North Shore Music Theatre facts for kids
The theater building in 2012
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| Address | Beverly, Massachusetts United States |
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| Owner | Bill Hanney |
| Type | Theatre-in-the-round |
| Production | Concerts, Musicals |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1954 |
| Reopened | 2010 |
| Website | |
| official website: https://www.nsmt.org/ | |
The North Shore Music Theatre is a super cool theater in Beverly, Massachusetts. It's the biggest theater of its kind in New England! What makes it special is that it's one of the few theaters left in the United States where the stage is in the middle, with the audience all around it. This is called "theatre-in-the-round". A businessman named Bill Hanney owns this amazing place.
Contents
History of the Theatre
How it Started
The North Shore Music Theatre was started in 1955. Three people, Steven Slane (a theater producer), Ruby Newman (a bandleader), and C. Henry Glovsky (a lawyer), worked together to create it. They first thought about building other things like a restaurant or a bowling alley. But they changed their minds! In 1961, they created a group called the North Shore Community Arts Foundation. This group was a non-profit, meaning it focused on helping the community through the theater.
Growing Bigger
The theater first opened with shows that featured famous actors in comedies. In the 1960s, after a big road (Route 128) was finished nearby, the theater got even better. They added permanent walls, heating, and air conditioning. The number of seats grew from 1,000 to 1,750, and then to 1,800. After some updates in 2005, the theater now has 1,500 seats.
The North Shore Music Theatre became the largest non-profit theater in New England. Each year, up to 350,000 people came to see the musicals! The theater also had special concerts with celebrities and shows just for kids. It even had a Youth Performance Academy. This academy gave young actors a chance to perform on a real stage.
The theater was known for showing new musicals for the first time. For example, the musical Memphis, which later won a big award called a Tony, was first shown here in 2003. Other popular musicals like Hairspray and Thoroughly Modern Millie also had their first regional performances at this theater.
Facing Challenges
In 2005, the theater had a serious fire. After that, it started to have money problems. One reason for the money troubles was a decision to cancel the very popular annual show A Christmas Carol. Instead, they decided to put on High School Musical 2. Many people were disappointed by this change.
By 2009, the theater was in a lot of debt. Officials announced that they needed to raise $2 million to keep the theater going for the 2009 season. Even though people pledged over $500,000, it wasn't enough. The shows planned for 2009 were cancelled. Sadly, more than 4,000 people who had bought tickets in advance did not get their money back.
When the theater closed in June 2009, it owed money to many different groups. This included banks, businesses, the State of Massachusetts, and the people who had bought tickets. The theater's leaders talked with the main bank it owed money to. They looked at ways to sell the theater's property to get money, and also find new owners who might let them continue using the theater building.
A New Beginning
In October 2009, Citizens Bank bought the theater for $3.6 million. Then, in November 2009, a businessman from Massachusetts named Bill Hanney became interested. He owned another theater called Theatre-By-the-Sea and a chain of movie theaters. Bill Hanney made a deal with Citizens Bank. With the help of Evans Haile, a director, he reopened the North Shore Music Theatre in the summer of 2010!
The Theatre Today
The North Shore Music Theatre is doing very well under Bill Hanney's ownership. Each year, they put on a series of five main shows. They also continue to present their special and very popular production of A Christmas Carol.
In 2020, the theater had to close for a while because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it reopened in the fall of 2021 with a repeat performance of Mamma Mia! from 2018. After that, they put on their 30th annual A Christmas Carol show.
The 2025 musical season at the North Shore Music Theatre included exciting shows like Waitress, The Wizard of Oz, Grease, Rent, and The Cher Show.
