The lights, curtains, screen and the Capitol Theatre’s original organ from 1928 are ready to welcome guests this weekend.
“An organ like this is actually built into the theatre,” Capitol Theatre executive director Art Pierce said. “We couldn’t even think of doing a 1928 show here without including the organ because the organ would have been part of every show in 1928.”
Pierce says the organ has gotten a lot of attention recently and it’s noticeable.
“The organ really has a liveliness to it, a brightness to it that it never had before, not in my time anyway,” Pierce said.
The organ will be playing this Saturday night as the theatre celebrates the lighting of its new marquee – designed as its original 1928 marquee. It marks the completion of the work paid for by Downtown Revitalization funds. It is work that has made a big difference.
“A few years ago you couldn’t, you wouldn’t even think of doing a show in here in January,” Pierce said. “We used to skip the entire month because it was just too cold and we couldn’t heat the place.”
However, Pierce says there is more to be done. While $2.5 million is a lot of money, it doesn’t go very far in restoring a 94-year-old theatre. COVID also drove supply prices way up.
“You really have to pick and choose,” Pierce said. “We knew we wanted to do the marquee, and the marquee itself came in with the various components something close to $800,000 so that takes a pretty good chunk of that $2.5 million right there.”
Pierce hopes to have the front doors replaced and upstairs seats repaired and reupholstered. But for now, he’s excited for the lighting this Saturday. He says the test lighting was impressive.
“I was prepared to be disappointed because our expectations were very high. We weren’t disappointed. It was very impressive. It really, really does light up the whole block,” Pierce said.
Pierce hopes to continue with and expand the types of programs they offer.
