Sioux City Orpheum
Encyclopedia
The Orpheum Theatre, also known as New Orpheum Theatre and Orpheum Electric Building, is a performing arts center located at 528 S. Pierce Street in Sioux City, Iowa
. Built in 1927 as a vaudeville and movie palace
, the theatre was restored in 1999 and today is the home of the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra
.
pipe organ, half circle boxes, hand carved detailing, gilded ornamentation, several crystal chandeliers and a hand painted ceiling. Throughout the years, the Orpheum was used for symphony performances, ballet and special attractions and hosted entertainers such as Fred Astaire
, Tallulah Bankhead
, and Katharine Hepburn
.
Over the decades, the theater suffered numerous insensitive remodels but has recently returned spectacularly to life thanks to a dedicated team of restoration expert and craftspeople. In 1982, the theater was "twinned" or cut into two small movie houses, and a wall of sheet rock was placed down the center aisle. These movie theaters operated until 1992 when for the first time in 65 years, the Orpheum went dark.
The reconstruction, overseen by Ray Shepardson, was started in 1999 with the expertise of architect Ed Storm from FEH Associates in Sioux City at a cost of nearly $12million. During the renovation 3 of the original crystal chandeliers were found intact above the drop-ceiling. Their single toughest problem was reconstructing the balcony and loge boxes. It took four months and 40,000 pounds of steel to complete the reconstruction.When the theater reopened in the fall of 2001, reporter Robert Morast wrote in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader: "Basically, the Orpheum feels like an upper-class theater ripped out of an old black-and-white movie and given a Technicolor treatment. The ambiance alone in worth the price of admission."
The Orpheum Theater was publicly reopened on 15 September 2001. Recent performances have been given by Bill Cosby
, Sheryl Crow
, B.B. King, Bob Dylan
, Olivia Newton-John
, Wynton Marsalis
and David Copperfield
. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 2000.
Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 82,684 in the 2010 census, a decline from 85,013 in the 2000 census, which makes it currently the fourth largest city in the state....
. Built in 1927 as a vaudeville and movie palace
Movie palace
A movie palace is a term used to refer to the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opened every year between 1925 and 1930.There are three building types in particular which can be subsumed...
, the theatre was restored in 1999 and today is the home of the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra
Sioux City Symphony Orchestra
The Sioux City Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Sioux City, Iowa. Its home is the Orpheum Theater.-History:The Sioux City Symphony Orchestra and The Sioux City Municipal Band were each formed in the early 1930s under the guidance and direction of Leo Kucinski...
.
Early history
The Sioux City Orpheum was designed by the nationally known Chicago firm of Rapp & Rapp and constructed in 1927 as part of the Orpheum Circuit. The major builder for the theatre was local Sioux City businessman, Arthur Sanford. It was one of the largest theatres in Iowa at its time and was certainly somewhat of a risk financially for Mr. Sanford, with a total construction cost of 1.75 million. This once opulent vaudeville and moving picture house boasted a large 2,650 seat, three story auditorium complete with WurlitzerWurlitzer
The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, was an American company that produced stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, theatre organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes....
pipe organ, half circle boxes, hand carved detailing, gilded ornamentation, several crystal chandeliers and a hand painted ceiling. Throughout the years, the Orpheum was used for symphony performances, ballet and special attractions and hosted entertainers such as Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
, Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante...
, and Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
.
Restoration
According to Ray Shepardson, a nationally-known theatre restoration specialist, because of the work of filmmaker George Lindblade, the project may be the most extensively documented major theatre restoration in the United States. Lindblade's documentary "Puttin' on the Glitz" is the latest in a long list of award-winning projects.Over the decades, the theater suffered numerous insensitive remodels but has recently returned spectacularly to life thanks to a dedicated team of restoration expert and craftspeople. In 1982, the theater was "twinned" or cut into two small movie houses, and a wall of sheet rock was placed down the center aisle. These movie theaters operated until 1992 when for the first time in 65 years, the Orpheum went dark.
The reconstruction, overseen by Ray Shepardson, was started in 1999 with the expertise of architect Ed Storm from FEH Associates in Sioux City at a cost of nearly $12million. During the renovation 3 of the original crystal chandeliers were found intact above the drop-ceiling. Their single toughest problem was reconstructing the balcony and loge boxes. It took four months and 40,000 pounds of steel to complete the reconstruction.When the theater reopened in the fall of 2001, reporter Robert Morast wrote in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader: "Basically, the Orpheum feels like an upper-class theater ripped out of an old black-and-white movie and given a Technicolor treatment. The ambiance alone in worth the price of admission."
The Orpheum Theater was publicly reopened on 15 September 2001. Recent performances have been given by Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
, Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...
, B.B. King, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
, Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
and David Copperfield
David Copperfield (illusionist)
David Copperfield is an Emmy Award-winning American illusionist, and was described by Forbes as the most commercially successful magician in history. Copperfield's network specials have been nominated for 38 Emmy Awards and won a total of 21 Emmys...
. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 2000.
See also
Movie palaces listMovie palace
A movie palace is a term used to refer to the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opened every year between 1925 and 1930.There are three building types in particular which can be subsumed...