Orpheum Theatre

Ron, Thanks for the website info. I looked at the website listed at the top of this page, which needs to be updated. The venue review was right on the money!!

SgtPickles, Most balconies have some movement in them. It’s the same principle as the sway in tall buildings. I went to a concert at the Proctor’s Theater in Schenectady NY where the balcony swayed so hard that the crowd sat down!

Did I mention that I saw Gordon Lightfoot at the Orpheum in concert roughly 23 years ago? He was excellent.

I was at the Orpheum theater website earlier and it said no shows were scheduled for this venue. Perhaps I had an incorrect web site. If so, sorry!

You can’t blame Live Nation for pulling out of the Orpheum. Last time I was there (about 2 years ago) it was the most decrepit venue I had ever been in. When the organ player blasted away at his Hammond B-3, a chunk of plaster fell out of the ceiling onto the stage. You can see where it must have been breattakingly beautiful in it’s day but that day is long past. It has always seemed to be a busy venue but no money was ever reinvested and even basic cleaining wasn’t done. Amazing what greedy people will do to a treasure such as the Orpheum.

> Well, don’t most theater balconies have stadium seating by default?

No. For instance, I don’t think either the Somerville’s or the Brattle’s balconies would be considered ‘stadium seating’.

Also, I believe there will be no seats on the main floor of House of Blues, only standing/dancing area.

Oh yeah, the fifth floor is still unfinished and contains a bunch of old junk-like stuff. I don’t remember seeing any organ pipes, tho, cause I would’ve taken pictures like a madman.

There were some telltale cigarette butts and empty packs around an open window, though. Hooray for the rules applying only to -some- people!

When you were touring the Orpheum, did you happen to notice whether the theatre still has a working projection booth?

Ian- regarding the shoe store on Washington Street in the former Orpheum lobby entrance. Many times in the 1980s and 1990s, when walking past it on cloudy days with no sunlight outside,if the rear door was open I could clearly see the original marble stairs leading up to the Orpheum foyer; they used those steps to hold rows of shoe boxes. R. Noyes- you need not apoligize for the quality of your recent photos- they are very nice and, if anything, make the Orpheum look good ! A few corrections to your text. The Orpheum never had more than 3000 seats even when it was new. Thomas Lamb was in charge of the 1915-16 reconstruction, and by that time the stage had already been moved to the north end of the building – that happened during the construction work in the summer of 1900. He designed the entire interior as it appears today, as well as an entire new west wall, the side of the building nearest to Tremont St. (The Orpheum auditorium is wider than the Music Hall auditorium). As for ownership, I think that it is owned by the Druker Company, but I’m not sure of that.

Ron, you’re right about the ownership issue. D'oh. I misspoke there. I remember the OM giving the name of the real estate maven who owns the Orpheum building outright, but I can’t remember the name. I’ll ask when I go back.

Here’s my set of Orpheum pictures from Friday. Again, I apologize for the crummy cameraphone pictures, but I’m still learning how to use this new camera which doesn’t appear to have an auto-iris like the last one did.

I visited the Orpheum on the 19th before the big snowstorm, and had a good afternoon’s worth of climbing around the place and talking with the operations manager. The house is absolutely beautiful. Original marble furnishings, gorgeous backlit stained glass proscenium, original murals, and woodwork everywhere. The ceiling is amazing, the curves a treat to view, the acoustics pretty damn impressive (I was hearing regular spoken conversations onstage from the front mezz) and the columns that help separate the box seats are very dramatic. I was most intrigued by the inset wood panels on either side of the proscenium, where the vaudeville act placards used to be displayed. The cut-out ceiling in the back of the orchestra is also unique, providing a balcony for those accessing the mezzanine. It was also absolutely fascinating to stand on stage and imagine the whole auditorium facing the other way in its original configuration.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that the place is falling apart. A lot of this neglect is due to the fact that the Orpheum is now primarly a rock venue, and the audience at rock shows don’t quite treat the place nicely. The (original!!) seats are a wreck, held together with duct tape and jostled off their mounts and broken in so many places, giving the front orchestra rows the appearance of a very BAD set of teeth. The lobby is trashed, given over to the sale of alcoholic beverages, and the ladies' lounge is now primarily used to hold kegs and other concessions supplies. At first glance it appears as if this theater hasn’t been used in years.

Of course, the rock crowds aren’t responsible for the peeling paint on the ceiling, the deterioration of the murals on the mezz/balcony walls, the crumbling plaster, or the fact that a lot of the original trim has been painted so many times over that the details are almost obscured in the layers of paint (now an odd shade of blue.)

I didn’t get to make it out to the alley to look at the original Music Hall walls, but I did poke around the three levels of dressing rooms backstage. Any remnants of history (names on walls, etc) have been covered over by wood panel renovations, but boy that toilet on the second floor looked original. The place is also drafty as all hell, and you can hear the birds perched outside the fire exits as plain as if they were inside. I wonder how many times those rooms have been trashed by petulant rock stars. I also wondered which rooms the Marx Bros. et al had.

I’m not sure what keeps this building from getting the same treatment the Opera House (formerly BF Keith’s) got, seeing as how both are owned and operated by LiveNation. One of my theories is that the Orpheum is the rock music venue and not a primarily theatrical one. Why put all that money into giving the place its glory back if you’ll still have to deal with drunken crowds who have to be repeatedly told not to smoke or crowd the back aisle or do anything destructive? (The warning signs are all over the place.)

The OM would love to have the place restored. She said it was her dream from the moment she stepped up into the auditorium and looked it over for the first time. She knows it can be done with the money and the inclination, and indeed the place is not Beyond Hope. But the touring theater and movie scene in Boston is low, and two nearly 3000-seat houses so close to each other must fulfill different needs and not step on each other’s toes too much if they’re going to both remain financially solvent. I’m glad the Orpheum still has a purpose and has not yet gone dark (even though if you walk into the place these days, you may not be convinced that’s the case.)

Still, my god. I’d love to see that gorgeous proscenium restored to its full glory. I’m putting my pictures up on Flickr now and will post a link to the full photo set, but I will mention that I’m using a new cameraphone for my pictures and so far its capabilities stink on ice. Still, cruddy pics are better than no pics.

I’m directing a show that’ll go up in the Orpheum on New Year’s Eve as a part of First Night, and you can bet I’m definitely interested in taking a look all around the place while we’re there for our load-in and tech runs. Hearing that it’s in sad shape kind of makes me sad, but I’m real curious about backstage more'n anything. Will bring pix.

I wouldn’t call the Orpheum “little”.