The Boston Opera House Tickets

The Boston Opera House

The first Boston Opera House was built in 1901 on Huntington Ave. in Boston, Massachusetts. 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. 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, 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 on Washington St. 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. 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. The theater, unheated, fell prey to a catastrophic flood, 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 cost was 30 million dollars, and involved enlarging the stage house, provoking 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, and now is waiting for them to make good on the agreement.

Boston Opera House

(The following excerpt is from Broadway in Boston website)

After an extensive multi-million dollar restoration by Clear Channel Entertainment, Boston's landmark Opera House re-emerged this summer as an architectural jewel and New England's finest and most historically significant performing arts venue. The focus on this pivotal event in Boston history, coupled with the excitement generated by Disney's THE LION KING as the inaugural production, cannot be underestimated.

The present day Opera House opened its doors on October 29, 1928, then named the B.F. Keith Memorial Theatre, built to honor "the father of vaudeville" by his business partner Edward Albee. The theatre became part of a national circuit of grand theatres, built to support vaudeville in it's prime. Vaudeville soon declined in popularity with the advent of motion pictures. The theatre went through many transitions throughout its history, becoming a venue for first-run movies, concerts, and Opera. It was in 1978, when the theatre was home to The Opera House Company of Boston, that the name was changed to The Opera House.

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The Boston Opera House
Washington St.
Boston, MA 02111