Just to clarify, Ralph is now the new landlord, with no connection to The Astor Theatre – which is my business, and in operation since 1982. The landlord owns the physical building, The Astor Theatre – my business and a registered Trade Mark – is owned by my company (I am not simply a ‘manager’)
Thank you to all the posters on this page. I am the proprietor of The Astor and am pleased to say that the new owners, St Michael’s Grammar School have embarked on an ambitious programme of upgrading and restoration. Nothing relating to the heritage nature of The Astor can or will be altered. It will remain a balconied theatre with 1100 seats. We were pleased with St Michael’s purchase of the Astor freehold, and together hope to launch the Astor into a new phase, that being re-instatement of the stage area for St Michael’s live productions, and other community performance and music related useage. It is my intention to also maintain film screenings as long as the public continue to support this aspect of the Astor. The screen can be engineered so that it is moveable to allow the stage to be used. The level of screenings will depend on the public’s support. As we also control a large library of 35mm and 70mm films (mainly classics from the late 1920s to the late 90’s) it is my intention also to see that the Astor survives well into the future as a ‘working cinema museum’ able to screen real film prints when most other cinemas have converted to digital. Digital is great, yes, but it cannot compare to watching real film – the stuff that ran through the cameras. As there has been no major disruption to the Astor’s continuous screening of film since it opened in 1936 is a good enough reason to expect that film screenings can continue to be part of its future. Thank you for your support. George
Just to clarify, Ralph is now the new landlord, with no connection to The Astor Theatre – which is my business, and in operation since 1982. The landlord owns the physical building, The Astor Theatre – my business and a registered Trade Mark – is owned by my company (I am not simply a ‘manager’)
Thank you to all the posters on this page. I am the proprietor of The Astor and am pleased to say that the new owners, St Michael’s Grammar School have embarked on an ambitious programme of upgrading and restoration. Nothing relating to the heritage nature of The Astor can or will be altered. It will remain a balconied theatre with 1100 seats. We were pleased with St Michael’s purchase of the Astor freehold, and together hope to launch the Astor into a new phase, that being re-instatement of the stage area for St Michael’s live productions, and other community performance and music related useage. It is my intention to also maintain film screenings as long as the public continue to support this aspect of the Astor. The screen can be engineered so that it is moveable to allow the stage to be used. The level of screenings will depend on the public’s support. As we also control a large library of 35mm and 70mm films (mainly classics from the late 1920s to the late 90’s) it is my intention also to see that the Astor survives well into the future as a ‘working cinema museum’ able to screen real film prints when most other cinemas have converted to digital. Digital is great, yes, but it cannot compare to watching real film – the stuff that ran through the cameras. As there has been no major disruption to the Astor’s continuous screening of film since it opened in 1936 is a good enough reason to expect that film screenings can continue to be part of its future. Thank you for your support. George