In this event-filled centennial year for Utah, it seems only fitting that one of the state's most beloved and historical theaters - Kings-bury Hall on the University of Utah campus - will soon be reopening following a $12 million renovation and restoration proj-ect.
That's a far cry from the fate of another famous venue - the Salt Lake Theater, which once drew crowds of theatergoers and nationally acclaimed performers to the corner of 100 South and State Street. When Utah became a state in 1896, the Salt Lake Theater had already been firmly established as one of the most important theaters in the Western states (even though it was never financially successful.)Live theater has long been a popular form of entertainment in Utah, from the territory's early pioneer days to the present. Attendance may have ebbed and flowed due to competition from movies and television, but the past few years have seen tremendous growth in both venues and productions.
Here are only a few of the milestones for theatergoers in Utah during the past 100 years:
- December 1897: The first performance by Maude May Babcock's newly formed University Dramatic Club. This was long before Kingsbury Hall and the "Playbox" productions at the U., and the troupe made use of LDS Church ward halls and the Salt Lake Theater for its performances.
- Summer of 1915: Babcock formed the Utah Players Stock Company, the community's first professional troupe. It later disbanded, followed in 1923 by the Moroni Olsen Players, which was successful not only in Utah but throughout the Western states.
- 1928: The grand old Salt Lake Theater, at 100 South and State Street, was demolished to make way for a telephone exchange building. By now, talking pictures had taken over and most of the old vaudeville houses no longer presented live theater.
- 1962: A particularly eventful year for theatergoers, marked by the premiere season of the Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City and the opening of the Pioneer Memorial Theatre on the U. of U. campus. Both are stronger than ever 35 years later. PMT changed directions in 1984, when Charles Morey founded the Pioneer Theatre Company, a professional Equity company.
- The mid-'60s also gave birth to two "alternative theater" companies - a small troupe at Eliott Hall, which later evolved into Salt Lake Acting Company (still strong today after surviving a somewhat rocky management/direction change) and Theatre 138, which lasted nearly two decades. The short list of other similar theaters could include the New Shakespeare Players (now TheatreWorks West), the No-Name Players and others.
- Another major entity in the 1960s was the Valley Music Hall, which brought big-names stars in "straw hat circuit" productions to a state-of-the-art theater in the round in North Salt Lake. This venture was short-lived, however, due largely to the construction of the huge new Salt Palace arena.
- The Hale Center Theater, now in its 10th year, has probably ignited as much of the growth in local theater as any other company. "Good theater builds more good theater" is a phrase voiced in the theater community - and without HCT, Salt Lakers probably would not have Desert Star Playhouse or the Pages Lane Theater or countless other small theaters throughout the Wasatch Front.
- The Theater League of Utah, formed earlier this decade, has been instrumenmtal in bringing major national touring shows to the Capitol Theatre. Its success with such blockbusters as "Les Miserables" and "Cats" is considerably different from the bus-and-truck tours which used to just drop into Salt Lake only if it was convenient. In March, TLU's biggest venture - a 15-week enagement of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera" will bring even more business into the Capitol Theatre.