NEWS
Orpheum looks to future after fire
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by Aubre Andrus
Thursday, January 20, 2005
The Orpheum Theater will reopen by the end of January, while phase two of cleaning is completed in the main theater after the Dec. 19 fire, according to Eric Fleming, co-owner of the Orpheum Theater.
The Orpheum Lobby Restaurant is scheduled to open Feb. 1, just missing a chance to serve Phantom of the Opera ticket holders.
“Hopefully we can get people back in there quickly,” Fleming said.
Fleming said all events and concerts previously booked in the main theater, such as moe. Feb. 20, will play as scheduled. The lobby has been replastered and repainted but the main theater and back theater, which are covered in black mist from the smoke damage, still need to be cleared.
Merijoy Endrizzi-Ray, manager of the theater, said the main theater will reopen Jan. 28 with two films, “Tarnation” and “Overnight.”
“We made a decision to stop focusing on the fire and work towards the future of this wonderful building,” Endrizzi-Ray said.
The late December fire was discovered by an employee who arrived at the Orpheum early for his shift. Lori Worth, public information officer for the Madison Fire Department, said the early estimate for the damage was about $100,000.
Fleming said there was twice as much damage as what they had anticipated mainly because everything was covered in smoke.
Wirth said $100,000 was an early estimate and the cost will ultimately depend on what damage the owners choose to repair and whom they choose to repair it.
The fire was reportedly arson. A reward is being offered for the person responsible, Wirth added. Wirth said they are not prepared to say who they think started the fire.
“The investigation is continuing and once again there are a lot of people to interview,” Wirth said. “The thing that happens with an arson investigation is that you start by ruling things out.”
Wirth said that with the help of an electrical engineer, they were able to rule out electrical wires as the cause of the fire.
Last April a fire was started in a janitor’s closet before University of Wisconsin a cappella groups, the MadHatters and Tangled Up in Blue, were scheduled to perform. A couple weeks before the Dec. 19 fire, a small fire in the Orpheum’s Stage Door Theater, where many live bands play, was put out by employees and was not reported to the fire department.
Joe Salvo, a UW sophomore and member of the MadHatters, said the Orpheum Theater is a gorgeous building and performance space with a lot of character. A stop by the Orpheum when it reopens is necessary, he added.
“The new Overture Center is great, but the Orpheum has so much history behind it,” Salvo said. “It’s tragic that someone would want to do that to such a beautiful place especially when people want to perform there.”
