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After seven years of cleaning out, cleaning up, restoration
and renovation, the Folly Theater was ready to re-open. The façade
had been cleaned and tuck-pointed. Fresh paint, new carpets,
new curtains, and restored seats obtained from a former Shubert
theater in Battle Creek, Michigan, adorned the interior. The
lobby floors were new, brick-red ceramic tile, the ceiling chandeliers
were timeless brass. Circular staircases now lead to the balcony
and upstairs lobby, lit with bare bulbs, a reminder of dressing-room
make-up lights. In the annex, a false façade reckoned
back to the original Louis Curtiss façade to camouflage
the administrative offices, complete with two cut-out pigeons,
a reminder that for decades the theater was the pigeons’ home,
too.
The re-opening committee, chaired by newscaster Walter Cronkite, consisted
of innumerable community volunteers. A black-tie gala was planned for the re-opening
of the Folly Theater. Opened with a production of “Room Service” featuring
father-and-son team Eddie and Edward Albert, the gala marked a new beginning
for the building on the corner of Twelfth and Central. Again, her walls echoed
with the clink of toasting glasses, the roar of laughter, and thunderous applause.
Through the next two decades, the theater became a microcosm
of the industry’s finest performers. The William Jewell
College Fine Arts Program (now the Harriman Arts Program) and
the Friends of Chamber Music, along with the Folly Jazz Series
and Folly Children’s Series and numerous promoters and community
groups have brought world-class performances to Kansas City.
Notable performers since her re-opening include: Pearl Bailey,
Phyllis Diller, Ben Vereen, Dizzy Gillespie, Rosemary Clooney,
Cloris Leachman, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Marcel Marceau,
Captain and Tenille, Sarah McLachlan, Cecilia Bartoli, Itzhak
Perlman. Patti LuPone, Dave Brubeck, George Shearing, Ivan Moravec,
Kathleen Battle, Yo-Yo Ma, Count Basie Orchestra, Nancy Wilson,
Marilyn Horne, Jessye Norman, Leontyne Price, Leslie Nielsen,
Mark Russell, Radu Lupu, Spalding Gray, Kevin Kline, Wynton Marsalis,
Peter Schickele, Gregory Peck, Richard Goode, Lionel Hampton,
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Peter
Serkin, Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert, Chanticleer,
Christopher Hogwood, Emerson String Quartet, the David Parsons
Dance Company, and the Paul Taylor Dance Company, to name a few.
The Folly Theater has become a community cornerstone. Imbedding
herself in the hearts and minds of Kansas Citians, she is one
of the greatest success stories of urban renewal. Available to
the community for rent as well as presenting the best national
touring acts, “The Grand Old Lady of Twelfth Street” has
survived a century of blight and grandeur. Through four names,
three facelifts, and more than her fair share of adult entertainment,
she has enjoyed life to its fullest. Her walls have stood through
shouts of everything from “Take it off!” to “Encore” and “Bravo!” Vaudevillians
stopped the show, Shakespeareans emoted, burlesque queens bumped,
and musicians have wailed.
She is celebrating a century of a life well-lived and a community well-served.
The next century only can hope to be as interesting as the last.
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–> Next Folly Era
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