Orpheum Theatre (Omaha)
The former steel-letter marquee at Omaha's Orpheum Theater was replaced by a digital marquee in 2013
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| Address | 409 S 16th St. Omaha, Nebraska United States |
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| Owner | Omaha Performing Arts |
| Capacity | 2,600 |
| Screens | 1 |
| Current use | Performing arts center |
| Opened | 1927 |
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Orpheum Theater
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| Coordinates | 41°15′22.74″N 95°56′10.3″W / 41.2563167°N 95.936194°WCoordinates: 41°15′22.74″N 95°56′10.3″W / 41.2563167°N 95.936194°W |
| Built | 1895, 1927 Current Orpheum Theater |
| Architect | Holabird & Roche; Lawrie,Harry |
| Architectural style | Italianate |
| MPS | Opera House Buildings in Nebraska 1867-1917 MPS (AD) |
| NRHP Reference # | 73001061 |
| Added to NRHP | March 26, 1973 |
The Orpheum Theater is located at 409 South 16th Street in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. The Orpheum hosts programs best served by a more theatrical setting, including the Omaha Performing Arts Broadway Season, presented with Broadway Across America, and Opera Omaha's season. The theatre is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The current site of the Omaha Orpheum Theatre was previously home to the Creighton Theater.John A. McShane organized a stock company to build the original theater in 1895. The architects for the original theater were Fisher & Lawrie and the general contractors were Rocheford & Gould. Paxton and Vierling installed the iron curtain that weighed 11 tons. The theater was named after John A. Creighton, a local philanthropist, and a large portrait of Count Creighton decorated the proscenium arch. The Creighton Theater was eventually added to the Orpheum Circuit, which by 1900 had expanded to nine western cities: Omaha, Chicago, Kansas City, New Orleans, Denver, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento. The reference to Creighton was eventually dropped from the theater's name.
By 1926 a new, larger theater was in the works. The current 2,600-seat proscenium theater was built in 1927 on the same site as the original Creighton Theater, but with its entrance situated on 16th Street.
When vaudeville acts were no longer in fashion, a screen was added and the theater operated as a downtown movie theater from the 1940s through 1975, when it received a $2 million renovation and became a performing arts venue once again.
In 2002, Omaha Performing Arts assumed management of the Orpheum Theater from the City of Omaha, and the Orpheum underwent a $10 million renovation, making it capable of accommodating larger and more complicated scenery and sets.
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