SIGHTSEERS
Historic Escapades of the Theatrical Kind
Life is good in Traverse City
by Randy Karr

The city’s downtown boasts enough specialty shops, brewpubs, galleries, coffee houses and restaurants to keep you returning for years. Walk a block north from Front Street, over the Boardman River and you’ll enjoy immaculate beaches, paved bike paths, sand volleyball courts and acres of open space to watch tall ships ply West Grand Traverse Bay.

Ahem. There’s more. With the restoration and reopening of two historic downtown theaters, you can enjoy an evening of entertainment at the restored State Theatre and the City Opera House.

The State Theatre, now the permanent home of the Traverse City Film Festival, rivals the top art house cinemas in the country. The refurbished theater features a new 40-foot screen, the biggest screen within 200 miles of Traverse City; 540 comfy seats patterned after those in the Ford Mustang car; a quarter-million dollars worth of state-of-the-art projectors; and a Dolby surround system.

The theater’s ceiling is exceptional. Movie patrons gazing at the ceiling see 2,000 fiber-optic stars twinkling above them. The starry night ceiling was designed by a local astronomer to show the position of the stars above the State Theater on August 12th at approximately 11 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. It’s what you would see if the ceiling could be retracted.

Originally built in 1918 and rebuilt in 1923 after a fire, the State Theatre, then known as the Lyric Theatre, was the first theater in Northern Michigan to show a talking movie. After closing in 1991, it sat idle until the Traverse City Film Festival organizers returned it to its former glory as one of the Midwest’s most magnificent movie theaters. On November 17, 2007, the State Theatre marquee lights came on and the community celebrated the grand opening of the historic theater.

Academy Award winning filmmaker, Michael Moore, heads the theater. Frequent movie goers may spot him at the theater, introducing films or taking tickets at the door. Moore moved to the Traverse City area from New York City in 2002.

The other historic downtown theater is the City Opera House. It is one of the largest and best-preserved early opera houses in Michigan and one of only three remaining 19th century buildings in the state with its historical integrity intact. The opera house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is listed on the Michigan Register of Historic Sites.

Built in 1891, the 1,200-seat Victorian opera house was a venue for performing artists and formal balls. The theater, which had a 43-foot ceiling and hardwood maple floors, was known for its excellent acoustics and for being the first building in Traverse City to use electric lights. Though there has never been an opera at the opera house, there have been numerous concerts, traveling plays, vaudeville shows, high school graduations, dinners and balls.

In 1980, the descendants of one of the original 1891 owners gave the opera house to Traverse City. An architectural firm specializing in historic properties guided the restoration work done on the exterior facade, architectural trim and period lighting.

Twenty-eight years after hosting its last event, the restored City Opera House reopened in December 2004. Several years later, it received the Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation.

Information on what’s playing at the Traverse City Film Festival and at the State Theatre is available at www.traversecityfilmfest.org. For information on upcoming events at the City Opera House, visit www.cityoperahouse.org.

© 2008 Randy Karr