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"Kimmel Center pursues radical plan to remake the Merriam Theater"
Posted by: TimDunleavy 05:58 pm EDT 08/12/17

According to this story by Peter Dobrin in today's Philadelphia Inquirer, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, new owner of the Merriam Theater (formerly the Shubert Theatre), built in 1918, wants to: Tear down the seven-story office building over the theater and replace it with a residential tower up to 32 stories high. Some additional living space could be added to the tower that would be cantilevered over the theater space. "The hall — with its richly colored murals and decorative plaster work — would undergo a restoration, backstage rigging and other equipment would be updated, and new seating installed... The Kimmel knows it must renovate with wider seats and give patrons more room. New rows formed by putting 36 inches between seats from the current 29 inches seems likely. One option for seating is a flexible system that can change, over about 30 minutes, from a typical proscenium configuration to a flat floor at orchestra level, or a flat floor at the same level as the stage. That kind of system, with each row on its own rider that can fold down to make a floor, would require excavating down one level." Currently, "Access to seats, especially to balcony and family circle seating, is difficult — sometimes requiring patrons to walk through offices to get to their spots — and seating is cramped. One current problem is that the floor levels don’t align from the front building to the theater building." This would be fixed when the front building is replaced. My thoughts: Yes, it's a gorgeous theater, especially the lobby, but... they have to fix this place SOMEHOW. The steps on the grand staircase up to the balcony are so steep that climbing them always leave me exhausted, even though I'm in pretty good shape. And the upstairs seating and the upstairs bathrooms are pretty dismal and dingy. Heck, the entire building, except for the beautiful lobby and the modern bathrooms in the basement, is in lousy shape. (The Walnut Street Theatre, which is more than 100 years older, is in better shape than the Merriam.) I don't know if this is the best possible plan to fix it or the best possible plan to pay for it, but they've got to do SOMETHING to bring this theater into the 21st Century. I wish them luck.
Link	http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/arts/kimmel-center-pursues-radical-plan-to-remake-the-merriam-theater-20170812.html
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