OP-ED; Hub must act now for theater revival

Thomas M. KEANE, Jr.
846 words
3 May 2002
Boston Herald
All Editions
025
English
(Copyright 2002)

1 Lower Washington Street is a graveyard of once grand, now empty stages. The Essex Theater sits vacant in an office building at 600 Washington St. Across the road are the remnants of the Gaiety, boarded up and desolate. The Globe Theater, a half-block south, is now a Chinese restaurant, the arch above the old stage a backdrop for lunch and dinner. Historic preservationists, dreaming the theaters could rise again, keep trying to save them. For almost 20 years, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, author of plans for a Midtown Cultural District, has shared those dreams. Meanwhile, the buildings decay, some perhaps beyond repair. Time is running out. Two projects, though, are tantalizingly close to reality.

One is the Keith Memorial Theater, known as the Opera House. Named for B.F. Keith, the founder of vaudeville, and designed by noted architect Thomas Lamb, it is rich in history. Joseph Kennedy, patriarch to a dynasty, chaired its board; he maintained hide-away offices on the upper floors that allegedly were used for certain, ahem, dalliances with leading ladies of the day. Even now, after years of leaking water and collapsing plaster, the interior of the ornate Keith is breathtaking. With almost 3,000 seats, it rivals the Wang. And it's only $30 million and a lawsuit away from a reopening. The money is the easy part. ClearChannel Entertainment, one of the nation's largest theater operators, has committed to restore the Keith. Plans have been in place since 1996; it should take only 18 months to get the job done. The result would be Boston's largest for- profit theater, where spectacles such as "The Lion King" could play. But instead, the project is dead in its tracks.

Condo owners at Tremont-on-the-Common have fought the Keith at every turn. Now they're in court. Normally there are two sides to every story. Not so here. The condo's efforts to thwart the Keith seem petty and selfish. Residents claim that trash trucks and moving vans would have a tough time using an alley between the theater and the condo building because that alley would be reduced in width to 10 feet. It's a silly complaint; just ask residents of the Back Bay who have made do with 8-foot alleys since the 19th century. Silly or not, though, the condo association has spent an estimated $200,000 on its benighted quest.

The court's decision is expected imminently but even if the residents lose, they could appeal - potentially delaying things by several more years. It's a delay the Keith might not survive. Meanwhile, a few doors down is the bright, new facade of the Paramount Theater. The art deco movie theater opened in 1931; its last show was sometime in the 1960s. The new exterior comes courtesy of its owner, Millennium Partners, developer of an enormous, just- completed project that includes the Ritz Carlton Hotel and Loews Cinema. Refurbishers used old color postcards and a black-and-white film from the 1930s as guides for their restoration of the lighted marquee and slant signs.

On May 14, the signs will be lit for the first time. The outside may look glitzy but the interior is forbidding: empty, gloomy and water-damaged. Working with the BRA, American Repertory Theater in Cambridge has taken the lead in figuring out a new use for the space. Architect Graham Gund has produced drawings for a 700-seat stage. ART is organizing a coalition of 10 arts groups that could use the Paramount for shows they now can't mount. Robert Orchard, managing director of ART, believes the full renovation, including an endowment to support operations, will cost $20 million. Millennium, which has already put $1.6 million into the theater, has agreed to let the group use the building essentially for free. Even better, no one - yet - is suing to stop the project. But money is a problem.

Unlike the Keith Theater, the new Paramount would be nonprofit, focused on commercially risky productions. Donors are needed, and Orchard, while hopeful, worries they won't be found. If they were to reopen, the Paramount and the Keith would increase the Theater District's seats by one-third. Mayor Thomas Menino thinks the revived stages would be the area's "crowning achievement." Reopen a few other closed theaters and Boston could develop the kind of critical mass that would make it the nation's second strongest theatrical venue, just behind New York. It's compelling, even visionary stuff.

But in Boston, unfortunately, the best of plans can easily be derailed. It's been six years and counting for the Keith. There are at least another three years to go for the Paramount. If they can't be resurrected this time around, Boston's theaters might truly be lost forever. Tom Keane can be reached at tom@tomkeane.com. Graphic: ENCORE!: Boston Theatre drew crowds at 537 Washington St. from 1854 to 1924.

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