Boston's Colonial Theatre to close....

Such a great tryout house for Broadway shows like Dreamgirls and Follies.....

https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/style/2015/09/02/colonial-theatre-close-indefinitely/2aIc2A80c9t3ybKHYhasWL/story.html

No one is talking about it being torn down. At all.

Really confusing article-- not clear if it will remain available to non-Emerson productions or not.

That house is one of the most beautiful I know of. I have especially fond memories of the place from the original out-of-town tryout of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES back in '83. Memories from all over the building-- the stunning lobby staircase where the famous photos of the Cagelles were posed, the substage where all the winches vied for space with the dancers' tap floor, and most especially the back alley where the many set pieces that were cut ended up. (One example? Monseiur Dindon had a number introducing himself comprised entirely of all the derogatory terms he had for minorities and foreigners. The song was soon axed, along with the the enormous boardroom set built for the number. That's showbiz.)

^ I hope you're joking. Though no-one called it Politically Correct back then, the fear of offending uptight Brahmin Bostonians was very real for the creators of LA CAGE back in '83, and they wisely picked the battles that mattered to them. And frankly that Dindon song appalled all of us on hearing it in the rehearsal hall. We wondered what took Jerry so long to cut it.

Honestly i am really sad about hearing this news but while i do think the theater needs a renovation i do not think it is right to completely close it for good.

As someone who was an Emerson student fairly recently, this is the least surprising thing I've heard all day.

I walked past the Colonial (it's in the middle of the block that comprises most of the Emerson campus) thousands of times and can only remember two different shows playing there in more than four years. It was dark so frequently that I thought it had already been closed.

I highly, highly doubt that the building will be demolished, for the following reasons:

There is currently a dorm that is pretty much on top of and under the theater. Gutting that property would mean losing, at least temporarily, all the housing and other facilities currently in the Colonial building.

Emerson is currently doing major renovation work on buildings further down the same block, and until that project is finished, they definitely won't be starting any major work on the Colonial.

My guess is that it will continue to sit there dark as it has for much of the last five years, and in a few years, once Emerson's current project is completed, we'll start hearing about the future of the Colonial. Emerson has already renovated and re-opened two sizable theaters in the last 15 years (although both of those happened under the previous president of the college), and my gut feeling is that if they planned to convert the Colonial from a theater to use for some other purpose, they would have done it five years ago after they finished renovating the Paramount, and would never have signed the lease with Citi in the first place.

Good to hear.Years ago I was in a theater they had just taken over but the name escapes me now.Good to hear re The Paramount. I was with a theater (architecture) group..We toured the than closed theater. Unfortunately there was no electricity in the theater and I could not see the interior .

By the,way, the alternate title for the Newley musical was "It's A Funny Old World We Live in But The World's Not Entirely To Blame".

Updated On: 10/5/15 at 09:41 PM

No, no no. The last thing Boston needs is another tributary to the ART-Manhattan pipeline.

Boo..I have wonderful memories there, being an Emersonian from 99-03. I saw just about everything there and thought it was a beautiful theatre. Where are shows held in Boston now? Surely not the Wang Centre? I heard the Opera House reopened (never been/it was shut down during my time). Do all shows go there now?