Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

Last updated
Ordway Center for
the Performing Arts
Ordway Music Theater (1985–2000)
The Ordway Center.jpg
Ordway Center for the Performing Arts
Address345 Washington Street
St. Paul, Minnesota
United States
Coordinates 44°56′41″N93°05′54″W / 44.9448°N 93.0982°W / 44.9448; -93.0982
Capacity Music Theater: 1,900
Concert Hall: 1,093
Construction
OpenedJanuary 1, 1985
Architect Benjamin C. Thompson
Website
www.ordway.org

The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, hosts a variety of performing arts, such as touring Broadway musicals, orchestra, opera, and cultural performers, and produces local musicals. [1] It is home to several local arts organizations, including the Minnesota Opera, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and The Schubert Club. The president and CEO, Christopher Harrington, has served since November 2021, and Producing Artistic Director Rod Kaats has been with the Ordway since February 2018. [2]

Contents

History

In 1980, Saint Paul resident Sally Ordway Irvine (a 3M heiress and arts patron) dreamed of a European-style concert hall offering "everything from opera to the Russian circus". She contributed $7.5 million—a sum matched by other members of the Ordway family—toward the facility's cost. Fifteen Twin Cities corporations and foundations were the principal funders of the $46 million complex, the most expensive privately funded arts facility ever built in the state. Saint Paul native Benjamin Thompson, whose other projects included the Faneuil Hall renovation in Boston and South Street Seaport in New York, was selected to design a building that would project "a visible contemporary image" but also harmoniously fit on a site facing Rice Park, a block-square park framed by historic buildings. As designed by Thompson, Ordway Center (originally named Ordway Music Theatre) contained a 1,900-seat Music Theater; an intimate McKnight Theatre (306 seats); two large rehearsal rooms; and the Marzitelli Foyer, a spacious two-story lobby with a glass curtain-wall through which theatergoers enjoy a sweeping panorama of Rice Park, its surrounding buildings, and, in the distance, the Mississippi River. The McKnight Theatre was demolished in 2013 to make room for the new 1,093-seat Concert Hall, which opened on February 28, 2015.

The Ordway Center opened to the public on January 1, 1985, as Ordway Music Theatre. The name was changed in 2000 to reflect the array of performing arts that take place under its roof.

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts serves 400,000 people annually with nearly 500 performances in musical theater, children's theater, world music and dance, orchestra, opera, and recitals.

About the building

Ordway Center contains the 1,910-seat Music Theater, [3] the 1,100-seat Concert Hall, two large rehearsal halls, and lobbies on each floor, including the second-floor Marzitelli Foyer, a spacious, two-story lobby encircled by a glass facade.

Architect Benjamin Thompson and Associates
ContractorMcGough Construction
Building Area160,000 square feet (15,000 m2)
Site Area90,000 square feet (8,400 m2)
Lobby & Grand Foyer Area38,000 square feet (3,500 m2)
Back of House Area22,000 square feet (2,000 m2)
Rehearsal Room Area4,800 square feet (450 m2)

Interior

Woodwork (public areas) Honduran mahogany
Original CarpetDesigned by Benjamin Thompson and Associates. 6,000 square yards, manufactured by Mohawk Mills, Greenville, Mississippi
Lobby TileImported from Wales, United Kingdom
ChandeliersTwelve total: handcrafted chimneys from West Virginia; brass bases from Winona Studio Lighting, Winona, Minnesota
Lobby & Grand Foyer Area38,000 square feet (3,500 m2)

Exterior

Main FaçadeCopper-clad exterior window and fascia system, with more than 500 insulated glass panels.
BrickworkHandmade brick by Kane Gonic Brickworks of Gonic, New Hampshire. Each brick has variation in color and texture for a rich, handcrafted texture.
Brick pattern Flemish Bond. Pattern: Two “stretchers” laid lengthwise, one “header” laid crosswise.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ohio Theatre (Columbus, Ohio)</span> Theater and former movie theater in Columbus, Ohio

The Ohio Theatre is a performing arts center and former movie palace on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. Known as the "Official Theatre of the State of Ohio", the 1928 building was saved from demolition in 1969 and was later completely restored. The theater was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcus Center</span>

The Marcus Performing Arts Center is a performing arts center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Managed by a non-profit organization, it is marketed as Milwaukee's premier presenter of the performing arts. It is located at 929 North Water Street, at the intersection of State Street in downtown Milwaukee, and is a dedicated War Memorial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Straz Center for the Performing Arts</span>

The Straz Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts venue in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in July 1987 as the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, and was renamed in 2009. The Straz Center is owned by the City of Tampa and operated by the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krannert Center for the Performing Arts</span>

The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts is an educational and performing arts complex located at 500 South Goodwin Avenue in Urbana, Illinois and on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Herman C. Krannert, an industrialist who founded Inland Container Corporation and an alumnus of the university, and his wife, Ellnora Krannert, made a gift of $16 million that led to the Krannert Center's construction. Max Abramovitz, the architect who designed the facility, was also an Illinois alumnus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houston Theater District</span> Neighborhood in Harris County, Texas, United States

The Houston Theater District, a 17-block area in the heart of Downtown Houston, Texas, United States, is home to Houston's nine professional performing arts organizations, the 130,000-square-foot (12,000 m2) Bayou Place entertainment complex, restaurants, movies, plazas, and parks. More than two million people visit the Houston Theater District annually.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denver Performing Arts Complex</span> Entertainment complex in Colorado, U.S.

The Denver Performing Arts Complex in Denver, Colorado, is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. The DCPA is a four-block, 12-acre (49,000 m2) site containing ten performance spaces with over 10,000 seats connected by an 80-foot-tall (24 m) glass roof. It is home to a professional theater company and also hosts Broadway musical tours, contemporary dance and ballet, chorales, symphony orchestras, opera productions, and pop stars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powell Hall</span> Concert hall, former theater and movie theater in St. Louis, Missouri

Powell Hall is the home of the St. Louis Symphony. It was named after Walter S. Powell, a local St. Louis businessman, whose widow donated $1 million towards the purchase and use of this hall by the symphony. The hall seats 2,683.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alaska Center for the Performing Arts</span>

The Alaska Center for the Performing Arts is a performance venue in downtown Anchorage, Alaska. Opened in 1988, it hosts over 200,000 patrons annually, and consists of three theaters:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts</span>

Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts is the premier location for cultural arts and entertainment in Raleigh, North Carolina. The center consists of four unique venues, Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, Meymandi Concert Hall, A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater, and Kennedy Theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts</span> American performing arts center

The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA, at 16th and Broadway, near the city's Power & Light District, the T-Mobile Center and the Crossroads Arts District. Opened in 2011, it houses two venues: the 1,800-seat Muriel Kauffman Theatre, home of the Kansas City Ballet and Lyric Opera of Kansas City; and the 1,600-seat Helzberg Hall, home of the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra. Both venues host a variety of artists and performance groups in addition to these three resident entities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hobby Center for the Performing Arts</span> Theater in Houston, Texas

The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts is a theater in Houston, Texas, United States. Opened to the public in 2002, the theater is located downtown on the edge of the Houston Theater District. Hobby Center features 60-foot-high (18 m) glass walls with views of Houston's skyscrapers, Tranquility Park and Houston City Hall. The Hobby Center is named for former Texas lieutenant governor and Houston businessman, William P. Hobby, Jr., whose family foundation donated the naming gift for the center. The center replaced the former Houston Music Hall and Sam Houston Coliseum.

Minneapolis is the largest city in the US state of Minnesota, and the county seat of Hennepin County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miller Symphony Hall</span> Performing arts facility

Miller Symphony Hall is a 1,100-seat performing arts facility in Allentown, Pennsylvania that hosts the Allentown Symphony Orchestra. The hall was previously known as Central Market (1896), Lyric Theater (1899), and Allentown Symphony Hall (1959). In 2012, it was renamed for the Miller family, longtime owners of the hall and of The Morning Call newspaper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Texas Performing Arts Center</span> Performance halls in Austin, Texas

The University of Texas Performing Arts Center (PAC) is a collective of five theaters operated by The University of Texas at Austin, College of Fine Arts. The theaters are the Bass Concert Hall, McCullough Theater, Bates Recital Hall, B. Iden Payne Theater and Oscar Brockett Theater. Theaters range in size from the Oscar G. Brockett Theater, which has 244 seats, to the Bass Concert Hall, which seats 2,900. In addition to the theaters, the PAC also has offices and meeting rooms, rehearsal spaces and shops which are located in the PAC building and across the campus. PAC provides students an opportunity to interact with professionals in staging events and performing arts and extends an opportunity to the surrounding community to participate in all-age programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House</span> Opera house in downtown Dallas, Texas

The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House is an opera house located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas (USA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyogo Performing Arts Center</span>

The Hyogo Performing Arts Center (HPAC) is a performing arts center in the city of Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, next to Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station operated by Hankyu Corporation. The Center was opened in 2005 to mark the ten-year anniversary of the Great Hanshin earthquake which largely devastated Nishinomiya and the surrounding cities.

The performing arts in Detroit include orchestra, live music, and theater, with more than a dozen performing arts venues. The stages and old time film palaces are generally located along Woodward Avenue, the city's central thoroughfare, in the Downtown, Midtown, and New Center areas. Some additional venues are located in neighborhood areas of the city. Many of the city's significant historic theaters have been revitalized.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ames Center</span> Performing arts venue in Burnsville, Minnesota

The Ames Center, formerly the Burnsville Performing Arts Center, is a performing arts venue in Burnsville, Minnesota, adjacent to Nicollet Commons Park, which features green space, water fountains, and a 250-seat outdoor performance amphitheater. The Ames Center features an eclectic range of performances on the main stage and the black box theatres including: dance, theatre, concerts, comedians, and written word. Past performances include the Girl Singers of the Hit Parade, Larry Carlton, Louie Anderson, Lori Lane, Richard Marx, Church Basement Ladies, Melissa Manchester, Bill Engvall, Nick Colionne, Celtic Crossroads, Twin Cities Ballet of Minnesota, Elizabeth Gilbert, Rob Lake, Tommy Emmanuel, Sinbad, Ralphie May, Dakota Valley Symphony, Chameleon Theater Circle, Miss Minnesota USA/Teen USA, and Cirque D’Or. Additionally, productions of Mame, A Christmas Carol and Peter Pan were presented utilizing sets created for the Kennedy Center, the Kodak Theatre and the original Cathy Rigby Broadway production respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esbjerg Performing Arts Centre</span>

The Esbjerg Performing Arts Centre is a concert hall with theatrical facilities in the centre of Esberg in southwest Jutland, Denmark. Completed in 1997 to designs by the Utzons, it forms part of a complex which also contains the Esbjerg Art Museum. Its two auditoriums host classical concerts and drama productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zorlu PSM</span> Performing arts center in Istanbul, Turkey

'''Zorlu PSM''' inside Zorlu Center in Istanbul, is currently the largest dedicated performing arts theatre and concert hall in Turkey. It is in the Beşiktaş district on the European side of the city, near the junction between Barbaros Boulevard and Boulderer Avenue, near Levent.

References

  1. "Ordway Announces 2019–2020 Broadway Series - The Ordway Official Website". ordway.org. Archived from the original on 2019-07-13.
  2. "Interview With Christopher D. Van Gorder, FACHE, President and CEO of Scripps Health". Journal of Healthcare Management. 59 (3): 163–167. May 2014. doi:10.1097/00115514-201405000-00002. ISSN   1096-9012. PMID   24988669.
  3. Out, Bust. "Venue Rentals". Ordway. Retrieved 2022-06-01.