Huntington Theatre

According to today’s Boston Globe, this theatre will be renamed to Huntington Avenue Theatre on July 1, 2017, to reflect the fact that Boston University will no longer own it.

In today’s Boston Globe:

Huntington Ave. tower and theater plans revealed

The development group that owns the BU Theatre complex, longtime home of the Huntington Theatre Company, filed plans Monday for a gleaming 32-story apartment building that will rise 362 feet over Huntington Avenue, transforming that neighborhood and the theater that bears its name.

The tower, which could house as many as 426 units and will feature ample retail space, is being proposed by developers QMG Huntington LLC in a deal that would give full ownership of the 870-seat playhouse to the Huntington Theatre Company. Rising on a site adjacent to the theater now occupied by two smaller buildings, the tower would include an airy two-floor lobby at its base, enabling the Huntington to offer enhanced patron amenities, a cafe, a bar, and flexible event space that could be used for lectures, community meetings, or theatrical performances, including by outside groups.

The news that the new building next to the theater will have an open balcony for theater patrons, weather permitting, reminds me of another Boston theater which had such a feature: the Shubert across from the Wang Th. on Tremont St. At the north end of the corridor behind the second balcony there was a small open terrace which could hold about 20 or more people during intermissions. Most were smokers, as smoking was very common back then (1940s-50s). I went out there many times and there was a good view from the railing of the Met across the street, the Wilbur, and the Plymouth/Gary Theatre. 2nd balcony tickets for Saturday matinees cost only $1.20. I used to go with my older brother, or with friends from school who were both movie fans and stage fans. We liked the very popular musicals of that day, such as “Oklahoma!”, “South Pacific”, “King and I”, “Guys and Dolls”, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, etc., and also the revues, such as “New Faces” and “Ziegfeld Follies”. The difference between going to the movies and going to live shows was that buying tickets in advance was a must, and you had to dress up in jacket, tie and shined shoes (no jeans and sneakers). They used to play the national anthem at the start of the show, a practice which died out after the 1950s. (They still play it at sports events).
These shows were 100% acoustic, with no “mics”.
Another theater with an open terrace upstairs is the State Theatre at Lincoln Center in New York.

I suspect this name will be temporary until a donor comes along who wants to give enough to put his or her name on it.

Alternate name: Civic Repertory Theatre.