Wang Theatre
270 Tremont Street,
Boston,
MA
02116
270 Tremont Street,
Boston,
MA
02116
19 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 154 comments
“The Boston Strangler” had its New England premiere here on Nov 8, 1968.
Last month they did a revival screening of “High Fidelity” with John Cusack in attendance for a Q&A.
Boch is also a prominent local supporter of Donald Trump, a characteristic generally incompatible with art or culture of any kind.
Effective Nov. 1st the parent organization running the Wang Theatre (and the Shubert Theatre across the street) will be the Boch Center for the Perf. Arts. Ernie Boch Jr owns automobile dealerships started by his late father, runs a rock band, and is a pop music historian. So the theater names will be “Boch Wang” and “Boch Shubert”.
It’s been years since the Wang Theatre showed a movie, but they will screen Mel Brooks' “Blazing Saddles” on October 22. Brooks will be on stage “to provide a behind-the-scenes look at his illustrious career and talk about the making of his 1974 western comedy starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder.” The event will include an audience Q&A session.
Mel Brooks is in the saddle again, en route to Citi Wang Theatre (Boston Globe)
The rock concert scene in the new “Ghostbusters” movie was filmed here.
1970 photo as Music Hall added, photo courtesy of the Dirty Old Boston Facebook page. Music Hall name was 1962-1980, and should be added to the Overview and/or as previous names. It was also named Metropolitan Center from
80-83 before becoming Wang.Circa 1957 photo added, photo credit Boston Globe. Possibly a 1962 re-release after Loren won her Oscar.
The Famous Players'-Lasky $4.5 million “wonder theatre” — the Metropolitan Theatre — opened October 17, 1925 with a live performance of the 1812 Overture and live stage presentation of “The Melting Pot” symbolizing the colonization of New England and Paramount’s feature, “The King of Main Street.” The manager Ralph E. Crabill saw a full house for the first performances.
Citigroup will end its relationship with the Wang Center in November 2016 not Nov. 2015. Reported in Boston Herald today, Oct. 8.
Citigroup banking is withdrawing its long-time sponsorship of the Wang Center in November. That will mean the end of the “Citi Wang” and “Citi Shubert” theater names.
Some time around 1993 or so, they screened the Original Star Wars Trilogy at the Wang, and it was absolutely amazing in every way.
I’m sorry to read movies won’t be shown anymore because I loved the classic films series, some of them seen for the first time by me on the big screen. “National Lampoon’s Animal House” was a truly enjoyable night out, sadly overshadowed by 9/11 the next day. “Ben Hur” couldn’t have looked or sounded more spectacular, especially in 65 or 70 MM. (I’m not sure which format was utilized for the presentation). “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Some Like it Hot,” “Silence of the Lambs,” and “Guys & Dolls” are among the other fine films I had the pleasure of seeing.
I was one of the projectionists for the Wang Classic Film Series. As previously mentioned, one of the most memorable events was “Ben-Hur”, attended by Heston. The 70mm print was made from the 1969 reissue negative. When the film first opened in November 1959 at the Saxon Theater (formerly and currently the Majestic), the original 70mm prints were in “MGM Camera 65”. This process used an anamorphic lens to stretch the normal 2.2:1 image to 2.76:1. The original 6-channel Technicolor prints were said to yield a staggering image in terms of sharpness and scope. The Saxon’s presentation(running well over a year)would have been magnificent. 35mm “Cinemascope” prints were extracted from the original 65mm negative for use in neighborhood theaters with standard equipment. When reissued in 1969, few theaters were set up with the lenses to run this process so MGM optically converted the new 70mm prints to 2.2:1. This resulted in a loss of sharpness and side image information. It was still an impressive presentation.
The Classic Series was very successful when it ran great films, many in 70mm when available, such as “Oklahoma”, “Around The World In 80 Days”, “Spartacus” and “Lawrence Of Arabia”. The series ran on Mondays when the house would have been dark and usually did substantial business. “Lawrence” drew around 2500 the night I ran it.
Eventually others took over booking and the quality took a nosedive with the series eventually being scrapped. I recall running the Indiana Jones trilogy one winter weekend during a raging blizzard. I wondered who would trek in during that storm as I trudged through blinding snow. The house ended up being packed with fans. I also remember the Wang being part of First Night on New Years Eve one year. We ran around 15 or 20 Warner Bros. cartoons repeatedly all evening. The event was free and I think may have been sponsored by Monster.com.
Previously, Sack had installed a pair of Century JJ 70mm projectors for the showing of “Cleopatra”. Other 70mm shows during that era were “Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines” and, much later, “The Stewardesses” in 3D. Sack had wanted to continue using the house for rock concerts but their lease renewal was refused, so the equipment was removed.
You can pretty much forget ever seeing films at the Wang again. A couple of years ago they decided movies weren’t their thing and sold off the current projectors, a pair of Philips Norelco AA-II 35-70 machines that had been donated by Redstone (Showcase). They were earmarked for George Eastman House Museum in Rochester, NY but the sale may have stalled.
A bit of an aside, but perhaps someone may also have heard that in the 20’s and 30’s, there was a night club in the basement of the Metropolitan called The Platinum Salon. It was owned and run by my grandfather. I’m not sure of the exact dates. I know that many big bands played there and I have some photos of the club which are quite stunning. And one other note, Louis Armstrong stayed at my grandparents' (and father’s) house when he played in Boston as I believe he was unable to rent a hotel room in the so-called liberal North. In any case, my father worked at the counter for many years. There were movies as well as live bands and some theater in the main hall during those years.
except, it’s not a cinema anymore. No movies are shown here.
You people are so lucky having a cinema like this.. Amazing
My Mother has fond memories of seeing “THE TAMING OF THE SHREW” at this theater when it was THE METROPOLITAN. Also from what I’ve been told they had the first 3D movie in the Boston Area at this theater, it was a really big deal (still trying to get the title)…
The street address on the MGM Report is 268 Tremont St., not Washington St.
The Theatre Historical Society archive has the MGM Theatre Report for the (then) Metropolitan Theatre at 268 Washington St., Boston. The theater’s condition was rated “Excellent”. There were 2239 orchestra seats, 1788 balcony seats, and 222 seats in the loges; total: 4,249. There is an exterior photo taken in April 1941. The “Met” had a huge, long marquee which ran almost the entire width of the building,but it was rather narrow,not very high.
I’m trying to contact Frank C. Grace, the photographer of the above photo. Please email me at
Thank you
Harry Angus
Thank you, dickneeds111.
Click here for an exterior view of the Metropolitan Theatre in 1929.
Brad. Please correct your Click Here. When you click on it it goes to the Loews Metropolitan in Brookly New York.
I was downtown yesterday and noticed a crew and crane working at the front of the Shubert Theatre directly across from the Wang. Looks like they have torn down the top half of the Shubert’s facade. What’s that all about??? The Shubert will be 102 years old in January and is in very good condition. Unfortunately, it’s dark most of the time due to lack of product.
I was allowed to photograph the inside of this magnificent theatre last Friday. I have uploaded the few that I have had time to process here. Wow, what an amazing theatre!