The Lansdowne Theater was reborn on Friday evening when its doors opened to a sold-out audience.
All 1,280 seats were sold for the performance of Chazz Palminteri’s “A Bronx Tale,” writes Kathleen E. Carey for the Daily Times.
“It’s a long time coming,” BRE Presents Vice President Richard Mancinelli said. “It’s amazing to see it fully realized.”
BRE will present all the theater’s shows, which will also include a Dave Koz Christmas show, Marc Cohn, Shawn Colvin and tribute bands.
The newly renovated Lansdowne Theater at 31 N. Lansdowne Ave. owes its second life to the Historic Lansdowne Theater Corporation, under the guidance of Matt Schultz.
The theater opened on June 1, 1927, with a showing of the silent film “Knockout Riley.” It survived as a movie theater and community performance venue until a showing of “Beverly Hills Cop II” on July 3, 1987, when an electrical fire closed the theater for nearly 40 years.
The Historic Lansdowne Theater Corporation purchased the building in 2007 and began a $21 million fundraising campaign to lovingly restore the theater to its former glory.
“There’s not a lot of brand new 100-year-old buildings,” Mancinelli noted. “You walk through those doors and it’s 1927.”
Reading more about the Lansdowne Theater’s reopening night in the Daily Times.
