The Wang Theatre is a

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

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 ...

. It originally opened in 1925 as the Metropolitan Theatre and was later renamed the Music Hall. It was designed by Clarence Blackall and is located at 252–272 Tremont Street in the Boston Theatre District. The theatre is operated as part of the

Boch Center The Boch Center (formerly Citi Performing Arts Center and Wang Center for the Performing Arts) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit performing arts organization located in Boston, Massachusetts. It manages the historic Wang and Shubert theatres on Tremont S ...

. The theatre was designated as a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 1990.

Metropolitan Theatre

The structure was originally known as the Metropolitan Theatre when it opened in 1925. The Metropolitan Theatre was developed by Max Shoolman and designed by

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Clarence Blackall, with the assistance of Detroit theatre architect

C. Howard Crane Charles Howard Crane (August 13, 1885 – August 14, 1952) was an American architect who was primarily active in Detroit, Michigan. His designs include Detroit's Fox Theatre and Olympia Stadium, as well as LeVeque Tower in Columbus, Ohio, whic ...

. It seats more than 3,600 people.

Music Hall

In 1962 it became the home of the Boston Ballet and was renamed the Music Hall. During the 1960s and 1970s, audiences could see the Stuttgart Opera, the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is opera ...

Bolshoi Ballet The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest ballet companies. In the early 20th century, it came to internat ...

and Kirov Ballet as well as popular movies and performing artists. With time though, they could no longer attract the large touring companies because of the size of their stage as well as their outdated production facilities. Converted to a non-profit center in 1980 and renamed the ''Metropolitan Center'', they were able to attract theatrical performances again. Bob Marley and the Wailers 1978 concert at the Music Hall was released in 2015 in honor of Bob Marley's birthday as Bob Marley And The Wailers – Live: Boston Music Hall (June 8th 1978)

Wang Center

In 1983, Dr. An Wang made a very large donation and the Wang Center was born. From 1989–1992, $9.8 million was raised to restore the Theatre to "its glory days of the 1920s". Boston based architecture firm Finegold Alexander + Associates Inc restored the theatre with Conrad Schmitt Studios performing the elegant decoration, gilded moldings, murals, scagliola and marbleized surfaces. In 2008, the Citi Performing Arts Center announced a co-booking arrangement with

The Madison Square Garden Company Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. (also known as MSG Sports) is an American sports holding company based in New York City. MSG Sports manages professional sports teams. These include the National Basketball Association's New York Knicks a ...

for the Wang Theatre. The lobby was used in the movies ''

American Hustle ''American Hustle'' is a 2013 American historical black comedy crime film directed by David O. Russell. It was written by Eric Warren Singer and Russell, inspired by the FBI Abscam operation of the late 1970s and early 1980s. It stars Chris ...

'', for the live band performance and casino scenes, and ''

The Witches of Eastwick ''The Witches of Eastwick'' is a 1984 novel by American writer John Updike. A sequel, '' The Widows of Eastwick'', was published in 2008. Plot The story, set in the fictional Rhode Island town of Eastwick in the early 1970s, follows the witc ...

'', as part of the house in which

Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...

's character lived. It was also used for numerous scenes in the ABC TV pilot ''Gilded Lilys''.The Witches of Eastwick
/ref> Wang Theater

External links

* City of Boston
Landmarks CommissionThe Wang Center Study Report
1990

References

{{Authority control Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Boston Theatres in Boston Boston Theater District 1925 establishments in Massachusetts Buildings and structures completed in 1925 National Register of Historic Places in Boston

Metropolitan Theatre

Music Hall

Wang Center

See also

External links

References