Friday I was whisked away for a night of last-minute theater in Columbia Heights. I wasn’t too crazy about the production, but it was worth it to see the semi-restored theater space in the Tivoli, long the subject of contention in that neighborhood.
The original theater was a grand vaudeville palace. To create a smaller theater space for the renovation they basically took the top balcony and built a floor under it, so that part of the original ceiling, an impressive dome, is over the audience and the stage. It’s so close in places that you can really admire the intricate detail. I’m not sure why the paint is peeling given the fact that the renovation was recent, perhaps it’s the bright stage lights so close to the ceiling, but in any case it adds to the sense of faded grandeur.
Be sure to go up to the elevated side seats and sneak past the gate of the catwalk, so you can lean over and check out the murals on the dome – signs of the Zodiac, rather faint but still visible. Extremely cool.
Afterwards I did feel a bit sad, thinking of the lost architectural treasures in the city. There’s a Giant now sticking out of the Tivoli’s side, and across the street they’re clearing the way for the usual suspects of corporate shopping conglomerates.
More often than not we lose our historic buildings due to that infuriating inferiority complex which makes us craven with developers – give them whatever they want, just please build that Target! We almost lost the Tivoli in this mad dash for surburban-style big box development – the whole building might have met its fate by bulldozer, and several bids only wanted the facade. Though I’m haunted by the possibility of the entire theater being reclaimed instead of just a sliver, it’s heartening that some part of its past glory was saved.
And it certainly made for a wistful DC night, peering at the half-lit friezes of laughing satyrs.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
As one of the founding editors of We Love DC, Jenn’s passions are theater and cocktails. After two decades in the city, she’s loved every quirky, mundane, elegant, rude minute of her DC life. A proud advocate for DC’s talented drinks scene, she’s judged the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s ARTINI contest, the DC Rickey Month contest, the Jefferson Hotel’s Quill Cocktail competition, and is a founding member of LUPEC DC. A graduate of Catholic University’s drama program, she toured the country as a member of National Players, and has been both an actor and a costume designer before jumping the aisle to theater criticism. Writing for We Love DC restored her happiness after a life-threatening illness, and she’s grateful to you, dear readers. Send your suggestions to jenn (at) welovedc (dot) com and follow her on Twitter.
