[Mpls] $10 million for the Shubert comes after theSenate's disco-ball

[WizardMarks]

Dennis Plante wrote:

> I guess I'm a little confused as to what the objection (from the 
> tax-payers League) is.  Is it that the building was moved, or that the 
> cost of moving it was too high?
> Personally, I find it hard to attach a pricetag to perserving the 
> history and heritage of our city.  Or, should we not allow ourselves 
> that luxury?

WM: I have to say that moving the Schubert was not a good solution, I 
thought taking it down was preferable, though completely unnecessary. 
Why? Both the Orpheum and the State had been refurbished, thus giving us 
two great examples of traditional 19th/early 20th century proscenium 
arch theaters. However, 19th century theater practice won't be coming 
back, therefore, for the future it would be nice to have at least one 
modern commercial theater. The Schubert, for all the 'oh, it was so 
pretty,' it is still proscenium arch and is limited to what fits on the 
apron and behind the arch.
I once had to work a show that was flown from Albany, NY to DC where it 
was to have the honor of being shown in the Ford Theater. Everything 
went smoothly until we tried to sit the set down on a raked stage (18th 
& 19th century). The play required that a toilet overflow in the second 
act. In the Ford, the audience is no more than 10 ft. from the low end 
of the rake. This was not gonna work. Had to move the whole shootin' 
match to another venue.
At the same time, I think the developer of Block E was given too much 
latitude. There was no good reason, other than arrogance, not to keep 
the Schubert where it was. There were much better technical reasons not 
to keep the Schubert at all.
We do have to continuously ask the question How much of history can we 
keep and how much has to go the way of Troy (Turkey, not NY) or Memphis 
(Egypt, not Tennessee).

> WizardMarks, Central
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