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Posted Nov 14, 2009, 10:04 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 1,977
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Queen E update, some remarks about Capitol and speculation about the 'Coal Harbour' Arts Centre:
Quote:
Vancouver is all ears for renovated Queen Elizabeth Theatre
By John Mackie, Vancouver SunNovember 13, 2009
VANCOUVER — The Queen Elizabeth Theatre was regarded as a textbook example of theatre design when it opened in 1959. In fact, it was actually in a textbook on theatre design.
But the bloom was soon off the rose.
The exterior was cool, in a Mad Men-modern way, but the sound inside the 2,929-seat hall seemed kind of dead and lifeless. Soon the late-50s theatre style — a low ceiling in a deep, wide auditorium — went out of vogue, replaced by a new wave of theatres like the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.
“It was narrower, higher, [and] shallower,” relates Rae Ackerman, the director of Vancouver Civic Theatres. “It’s all about acoustics.”
Ackerman first approached Vancouver council with the idea of renovating the Queen E to improve the sound back in 1994. But it took more than a decade to get approval, and several years of closing the theatre in the summer to do the work.
Almost $60 million later, the work is finally finished. Tonight the Queen Elizabeth Theatre reopens with a Warren Miller ski film, Warren Miller’s Dynasty.
It’s probably not the type of cultural event civic leaders envisioned back in July 1959, when internationally renowned conductors like Herbert von Karajan, Sir Ernest MacMillan and Nicholas Goldschmidt came to town to conduct the Vancouver Symphony. But hey, Warren Miller movies put bums in seats. The Miller movie is also booked for Sunday.
In any event, Ackerman thinks theatre-goers will be pleased with the upgrades.
The most dramatic visual change is in the main-floor lobby, which used to have a relatively low ceiling. The two floors above it have been blown out, opening up the space to the full height of the building. What had seemed kind of cramped and dated now soars three storeys high. The open feel is enhanced because the Queen E’s glass exterior walls are now exposed all the way up.
The lobby also sports chic new chandeliers made out of white seashells, improved bar and washroom facilities and marble and walnut columns. You’d never know that behind the marble and walnut columns is a “shear wall” that runs from the basement parkade all the way up to the roof, providing seismic protection in case of an earthquake.
There are some visible changes inside the auditorium, as well. All new seats, with wood backs and bases rather than metal. (The capacity has been slightly reduced, to 2,760.) Polished cement floors, rather than carpet. Banks of wooden “reflective panels” alongside the loges on either side of the auditorium.
The masses probably won’t notice, but the ceiling is also higher, and the mezzanine isn’t as deep. But Ackerman thinks they will notice one change: the sound is way better.
“The biggest thing everybody will notice is the acoustics,” Ackerman said. “The natural acoustics in here are now going to be equivalent to the new opera house in Toronto.”
The Queen E upgrades are the finale to several years of renos at the three civic theatres owned and operated by the city of Vancouver: the Queen Elizabeth, the Orpheum, and the Playhouse. (The city also owns the Vancouver East Cultural Centre and the Firehall Theatre, but they’re run by non-profit societies.)
The Orpheum had sound problems too, but they were fixed with the addition of some sound baffles in 1996. This summer, the former movie and vaudeville palace also received new seats, 2,720 to be precise. The same ones as the Queen E, with birch backs and bottoms; wood reflects sound much better than metal.
“The first time the orchestra came in to rehearse this summer [people went] ‘Whoa! It sounds better,’” Ackerman said.
What happened to the old Orpheum seats? Many were pitched, but 1,100 went to theatres in Powell River and Wells, some wound up at the Vogue, and some went to a movie art director.
“They had to turn up with a truck and a crew on one of two days and take them,” Ackerman relates. “We got a dollar credit from the contractor for every seat he didn’t have to remove.”
The major change to the Playhouse came in 2006, when the 668-seat theatre was separated from the Queen E. This was done to stop amplified sound bleeding over from the bigger venue.
“This past year we had Marilyn Manson in here,” Ackerman recounted.
“It was reaaally loud, and in the Playhouse, you couldn’t hear anything from Marilyn Manson. It was 100-per-cent successful.”
Civic Theaters is also about to pick up a couple of new venues in the Capitol Residences project, on the former Capitol Six theatre site on Seymour street.
“There’s a 220-seat theatre that will also be a rehearsal hall big enough for the VSO,” Ackerman explained. “There will be a 110-seat recital hall, and three storeys of music practice rooms for the VSO music school.”
There is also a big empty room directly behind the Orpheum that will eventually be opened up to enlarge the Orpheum stage, but Ackerman says there is no funding in place yet for the $10-million cost.
The Capitol venues cost $20 million and were paid for by the developer, Wall Financial/McDonald Corp. Developer Bruno Wall says the city allowed the company to build a taller tower (43 storeys) in exchange for the cultural assets.
Wall says the Capitol Residences is a $180 million project, has 372 units and is sold out, with prices ranging from $300,000 to $2 million. It should be ready by fall 2010.
Ackerman also thinks there is still a chance that the long-delayed Coal Harbour arts complex may still be built.
The city still has $20 million it collected in development fees for the Coal Harbour Arts Complex, which had been slated for the site where the Vancouver Convention Centre East was built. Ackerman feels there is a real need for a live theatre that fills the void between the 1,100-seat Vogue and 2,700 seaters like the Queen E and Orpheum.
“A mid-size, 1,500 to 1,800-seat acoustically good hall would make a lot of sense,” he said.
“The only place in Vancouver right now that is of the right size is the bus depot site. That site would hold the Coal Harbour Arts Centre — two theatres, 1,900 and 450 [seats] — and the [Vancouver] Art Gallery, if the Art Gallery would agree to go to three stories instead of two.”
The problem is money. Ackerman says it would cost $200 million to replace the Queen Elizabeth Theatre today, which makes the $59 million spent on renos seem like a bargain.
Also problematic: The Art Gallery is supposed to move to northeast False Creek, not the old bus depot at Georgia and Hamilton. Premier Gordon Campbell announced so himself in May, 2008.
Still, Ackerman says anything is possible.
“Timing is what you’re talking about,” said Ackerman, who turned 65 this summer but plans to keep on working until 2011.
“Put it in perspective. It took me 15 years to get this job done. The average time in Canada from the time you say ‘I want a new arts facility’ to when the door opens is 20 years. So if you’re serious about the Coal Harbour Arts Centre, it’s now been 18 years. ... It should start construction next year.”
He chuckled.
“This is not karate, it’s tai chi. It’s the same moves, it’s just a lot slower.”
[email protected]
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
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Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/Vanco...een+Elizabeth+Theatre/2220039/story.html
Source: Vancouver Sun
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