After nearly a century of entertaining audiences with vaudeville acts, films, musicals and concerts — followed by decades of neglect and a crumbling interior — the Carolina Theatre reopens in uptown Charlotte on Monday, restored by a $90 million renovation.
The historic theater at 230 N. Tryon St. opened on March 7, 1927, as a silent picture palace graced with resplendent murals, Spanish-inspired stonework and wrought-iron chandeliers. The theater's first showing was the silent comedy "A Kiss in a Taxi."
"For sheer splendor and luxury, it is a creation that will provoke admiration throughout the theatrical world," proclaimed a March 6, 1927, article in The Charlotte Observer.
Elvis, Sinatra, Hepburn and Andrews
In its early years, the theater also hosted vaudeville acts and other live performances, setting itself apart from the Imperial Theatre on South Tryon Street, which only showed films until it closed in 1964.
Notably, the Carolina Theatre hosted Elvis Presley for four sell-out shows in February 1956. Other famous stars who appeared at the venue include Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and Katharine Hepburn.
The theater was desegregated in 1963. Two years later, the venue began a record 79-week run of "The Sound of Music," starring Julie Andrews, which played to nearly 400,000 people between March 1965 and October 1966.
By the 1970s, the Carolina Theatre had begun to lose many big-name acts to the newer, larger Ovens Auditorium and Charlotte Coliseum, which opened in 1955 on East Independence Boulevard.
From neglect to new life
The theater closed in 1978 and began to fall into disrepair. For more than 30 years, it sat vacant, — its paint peeling and plaster decaying — until The Foundation for the Carolinas purchased it from the city of Charlotte in 2012 for $1.
The foundation launched a multimillion-dollar campaign to restore the theater and construct a new lobby that houses the theater's original stone façade and marquee.
In an interview with WFAE's Charlotte Talks set to air on March 27, the foundation's CEO, Cathy Bessant, said she cried when she saw the completed restoration.
"Walking in here and knowing the souls of the people and the vision that was brought it, I literally cried," she said.
The plaster molding and architectural details have been faithfully recreated, and the stage is again dressed in layers of red drapery. The theater's murals that flank the stage have been reprinted on fabric that masks sound-absorbing panels.
The theater has also been outfitted with a modern sound system and a projection mapping system with six lasers that can project images across the audience chamber.
Grand opening
The theater officially opens to the public with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday, March 24, at 3 p.m.
After the ribbon-cutting, the public is invited to take a free tour of the restored theater through 7 p.m.
