5th Avenue Theatre Seattle

"Worlds Away from the Everyday"

The 5th Avenue Theatre Seattle is all about two things - topnotch musical theater productions and the actual building itself on 5th Avenue.

I love Broadway musicals, and thanks to the 5th Ave, I can see one right here at home.

In addition to bringing national tours of current Broadway hits to our city, the 5th also revives great musicals of the past, and produces new musicals which sometimes go on to get national attention.

Tours are offered of the building so you can get a good look at the amazing interior of this historic theatre.

The 2011-2012 Season

• Les Miserables
• Saving Aimee
• Cinderella - A New Musical
• Oklahoma!
• First Date
• Titanic: The Concert
• Damn Yankees
• Rent

The 5th Avenue Theatre Seattle is also a Broadway "testing ground" - musicals sometimes do a test-run here just before they premier on Broadway in New York. Show producers actually sit in the back of the theater and monitor audience reactions throughout the show. We saw the pre-Broadway world premier of Hairspray, which the 5th Avenue co-produced, here at the 5th. It was amazing and so much fun!

To find out what's playing this month (and what's opening soon) at the 5th Avenue as well as other Seattle theatres, see Seattle-Fun's Theatre Calendar.

The Building

The building under the care of the 5th Avenue Theatre is a Seattle, and national, treasure. It sits among upscale shops like Louis Vuitton and Gucci and sleek new architecture like the Central Library down the street. But when you walk through the front door, all that is forgotten and suddenly you're in Imperial China!

In 1926, Architect Robert Reamer and interior designer Gustav Liljestrom modeled the interior after three of Imperial China's grandest buildings: the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heavenly Peace, and the Emperor's Summer Palace. Liljestrom must have traveled in high circles because those were not places that were accessible to the general public in those days! The attention to detail is mind-boggling.

The lobby is modeled after the Imperial Summer Palace. There's a pair of Fu Dogs on either side of the stairs which used to guard the entrance outside. Fu Dogs have traditionally stood guard in front of China's imperial palaces.

The theatre auditorium is incredible. You won't want to leave it during intermission! The walls and ceilings are covered with lavish carvings and paintings of orange blossoms, chrysanthemums, lotus flowers, dragons, and Ho-ho birds.

The center dome is the most outstanding feature of all. It is a replica of the dome in the Throne Room in the Imperial Palace, but it's twice the size. The large square that frames the dome is the size of a baseball diamond! The center dome is designed to move independently from the building during an earthquake. It is suspended by steel cables, and actually rotates during a quake. It has survived four major earthquakes with minimal damage.

The large, five-toed dragon in the center symbolizes the Emperor. The smaller chandeliers around the edge of the dome represent the headress of the Emperess.

Tour the 5th Avenue Theatre

Tours are available on Mondays at noon. Log onto the 5th Avenue Theatre Seattle website and sign up for the tour which lets them know that you are coming. Many times you will be the only ones, and you get a private tour! The tour is not as long at the Paramount Theater or the Moore Theater tours, only 20 - 30 minutes, and you don't get to go backstage. But it is worth it just to see the inside of the theatre, especially if you aren't planning to attend a show while you are in town.

In front of the theatre, there is an stairway down to the underground pedestrian concourse and food court underneath the buildings that connects Rainier Square, the Hilton, and Union Square. The 5th Avenue Theatre uses the space under the theatre for rehearsals. Occasionally, they open up the big red doors and people who happen to be eating in the food court or walking down the hallway can watch through the glass doors!

A little history of the 5th Avenue Theatre Seattle...

The theatre opened it's doors on September 24, 1926, six months before the famous Grauman's (now Mann's) Chinese Theatre opened in Hollywood. The theatre was originally designed for vaudeville and silent films.

In the 1930s it operated as a movie palace. Ushers wore costumes in character with the theme of the movie. Women were hired to work the box office according to the color of their hair - blondes worked the early shifts when the sunshine would reflect off their golden hair, brunettes were scheduled to work late afternoon shifts, and women with black hair worked the evening shifts. A huge mechanical talking bear, named "Jim Q", entertained children in the lobby.

In the late 1970s the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle came very close to meeting with a wrecking ball. A group of business leaders gathered support and funding to save it, thankfully, and restoration began. The 5th opened again in June 1980 with opening ceremony guest Helen Hayes declaring the theater as a "national treasure".

For more information about shows, tickets, and tours:
The 5th Avenue Theatre Seattle
1308 5th Avenue
206-625-1900
www.5thavenue.org