I took the opportunity to tour the just reopened LaSalle Bank Theater. Built in 1906 as the Majestic, and know for decades as the Shubert, LaSalle Bank just spent 14 million dollars on a facelift to have their name on the marquee for the long term.

The facelift for the most part was done well. I feel as though it was more of a renovation, than a restoration. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. With a renovation, they were able to keep most all of the original features, including minor blemishes from time. Outside of a lot of unexpected sheetrock lining the stairs to the balcony, they did the right thing overall. With a restoration, it would have become a precious museum piece, and looked fake and new, and would have cost three times as much.

The building was open today from noon till five, and will be open again on Saturday from noon till five as well. I took about 125 shots of the interior, several of which are here on my Flicker site. Here is a sampling of some of the better ones.

I found it a real challenge to take the interior shots without a flash or a tripod, but thanks to the anti shaky feature on my camera, I was able to capture several with a 1/4 second shutter, which came out quite nice.

This shot was as I was descending the stage, looking directly up the side of the proscenium with the box seats to the left.

From the balcony, looking down on the seats below.

I was thinking that there would be a sign like this one for the second balcony, or at least another sign as ornate as this one, but couldn’t find it.

Up on the stage, you got to take a good look at the “ropes” and all the rigging that make changing scenery seem so easy. It was very interesting in that they mostly did a restoration of the original equipment, rather than replace it all with modern rigging. ( I suspect the old stuff is better anyway.)

And finally back out onto the street. The building isn’t completed yet, it is being converted into a Hampton Inn Hotel. They have gone to a lot of trouble to hide the construction going on around the entrance.