Stage lights were being hung, carpets were being vacuumed, and the bars were being stocked with booze Friday as the grand dame of San Francisco historic movie palaces, the Castro Theatre, reemerges from a two-year renovation.
It has been two years and two days since the 104-year-old Castro Theatre closed its doors for what was planned as a 15-month renovation, and grew into a $41 million ordeal — which also involved digging up part of Castro Street for new electrical lines in the last six months. But now, she's ready for her close-up and looking better than ever.
Other parts of the city are having pre-Super Bowl parties this weekend, but tonight and tomorrow in the Castro are all about the reopening of this extraorindary entertainment space.
Tonight, the theater welcomes its first guests for a sold-out, benefit screening of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert — a seminal queer film and celebration of drag to mark the occasion, in SF's historic gayborhood. That follows a ribbon cutting ceremony at 5:30 pm with Mayor Daniel Lurie and others doing the honors.
Tomorrow, drag star D'Arcy Drollinger hosts a big disco-themed reopening bash, and next week, Sam Smith takes the stage for a one-month residency.
The glorious 1920s painted cupola only required cleaning, the team said, and not any touching up of paint, because it had sat "preserved in nicotine" for decades, given that smoking was allowed in the theater for over 60 years of its existence.
Those worried about never being able to see a film or attend a film festival again, with Another Planet Entertainment renovating the theater to also serve as a concert venue, will be reassurred by the relatively comfortable, removable tiers of seats on the orchestra level — and the mixture of vintage seats in the loge and balcony.
And while the organ is not yet installed, its elevator trap in the stage is waiting for it, and we confirmed last week that it is ready to go. The hybrid digital-pipe organ will make its debut, with organist David Hegarty at the keys, at the March 17 screening of John Waters's Serial Mom.
Previously: Video: Check Out the Renovation Work Happening Inside the Castro Theatre
