On June 16 , 1966 , the restaurant hosted the 20th Tony Awards . In commemoration the actress Helen Menken , who had died three months prior , the ceremony was closed to the public . The ceremony was the first Tony Awards to be held in the afternoon . Entertainers began performing in the Rainbow Room again in 1973 , for the first time in decades . The first such performance occurred on September 18 of that year , when classical-piano duo Whittemore and Lowe played three 40-minute-long sets , with half of each set dedicated to song requests from guests
20th Tony Awards
20th Tony Awards
Rainbow Room