December 8, 2004
Operatic opening
500 people attend open house for refurbished Opera House
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
The revised, renovated and refurbished City Opera House debuted to the public last week, with an estimated 1,600 people attending the five events.
Wednesday kicked off with a classic silent film, "The General" starring Buster Keaton, accompanied by pianist Kevin Cole. A mix of local choral groups, both adult and high school, provided holiday music on Thursday evening and Song of the Lakes held a compact disc release party at the facility Friday evening.
An estimated 500 people came through on Saturday during an open house and Sunday's ornament making event for children drew another 200 attendees, young and old.
"They haven't forgotten about it, they've been waiting for it," said Gerie Greenspan, executive director of the City Opera House Heritage Association. "I think the reason we had so much traffic is that people want to use it; the number one question we received from everyone is, 'Where's the schedule of activities?'"
Attendees at Saturday's open house marveled at the changes to the facility, pleased that the grand building would again be available to the public.
"The more you get people in to see this, the more they will want to have events here and the more they will appreciate it," said Maxine Rideout of Traverse City, as she reminisced with friends about past events there, such as the Festival of Trains and the Downtown Chili Cook-Off.
Rick Luther also praised the venue and looked forward to attending future events there.
"This has been somebody's dream for a lot of years," said the Traverse City resident.
Jeffry Corbin, president of the City Opera House Heritage Association board, lectured on the changes due to the renovation phases as well as the history of the building. He discussed original features, the association's determination to save the look and feel of the building during the restoration and related an unexpected historical link.
"We had a meeting last week with American Seating, who put in the original seats," Corbin said. "They brought with them the original invoice for the seating at the Opera House of Traverse City dated 1894."
The 110-year-old City Opera House is in the midst of a multi-year, $8.8 million renovation project. The facility was opened briefly last spring before another stage of work began, which included fully enlarging the second floor mezzanine lobby, rebuilding the substructure of the balcony, relocating patron restrooms and restoring the exterior fa‡ade on Front Street.
After last week's activities, the City Opera House will remain open for the next 14 months. In the spring of 2006, the Opera House will close again for at least six months for the final sequence of restoration.
This process will include adding a new grand entrance and stair lobbies, a Front Street elevator, seating for the whole theater - bringing capacity to 730 - dressing rooms and professional lighting, sound equipment and rigging. More than $200,000 of decorative painting will also be completed during this phase.
"We have $3.5 million left to raise of the $8.8 million total," noted Greenspan of the fundraising campaign for the final sequence, noting about the overall project: "Good things are worth waiting for and sometimes it takes a while to put it all together."
"We haven't compromised on what we deliver to the public and that happens on too many projects," she noted.
The Downtown Development Authority is booking the City Opera House for a range of events. Greenspan said the first wedding there is scheduled for December 18, which is just the beginning of the nuptial frenzy.
"For June 25 or 26, I don't remember which, the brides are three deep," she said. "It's pretty exciting."