Infinity Hall is an American performing arts venue located in

Norfolk, Connecticut Norfolk () is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,588 at the 2020 census. The urban center of the town is the Norfolk census-designated place, with a population of 553 at the 2010 census. Norfolk is per ...

, located in a historic building from 1883. Another venue also named Infinity Hall is operated by the same company in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

Infinity Hall, Norfolk

History

The venue was constructed in 1883 and originally functioned as a combination

opera house An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically fo ...

, barber shop and saloon.Minor, E. Kyle (July 18, 1999)
"The View From/Norfolk; Raising the Curtain on an Old Jewel"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Retrieved July 3, 2016. The building was chartered as the Norfolk Village Hall, although it was commonly known as the Norfolk Opera House. It was designed by the architect George Palliser, from Bridgeport, Connecticut, who published its design in his book, ''Palliser's Court Houses, Village, Town and City Halls, Jails and Plans of Other Public Buildings'' (1889). The Norfolk Opera House hosted

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

and theatrical presentations until the late 1940s. For the following four decades, it was used as a restaurant and a

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

. The building was closed in 1994 and remained vacant for four years. In 1998 Kimberly Gelvin-Melville (now Kimberly Gelvin-Wilks) was given "right to first refusal" to try to get the townspeople or someone else to buy and restore the old opera house as a theater and not apartments or offices. She then produced a theater play in the dead of winter to try to draw public awareness of this glorious opera house she wished to run her own theater company in with the help of Trustees. The Four Poster was produced at The White Hart Inn in Salisbury and the Smithies saw the article in the tristate paper, Litchfield Times, about the building and Kimberly Gelvin-Melville's desire to save it. She gave the Smithies permission to purchase it because they liked all of her ideas to turn it back into a theater and run shops downstairs to help finance it. In 1998, the building was purchased by playwrights and theater producers Maura Cavanaugh and Richard Smithies for US$50,000, who undertook a US$650,000 restoration that included the rebuilding of an observation tower that was part of the original structure. Cavanaugh and Smithies renamed the venue the Greenwoods Theater and brought dramatic and musical productions to its stage. Mr. Smithie had asked Kimberly to play Cleopatra in a future production but sadly Mrs. Cavanaugh Smithie decided she did not wish to include Kimberly as a director or actress for fear of her getting the credit for their restorations. The theater was restored and Kimberly attended the opening but then returned to live in Australia with her former husband and daughter. Cavanaugh and Smithies operated the Greenwoods Theater until early 2007, when financial difficulties forced them to close the venue.

Rebirth as Infinity Hall

The venue was purchased by Dan Hincks for US $240,000 in a tax auction on February 3, 2007."The New Guys"
'' Fairfield Weekly''. October 16, 2008. Hincks, the chief executive officer of the

Farmington, Connecticut Farmington is a town in Hartford County in the Farmington Valley area of central Connecticut in the United States. The population was 26,712 at the 2020 census. It sits 10 miles west of Hartford at the hub of major I-84 interchanges, 20 miles ...

-based printing and publishing business Data Management, undertook further interior and exterior restorations of the venue, including substantial structural improvements, a new restaurant named Infinity Bistro, a Meyer sound system, modern

green room In show business, the green room is the space in a theatre or similar venue that functions as a waiting room and lounge for performers before, during, and after a performance or show when they are not engaged on stage. Green rooms typically have ...

facilities, cabaret mezzanine seating, new wood finishing and expansion of the lower level. The resulting renovation created a 300-seat performing arts theater and restaurant destination. Hincks renamed the venue as Infinity Hall, telling an interviewer: "I called it Infinity because the sky is the limit when it comes to bringing people together with music." Infinity Hall's opening night was October 17, 2008, with a concert by singer

Kenny Rankin Kenneth Joseph Rankin (February 10, 1940 – June 7, 2009) was an American singer and songwriter in the folk rock and singer-songwriter genres; he was influenced by jazz. Rankin would often sing notes in a high range to express emotion. Biogr ...

. Subsequent concerts featuring

Melissa Manchester Melissa Manchester (born February 15, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Since the 1970s, her songs have been carried by adult contemporary radio stations. She has also appeared on television, in films, and on stage. Early l ...

, Spyro Gyra, Richie Havens and

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...

. In May 2009, an in-house bistro was opened. In its first two years, Infinity Hall hosted more than 400 concerts attracting in excess of 80,000 patrons. In 2010, Infinity Music Hall was voted Best Music Hall in New England by ''

Yankee The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Its various senses depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, residents of the Northern United St ...

'' magazine. Infinity Bistro, which opened May 1, 2009, was voted Best New Restaurant in

Litchfield County Litchfield County is in northwestern Connecticut. As of the 2020 census, the population was 185,186. The county was named after Lichfield, in England. Litchfield County has the lowest population density of any county in Connecticut and is the ...

and runner-up statewide in 2010 by a readers poll for ''

Connecticut Magazine ''Connecticut Magazine'' is an American monthly magazine covering the life, culture, politics, and style of the state of Connecticut. Founded in 1971, it was purchased in 2017 by the Hearst Corporation. It is a sister magazine of ''Connecticut Br ...

''. Beginning in 2012,

Connecticut Public Television Connecticut Public Television (CPTV) is the Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) member network for the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is owned by Connecticut Public Broadcasting, a community-based non-profit organization that holds the licenses ...

and

American Public Television American Public Television (APT) is an American nonprofit organization and syndicator of programming for public television stations in the United States. It distributes public television programs nationwide for PBS member stations and indepe ...

began a series of live musical performances at Infinity Hall by well-known artists as part of their ''Infinity Hall Live'' television series."Infinity Hall Live"
Television series,

Infinity Hall, Hartford

Infinity Hall, Hartford is located in a modern building on 32 Front Street, in the Front Street Entertainment District, near the

Connecticut Convention Center The Connecticut Convention Center is a convention center located in downtown Hartford, Connecticut, United States, overlooking the Connecticut River. History The center opened on June 2 2005. It was designed by Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & ...

. It seats about 500 total – 415 on the stage level plus 90 in the mezzanine. For general admission shows the capacity increases to 750.

References

External links