Frank Ford and nightclub owner
Lee Guber were returning home with their wives after attending a 1954 musical performance presented in a tent. After the two kept commenting on how they could improve on the show they had just seen, Ford's wife told them "Well, why don't you". They went ahead with the idea, leading the creation of Music Fair Enterprises, Inc. Together with
Shelly Gross, a television news anchor who had become disenchanted with his profession, the three raised $100,000 to lease the
Devon, Pennsylvania site of what they named the
Valley Forge Music Fair, which brought in profits exceeding $50,000 in its inaugural season in 1955. In 1956, a second facility was built on a portion of the grounds of the L. Lordi Sand and Gravel pit in Westbury, New York. This industrial origin accounts for the theater's unique subterranean position within an otherwise level landscape. Furthermore, the food and beverage stores adjacent to the Theater's entrance road originally served as the maintenance bays for the site's excavation fleet. They named it the Westbury Music Fair. The original facility was an uninsulated blue-and-beige striped tent erected in 1956 that could accommodate 1,850, one of many similar tent-based theaters that existed nationwide in the mid-1950s. The tent was erected for $120,000 at a central
Nassau County location conveniently located near the
Northern State Parkway and the
Wantagh State Parkway, though it was also on an approach path for planes landing at what later became
John F. Kennedy International Airport, with noise from jet engines of planes overhead occasionally drowning out performers. With Ford out of the picture, Gross and Guber constructed a theater on the site in 1966 that could fit 3,000 attendees. In 2005,
North Fork Bank acquired three-year naming rights to the venue; becoming the North Fork Theatre in Westbury. In 2008, the bank was taken over by
Capital One. On March 24, 2008, the theater was renamed the Capital One Bank Theatre at Westbury. After one year, Capital One dropped naming rights and the venue briefly became known as the Theatre at Westbury.
New York Community Bank purchased naming rights in May 2010, with the theater being known as the NYCB Theatre in Westbury starting July 2010 - March 2024. As of March 2024, the Theatre has resumed a part of its original name and is now Flagstar at Westbury Music Fair. Among the stars and groups who performed at the suburban theater were
The Doors,
The Who,
Alanis Morissette,
The Supremes,
The Jackson 5, The Pointer Sisters,
Janis Joplin,
Nina Simone,
Chicago,
Peter Cetera,
Linda Ronstadt & the Stone Poneys,
Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs,
Eric Burdon & the Animals,
Roger Whittaker,
Johnny Mathis,
Tony Bennett,
Jack Benny,
Milton Berle,
George Carlin,
Ray Charles,
Bill Cosby,
Johnny Carson,
Sammy Davis Jr.,
Sergio Franchi,
Alan Jones,
Connie Francis,
The Carpenters,
Bobby Sherman,
Steve Vai,
Sam Kinison,
Britney Spears,
'N Sync,
Judy Garland,
Bob Hope,
Jonas Brothers,
Liza Minnelli,
Don Rickles,
George Maharis,
Vivian Blaine,
Frankie Valli,
Smokey Robinson,
Kenny Rogers,
John Serry Sr.,
Frank Sinatra,
Jim Norton,
Bruce Springsteen,
Don Imus,
Barry Manilow,
Mike Tyson,
Lena Horne,
Stevie Wonder,
Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band,
Bob Weir,
RatDog,
Chris Isaak,
Jerry Seinfeld,
Bob Saget,
James Hunter,
Styx,
Vince Gill,
Helen Reddy,
Joan Rivers,
Olivia Newton-John,
Vanessa Williams,
Dionne Warwick,
Gladys Knight,
Mitzi Gaynor,
Barbara Eden,
Dom DeLuise,
Paul Anka,
Engelbert Humperdinck,
Howie Mandel,
Weird Al Yankovic,
The Wiggles & Video Games Live among others. As a theater in the round, it is considered a suitable arena for
professional wrestling, as
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling has performed shows at the theater. ==See also==