Peabody Opera House
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The Stifel Theatre (originally known as the Municipal Opera House and formerly the Kiel Opera House and Peabody Opera House) is a civic performing arts building located in
St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
,
Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
.


About the venue

Founded as the "Kiel Opera House" (in honor of former St. Louis Mayor
Henry Kiel Henry W. Kiel (February 21, 1871 – November 26, 1942) was the 32nd Mayor of Saint Louis, serving from 1913 to 1925. Early life Henry W. Kiel's father was Henry F. Kiel, a well known contractor, who died in 1908. Henry F. Kiel also serve ...
), opened in 1934 as a part of the "Municipal Auditorium and Opera House". The theatre operated until 1991, when it and the adjacent
Kiel Auditorium Kiel Auditorium was an indoor arena located in St. Louis, Missouri. It was the home of the St. Louis University basketball team and hosted the NBA's St. Louis Hawks, from 1955 to 1968. The site was home to Charles H. Turpin's Booker T. Wash ...
were closed so the auditorium could be demolished and replaced by the Kiel Center, now known as
Enterprise Center The Enterprise Center is an 18,096-seat arena located in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Its primary tenant is the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League, but it is also used for other functions, such as NCAA basketball, NC ...
. When the auditorium was slated for demolition, the local consortium who owned the
St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...
, Kiel Center's main tenant, promised to rehabilitate the opera house as well. Neither that group nor the
Bill Laurie Bill Laurie is an American former basketball player and coach, and current business executive and philanthropist. He is the former owner of the St. Louis Blues and is the co-chairman of Paige Sports Entertainment. Early life Laurie grew up in ru ...
family who bought the Blues in 1998, however, renovated the building, instead claiming that they had fulfilled their financial obligations. In June 2009, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen voted 25–1 to subsidize the renovation and reopening of the theatre under the direction of the Blues' new owners, Sports Capital Partners. The subsidies were funded by municipal bonds and state/federal historic tax credits. On July 12, 2010, it was announced that the name was changing to the "Peabody Opera House", named after the company
Peabody Energy Peabody Energy is a coal mining and energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Its primary business consists of the mining, sale, and distribution of coal, which is purchased for use in electricity generation and steelmaking. Peabody ...
. The renovation lasted for fourteen months and included the construction of a new entrance for the building. On October 1, 2011, the Peabody Opera House opened for the first time since the $79 million renovation. The show featured personalities such as
Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009 ...
,
Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...
, and
Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...
and was attended by a full house of 3,100. Since its reopening, it has played host to a diverse variety of performing acts, including touring musicians, comedians, live theatre and dance, and social and political events. On July 16, 2018, it was announced that the building had entered into a 10-year naming rights agreement with
Stifel Stifel Financial Corp. is an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company created under its present name in July 1983 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange on November 24, 1986. Its predecessor company wa ...
Financial Corp. and would be renamed Stifel Theatre.


Notable events

On June 20, 1965,
Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
,
Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...
, and
Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...
with
Johnny Carson John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known as the host of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson received six Pr ...
as the emcee (subbing for
Joey Bishop Joseph Abraham Gottlieb (February 3, 1918 – October 17, 2007), known professionally as Joey Bishop, was an American entertainer who appeared on television as early as 1948 and eventually starred in his own weekly comedy series playing a talk/ ...
who was out with a bad back) performed their only televised concert together during the heyday of the
Rat Pack The Rat Pack was an informal group of entertainers, the second iteration of which ultimately made films and appeared together in Las Vegas casino venues. They originated in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a group of A-list show business frie ...
. A closed-circuit broadcast done as a fundraiser for Dismas House (the first halfway house for ex-convicts). After being thought lost for thirty years, Paul Brownstein tracked down a print of the show that had been sitting in a closet in St. Louis. It has since been broadcast on
Nick at Nite Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, ET/Pac ...
(in 1998) as part The Museum of Television & Radio Showcase series and released on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
as part of the "Ultimate Rat Pack Collection: Live & Swingin'". On July 11, 1978,
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
performed one sold-out show at the theatre. Bill Graham was the tour promoter. The Stones used a stripped back, minimal stage presentation compared to previous tours with an emphasis solely on music and attitude rather than presenting a grandiose extravaganza. Because of the limited seating at such an excellent venue, fans who were unable to purchase tickets gathered outside the building before showtime in protest. A police force with dogs was needed to keep the peace.


References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in St. Louis Music venues in St. Louis Opera houses in Missouri Concert halls in Missouri Performing arts centers in Missouri Tourist attractions in St. Louis Music venues completed in 1934 1934 establishments in Missouri Downtown West, St. Louis