Boston Opera House

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The first Boston Opera House was built in 1901 on Huntington Ave. in Boston, Massachusetts. ^[1] It was described as a "perfect jewel-box of an opera house" and despite its smallish size, was the venue for many of the local opera companies, as well as the Metropolitan Opera Tours. It was just two blocks from Boston Symphony Hall, and one block up from the New England Conservatory of Music.

During the Great Depression and World War II, the Opera House fell into disuse and disrepair. ^[2] The Boston Redevelopment Authority, acting on behalf of the Northeastern University Trustees, declared the Opera House unsafe, and scheduled it for demolition. The local opera community demonstrated and petitioned the BRA to spare their only venue, but the order stood. The first and second demolition companies gave up in frustration, as the opera house resisted their demolition efforts. Only after a new and larger wrecking derrick arrived, did the walls fall. Ron Della Chiesa, noted WGBH-FM announcer, has a brick, which was his souvenir of the old house. The Northeastern dormitory, ^[3] Speare Hall, now stands on the corner of Opera Way and Huntington Ave.

The current Opera House in Boston, fashioned from the old B.F. Keith movie and vaudeville theater at 538 Washington St. was opened in 1928 ^[4] and came into the hands of Ms. Sarah Caldwell, at the behest of her close supporter, Ms. Timken, heiress to an energy company in New England. The architect, Thomas W. Lamb, designed a staggering number of intricately decorated theaters, many with elaborate support spaces, in the early 20th century.^[5] The Sack Theaters corporation owned the building, under the name Savoy Theater, at the time of the Opera Company of Boston purchase.^[6] Sack operated a smaller cinema in the stage space, with a large movie screen on a masonry wall built across the proscenium, serving the orginal auditorium.

Despite support from Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, as well as the Soviet Government, Ms. Caldwell's well deserved reputation as an opera innovator, but poor financial administrator caught up with her in 1991. ^[7] The theater, unheated, fell prey to a catastrophic flood, ^[8] destroying the electrical system. The roof, under which decades of costumes were stored, allowed the elements to wreak havoc with them. Mayor Thomas Menino, with the aid of Senator Edward Kennedy, whose father, Joseph, was the first owner, helped to provide National Landmark status. After a series of failed or delayed development proposals, the Clear Channel Company agreed to renovate the theater. The need to enlarge the trapezoidal stage house into the street between buildings provoked a multi-year court fight with the neighboring Tremont on the Commons condominium building, whose concerns with fire safety were eventually overcome with the persuasion of Mayor Menino.

The agreement involved a clause in which opera is supposed to be produced in the theater at least two weeks a year. Clear Channel has booked the theater for the foreseeable future with their Disney-themed productions. The Boston Opera community welcomed the efforts of Mayor Menino and Clear Channel to refurbish the Opera House. The damaged interior was carefully restored in the $38 million renovation.^[9]

The Boston Opera House is also home to the Boston Ballet Nutcracker between Thanksgiving and New Year's each year. ^[10] Previously performed at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts, it had to find a new home when the Wang decided to host the Rockettes Christmas show instead. ^[11], ^[12]

The current incarnation of the Opera House opened on July 16, 2004 with the Broadway production of The Lion King. ^[13]