What a sad artistic loss. One of Boston's most consistently interesting musical organizations simply evaporates without warning (and with little sign that its current board of directors tried very hard -- or at least very intelligently -- to avert the shutdown).
Live Nation has sold the Orpheum, Opera House, and Paradise to newly-organized Opera House Ventures LLC, owned by concert promoter Don Law and Star Market heir David Mugar.
The Orpheum is 157 years old, and in such deplorable condition that any reasonable person should be ashamed to own it. Don and David, will you please invest some money and some TLC into making it habitable again?
Thomas Garvey sounds the alarm that plaster at the Opera House, only five years out from a $38-million renovation, is already falling:
... Cracks and blisters had opened up around the bases of other columns, and chunks had simply fallen off in some spots, as if someone had taken a hammer to the detailing. When I asked an usher about the decay, she described it as "plaster blight." Which worried me a bit - I mean, the Opera House is all plaster. ...
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
