Academy of Music

I was lucky enough to perform in this theatre back in the spring of 2008 when I was in high school. The Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School I attended used to do their annual spring musical here, and 2008 – my freshman year – was the last year that happened. The theatre was beautiful but I had no idea it was also a cinema. I was only a background player so I spent a lot of time “backstage,” or in the case of this theatre, “under-stage.” It was quite spacious and comfortable and they even had a TV set up down there. The cast and crew would have DVDs playing on it for people to watch when they weren’t on stage.

The Academy of Music’s official web site gives a brief history of the theater, but fails to mention the name of the architect, William C. Brocklesby. Brocklesby (1848-1911) studied architecture in the offices of Richard Upjohn, who was one of the leading American architects of the early 19th century.

Brocklesby later established his own practice in Hartford, Connecticut, and designed many historically significant buildings in New England. His other works in Northampton include the Forbes Library and several buildings on the campus of Smith College.

The Academy of Music, formally opened in May, 1891, is an early example of the Renaissance Revival style which, after the World’s Columbian Exposition was held in Chicago in 1893, became the dominant style for public buildings in the United States for almost four decades.

In 1892 the builder of the Academy of Music, Edward H. R. Lyman, donated the building to the City of Northampton, making it the first municipally owned theater in the United States. From 1912 to 1919, the Academy was the home of the Northampton Players, the first municipally financed theater group in the United States.

The Academy of Music is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A new marquee was dedicated a couple months ago. It’s a reproduction of a 1920s era marque albeit with LED lights. Looks nice, and easy to read! The interior lobby and auditiroium were restored around 1980 and still looks great to this day! They still have live performances and occasional movies.

The wonderful new movie documentary, Young @ Heart, about a group of senior citizens from the Northampton area who give great performances of rock music, is worth going out of your way to see. The performance sequence at the end of the movie takes place on the stage of the Academy of Music and includes, in addition to the songs, many shots of the audience and the interior and exterior of this historic theatre.

Believe that the city is kicking in $50,000 as a temporary fix. The local public television station is also involved. I have no doubt that the taxpayers of Northampton and contributors to PBS will see their money put to good use.

Unfortunately, due to financial reasons, this old treasure has suspened operations except for a few previously booked stage shows. The 32 year manager was laid off. He has offered to continue on a volunteer basis. The trustees are trying to prevent converting the building to condos, other uses, or even worse, demolition. Being owned by the city of Northampton it would be unreasonable to expect the taxpayers to foot the bill for a financially losing facility. Hopefully, some creative planning will bring it back to life.

It now seats 800 people, according to an article in the center column of this website this week. View link

Currently the Academy makes a small poster of what film is playing to hang in the space where the marquee used to be. It’s unfortunate that it’s no longer there, as the small lawn sign can sometimes be difficult to see from the road.

The Academy of Music has just undergone a multi-phase renovation project, with most of the changes being structural — new roof, handicapped access, a new fire alarm system. However, there was one cosmetic casualty: the beautiful neon marquee was removed from the facade sometime around 2003, replaced by a modest kiosk-style sign on the theatre’s lawn. The original marquee still exists, thankfully, though as part of a private collection.

I grew up with this beautiful theatre, and have fond memories of, say, dozing off in a balcony seat during a holiday kid’s matinee stage performance of The Magic Flute. One of my first dates as a young, cultured, man-about-town involved a revival showing of the 1929 Lon Chaney Phantom of the Opera, complete with organ accompaniment. I think I was more excited about the film and the theatre than my date. I also remember when La Cage Aux Folles in its first run was held over many weeks at the Academy, though I was too young at the time to actually go see it.

As a UMass student in the early and mid 90s, I frequented the theatre as often as I could, as the Academy would often get pictures that the two mainstream AMC theatres in Hadley wouldn’t pick up. The Academy liked taking chances with indies as much as the Pleasant Street Theatre did, thankfully. Some might find cognitive dissonance in seeing a film like Pulp Fiction in such a beautiful movie house, but that was part of the theatre’s charm to me. I miss it and still try to make a point to catch a show there whenever I’m back in the area.

Great place to see a movie! Nice town to go along with it!