Comments from Mike (saps)

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Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about John W. Engeman Theater on Dec 30, 2007 at 2:25 am

Here’s another long post, this time from the theater’s website:

Theater History

Northport’s first movie house was built in 1912 at 256 Main Street, but movies were only one of its uses: Its grand opening included a vaudeville show, and over the years the space was used for high school commencement ceremonies, political rallies, children’s recitals and even basketball games, when space in the building was leased by the school system for use as a gymnasium. The early movies were silent films, accompanied by a pianist. Admission to evening shows was 50 cents for adults, 25 cents for children. The Northport trolley added an evening trip in 1913, so that East Northport residents could get home after the movies. Talkies didn’t come to Northport until about 1930, when a local businessman leased the theater and installed new projectors.

But two years later, on April 19, 1932, the theater caught fire, after a blaze started in the adjoining Chevrolet dealership. The responding fire departments found too little water pressure in the hydrants to fight the fire, and water had to be hauled up from the harbor by the truckload. To no avail – the building was a complete loss. The following August, the village board voted major improvements in the water system.

The first plan for replacing the theater was to rebuild on the same site, but theater builder William McNeil began constructing one on the adjoining property even as the old site was being cleared for a new structure. After much to and fro, Prudential Playhouses Inc. settled on the McNeil site, at 248-250 Main Street, that is occupied by the present theater building.

The new Northport Theater, with 754 seats, was opened with speeches and great ceremony on Nov. 23, 1932. Much was made of the fact that it was of fireproof construction, with major components of its electrical system isolated in a fireproof room in the basement. Uniformed ushers were recruited from the Northport high school, to be selected by the superintendent of schools. The theater would offer “the latest and most popular pictures on the cinema screen today,” a local paper noted. The initial attraction was “Sherlock Holmes,” starring Clive Brook and Ernest Torrence, which had opened in New York City only a week earlier.

The building erected on site of the old theater was used for a lunch room under various ownerships, including use by the Northport U.S.O. during World War II. In the 1970s it was converted into two stores.

In 1950 the Northport Theater, still operated by Associated Prudential Theaters, underwent major alterations: Most noticeably the stainless steel marquee was added. The lobby was remodeled, new seats installed, stage curtains and wall coverings replaced and a modern air-conditioning system installed. The cost of renovations was put at $100,000 — about as much as construction of the building had cost 18 years earlier.

As film industry economics and consumer tastes changed to favor more central theater locations, control of the Northport Theater eventually shifted to United Artists Eastern Theatres, which for years offered second-run movies at cut-rate prices. At 99 cents, later raised to $1.25, movie-going in Northport in the early 1980s was a bargain. But UA finally closed the theater in 1996, and a new owner’s plans to renovate the building for a reopening in 1997 were frustrated when the interior was vandalized. The Northport Theater reopened in 1999, but failed to make adequate commercial headway.

In 2005, the theater was purchased by Dennis Tannenbaum, a resident and local businessman, who in turn sold it to long time Huntington resident and entrepreneur Kevin O’Neill and his wife, Patti, on June 30, 2006. In tribute to Patti’s brother, Chief Warrant Officer Four John William Engeman, who was killed in Iraq on May 14, 2006, the O’Neill’s decided to rename the theater the John W. Engeman Theater at Northport.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about John W. Engeman Theater on Dec 29, 2007 at 10:15 am

Here’s the text of the NY Times article of 6/27/07, link posted above.

NORTHPORT

ON Thursday in this harborside village, nine professional actors are scheduled to perform “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” before a full house in the renovated theater here at 250 Main Street.

The John W. Engeman Theater at Northport is the latest and most ambitious reincarnation of the space (the original opened around 1912) and an attractive new draw to this village’s bustling Main Street.

Downtown Northport, with walkable blocks of restaurants, gift and antique shops and waterfront parks, is often held up as an example of “smart growth,” but built long before that term came into vogue. Charming Victorians and colonials with wraparound porches line many of the streets and the cliffs overlooking the water, and the tracks of the Northport trolley, which once took early 20th-century theatergoers home after the show, are still visible on Main Street.

Kevin O’Neill, a former Treasury-bond trader, is behind the theater’s $2.5 million renovation, which was completed in seven months.

Mr. O’Neill is betting that suburban couples with children and busy weekends will pay $55 a ticket to see Manhattan-based professionals perform in musicals, and $45 to see them in plays, in their own backyard.

The theater is decked out with more suburban comforts than the usual city space, including a piano lounge and bar called the Green Room, which will open about two hours before a performance. The stadium-style seating (no obstructed views) features 402 seats, all with cup holders for that drink carried in from the lounge.

Thursday’s performance is sold out, and the theater has already sold 2,500 season tickets ($355 for seven shows), Mr. O’Neill said.

Mr. O’Neill, 44, expects most single and season ticket buyers to be much like himself and his wife, Patti, who live in nearby Lloyd Harbor with their four children.

“A night in Manhattan when you figure all the costs,” for tickets, parking, dinner and a baby sitter, can run $600, he said. Perhaps more important, it’s a lot of time” out of the weekend, a period when children are busy with activities. “Our goal is to expose people to theater of the caliber of Broadway that’s right here on Long Island,” he said.

There are plenty of amateur theaters on Long Island, but the John W. Engeman is one of only three that conform to the rules of the Actors Equity Association, the union for actors and stage managers. The other two, the Gateway Playhouse in Bellport and the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, are near the Hamptons.

The Northport theater is in western Suffolk County, near the Nassau border, and will be the only year-round professional theater on the Island. But it will of course be competing with Broadway, a little more than an hour away (without traffic).

The building, originally the site of a community theater used for silent movies and vaudeville-style productions, was rebuilt as a movie house in 1932 after a fire. It showed films for more than 70 years, but in 2005 it was returned to a community theater by the owner, Dennis Tannenbaum. He wanted to renovate the theater, but found “the cost became too prohibitive,” he said recently.

Mr. O’Neill came across the theater as an investor in the online marketing company theatermania.com. Mr. Tannenbaum, who used the Web site as a ticketing agent, decided against redesigning the old stage theater, Mr. O’Neill began thinking about buying it himself, he said.

On Mother’s Day last year, while Mr. O’Neill was considering the purchase, his brother-in-law, John W. Engeman, 45, a soldier in Iraq, was killed by a bomb that exploded near his Humvee. Mr. Engeman had taken part in high school theater while growing up in East Northport, and later in the Army while stationed in Germany. His death clinched the decision for the O’Neills.

“The next day we decided to buy it and name it after him,” Mr. O’Neill said. He declined to disclose the price, but Suffolk County records show that the theater sold last September for $1.2 million.

The renovation involved replacing the leaky roof and carting away 58 tons of old roofing materials. The marquee will have a replica of the steel “Northport” sign that was on the theater for decades and was a fixture on Main Street and also an enlarged copy of Mr. Engeman’s signature.

To handle auditions and programming, Mr. O’Neill brought in Richard Dolce, a 38-year-old lawyer, as artistic director. Mr. Dolce has lifelong experience in theater; his family started and has operated the Broadhollow Theater Company, with spaces in Lindenhurst, East Islip and Elmont, for 31 years.

To conform to the rules set by Actors Equity, the Northport theater needed more space and specific accommodations for actors.

Mara Brothers Commercial Construction was the contractor on the job, expanding the basement from a six-foot long boiler room and utility room to a corridor 25 feet long that houses the 12-seat orchestra pit, costume storage, and four new dressing rooms. Each one has a full bath and light-bulb-lined mirrors.

The redesign of the theater, by Hoffman Grayson Architects of Huntington, focuses on comforts for the audience, including two men’s and two women’s bathrooms (10 stalls, compared with 3 in the old theater, which had 688 seats), and a separate bathroom accessible for those with disabilities.

The new stage is 31 feet deep. Back-lighted murals of pastoral scenes, a memorable feature over the last 70 years of the theater’s movie-house history, have been added to the six already preserved on the walls inside. A steel lattice structure above the stage supports the lighting, sound system and curtain controls.

The proscenium arch around the stage was enlarged, and a crystal chandelier hangs above the seats, adding to muted light from four restored stained-glass rosette fixtures in the ceiling. The new cherry wood bar replaces a concession stand dating to the 1980s, when the building was a $1.25-a-ticket movie house for second-run films.

A black-tie dedication ceremony on June 16 was attended by about 380 local politicians and residents and Broadway performers.

Mr. Dolce said there would be summer theater classes and traditional performances for children, like “The Wizard of Oz,” starting in the fall. The goal is to encourage widespread use so that Suffolk residents identify with the theater. “We’re also trying to sell the theater itself as a place they want to go,” Mr. Dolce said.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about John W. Engeman Theater on Dec 29, 2007 at 10:08 am

Northport had a traditional seating design, the orchestra sloped down from the rear to the front, on one level. There was a formal balcony, which is also where the mens’s room was located.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about Ziegfeld Theatre on Dec 28, 2007 at 10:43 pm

Saw Sweeney on Thursday at 7pm, noticed the projectionist in the lobby (nice guy, silver hair, can’t remember his name) and I asked “Any curtain action tonight?” and he said “Nope — it’s broken.”

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about Palace Theatre on Dec 24, 2007 at 11:06 am

Also, you can use Advanced Search and look under the former names feature.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about UA Lynbrook 6 on Dec 23, 2007 at 10:20 pm

Lynbrook only shows first run movies; new releases are split between the Fantasy in RVC and the Lynbrook. Art releases go to the Malverne.

I was here the other day to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. Full matinée prices ($8. adults, $7. kids) and there was NO HEAT in five of the six screens. “We’re waiting for the parts” said the young manager (not Mike) and yet they have the nerve to charge full price.

I love and want to preserve old theaters, but this is a shit-heap in need of some serious attention.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about Harem Theatre on Dec 19, 2007 at 12:41 pm

From the waist up, maybe. But everything below the waist — kaput!

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about AMC Empire 25 on Dec 19, 2007 at 8:23 am

Meanwhile, back on planet earth…

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about AMC Empire 25 on Dec 11, 2007 at 10:42 am

But where are they putting these IMAX screens? Are they raising the roof any maybe losing one or two of their terraces? I love those terraces.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about AMC Empire 25 on Dec 8, 2007 at 11:06 am

Only 25 short blocks up Broadway.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about Bellmore Movies & the Showplace on Nov 30, 2007 at 3:52 pm

You ain’t heard nothin' yet — “The Jazz Singer” starring Al Jolson screens here Sunday (12/2/07) at 11am for $5./ticket. I’ve never seen it on the big screen, and with the controvery over the recent DVD’s lack of critical perspective commentary about Jolson’s use of blackface, I’m curious to attend. They say a representative from the Al Jolson Society plans to be attending and available for Q & A after the film.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about Fair Theatre on Nov 29, 2007 at 2:44 pm

Or do they get off on weekends?

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about Embassy Theatre on Nov 27, 2007 at 12:34 am

zzzzzzzzz

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about AMC Fantasy 5 on Nov 25, 2007 at 11:31 am

That’s because the AMC Empire was always an AMC theater, one of a small handful in the New York area, and the only one in Manhattan.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about Fair Theatre on Nov 20, 2007 at 12:03 am

Teasers in Bay Shore. It’s a bookstore with a theater section and I have seen sex-discordant couples there.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about Playpen Theatre on Nov 19, 2007 at 11:52 pm

I saw the marquee has been re-used on a bookstore down the street.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about Music Box Theatre on Nov 3, 2007 at 4:04 pm

I dont remember the sound being off when I saw “Vertigo” there but it is some excellent location for the Blade Runner revival.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about Cinema Kings Highway on Nov 3, 2007 at 3:52 pm

Those two staircases are still there and in use.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about Malverne Cinema on Oct 27, 2007 at 11:41 pm

Just go. Jeez. Wednesdays are $5.50 all day. Want me to leave a ticket at the box office?

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about AMC Empire 25 on Oct 20, 2007 at 10:08 am

Blade Runner: The Final Cut is running here for one week only, a move-over from the Ziegfeld. In digital projection. I saw it at the Ziegfeld but may see it again here.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about UA Lynbrook 6 on Oct 13, 2007 at 12:23 am

Is the theater a little tighter or are you a little wider?

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about SIFF Cinema Downtown on Oct 13, 2007 at 12:15 am

I recommend that you see ANY movie at this unique theater, no matter what is playing. You won’t be sorry.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about Ziegfeld Theatre on Oct 8, 2007 at 11:04 pm

You can’t win: It’s either an overpaid union projectionist who doesn’t give a damn or an underpaid usher/manager who doesn’t give a damn.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about Mayo Performing Arts Center on Oct 4, 2007 at 5:56 pm

“She praised the refurbished Community Theater, a former movie house and concert venue with great acoustics, that now boasts a new stage, upgraded lighting and sound booth.”

Above review reprinted from Variety.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) commented about Mayo Performing Arts Center on Oct 4, 2007 at 5:55 pm

Liza Minnelli

(Community Theater at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts, Morristown, N.J., 1,274 seats; $175 top)

By ROBERT L. DANIELS

Reviewed Sept. 28, 2007.

Musical director-drums, Billy Lavorgna; piano, David Buckley.

Liza Minnelli kicked off a fall tour in the Garden State at Morristown’s refurbished Community Theater. The singer looked great, boasting the loss of 45 pounds and proudly strutting in a smart and sparkling off-the- shoulder Casey Paul design, topped by a glittering head piece. And she was in great voice, retaining the incandescent punch and verve that has become her trademark.

Minnelli began on secure ground, dotting her repertoire with songs she belted out in her acclaimed Winter Garden run a quarter of a century ago: “I Can See Clearly Now,” “Maybe This Time” and the signature tune from her Oscar-winning “Cabaret.”

She still commands the powerhouse drive that has long marked her career, but sat down midway through her act.

Minnelli, the sultry chanteuse, harbored restraint with some comforting evergreens. Beautifully nuanced readings of “My Ship,” “The Man I Love” and “He’s Funny That Way” reminded the listener of her gift for torchy nuance.

Second half of the program was an affectionate tribute to Minnelli’s godmother, Kay Thompson, the legendary night club entertainer who also penned the popular Eloise books, inspired by little Liza’s adventures at Gotham’s Plaza Hotel.

As an entertainer, Thompson, assisted by the Williams brothers (including a young Andy), was a popular figure on the club circuit. Minnelli, supported by a quartet of young men, recreated highlights from Thompson’s act with a rousing “Jubilee Time” and a sultry “Basin Street Blues.” Tribute peaked with “Clap Yo' Hands,” a Thompson rouser from the film “Funny Face.”

“I Love a Violin” appeared to take the wind out of the 61-year-old entertainer, who took a break as the gents offered the Thompson arrangement of the Gershwins' “Liza,” a sequence subsequently cut from the 1946 tuner “Ziegfeld Follies.” The song of course, served director Vincente Minnelli and MGM star Judy Garland as their daughter’s moniker.

The singer wound up with her trademark nod to the city that never sleeps, “New York, New York.” Responding to a standing ovation, Minnelli bid farewell to a capacity aud with an a capella offering of “I’ll Be Seeing You.”

She praised the refurbished Community Theater, a former movie house and concert venue with great acoustics, that now boasts a new stage, upgraded lighting and sound booth.

Subsequent tour dates include Greenvale (Oct. 13), Baltimore(Oct. 27) and Ft. Myers, Fla. (Oct. 28).