Miller Symphony Hall: Difference between revisions

Miller Symphony Hall
Former names	Lyric Theatre, Allentown Symphony Hall
Location	23 North 6th St.; Allentown, Pennsylvania; United States
Owner	Allentown Symphony Orchestra
Type	Concert hall
Seating type	Reserved
Capacity	1,200
Construction
Built	1896-1899
Website
	www.millersymphonyhall.com

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Revision as of 16:05, 8 January 2016

The historic, 1200-seat Miller Symphony Hall, formerly known as the Allentown Symphony Hall, is the premier performing arts facility in Allentown, the largest city in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley.

Allentown Symphony Association

The Mission of the Allentown Symphony Association is "to provide a first-class symphony orchestra and Hall, quality performing arts, and cultural education in partnership with the community."

The theater maintains a full production schedule of non-orchestral performances, including the new Symphony Hall Pops Series, Jazz Cabaret Series, Backstage Chamber Series, Musical Treasure Chest series for small children and their families, and a variety of Special Events.

In addition to the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, Miller Symphony Hall also serves as home to the Pennsylvania Sinfonia, Community Concerts of Allentown, the Allentown Band, the Community Music School of the Lehigh Valley and the annual Nutcracker performance of Repertory Dance Theatre.

History

Origins

Miller Symphony Hall's heritage dates back to 1817 when Northampton Town got its first farmer's market on Center Square. It was a wood and stone building. In 1848 that building was consumed by fire when most of the Allentown Central Business District burned down. It was rebuilt in 1859 at the corner of Church Street and Linden. In the mid 1890s, a new Central Market was built at the northeast corner of Sixth and Court Streets. However, it was not successful economically.^[1] By the late 1890s concerts were being held there and in 1899, the structure was converted to a theater by the firm of J.B. McElfatrick.^[2] The Lyric was designed as a legitimate theater for plays. Its name came about as the result of a contest, a five dollar gold piece being offered for the best choice.^[3]

Lyric Theater

The Lyric opened with a comic opera production based on the life of 18th century Prussian King Frederick the Great.^[3] The theater offered vaudeville, operas, plays, dramatic skits, minstrel shows, films and concerts,^[2] and also became one of the leading burlesque halls in the United States. On December 1, 1910, French stage actress Sarah Bernhardt made a one-night appearance at the Lyric.^[4] In 1912, it was the site of speeches by Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Booker T. Washington.^[5]

During World War I, Allentown was the home of a large Army training camp, Camp Crane, where thousands of recruits were indoctrinated into the military as ambulance drivers before being sent overseas to France. The Lyric, although primarily a stage theater, was adapted to show silent films to entertain the troops that came into the city for recreation.^[6]^[7] Oliver "Ollie" Gernert, the treasurer of the Lyric, took note that when the Lyric showed a movie, it was packed with soldiers, but when it presented a play or Vaudeville show, many seats were empty. Gernert believed that a cinema-only theater would be extremely profitable, and if it owned by someone who worked for the Lyric, there would be no conflict of interest as the Lyric could continue to present stage shows.^[7] The Orpheum Theater, located next to the Lyric at Sixth and Linden, was primarily a vaudeville theater. It was decided to construct a new cinema-only theater and return the Lyric to a stage theater only. The cinema, known as "The Stand" was erected during the summer of 1917 on North Eighth Street, and it opened to a full auditorium on 8 October of that year.^[7]

By the early 1920s the Lyric sported a new neo-classical facade, done by Allentown’s first Jewish architect, David Levy, and had become one of the nation’s leading “tryout” theaters, a place where shows appeared before being taken to Broadway.^[3] The Marx Brothers debuted the musical revue I'll Say She Is at the Lyric in 1923.^[8] The show would go on for a long run in Philadelphia, and became a hit on Broadway.^[9] In 1926 the Lyric stepped briefly into an international spotlight when it became the first theater in America to show “Ashes of Love,” a play written by a titled English lady, Vera Countess of Cathcart, whose scandalous divorce led to her briefly being kept out of the U.S. on grounds of “moral turpitude. ^[3]

As a result of the advent of sound films and also the Great Depression, the number of plays on the tryout circuit plummeted. For the Lyric it meant an entirely different role. There were not enough plays to keep the theater running full time. So they began to book other sorts of entertainment unlike those they had run before. In the 1930s, it seemed that the Lyric Theater had its best days behind it. Boxing matches and appearances by ecdysiasts with nom de theatre like Busty Russell and Ding Dong Bell, that suggested their talents were more physical than strictly theatrical, were considered all it was good for. Prize fights and strippers may not have been the most decorous forms of entertainment, but they “filled the hall,” as the saying went, and paid the rent. ^[3]

Allentown Symphony Hall

Venue logo.

In the 1940s, the Lyric became the home of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra and the Allentown Community Concert Association. About 4,000 to 5,000 local concertgoers attended concerts at the Lyric from 1945 to 1952.^[2] In addition to the Symphony concerts, burlesque shows kept bringing in the crowds. The seemingly incongruous relationship was profiled in Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine. “There they have burlesque every Saturday night — in Symphony Hall. … It’s doubtless the only symphony in the country that is partly supported by burlesque.”^[10]

However, by the late 1950s, the Lyric Theater was not profitable and plans were made to sell the property from I. Hirst Enterprises, Inc. to Park & Shop, a parking lot company and use the land for parking in support of the Allentown Central Business District and Americus Hotel.^[3] However, as the theater was about to be demolished, Donald and Sam Miller put together a plan to purchase the building for the Allentown Symphony Orchestra. On June 2, 1959, the Allentown Symphony Board meeting, which was held at the home of Samuel Miller, Donald Miller made the presentation to the board regarding the status of the Lyric Theatre, whereby he says unless the Symphony purchases the building it would be demolished. The Allentown Symphony Association approved the purchase of the Lyric Theater for $110,000 which with today’s inflation it is estimated to be about $875,000. At the board meeting on June 16, 1959 at the home of Paul Anewalts, loans were secured and approved with the First National Bank of Allentown for the purchase. Two committees were appointed, and a chairman for each was named: Building Committee, Mr. Donald Miller, and Operating Committee, Mr. Walter Strothman. The Lyric Theater was purchased on July 14, 1959. Later, the building was renamed Allentown Symphony Hall. ^[2]