Baker Theatre

teecee on February 14, 2005 at 5:05 am

I will cut and paste the entire article from yeterday’s Star Ledger, as they only keep the link active for a limited time:

Sunday, February 13, 2005
BY MAURA McDERMOTT
Star-Ledger Staff
Lee Levitt smiles now when he recalls what he was told after he purchased Dover’s long-neglected Baker Theater in May.

The 98-year-old venue looked shabby. Plaster fell from its walls. Garbage cluttered its floors. Town inspectors had found dozens of building code violations.

“You guys bought yourselves a white elephant,” the brother of one of his two business partners told him.

So it gave Levitt satisfaction to hear the brother’s reaction upon seeing the place recently, after eight months of renovations.

“I asked him, ‘What do you think of our white elephant?’” Levitt recalled. “He said, ‘I’ve got to admit it, you guys did what I thought you couldn’t do.’”

The playhouse suffered decades of neglect and gained a reputation for rowdiness under its former owner.

But now, after an exhaustive, top-to-bottom makeover, the spiffed-up theater has begun hosting concerts and even weddings.

“We’re finally at the stage where we’re ready to roll,” said Levitt, an attorney in Parsippany who gave up acting to attend law school.

The Baker marquee is a landmark on the western edge of Blackwell Street, with its old-time red script letters on a brass-colored background. In its heyday, it hosted shows by Harry Houdini and the comedy team of George Burns and Gracie Allen.

Levitt is determined to make it once again a respected gathering place for music and the arts, as well as weddings, corporate meetings and parties.

An oldies doo-wop concert in December drew a crowd of more than 1,100. A few concert-goers were so enthused after the show, they formed a spontaneous barbershop quartet in the lobby, Levitt said.

“It was our first big show, and it just went off so well,” he said. “A lot of people know this place from their childhood. They want to see it succeed.”

Levitt and two colleagues bought the 1,200-seat theater for $815,000 in May, and Levitt said they’ve spent several hundred thousand dollars renovating it. They’ve also given the venue a slight name change. It is now the Baker Theater, instead of the Baker Ballroom or Baker Theatre.

In the most significant repair, they brought in a structural engineer to help fix a crack in a projection booth wall. The theater got new heating, lighting and electrical systems, as well as new fire doors.

“Safety first,” Levitt said. “One major accident, that’s it, you’re through.”

Only three building code violations remain, from an original list of roughly 30, said William Isselin, chief code enforcement officer for the town.

“None of them are safety-related,” he said.

The new owners gave the ornate playhouse an intensive — and ongoing — cosmetic makeover.

Workers repainted the cavernous interior, restoring its muted red, green and gold tones and repairing fallen plaster. A caretaker re-attached burgundy silk-blend fabric that sagged from the walls.

The stage added a removable platform that improved visibility. The backstage has all new dressing rooms.

Original stained-glass exit signs were re-installed with new wiring. Period details — chandeliers, marble banisters, ceiling designs — were cleaned and restored. New Tiffany-reproduction sconce lighting brightens the once-gloomy side walls.

Workers carted out 12 Dumpsters' worth of garbage left behind by the last owner, said Joe Luddy, co-owner and head of operations.

“A lot of blood, sweat and tears have gone into this,” Levitt said.

Much remains to be done. Levitt hopes to buy new seats, but for now patrons at the orchestra level sit mostly on folding chairs. The wood-and-leather chairs in the balcony show signs of wear. Sections of the floors are scuffed.

But as theater fans insist, the show must go on.

Last night, the theater was set to host “Concierto Para Enamorados,” a Valentine’s Day-themed show of oldies by Colombian musicians.

Among those expected to attend was Mayor Javier Marin.

“He certainly has made an improvement in the esthetics of the theater,” Marin said last week. “It looks better, it smells better. It’s a totally different atmosphere.”

Next Saturday’s show will feature Latin dance music.

The first two weekends in March, the Vagabond Players theater troupe will perform children’s matinee shows.

The County College of Morris booked the venue for its arts festival April 7-9.

The school chose the Baker in order to support a local venue, and also because Levitt allowed them extra time to set up and rehearse, said Marielaine Mammon, the school’s music department chair.

But the venue still needs refurbishing, and its stage lacks a pulley system and other workings that make scene changes easier, she said.

“He can’t do this alone,” she said of Levitt. “The public and the politicians need to help him.”

In fact, Levitt and his partners have considered forming a nonprofit group to run the theater. That would allow them to apply for government and private grants to fund the renovations, Levitt said.

But regardless of which direction the venue’s new owners take, they have vowed to make it a place the town can take pride in. They reject events that invite trouble, such as general-admission teen nights, Levitt said.

“It’s a community arts center,” not a raucous club, Levitt said. “You want people to enjoy themselves and want to come back. We don’t want to do things that will get rowdy.”

For more information about shows at the Baker Theater at 41 W. Blackwell St. in Dover, call (973) 537-8600. A Web site is expected to go online at www.bakertheater.com within weeks.