Beginning in September 2009, Boston Ballet’s new home and sole performing venue for its Boston season and subscription series as well as its popular holiday classic, The Nutcracker, will be The Boston Opera House.
- The Boston Opera House first opened its doors on October 29, 1928, as the B.F. Keith Memorial Theatre. Built to honor “the father of vaudeville” by his business partner Edward Albee, the theatre became part of a national circuit of grand theatres, built to support vaudeville in its prime.
- Benjamin Franklin Keith was the originator of refined vaudeville entertainment that flourished from the turn of the century until the 1930’s.
- The B.F. Keith Theater was built on a block rich in theatrical history. It replaced the Boston Theater which on its opening in 1852 was the largest theater in the country.
- No expense was spared when building the B.F. Keith Theater. Marble columns and mirrors lined the entry hall. A marble staircase climbed from the main floor to a landing. The auditorium was encircled by a colonnade on three sides of the balcony and crowned by a magnificent rococo dome open to a delicately shaded mural.
- The B.F. Keith Theater had unusually roomy backstage accommodations including private baths for star performers, a nursery, billiard room, barber shop, beauty salon, handball court, gym, laundry and kitchen.
- The B.F. Keith Theater started out as a home for vaudeville, but eventually concentrated on first run films with occasional vaudeville shows.
- The theatre went through many transitions over the years, eventually becoming in the 1970s the home to Sarah Caldwell’s Opera Company of Boston when the name changed to the Opera House.
- The theatre was eventually shuttered in 1991 and remained empty and in disrepair until 2004.
- After a privately funded $52 million dollar restoration by Live Nation, Boston's landmark Opera House re-opened on July 16, 2004 as one of New England's finest performing arts venues.
- The 2,600-seat Boston Opera House is now owned and managed by Live Nation and is also home to live Broadway theatre, music concerts and comedy.
