A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
#1A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 2:51am
Scroll towards the bottom.
http://olivernationaltour08.blogspot.com/2009/02/merilleville-in.html
Except for a few they all look like cold & emotionless barns!
There is really no artwork almost any of them.
This one isn't even funny. 
I'll be honest one of them is actually my local touring house.
#2A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 3:31amMy local touring house is very similar to most of those houses. There is no art in the theatre and the space is huge. It seats over 3,000 people. The space is cavernous, barren, and dull and some of the productions that come through (especially the smaller shows) tend to get lost in the space. I wish touring shows would play the smaller and more intimate houses that actually feel like theatres as opposed to these huge auditoriums and civic centers.
#2A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 3:46am
This one is actually mine. 
It's pretty dull, but it actually feels like it's a theatre not just a complex. It actually started out as a vaudeville house. It seats 1,527.
#3A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 3:53am
This is my local house. As long as I sit on the Orchestra or in the first few rows of the Mezz I am fine. There is a balcony level and I do not even know why they have it. You can see literally nothing.
Radioactiveduck
Broadway Star Joined: 7/18/05
#4A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 4:49am
bwayphreak That's the Gammage at ASU, isn't it?
Wow, I feel so spoiled by the Pantages in Hollywood now. It's got such a gorgeous house (that the ushers are INSANE about not letting people take pictures of, for some reason.)
#5A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 5:02am^Yes it is!
Radioactiveduck
Broadway Star Joined: 7/18/05
#6A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 5:09amI saw the Phantom tour there once. It was kind of a neat building if I remember.
#7A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 8:44amYes it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright it a beautiful building, but I feel it lacks the feeling of a real theatre.
#8A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 8:58amWow, scrolling through that link is fascinating. There are A LOT of ugly theatres out there....
#9A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 9:16amRadioactiveduck, interesting you say that about the pictures. My ex just toured a Frank Lloyd Wright house and was told that no pictures were allowed inside.
#10A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 9:24am
Gotta love continental seating. Heaven forbid a fire should happen.
And the Waco hippodrome brings back many a memory for anyone who has had the (dis)pleasure of performing there.
#11A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 10:21am
Here's mine. It's orange and ugly. Kathy Griffin filmed her last special here. Luckily they restored the Balboa theatre, which is beautiful, and they now use it to host the smaller touring shows like Next to Normal which would probably be lost at the Civic.
#12A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 10:37am
That Memorial Auditorium in Iowa is almost exactly like the Memorial Hall in my midwestern town of Joplin, MO. It is definitely not the best place to watch a performance of any kind, and several incidents have kept many groups away. I have seen Henry Mancini and the Glenn Miller Orchestra perform here, but when Fred Waring and his young group of performers came to town in the 70's, the building was in such poor condition that he made a comment on stage of how ashamed he was for his young people to have to use the dressing areas backstage and that the town needed to do something about it, which they did (the best they could, anyway).
Then there was the touring company of A CHORUS LINE that came to our small midwestern city, and the place was absolutely sold out and packed to the gills. Well, after waiting for almost an hour past the starting time, it was announced that the stage was deemed unsafe for the rigging needed for the lighting and mirrors, and we were all sent home and informed to see the office the next day for refunds. The tours and concerts coming to town seemed to slow down considerably after that incident.
Anyway, I agree that a lot of the older halls (like ours) are ill suited for productions that tour today. Sorry to go on so, but this picture brought back memories!
#13A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 10:45amI saw the small tour of OLIVER! when it played the Milwaukee Theatre. The show was completely lost on its massive stage, and I wish the tour would have been booked in one of Milwaukee's smaller houses (the Riverside or the Pabst). On the other hand, I saw Bebe Neuwirth perform her "Kander and Ebb and Weill" show with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at the Milwaukee Theatre, and she packed the 4,000 seat house! I sat in the first row, dead center, and I was amazed with Bebe's skill at performing in such a gigantic room.
#14A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 11:52amCATSNYrevival - I saw the national tour of Fiddler on the Roof there. I was on the mezz and was surprised at how far back it was from the stage. I was a HUGE venue.
#15A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 12:26pmSome of them look like you change Zip codes if you're sitting in the back.
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#16A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 12:40pm
Providence Performing Arts Center in Rhode Island. The touring house I grew up with and one of the most gorgeous theatres I've ever sat in anywhere.
#17A look at some lesser known touring houses. Not for a good reason.
Posted: 8/2/10 at 1:01pm
This is where I saw many tours in Richmond, VA (the Carpenter Theater at Centerstage). I haven't been there since the renovation, but it is a gorgeous theater and I have many great memories of the venue.
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