City Opera HouseTraverse City, Michigan 2006

McPherson Opera House McPherson, Kansas 2010

Eisenhower Theater at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing ArtsWashington, D.C. 2008

Opening its doors in 1891, this northern Michigan opera house is the oldest of three historically intact Victorian-era opera houses in the state. The elegant 700-seat, state-of-the art historic venue has hosted everything from plays, concerts and operettas to gala balls, social functions, community festivals and celebrations. The “Grand Old Lady,” as she is lovingly known, has served as a community gathering space for more than a century.

Built in 1888 and the first of its kind with electricity, the McPherson Opera House had no equal between Kansas City and Denver. On opening night, all 900 seats were sold, and the opera house quickly established itself as the region’s cultural center. It was saved from destruction in 1986 by the McPherson Opera House Company. Now on the National Register of Historic Places, it is considered one of the best examples of opera house architecture in Kansas. The fully restored facility reopened in 2010.

The Eisenhower Theater, on the north side of the Kennedy Center, seats about 1,163 and is named for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who signed into law the National Cultural Center Act in 1958. This beautiful venue hosts plays, musicals, smaller-scale operas, ballet and contemporary dance performances. Opened in 1971, the theater was renovated in 2008.

In 1925, Paramount-Publix, one of the great studio-theater chains that dominated the industry, began a construction program resulting in some of the finest theaters produced in that era. It was one of only three theaters built by the Publix chain on the West Coast. It was not only the last Publix house but was also the last very large moving-picture theater built on the West Coast and is now the largest of the type still in existence.

The Lobero is California’s oldest, continuously operating theater. Originally founded in 1873 and rebuilt in 1924, it is recognized as one of Santa Barbara’s architectural jewels and is a state landmark. On August 4, 1924, today’s Lobero opened its doors with a gala production of Beggar on Horseback. Santa Barbara celebrated the opening with the inaugural Fiesta, the predecessor of today’s Fiesta and Old Spanish Days.

Modeled after the Ambassador Auditorium, and located on the Herbert W. Armstrong College campus, the brand-new 823-seat Armstrong Auditorium opened in 2010 to much fanfare. Some of the hall’s treasures are from the original Ambassador Auditorium, including a Steinway concert grand piano and two Baccarat crystal candelabra. Other amenities include Swarovski-trimmed chandeliers from Austria, Persian onyx, marble from Spain and the finest-quality custom seats made by American Seating.

Despite the stock market crash of 1929, John D. Rockefeller made a $91 million investment in Midtown Manhattan that would leave a lasting impact on New York City’s architectural and cultural landscape. He built Rockefeller Center, a complex of buildings that express the highest ideals of design and stand as symbols of optimism and hope. Radio City Music Hall was one of the center’s first and most important buildings. Since opening in 1932, more than 300 million visitors from around the world have sat in its nearly 6,000 seats. In 1999, Radio City underwent its most extensive restoration project since its opening, returning to the ambiance of the 1930s while integrating today’s technology.

The Capitol Theatre movie palace was on Broadway just north of Times Square. Designed by Thomas W. Lamb, the Capitol seated 4,000 and opened October 24, 1919. It was one of the first of the large lavish movie theaters that dominated the film business for the next 40 years. The theater was acquired in 1924 by the entertainment magnate Marcus Loew and became the flagship of his deluxe Loew’s Theatres chain.

Paramount TheaterOakland, California 1973

Lobero TheaterSanta Barbara, California

2002

Armstrong AuditoriumEdmond, Oklahoma 2010

Radio City Music Hall New York, New York 1999

Capitol TheatreNew York, New York 1919

Located west of downtown Richmond, the Landmark is nestled in the Virginia Commonwealth University campus where it hosts Broadway productions, concerts, comedians, lectures and school commencements. This beautiful 3,600-seat theater opened in 1927. Refurbished in the mid-1990s, it is still in use today.

Landmark TheaterRichmond, Virginia 1927

American Seating provides performing

arts seating solutions worthy of a

standing ovation. Products have ranged

from ornate in the Gilded Age to

sleek sophistication in modern times.

In opera houses and concert halls, in

movie theaters and community theaters,

American Seating has been bringing the

house down in comfort and style for

more than a century.

Theater

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Photography courtesy of Ron Blunt