Wells Fargo Pavilion facts for kids
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Music Circus
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UC Davis Health Pavilion with the former Wells Fargo Pavilion branding
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| Former names | The Music Circus Tent (pre-2003), Wells Fargo Pavilion (2003-2021) |
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| Location | 15 & H St., Sacramento, California |
| Owner | Broadway Sacramento & Sacramento Theatre Company |
| Type | Theatre in the round |
| Genre(s) | Musical theatre |
| Seating type | Theatre in the Round |
| Capacity | 2,200 |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 2001 |
| Opened | Summer 2003 |
The UC Davis Health Pavilion is a special theatre building. It is located in Sacramento, California. This theatre is owned by two groups: Broadway Sacramento and the Sacramento Theatre Company.
What is the UC Davis Health Pavilion?
This special building is a key part of the H Street Theatre Project. This project made big improvements to almost a whole city block. The stage is designed as a theatre in the round. This means the audience sits all around the stage. It is about 32 feet (9.75 meters) wide.
Up to 2,200 people can watch shows here. The whole building is about 53,000 square feet (4,923 square meters) in size. The pavilion is the main home for the Sacramento Music Circus. This is a type of summer stock theatre, which means shows are put on during the summer months.
How the Pavilion Was Built
The UC Davis Health Pavilion was built on the same spot as the old Music Circus tent. The original Music Circus idea started in 1949. It was created by St. John Terrell in Lambertville, New Jersey. These early theatres were like summer camps for actors. They performed light operas and operettas. These shows were done in the round, under a big circus-style tent.
In 2002, the Sacramento Music Circus stopped using its canvas tent. It lowered the tent for the very last time. The next year, in 2003, it reopened in this new, modern building. The new pavilion has many cool technology upgrades. It has an improved lighting system. It also has a stage that can change its height and spin around. The first architect for this building was R.F. McCann & Co.
Construction for the new pavilion started in the early 2000s. It opened to the public in the summer of 2003. The building has strong, hard walls. But it has a soft covering on top. This covering makes it look like the old circus tent. This tent-like roof is a permanent part of the building. It is made of a special fabric called Teflon-coated fiberglass. Unlike the old tent, this new design does not need poles inside. This means no poles block the audience's view of the stage.
Names of the Pavilion Over Time
When the venue first opened in 2003, it was called the Wells Fargo Pavilion. It kept this name until 2022.
On October 28, 2019, there was a brief announcement. Dignity Health was going to become a sponsor. The theatre would be renamed the Dignity Health Theatre. However, on November 10, 2019, this plan changed. Broadway Sacramento and Dignity Health made a joint statement. They decided not to go forward with the name change. This was because of concerns from some community groups. So, the theatre went back to being called the Wells Fargo Pavilion.
Then, on May 11, 2022, Broadway Sacramento announced a new partnership. They teamed up with UC Davis Health. As part of this new agreement, the venue was renamed. It changed from the Wells Fargo Pavilion to the UC Davis Health Pavilion. This is the name it still uses today.
