Re: BRA approves Emerson College's Paramount Center
A modest achiever. Do you think he could imagineer a hit Boston show?
Emerson College's Paramount Center
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AmericanFolkLegend
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Re: BRA approves Emerson College's Paramount Center
I don't understand this attitude. Wasn't Copley built sans subsidies?
As I recall Winn claimed the deck over the Pike was going to cost $50M. He later upped his estimate to $100M when he was chasing subsidies. Let's take his higher figure. For the 7.5 acres he was creating that works out to $13.3M per acre. An acre of land, in the Back Bay, with the zoning variances he had, for $13.3M . . . that's a steal! Forget subsidies - there should be plenty of money left over to pay rent to MDOT.
However I do agree that the decking should be built by the State since they're the ones best able to mitigate traffic risk and maintain a tunnel. Then lease the space on the deck with the zoning variances and the tunnel should more than pay for itself.
Edit: Sorry, this should probably be moved to Columbus Center.
I don't understand this attitude. Wasn't Copley built sans subsidies?
As I recall Winn claimed the deck over the Pike was going to cost $50M. He later upped his estimate to $100M when he was chasing subsidies. Let's take his higher figure. For the 7.5 acres he was creating that works out to $13.3M per acre. An acre of land, in the Back Bay, with the zoning variances he had, for $13.3M . . . that's a steal! Forget subsidies - there should be plenty of money left over to pay rent to MDOT.
However I do agree that the decking should be built by the State since they're the ones best able to mitigate traffic risk and maintain a tunnel. Then lease the space on the deck with the zoning variances and the tunnel should more than pay for itself.
Edit: Sorry, this should probably be moved to Columbus Center.
statler
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Re: BRA approves Emerson College's Paramount Center
Boston Globe - March 3, 2010
Boston Globe - March 3, 2010
Paramount regains its grandeur
By Geoff Edgers, Globe Staff | March 3, 2010
The Paramount Theatre reopens its doors to the public Saturday, marking the latest step in the rebirth of Washington Street?s theater row.
The once-grand Art Deco theater, which had become a dilapidated porno movie house by the time it closed in 1976, has been restored to its former glory as part of Emerson College?s ambitious new $92 million Paramount Center.
The theater?s 7,000-bulb marquee now lights up Washington Street, and a new LED wall next door is being programmed as a video art installation. Inside, the 596-seat theater has been restored to look like the movie palace that opened in 1932, complete with mustard-colored seats, gold figurines, and murals. A new orchestra pit accommodates 41 musicians.
Just down the street, the renovated Opera House, which reopened in 2004, is now home to Boston Ballet, and Suffolk University is renovating the Modern Theatre, mainly as a residence hall.
It may be hard, seeing the Paramount Theatre today, to understand just how dramatic a transformation has taken place.
Ross Cameron remembers. Five years ago, the project architect walked through the damp, dirty space to see what had to be done. He found bird skeletons and mold. He could see through a back wall into the alley behind the theater. And he could hear rats splashing around in the orchestra pit. At one point, Cameron entered the projection room. With no electricity, he had to follow the beam of his flashlight.
?I caught this broken mirror, and next to it on the door, somebody had painted, in red, a skull and the word ?REDRUM,? ?? said Cameron. ?Ever seen ?The Shining?? I had to leave for the day.??
Now the 180,000-square-foot Paramount Center features not only the renovated main theater, but also a smaller black-box theater, a state-of-the-art film screening room, rehearsal studios, dorm rooms, and offices. The Center incorporates the former Arcade building next to the Paramount Theatre. The structure adds to Emerson College?s already impressive performance presence, with the Cutler Majestic Theater, which it owns, a few blocks away on Tremont Street.
Programming at the Paramount Center and Cutler Majestic is being overseen by Robert Orchard, longtime executive director at Harvard?s American Repertory Theatre. Orchard, 63, recently became Emerson?s first executive director of the arts.
During a recent tour of the Center, Orchard showed off many of its features. He pointed out the on-site scene shop, a rare asset, and praised the black-box theater, a smaller, more flexible performance space, with a wall of windows and an exposed brick wall that he said would ?save thousands of dollars in scenery.??
?You?ve got to see this,?? he said, entering the black-box space and pushing a button. Nothing happened, so he pushed the button three more times. Finally, a staff member walked over and turned a knob to power up the theater. Now the button worked, bringing to life an industrial metal door that slid along a wall to reveal a dark chamber. ?I guarantee you, the first production that?s done, that door will open and something cool will emerge,?? Orchard said.
Orchard plans to partner with US and international companies to present theater, dance, and music performances. His first programmed season will start in September. But first, Celebrity Series of Boston is trying out the Paramount Theatre with a performance Saturday by Germany?s Max Raabe & the Palast Orchester. Later this month, Celebrity Series will present New Zealand?s Black Grace Dance Company and singer Dee Dee Bridgewater?s tribute to Billie Holiday there.
?For us, it means a great deal,?? said Martha H. Jones, executive director of Celebrity Series. ?It?s a great space, a theater that allows us to present almost any type of programming discipline. It?s also not run by a for-profit company that?s interested in making money.??
The Center?s facilities will also be available for Emerson students. ?This means the possibility of really pinnacle productions for the students and for them to be involved in one of the best theaters in the country,?? said Melia Bensussen, chair of the performing arts at Emerson College. ?We have never had the rehearsal spaces or the studio spaces that we?ve needed in the past. These are akin to all the laboratory spaces that scientists need.??
The city of Boston had long been interested in finding somebody to renovate this stretch of Washington Street. At one point, the American Repertory Theatre had considered turning the Paramount Theatre into a second stage before settling on the space that is now Oberon in Cambridge. In 2005, Emerson announced its plans for the Paramount Center and entered into a long term lease, with an option to buy, the land on which the Center now stands. The college owns the Center itself.
It?s a plot of land rich with history. Earlier performance spaces there date back to 1836, with names such as the Melodeon, Gaiety, and Bijou. Emerson has honored that history with murals and decorative displays that commemorate many of the legends who performed there, from Charlie Chaplin to Ginger Rogers. Some original architectural elements have also been exposed or left on display. The renovation reduced the number of seats from about 1,500 to 596 to make room for a new stage and orchestra pit. And with the interior in such bad shape, Emerson had to re-create its look.
Orchard, who served 21 years as managing director at the American Repertory Theatre and then nine as executive director, was wooed away from his sailboat and plans to retire. Ted Cutler, a trustee and major supporter of Emerson College, was having breakfast with a friend at the Four Seasons last year when he heard about Orchard?s retirement. He excused himself from the table to call Orchard.
?It?s not just bringing in someone to present,?? he said. ?We?re a school that can also produce. We needed someone who understood. We interviewed some really good people, but there was always something. When we interviewed Rob, everybody said, ?If you let this guy go, I?m going to kill you.? ??
Orchard imagines three streams of programming. He aims to forge relationships with larger companies such as the Moscow Art Theater and Ireland?s Druid Theatre Company and Abbey Theatre to present work in the Paramount Theatre and the Cutler Majestic. Younger ensembles such as the Texas-based Rude Mechanicals and the Civilians, a New York troupe, will perform in the smaller venues. And he envisions a lineup of family programming, too.
One project he?s really hoping to pull off could be onstage in April 2011, a production by 84-year-old British theater legend Peter Brook called ?Eleven/Twelve.??
?This is a thinker and maker who has probably been the most influential playwright in the last 50 years,?? said Orchard.
Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com.
Ron Newman
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Re: BRA approves Emerson College's Paramount Center
Check out the Globe's video about the video wall.
Video wall theme puts focus on history
By Geoff Edgers, Globe Staff | March 3, 2010
Perhaps the most surprising thing about the 60- by 40-foot LED video wall at Emerson College?s new Paramount Center is that it exists at all, according to project architect Ross Cameron. Usually in a renovation this big, decorative yet costly flourishes get sliced from the budget.
Not in this case. The wall, which cost $100,000 and is made up of 4,710 LED bulbs, will provide light shows to passersby on Washington Street. Emerson hopes to have it fully running later this month.
?I look at it as if it?s another venue, another theater,?? said Rob Orchard, Emerson?s executive director for the arts. ?I want people, when they come to Downtown Crossing, to always want to scoot down the street and see what?s on the wall.??
There are other LED walls around the country. What makes this one special, says Cameron, is that the display, located next to the Paramount Theatre in the fa?ade of the former Arcade building, is framed by 21 arching windows. The work can be programmed to put a different image in each window or to show a continuous moving picture.
Cameron also notes a historical resonance for the LED screen: The Bijou Theatre that once sat on the site was the first theater in America to be electrically lighted when it opened in 1882.
The LED wall features a low-resolution screen with 14,130 available shades of color. In the future, Emerson plans to have a staff member programming the wall. For now, the college has ordered up 24 patterns from Tim Hunter Design, a company based in New York. The 30-second loops will feature a range of images, including dancers, stage hands, and vaudeville performers.
?The theme is to try to recall the history of Washington Street and the names of the theaters and some of the history of the vaudeville performances,?? said the firm?s Mike Hansen.
Check out the Globe's video about the video wall.
Video wall theme puts focus on history
By Geoff Edgers, Globe Staff | March 3, 2010
Perhaps the most surprising thing about the 60- by 40-foot LED video wall at Emerson College?s new Paramount Center is that it exists at all, according to project architect Ross Cameron. Usually in a renovation this big, decorative yet costly flourishes get sliced from the budget.
Not in this case. The wall, which cost $100,000 and is made up of 4,710 LED bulbs, will provide light shows to passersby on Washington Street. Emerson hopes to have it fully running later this month.
?I look at it as if it?s another venue, another theater,?? said Rob Orchard, Emerson?s executive director for the arts. ?I want people, when they come to Downtown Crossing, to always want to scoot down the street and see what?s on the wall.??
There are other LED walls around the country. What makes this one special, says Cameron, is that the display, located next to the Paramount Theatre in the fa?ade of the former Arcade building, is framed by 21 arching windows. The work can be programmed to put a different image in each window or to show a continuous moving picture.
Cameron also notes a historical resonance for the LED screen: The Bijou Theatre that once sat on the site was the first theater in America to be electrically lighted when it opened in 1882.
The LED wall features a low-resolution screen with 14,130 available shades of color. In the future, Emerson plans to have a staff member programming the wall. For now, the college has ordered up 24 patterns from Tim Hunter Design, a company based in New York. The 30-second loops will feature a range of images, including dancers, stage hands, and vaudeville performers.
?The theme is to try to recall the history of Washington Street and the names of the theaters and some of the history of the vaudeville performances,?? said the firm?s Mike Hansen.
statler
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Re: BRA approves Emerson College's Paramount Center
You know, it is a shame they are building (or rebuilding) all these new theater and art spaces around the city. Didn't they get the memo that culture is dead in this town?
Such a waste.
You know, it is a shame they are building (or rebuilding) all these new theater and art spaces around the city. Didn't they get the memo that culture is dead in this town?
Such a waste.
Ron Newman
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Re: BRA approves Emerson College's Paramount Center
I think offices, but I'm not sure.
I think offices, but I'm not sure.
Re: BRA approves Emerson College's Paramount Center
)
What about all our archBoston culture mavens: how often do we attend live performances? In my case, the answer is: at least two each time I visit.
How 'bout you?
Let's hope these renovations spark a revival of genuine culture. So far, neither the Opera House nor the Wang has contributed much to Boston's culture, what's left of it. The Emerson Majestic does a bit better by enticing a provincial Italian opera company for a few annual performances, but it's slim pickin's for someone who really wants to go to shows fairly regularly. Since I'm one of those people, I sincerely wish all these projects the success that Boston deserves. Or maybe (I sure hope it ain't so !!), the audience just isn't there. (Except for Ron, who I'm sure attends nearly everything.
)What about all our archBoston culture mavens: how often do we attend live performances? In my case, the answer is: at least two each time I visit.
How 'bout you?
Re: BRA approves Emerson College's Paramount Center
As much as I can; I recommend the A.R.T in Cambridge if "genuine" culture is what you are after. Currently showing is The Donkey Show, don't miss it. However, to reject the place for the Opera House and Wang, among other Broadway series theaters, seems a bit unfair. I enjoy shows there as much as anywhere.
Let's hope these renovations spark a revival of genuine culture. So far, neither the Opera House nor the Wang has contributed much to Boston's culture, what's left of it. The Emerson Majestic does a bit better by enticing a provincial Italian opera company for a few annual performances, but it's slim pickin's for someone who really wants to go to shows fairly regularly. Since I'm one of those people, I sincerely wish all these projects the success that Boston deserves. Or maybe (I sure hope it ain't so !!), the audience just isn't there. (Except for Ron, who I'm sure attends nearly everything.
What about all our archBoston culture mavens: how often do we attend live performances? In my case, the answer is: at least two each time I visit.
How 'bout you?
As much as I can; I recommend the A.R.T in Cambridge if "genuine" culture is what you are after. Currently showing is The Donkey Show, don't miss it. However, to reject the place for the Opera House and Wang, among other Broadway series theaters, seems a bit unfair. I enjoy shows there as much as anywhere.
SeamusMcFly
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Re: BRA approves Emerson College's Paramount Center
In the past couple years I have been to the Opera house only for my culture.
I caught The Lion King there on it's last trip thru Boston, and also caught Spamalot there. Oh an Blue Man a few years back. Before that was a showing of 5 guys named Moe in London (I'm soooo provincial), and typical school trips before that.
I'm looking right now for a good show to take the wife out to.... suggestions are more than welcome.
But, I definitely don't go as often as I would like. Maybe if a production of Evil Dead the Musical were to come to town.... then it'd be on.
Part of the problem (mine and I'm assuming many others) is that a night of legitimate theatre is fairly cost prohibitive. Tickets aren't cheap, and I feel inclined to take the missus out to a fine eating establishment before as well to show off how good we look all dudded up. There just doesn't seem to be as many people in Boston with the disposable income needed to bring the shows to town. Maybe I'm wrong (hopefully) and if you build it they will come.
In the past couple years I have been to the Opera house only for my culture.
I caught The Lion King there on it's last trip thru Boston, and also caught Spamalot there. Oh an Blue Man a few years back. Before that was a showing of 5 guys named Moe in London (I'm soooo provincial), and typical school trips before that.
I'm looking right now for a good show to take the wife out to.... suggestions are more than welcome.
But, I definitely don't go as often as I would like. Maybe if a production of Evil Dead the Musical were to come to town.... then it'd be on.
Part of the problem (mine and I'm assuming many others) is that a night of legitimate theatre is fairly cost prohibitive. Tickets aren't cheap, and I feel inclined to take the missus out to a fine eating establishment before as well to show off how good we look all dudded up. There just doesn't seem to be as many people in Boston with the disposable income needed to bring the shows to town. Maybe I'm wrong (hopefully) and if you build it they will come.
Re: BRA approves Emerson College's Paramount Center
I'm aware of The Donkey Show, and I've missed it only because I haven't been around during its run.
If your point is that the cutting edge of live theatre has now moved to Cambridge, I heartily agree. The A.R.T.'s two venues put the entire Boston "Theatre District", unfortunately, to shame.
I'm aware of The Donkey Show, and I've missed it only because I haven't been around during its run.
Re: BRA approves Emerson College's Paramount Center
Boston was never like New York; few tourists come to Boston for the shows. But the shrinkage in the last few decades is truly alarming.
Hope so. That's what everybody hopes. Ain't happening yet. And if it does happen, it won't be directly the result of fancy Deco neon signs (which are good things of themselves).
Ron Newman
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Re: BRA approves Emerson College's Paramount Center
To say there is no theatre in Boston, you'd have to overlook the Huntington, the Lyric, Actors' Shakespeare Project, and half a dozen little companies at the Boston Center for the Arts.
To say there is no theatre in Boston, you'd have to overlook the Huntington, the Lyric, Actors' Shakespeare Project, and half a dozen little companies at the Boston Center for the Arts.
Re: BRA approves Emerson College's Paramount Center
I do recall saying the pickin's are slim, and I'll stand by that.
Someone said that? Straw man?
I do recall saying the pickin's are slim, and I'll stand by that.
Re: BRA approves Emerson College's Paramount Center
You stated that the Wang and Opera House have not contributed much to Boston's culture. I disagree; for what they are worth, they carry their weight, respectively.
You stated that the Wang and Opera House have not contributed much to Boston's culture. I disagree; for what they are worth, they carry their weight, respectively.
Re: BRA approves Emerson College's Paramount Center
My point is that it is there, if you want it. Ron Newman has also stated Boston based centers that contribute to the "culture," too. If anything, Boston has seen a resurgence of theater, and venues, recently. I am happy about this and hope it continues (and it will with the reopening of Paramount and the Modern).
By the way, the Donkey Show is not to be missed -- like you said, no one comes to Boston for theater, and that is a shame, since the Donkey Show is probably the best thing to happen in theater on the Eastern seaboard this decade.
My point is that it is there, if you want it. Ron Newman has also stated Boston based centers that contribute to the "culture," too. If anything, Boston has seen a resurgence of theater, and venues, recently. I am happy about this and hope it continues (and it will with the reopening of Paramount and the Modern).
By the way, the Donkey Show is not to be missed -- like you said, no one comes to Boston for theater, and that is a shame, since the Donkey Show is probably the best thing to happen in theater on the Eastern seaboard this decade.
