The Life of Phoenix’s Orpheum Theatre
Thursday, January 7th, 2010When I was twelve years old, I saw my first musical. It was a production of “Annie” at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Phoenix. At that time, the downtown area did not have many venues, it was the Orhpeum and the Symphony Hall. I had been to the Symphony Hall many times, to see the Phoenix Symphony and then to perform a few times a year with the dance company I grew up in. But I had never seen a building such as The Opheum, with the gilded gold columns, the winding staircases and the heavy red velvet curtains. It was one of the first, best nights of my life. Later on, when I was seventeen, I saw REM play there. It was an intimate space as the band had not yet become the mega-stars they are today. Again, another very fine night.
The construction of the theatre began in 1927, and when in 1929 the theatre opened its doors and the history of downtown had begun. Throughout World War II and the Depression, the theatre presented live shows and “talkie” movies, and provided relief for the people suffering through those times. Following 1949, many people began moving out to the suburbs, a situation still occurring today which has made it difficult to build up the downtown entertainment districts to this day.
During the mid-eighties there were considerations to tear down the building and put up a new and modern commercial building. But the residents of the city, and the mayor at that time, Terry Goddard, succeeded in adding the building to the National Register of Historic Places, and the Orpheum was saved. Downtown has now become a place for entertainment from the Bank One Ball Park and other corporate sponsored large venues, sitting up right next to some of the best Phoenix Hotels. There is modern architecture now, but the charm of the city and the history has been preserved with the renovation of the Orpheum, and when you walk around downtown now, you will see projects under way that are restoring many of the other beautiful and older buildings of the city. It is become quite an eclectic and interesting downtown hub.