The Tremont Theatre (1827–1843) on 88

Tremont Street Tremont Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts. Tremont Street begins at Government Center in Boston's city center as a continuation of Cambridge Street, and forms the eastern edge of Boston Common. Continuing in a roughly so ...

was a playhouse in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. A group of wealthy Boston residents financed the building's construction. Architect

Isaiah Rogers Isaiah Rogers (August 17, 1800 – April 13, 1869) was an American architect from Massachusetts who eventually moved his practice south, where he was based in Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio. He completed numerous designs for hotels, ...

designed the original Theatre structure in 1827 in the

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

style. The playhouse opened on 24 September 1827.

History

In the early part of the 19th Century, Boston was still a small town, not yet the bustling metropolis it is today. The town already had one playhouse, the

Federal Street Theatre The Federal Street Theatre (1793–1852), also known as the Boston Theatre, was located at the corner of Federal and Franklin streets in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was "the first building erected purposely for theatrical entertainmen ...

, and the city's small population made supporting a second theatre difficult.Banham 1122. The owners tried to bring in patrons by booking big-name performers. These included

Junius Brutus Booth Junius Brutus Booth (1 May 1796 – 30 November 1852) was an English stage actor. He was the father of actor John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. His other children included Edwin Booth, the foremost tragedian of ...

Charlotte Cushman Charlotte Saunders Cushman (July 23, 1816 – February 18, 1876) was an American stage actress. Her voice was noted for its full contralto register, and she was able to play both male and female parts. She lived intermittently in Rome, in an expa ...

George Washington Dixon George Washington Dixon (1801?Many biographies list his birth year as 1808, but Cockrell, ''Demons of Disorder'', 189, argues that 1801 is the correct date. This is based on Dixon's records at a New Orleans hospital, which list him as 60 years ol ...

Fanny Elssler Fanny Elssler (born Franziska Elßler; 23 June 181027 November 1884) was an Austrian ballerina of the Romantic Period. Life and career She was born in Gumpendorf, a neighborhood of Vienna. Her father Johann Florian Elssler was a second ge ...

Edwin Forrest Edwin Forrest (March 9, 1806December 12, 1872) was a prominent nineteenth-century American Shakespearean actor. His feud with the British actor William Macready was the cause of the deadly Astor Place Riot of 1849. Early life Forrest was born i ...

, John Gilbert,

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

and

Fanny Kemble Frances Anne "Fanny" Kemble (27 November 180915 January 1893) was a British actress from a theatre family in the early and mid-19th century. She was a well-known and popular writer and abolitionist, whose published works included plays, poetry ...

, and

Thomas D. Rice Thomas Dartmouth Rice (May 20, 1808 – September 19, 1860) was an American performer and playwright who performed in blackface and used African American vernacular speech, song and dance to become one of the most popular minstrel show ente ...

. Nevertheless, the Tremont never turned a profit during its 16-year life. Around 1829 Tom Comer served as musical director. Boston Playbill for John and daughter Charlotte V

Boston Playbill for John and daughter Charlotte V

In 1841 leading British actors

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

and

Charlotte Vandenhoff Charlotte Elizabeth Vandenhoff (1818 – 31 July 1860), became Charlotte Swinbourne, was a British actress who appeared in leading theatres in London, New York and Philadelphia. Life Vandenhoff was born in Liverpool in 1818. Her parents were El ...

were in America. They had arrived in 1839 and appeared in New York and Philadelphia. They appeared at the Tremont Theatre in a benefit for John Vandenhoff. Charlotte played Juliette and her father in his "very last role" played Mercutio and on the same night he took the title role in Coriolanus. On 28 December 1843, the

Free Church Baptists Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to proc ...

bought the theatre and renamed it the

Tremont Temple The Tremont Temple on 88 Tremont Street is a Baptist church in Boston, affiliated with the American Baptist Churches, USA. The existing multi-storey, Renaissance Revival structure was designed by architect Clarence Blackall of Boston, and opened ...

. Although the building was largely used for religious events after this, it still served as the venue for public events on occasion.

Image gallery

Image:TremontTheatre Bowen PictureOfBoston 1838.png, Tremont Theatre, ca.1838 Image:1842 TremontTheatre BostonDailyAtlas April4.png, Advertisement for "Bubbles of the Day," 1842 Image:1843 TremontTheatre Feb16 DailyAtlas Boston.png, Advertisement for "

Timour the Tartar ''Timour the Tartar'' is an 1811 hippodrama play by English dramatist Matthew Lewis. The equestrian drama was a popular success.Gamer, MichaelA Matter of Turf: Romanticism, Hippodrama, and Satire in ''Nineteenth-Century Contexts'', Vol. 28, No ...

" and "Cavern of Death," 1843 Image:1843 circus TremontTheatre Boston DailyAtlas March14.png, Advertisement for Olympic Circus, 1843

Notes

External links

*Map: * Boston Public Library
Tremont Theatre Archives
1839–1843

References

* Banham, Martin (1998)
''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre''
New York: Cambridge University Press. Cf. especially p. 1122, article on the "Tremont Theatre". * Kilde, Jeanne Halgren (2002)
''When Church Became Theatre: The Transformation of Evangelical Architecture and Worship in Nineteenth-Century America''
New York: Oxford University Press. Cf. especially p. 142 * Savage, Edward H. (1865)
''A Chronological History of the Boston Watch and Police, from 1631 to 1865: Together with Recollections of a Boston Police Officer, or Boston by Daylight and Gaslight.: From the Diary of an Officer Fifteen Years in the Service''
Boston. Cf. p. 82, &c. * Shand-Tucci, Douglass (1999)
''Built in Boston: City and Suburb, 1800–2000''
Amherst:

University of Massachusetts Press The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...

. Cf. pp. 153, 177, 182, 207, 209, &c. {{Authority control Theatres completed in 1827 1827 establishments in Massachusetts 1843 disestablishments in the United States Former theatres in Boston Greek Revival architecture in Massachusetts 19th century in Boston

History

Image gallery

See also

Notes

External links

References