Boston's Colonial Theatre to close....

Posted: 10/5/15 at 6:52pm

Such a great tryout house for Broadway shows like Dreamgirls and Follies.....

https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/style/2015/09/02/colonial-theatre-close-indefinitely/2aIc2A80c9t3ybKHYhasWL/story.html

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 6:58pm

If you have a Landmarks law in Boston, try and get it designated.  Get politicians behind it. I learned from experience that if you do not have their support, they can kill any attempt to save it. Saving the stage is not enough. The entire structure needs to be saved and protected from demolition.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 7:00pm

No one is talking about it being torn down.  At all.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 7:03pm

Yet. What direction do you think they are heading in when they say at least the stage will be saved. If the college is bowled over by a great price for it, they will take it and than all bets are off.

 

I have seen it happen time and time again.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 7:18pm

Really confusing article-- not clear if it will remain available to non-Emerson productions or not.

That house is one of the most beautiful I know of. I have especially fond memories of the place from the original out-of-town tryout of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES back in '83. Memories from all over the building-- the stunning lobby staircase where the famous photos of the Cagelles were posed, the substage where all the winches vied for space with the dancers' tap floor, and most especially the back alley where the many set pieces that were cut ended up. (One example? Monseiur Dindon had a number introducing himself comprised entirely of all the derogatory terms he had for minorities and foreigners. The song was soon axed, along with the the enormous boardroom set built for the number. That's showbiz.)

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 7:24pm

Cannot there was PC even back than.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 7:32pm

^ I hope you're joking. Though no-one called it Politically Correct back then, the fear of offending uptight Brahmin Bostonians was very real for the creators of LA CAGE back in '83, and they wisely picked the battles that mattered to them. And frankly that Dindon song appalled all of us on hearing it in the rehearsal hall. We wondered what took Jerry so long to cut it.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 7:42pm

You heard it and I did not so I will accept your explanation that it needed to go.

 

One of the most offensive songs ever written, for the theater or otherwise, was penned by Bricusse/Newley for a show in London called "The Good Old Bad Old Days" .It opened in 1972 and ran for 309 performances. David Merrick was to bring it over with a different extremely convoluted title. It never opened

 

The song , done as a type of minstrel show, was called " A Cotton Pickin' Moon". Need I say more.

Updated On: 10/5/15 at 07:42 PM

[Broadway kid 2]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 8:41pm

Honestly i am really sad about hearing this news but while i do think the theater needs a renovation i do not think it is right to completely close it for good.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 9:02pm

I think you do need say more Mr Roxy. 

[MarionP]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 9:33pm

As someone who was an Emerson student fairly recently, this is the least surprising thing I've heard all day.

I walked past the Colonial (it's in the middle of the block that comprises most of the Emerson campus) thousands of times and can only remember two different shows playing there in more than four years. It was dark so frequently that I thought it had already been closed.

I highly, highly doubt that the building will be demolished, for the following reasons:

There is currently a dorm that is pretty much on top of and under the theater. Gutting that property would mean losing, at least temporarily, all the housing and other facilities currently in the Colonial building.

Emerson is currently doing major renovation work on buildings further down the same block, and until that project is finished, they definitely won't be starting any major work on the Colonial.

My guess is that it will continue to sit there dark as it has for much of the last five years, and in a few years, once Emerson's current project is completed, we'll start hearing about the future of the Colonial. Emerson has already renovated and re-opened two sizable theaters in the last 15 years (although both of those happened under the previous president of the college), and my gut feeling is that if they planned to convert the Colonial from a theater to use for some other purpose, they would have done it five years ago after they finished renovating the Paramount, and would never have signed the lease with Citi in the first place.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 9:37pm

I agree.  There were a couple of years there before Emerson took it over that absolutely NO Broadway in Boston shows were booked into it.  The last thing that was sent to Broadway from there was High Fidelity, and that was a smash hit that's running to this day.  Kidding.

 

It IS finishing up the third visit of Book of Mormon right now.  

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 9:41pm

Good to hear.Years ago I was in a theater they had just taken over but the name escapes me now.Good to hear re The Paramount. I was  with a theater (architecture) group..We toured  the than closed theater. Unfortunately there was no electricity in the theater and I could not see the interior .

 

 

By the,way, the alternate title for the Newley musical was "It's A Funny Old World We Live in But The World's Not Entirely To Blame".

Updated On: 10/5/15 at 09:41 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 11:00pm

Too bad they can't work with ART to help bring bigger tryouts to Boston, etc. 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 11:04pm

No, no no.  The last thing Boston needs is another tributary to the ART-Manhattan pipeline.  

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/6/15 at 12:10am

If it keeps a gorgeous theater alive, I'm all for it. Plus, I feel like ART has limitations because of it's size. Finding Neverland felt VERY cheap to me. 

[sparepart973]

Posted: 10/6/15 at 12:56am

Boo..I have wonderful memories there, being an Emersonian from 99-03. I saw just about everything there and thought it was a beautiful theatre. Where are shows held in Boston now? Surely not the Wang Centre? I heard the Opera House reopened (never been/it was shut down during my time). Do all shows go there now? 

[KirbyCat2]

Posted: 1/8/17 at 8:45pm

Exciting news!

https://www.facebook.com/SavetheColonial/photos/a.1071178539558877.1073741828.1044030485607016/1399896520020409/?type=3