I attended the Adler opening ceremony last night, and was all set to post a half dozen images of the new stage house and dressing rooms. However, as I was getting ready to walk in the front entrance of the theater, I figured I'd attempt a shot of the searchlights sweeping the sky above downtown.
I was rewarded with the unfortunate message: Battery Empty.
So maybe I'll get some pictures in another 75 years on the 150th anniversary...
Aside from my camera idiocy, it was a cool evening. Performances by the QC Symphony, the QC Opera and QC Ballet groups, and tours of the new areas.
Many of us were surprised to find out that the theater backstage area now goes all the way to Brady. There's what they call a "crossover" to get from stage right to stage left without crossing the stage, and it has windows looking right out onto the sidewalk along Brady. The other thing that impressed the heck out of me was the computerized curtain control touch screen. Graphical representations of all the curtains and backdrop rigging showed exactly what was moving where, and the electric motors were practically silent.
When the tour headed down under the stage, a lot of memories of my Central orchestra concerts came back, but I think that only one room was really recognizable after the renovations. The room where we used to pile our instrument cases is now the "catering room." From what I could tell, the new dressing rooms were carved out of the former basement of the Mississippi Hotel's west wing, and there was plenty of room for the most finicky divas. The old freight elevator has been replaced with an elevator moved by something similar to a Spiralift, which is kind of a slinky-powered jack. Go here or here to try and understand how it works. I just saw these kind of lifts on a documentary about a Vegas theater, so we must be world-class now.
The whole place really did seem top of the line, so I'm hoping we see a huge increase in the qualify and quantity of shows at the Adler, and more people coming downtown.
5 comments:
I to, had the oppurtunity to walk thru. Amazing, just amazing. I had to laught at Bill Lynn eating the free food. Again, something he never supported but shows up for the cheap wine and finger food. At least Alderman Shawn was smart enough to smile and sit down to await the ceromony.
At least Kieth didn't bring his dog down...
What happened that Bill Lynn wasn't able to get himself in front of the camera?
Are they ever going to use the theater for what is was originally built for: Movies. The last film I saw there was Chinatown when they ran a classic film series program. This seemed to end after the guy that was managing the theater was caught embezzling money.
I would love to see a movie there. People my age have never seen a film with thousands of people in the audience, and I'm sure with the right movies it could be quite an experience.
Ah Movies...
Know an usher that has volunteered there for years. She said that they would get maybe 20 people there on movie nights (at UNDER $5 a ticket!) and I am guessing they couldn't get a sponsor for the series anymore due to the lack of interest.
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