Tag: Orpheum Theater

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Orpheum May Be Sold Back to Orpheum Group

(Credit: Orpheum Theatre Group)

UPDATE: Memphis City Council members punted sale of the Orpheum Theatre to its next meeting in two weeks. 

The sale to the Orpheum Theatre Group, which operates the building, was on the council’s agenda Tuesday. But some council members had questions about the sale and about similar deals with other nonprofits across the city.  

Council Chairman Frank Colvett sponsored the resolution for the sale. He said the group needs to own the building for fundraising reasons. They are not now able to “raise the capital to keep going unless they actually own the dirt and the building.”

Colvett said the city has $21 million invested in the Orpheum building. (Orpheum officials clarified later that the group, not the city, has invested $21 million in the building.) If approved, the city would sell the building back to the Orpheum Theatre Group for $1. 

However, the building would revert back to the city if the Orpheum closes, goes bankrupt, or many other events that would leave the building empty.  

ORIGINAL POST: City leaders might sell the Orpheum Theatre back to the Orpheum Theatre Group, which operates the building. 

Memphis City Council members will review the sale during its 3 p.m. meeting Tuesday. 

The city owns the property at 203 South Main. This includes the Orpheum, which fronts Main Street, and the parking lot behind it, which fronts Front Street. The entire parcel was last appraised at $169,700, according to information from the Shelby County Register of Deeds Office.    

The Orpheum was purchased in 1976 by the Memphis Development Foundation, a group organized to save the building from demolition, according to a Memphis Business Journal story. The group bought the building from Malco Theatres Inc. for $10, according to a deed issued at the time. It, then, transferred the building to the city for $10 in 1982, according to a deed. 

The Memphis Development Foundation changed its name to the Orpheum Theatre Group (OTG) in 2016, according to the MBJ. The group preserves and operates the Orpheum. It also operates the neighboring Halloran Centre for Performing Arts & Education. The group owns that building, appraised at nearly $14 million.  

No sale price was listed in council documents.

This story will be updated when details become available. 

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Intermission Impossible Theater

Orpheum Opens Stage for Mini-Golf (Yes, You Read That Right)

CREDIT: Orpheum Theatre

Orpheum Theatre

When COVID-19 shuts a door, it opens the stage at the Orpheum Theatre for Broadway-themed mini-golf.

Theater officials announced Tuesday that they’ll open a nine-hole course right on the now-empty stage beginning Saturday, August 15th. The course will be open Thursdays through Sundays through the fall of 2020. It will be the first public event the Orpheum has hosted since March 14th.
Orpheum Theatre

“This may well be the wackiest idea I have ever had in my years in the theater business,” said Orpheum president and CEO Brett Batterson. “But with our stage sitting empty for the time being, we had to get creative.

“The support of our patrons during this time has been vital. However, we still need help to ensure that the Orpheum survives this pandemic. Mini-golf on the Orpheum stage is an incredibly fun way to support us at this time.”
[pullquote-1-center] Guests will enter through the stage door on Beale Street to access the course. Each green represents a Broadway show that has played on the Orpheum stage, including Hamilton, Memphis, Wicked, The Color Purple, Disney’s The Lion King, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, Chicago, and Fiddler on the Roof.
Orpheum Theatre

Reservations are $10 per person with a limit of four people per party. Capacity is limited to 36 people per 90-minute slot. Play is unlimited in each time slot. Pre-registration is required at orpheum-memphis.com/minigolf. Reservations will open two weeks before each tee time. To buy out the course for a socially distanced private event, contact Joy Brown at brown@orpheum-memphis.com.

Face coverings are required at all times and social distancing will be enforced. 

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

This Week At The Cinema: Behind The Scenes With Kubrick and The Sandlot

Tonight at Malco Ridgeway, Indie Memphis presents Filmworker, the story of Leon Vitali. An actor who landed the part of Lord Bullingdon in Barry Lyndon, Vitali gave up a promising acting career to become Stanley Kubrick’s right hand man through the 1970s, 80s, and 1990s. The documentary is a story of creativity’s highs and lows, and a warts-and-all account of the making of some of the greatest films ever. Tickets are going fast for this one. They are available over on the Indie Memphis website.

This Week At The Cinema: Behind The Scenes With Kubrick and The Sandlot

Meanwhile, over at the Paradiso, there’s a 25th anniversary screening of The Sandlot, a cult coming-of-age film about a young boy who moves to Los Angeles and wants to learn to play baseball.

This Week At The Cinema: Behind The Scenes With Kubrick and The Sandlot (2)

On Thursday at the Paradiso, there’s a filmed version of a Broadway musical version of a film: Newsies.

This Week At The Cinema: Behind The Scenes With Kubrick and The Sandlot (3)

This week, the Orpheum Theatre’s Summer Movie Series hits a trio of high notes. First on Friday is the all-time classic The Wizard of Oz. If your kids have never seen it, they need to. If you haven’t seen it in a while, it richly rewards repeated viewings. If you don’t know anything about it, educate yourself with this trailer:

This Week At The Cinema: Behind The Scenes With Kubrick and The Sandlot (4)

Once you’ve gotten your fix of Judy Garland fighting witches, head on over to the Midnight at the Studio, where Mike McCarthy is presenting one of the most unlikely onscreen love stories ever made, Harold and Maude. The film about a May-December romance between a young pessimist and an old optimist plays at the witching hour on both Friday and Saturday.

This Week At The Cinema: Behind The Scenes With Kubrick and The Sandlot (5)

Saturday night, The Orpheum returns with a sorely needed double feature for our superhero-obsessed times. At 5 PM, it’s Superman. Richard Donner’s 1978 film is a tour de force of pre-CGI special effects. Even 40 years and literally hundred of superhero movies later, no actors have come close to either Christopher Reeve’s performance as Superman or the recently departed Margo Kidder’s turn as Lois Lane.

This Week At The Cinema: Behind The Scenes With Kubrick and The Sandlot (6)

Then, after you freshen your soda and popcorn, The Orpheum presents Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman. Often considered the first modern superhero movie, its success in 1989 was by no means a sure thing. That’s why Warner Brothers attached their biggest musical star to do the soundtrack. It doesn’t get much attention now, but “Batdance” was Prince’s fourth song to hit #1 on the Billboard pop charts, the R&B charts, and the dance charts all at the same time. Check out this batshit crazy video, directed by Purple Rain helmer Albert Magnoli.

This Week At The Cinema: Behind The Scenes With Kubrick and The Sandlot (7)

See you at the cinema! 

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Special Sections

Visiting Memphis in 1940? Then Use This Guide.

MemphisLandofCottonBooklet.jpg

Tourists visiting Memphis in 1940 probably picked up this brochure at local hotels, or maybe it was mailed to them by the Chamber of Commerce. It’s a handy guide to the main attractions in and around our city.

Some of today’s top draws aren’t listed of course, such as Graceland or The Dixon Gallery and Gardens or FedExForum.

But many of the “old classics” are there, including the Memphis Zoo, the Mississippi River, various parks, and other sights-to-see.

What’s interesting, at least to me though, are all the things listed in this 70-year-old brochure that have vanished. Among them: the Municipal Auditorium (“built at a cost of $2,000,000”) , the Cossitt Library, the Goodwyn Institute Library, Sienna College (when it was still on Vance), and the Fairgrounds Casino Ballroom (“dancing in season three nights a week”).

Then there’s the whole paragraph on downtown movie theaters: “There are 30 theaters in Memphis with a total seating capacity of 43,959. Modern community theaters with the very latest equipment may be found in the suburban communities of the city. A list of the downtown theaters”:
• Loew’s State (152 South Main)
• Orpheum Theater (197 South Main)
• Malco Palace Theater (81 Union Avenue)
• Strand Theater (138 South Main)
• Warner Theater (52 South Main).

Did you notice those names? The present-day Orpheum was called the Orpheum before it became the Malco. Boy, is that confusing! And, if this brochure is correct, Loew’s Palace (currently the site of Parking Can Be Fun) was originally called the Malco Palace.

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