Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts

I mentioned the 1904 Poli Grand Theatre in my posting above of Dec 19, 2005. Somewhere I learned that the Hanover was built at a 90-degree angle to the earlier theater which I take to mean that, since one walks straight in from the street to the rear of the auditorium in the Hanover, that the 1904 Franklin Square/Grand must have had an auditorium which was parallel to the street ???

The few descriptions of the 1926 expansion project I’ve found don’t give much detail about it, but as the seating capacity of the house was just about doubled it’s clear that the auditorium at least had to have been completely or almost completely rebuilt. A 90-degree turn in its orientation seems very likely. The history page of the official web site says that the Franklin Square’s auditorium extended about as far back from the street as the front of the balcony extended in the Poli Palace.

There was definitely an entirely new entrance lobby in 1926, adjacent to the original, but the old Franklin Square lobby (probably redecorated by Lamb) was also kept. A comment by Doug Ingalls (at the second link I posted in my previous comment) says that the Franklin Square’s entrance was used as an exit in later years, and that the second floor space above the original lobby, which had originally been the managers office, was used for storage during the years he was managing the building.

A later comment at the same page, by Dylan Kellet, says that, before the Showcase closed, the stained glass window on the second floor front was removed. He thought it was to be replaced by a reproduction, but this photo from the Hanover’s opening night (snagged from the collection linked to by Joe Tortorelli in his March 21, 2008, comment above) shows plain window glass where the stained glass used to be. I don’t know if the stained glass has since been replaced, or even if it is ever coming back. The original is probably in somebody’s house by now.

It’s unfortunate that Lamb’s 1926 facade is entirely gone (in fact his entire 1926 addition, from the street back to the auditorium wall, was demolished) but at least a partial, ghost version of Cutting, Carleton & Cutting’s 1904 facade is still there. Luckily, Lamb’s interior fared better.

For the past week Channel 5, the ABC-TV outlet in Boston has been carrying an ad for a touring company of “Mary Poppins” which is to appear at the Hanover Theatre. The graphics in the ad give the theater name and location correctly. But the voice-over says the show is coming into “the Shubert Theatre in Worcester!” How do mistakes like this happen? There is no Shubert in Worcester, although there may have been a Shubert-affiliated theater there years ago.

The Franklin Square theatre opened on November 23rd, 1903. Grand opening ad posted.

The old Grand theatre was closed and demolished for the new Poli’s Palace that opened on November 15th, 1926. Grand opening ad posted.