Kimmel Center Breathes New Life Into Merriam Theater

Though often overshadowed by it's mother-ship two hours to the north, Philadelphia is undeniably a bustling arts hub in its own right.  The new $275 million Kimmel Center, recently renovated Academy of Music and shiny new Philadelphia Theater Company building are only a sampling of evidence, the rest of which can be found all the way from from the Avenue of the Arts to South Street.  All the while, however, it seemed one noticeable landmark, the Merriam Theater, was being left for dead.

Not so, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer.  The University of the Arts and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts have signed a five-year deal, in which the 91-year old venue's larger and more expensive sister, the Kimmel Center, will assume booking and management of the space.

In an excerpt from the Inquirer report, Kimmel Center President and CEO Anne Ewers says, "It's important for us to touch and reach a broad community, and the Merriam has a wonderful tradition of reaching a broad ethnicity...I think that people who might not feel as comfortable coming into the Academy of Music or the Kimmel Center are folks that we really want to touch and reach with our art, and the chance we have now with the Merriam is critical to that mission."

To read the full report on the Merriam's reinvigoration in the Philadelphia Inquirer, click here.

According to the theater's website, the Merriam Theater has played an integral and entertaining role in the city's cultural life. In 1972 by the Pennsylvania Musical Academy, now the University of the Arts. Now completing its 84th year, the Merriam Theater opened on August 26th, 1918 as the Sam S. Shubert Theater, with a road production of a musical from London and New York, Chu Chow Chin. In the early years, Gershwin musicals and Al Jolson reviews graced the Shubert stage. John Barrymore played Hamlet in the 1920s and burlesque was featured in the 1930s. Other performers included: Helen Hayes, Katharine Hepburn, Sammy Davis Jr., Angela Lansbury, and Sir Laurence Olivier. Since 1987, the Merriam Theater has become the number one Broadway roadhouse in Philadelphia and is also the home of the Pennsylvania Ballet, musical concerts, comedy shows, gospels and The Gilbert and Sullivan International Festival.