Noel S. Ruiz Theatre
931 Montauk Highway,
Oakdale,
NY
11769
931 Montauk Highway,
Oakdale,
NY
11769
3 people
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Additional Info
Functions: Live Theater
Previous Names: Oakdale Theatre, CM Performing Arts Center
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
631.218.2810
Nearby Theaters
The Oakdale Theatre was one of the typical shopping center theatres, opening on September 20, 1962 with Charlton Heston in “The Pigeon That Took Rome”. The theatre was a victim of the rash of multiplexes built in the 1980’s, and closed in the early-1990’s, its closure pulling the whole shopping center into decline with it (for a while).
The Oakdale Theatre has since been restored and reopened as a live performance venue.
Contributed by
Bway Chris
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Recent comments (view all 40 comments)
Well, sure it would be better to check Newsday, but that’s not available online. New York Magazine is on google books. I’ve been running this check for a lot of local theaters and I’ve yet to find an instance of the magazine failing to list a theater that I know to have been open at the time. Though ostensibly national, New York is heavily focused on the metro area and seems to have quite exhaustive listings. They go on for pages and pages. And certainly tent. could be for other reasons, but the more important factor was that the Oakdale was listed in every issue I checked up to April 27, 1987 and none of the issues I checked after that.
And the reason I’d started checking in the first place was that the early 90s info in the overview blurb didn’t sound right to me. I got my drivers license in 1991 and set about going to just about every theater that was still open that I could find. I’m certain I would have gone to Oakdale had it been in operation, but I never did.
I would consider the New York Magazine info coupled with my memory to be fairly conclusive, but the information Joe Vogel linked to jibes perfectly and would seem to settle the question. “9 years” is pretty specific and places the closing of the Oakdale firmly in 1987.
Lastly, most of the shopping center theaters that I’m aware of (Deer Park, Mayfair, Sunwave, Kings Park) did not last into the 90s, so it would be odd if Oakdale had survived that long.
I am sure you are right. I wrote the blurb for the top of the page when I added this theater. I remember as a teenager “cruising” through that parking lot with friends and know I did it in around 1986 1987, but thought we did it a little later too, and didn’t realize the theater closed by 1987. The whole shopping center fell into complete disrepair by the late 80’s (perhaps when the theater closed). What is now Wendy’s was an abandoned KFC for years. They even tore the whole east end of the shopping center down (to the right of where the supermarket is now), they center went all the way to the end of the parking lot there. It started improving after they tore that down and gave the whole place a facelift.
No, the KFC was more south in the parking lot. If you entered at that traffic light, it would be on the right. I think there was a FotoMat closer to where the Wendy’s is. Man, I wanted that Colonel Sanders weather vane off the roof so bad. I’m sure someone has it that isn’t supposed to! :)
I remember, for a while, the year was the admission price, 83¢ in ‘83, etc…
I think the landlord was to blame for the strip mall’s decline. Those buildings were in TERRIBLE shape and nothing was ever done about it. You might remember the bowling alley’s roof, just caved in.
Currently playing, we have Bonnie And Clyde, America’s Most Wanted Musical.
Opening Season 37, The CM Performing Arts Center is proud to present: Bonnie and Clyde, running from September 11 to September 27 at The Noel S. Ruiz Theatre.
Director/Choreographer – Patrick Grossman Musical Director – Matthew Surico Stage Manager – Barbara Tiernan
Bonnie Parker : Emily Dowdell
Clyde Barrow : Bobby Peterson
Young Bonnie : Victoria Tiernan
Young Clyde : Kiernan Urso
Marvin “Buck” Barrow : Briggs Houston
Blanche Barrow : Shannon Cunningham
Emma Parker : Jill Cohen- Wilson
Cumie Barrow/ Governor Ferguson : Debbie Linneman
Henry Barrow/ Detective Frank Hamer : Barry Johnson
Preacher/ Bob Alcorn : Carl Tese
Deputy Ted Hinton : Mikey Marmann Sherriff Smoot Schmid: Humberto Diaz John/ Deputy Bud Russell/ Teller/ Guard #1 : Brendan Noble Cop/ Joe/ Deputy Johnson/ Shopkeeper : Joseph Bebry Minister/ Judge/ Guard #2 : John Passadino
Ladies:
Eleanor/ Charlie : Kristen Digilio
Trish : M.E. Junge
Stella : Debbie Hecht
Pit Orchestra:
Musical Director/Conductor/Piano – MATTHEW W. SURICO
Bass – CHRISTIAN WERN
Drums – MICHAEL VILLARICA
Guitar 1 – DIANA FULLER
Guitar 2/Banjo/Pedal Steel – LAUREN CARROLL
Synthesizer – KEVIN MERKEL
Violin – JOHN DUMLAO
Woodwinds – ERIC ALBINDER, ANDREW LENAHAN
For tickets and show dates/times,
Call our Box Office at 631-218-2810
or visit www.CMPAC.com
BonnieAndClyde #AmericasMostWantedMusical
I saw the movie “Woodstock”,a baby boomer’s requirement in the early “70’s.
The performance space is known at the Noel S. Ruiz Theatre at CM Performance Arts Center. As part of an article on handicap accessibility the December 16, 2018 LI Life Section of Newsday had a picture of the interior of the theater. Traditional theater seats (probably the original) are on the left side. The balance of the space is cabaret style, hence, readily accessible.
The Oakdale theatre opened on September 20th, 1962. Grand opening ad already posted.
Although still known at the CM Performance Arts Center the facade of the building shows the Noel S. Ruiz identity. Also under the CM banner is the Onyx Theatre which I believe is just the name of a performing group. Uploaded a picture of the new exterior.
Closing feature of the 48th season is Hello Dolly.
It’s wonderful that this theater is still in operation but it should really be listed on here as the Oakdale Theater proper because the new playhouse has never shown a film except for a few while semi-closed during the pandemic. I grew up in Oakdale and as a kid in the 70’s, I saw a lot of Disney movies there with my parents, but most of my memories of that place are from my teens in the mid-80’s when I was old enough to walk there with my neighborhood friends. It was a pretty cool shopping center with a bowling alley, a KFC, a dime store where I’d get candy cigarettes and Mad/Cracked magazines and for a brief time, a small arcade down a basement stairwell on the side of the building. The single-screen theater was fairly large and cozy and they showed new releases well into the 80’s. There were more state-of-the-art theaters in the shopping malls but we still went there often, mainly for the cheap double-feature matinees. The marquee said 80 cents for the 80’s! They must have had their own library of film prints because they would routinely re-run classics like Airplane, 1941, Grease, Midnight Express, the Smokey And The Bandit and Cannonball Run movies, Time Bandits, Clash Of The Titans, Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger, American Werewolf In London, The Black Stallion, My Bodyguard, A Soldier’s Story, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, The Muppet Movie… and I sort of remember seeing Disney’s Fantasia viewed with the enhancement of various substances. Towards the end, my buddy and I were usually the only ones in the theater and one sunny afternoon, a film reel jammed-up and couldn’t be fixed. After a long and frustrating wait, the projectionist gave us the bad news and as we exited, he came out to apologize and talked to us for a bit. He told us that they were closing and that was our last visit there, but that old theater managed to hang on for a surprising amount of time despite the opening of the Patchogue 13. I remember passing by and seeing Time Bandits and Clash Of The Titans relentlessly posted on the marquee but at that point I’d seen them so many times, VHS rental stores were the new thing and everybody had a cable box by then, so who knew we would miss it?