Goodspeed Musicals facts for kids
The Goodspeed Opera House from the Connecticut River
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| Address | 6 Main Street East Haddam, Connecticut United States |
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| Owner | Goodspeed Musicals |
| Type | Regional theatre |
| Construction | |
| Opened | October 24, 1877 |
| Reopened | June 8, 1963 |
| Website | |
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Goodspeed Opera House
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U.S. Historic district
Contributing property |
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| Built | 1876-77 |
| Architect | Jabez Comstock |
| Part of | East Haddam Historic District (ID83001273) |
| NRHP reference No. | 71000901 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | July 30, 1971 |
| Designated CP | April 29, 1983 |
Goodspeed Musicals is a special group in East Haddam, Connecticut. They work to keep musical theater alive and create new shows. Their main building, the Goodspeed Opera House, looks amazing from the Connecticut River. It is famous for being the starting place for many well-known musicals. These include Annie, Man of La Mancha, and Shenandoah.
Goodspeed Musicals also runs the Norma Terris Theatre in Chester. They offer writing and performing workshops too. Goodspeed Musicals is one of the top regional theaters in the United States. They have put on 250 musicals and created over 70 brand new shows. Twenty-one of their productions have even moved to Broadway. Goodspeed Musicals is the first regional theater to win two special Tony Awards. They received one in 1980 and another in 1995. These awards were for their great work in American musical theater.
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Goodspeed Opera House: A Historic Building
The Goodspeed Opera House was built by William Henry Goodspeed. He was a local merchant and banker. Construction started in 1876 and finished in 1877. Even though it's called an "opera house," it was mostly used for plays. The first play, Charles II, opened on October 24, 1877.
After William Goodspeed passed away in 1882, the building was not kept up well. It was used for many different things. It was a military base during World War I. It also became a general store and a storage place for the Department of Transportation.
Unique Features of the Opera House
This theater building is quite unusual. The actual theater stage and seats are on the top two floors. This makes it tricky to bring in large pieces of scenery for shows. Scenery is loaded from the dock area. It goes up an old elevator shaft using a special winch system. Workers must be very careful not to damage the scenery.
There's a famous story about loading scenery for the original Annie show. A strong gust of wind blew a large piece of scenery right into the Connecticut River!
Goodspeed Musicals: Bringing Shows to Life
Goodspeed Musicals was started in 1959. A group of people wanted to save the building. The state of Connecticut had said the building was unsafe. The state agreed to sell it to the group for just one dollar. But the group had to promise to raise money to fix and keep it.
The restoration project took almost four years. The Goodspeed Opera House reopened on June 8, 1963. The first show in the newly restored building was Oh, Lady! Lady!. From 1968 to 2014, Michael P. Price led Goodspeed Musicals. Since 2014, Michael Gennaro has been in charge. Goodspeed Musicals has sent 19 productions to Broadway. Their shows have won more than a dozen Tony Awards. Goodspeed Musicals itself has won two special Tonys. These were for its amazing work in American musicals.
Learning and Creating at Goodspeed
Goodspeed Musicals also helps people learn about musical theater. They have the Max Showalter Center for Education in Musical Theatre. This center offers internships and programs for new writers. Their Arts Education Collaboration provides art programs for young people in Connecticut.
Each year, Goodspeed hosts a Festival of New Musicals. Students from the Hartt School and the Boston Conservatory perform new musicals. There are also workshops and cabaret shows. In the winter, Goodspeed hosts the Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Grove. This is a special retreat for theater writers. Critics from the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center visit Goodspeed each summer. They practice reviewing the full productions.
Goodspeed's Collections and Costumes
Goodspeed Musicals is home to the Scherer Library of Musical Theatre. This library has the largest collection of musical theater research materials in the United States. They also have modern facilities for making shows. These include shops for building scenery and making costumes. They have a huge storage area for costumes too.
Goodspeed Costume Rentals has one of the best costume collections on the East Coast. They have over 250,000 items available to rent. These costumes are used for professional and amateur shows. Many costumes are from famous Broadway designers.
You can schedule tours of many Goodspeed facilities. There is a small fee for tours. Tickets for shows at the opera house or theater should be bought early. Shows often sell out quickly because the theaters are not very large.
Norma Terris Theatre: New Musicals
In 1984, Goodspeed Musicals opened a second theater. This was the Norma Terris Theatre in nearby Chester, Connecticut. It is sometimes called the Goodspeed-At-Chester. The main Goodspeed Opera House puts on a mix of old and new musicals. But the Norma Terris Theatre only presents brand new musicals each season. Several original musicals started there or at the opera house. Then they moved to Broadway and won Tony Awards.
See also
