The Consul is an opera in three acts with music and libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti , his first full-length opera.
37-673: Its first performance was on March 1, 1950, at the Shubert Theatre in Philadelphia with Patricia Neway as the lead heroine Magda Sorel, Gloria Lane as the secretary of the consulate, Marie Powers as the mother, and Andrew McKinley as the magician Nika Magadoff. The opera opened two weeks later (March 15, 1950) at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City where it enjoyed a run of nearly eight months (269 performances). It
74-415: A National Historic Landmark in 1962. The Academy of Music held an inaugural ball on January 26, 1857. Following it, The New York Times described the theater as "magnificently gorgeous, brilliantly lighted, solidly constructed, finely located, beautifully ornamented" but went on to lament "all that lacks is a few singers to render it 'the thing'." The theatre had its first opera production, and what
111-446: A bas-relief bust of Mozart . Seated on the cornice above are the figures of Poetry, on the left, and Music, on the right. The elaborate carvings and gilded wood sculpture decorations throughout the auditorium are the work of Charles Bushor and Joseph A. Bailly and the ceiling murals of allegorical figures were completed by Karl Hermann Schmolze. In the 1880s, the ceiling was enriched with additional painted decorations placed around
148-466: A ball, but he only ends up frightening her. Magda, after repeated visits, erupts in an anguished rant at the secretary, who says that she may see the consul once an "important visitor" has finished his business. This visitor proves to be the chief of police and Magda flees in terror. Scene 1 Magda's child and mother-in-law have died. At the consul's office, Magda learns that John is planning to risk his life and return for her. A wealthy woman arrives and
185-534: A railroad accident. Two theaters were built, one in Philadelphia and one in New York City . The Shubert Theatre in Philadelphia was built in 1918 on the site of the demolished Horticultural Hall that included the reuse of the hall's marble staircase in the theater's interior design. The building stands seven stories high with theater on the first level and six floors used for offices and classrooms. Herbert J. Krapp
222-483: A relatively plain brick and brownstone exterior that could be clad in marble if funds became available later. The ornate auditorium has an "open horseshoe" shape and proscenium columns with elliptical cross-sections in order to provide more direct sight lines from the seats in the side balconies. The auditorium is enclosed by a solid three-foot brick wall with studding and pine boards lining the inner sides to prevent echoes and absorb sound. The upper balconies are recessed in
259-472: A seating capacity of 2,389 which can be expanded to 2,509 when seats are placed in the orchestra pit and proscenium boxes. An 1860 account by Runge mentioned that the full auditorium, then nearly 3,000 persons, could be emptied in four minutes in "great calmness and order" owing to the wide corridors and stairways. In 1947, it was reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer that, at the time, the venue sat up to 3,052 when 94 additional audience seats were added in
296-413: A tiered fashion and supported by 14 Corinthian columns. An unusual feature was that the boxes were originally placed against the rear wall on the second and third levels (Balcony and Family Circle). They were divided from each other by walls that curved down from the ceilings. These have since been removed and boxes created elsewhere. The front of the first balcony is highly ornamented. The hall currently has
333-612: Is a concert hall and opera house located at 240 S. Broad Street in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . Despite its name, the Academy has never contained a music school. It is located between Locust and Manning Streets in the Avenue of the Arts area of Center City . The hall was built in 1855–57 and is the oldest opera house in the United States that is still used for its original purpose. Known as
370-516: Is also a backdrop of weddings, receptions, and corporate events. An architectural competition for the Academy's design was announced in October 1854 and was won by the Philadelphia firm of Napoleon LeBrun and Gustavus Runge. A style of architecture that originated in Runge's native Germany now known as Rundbogenstil ("round arch style") was used for the exterior here and in a number of American buildings of
407-444: Is immediately given a visa. Magda thinks of suicide to try to protect John, and leaves the consulate. As the office is about to shut down for the day, John suddenly arrives, but with the police in pursuit. The police capture John, and the secretary gets on the phone to try to contact Magda. Scene 2 Despondent, and with visions of her past crowding her mind, Magda turns on the gas in the oven to kill herself. Her telephone then rings,
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#1732859269207444-466: Is the original architect. Additions and renovations were made in 1958. In 1986, the stage and sound were modernized, and in 1991, the theatre was renamed and dedicated to John W. Merriam, a local entrepreneur, who was active for many years on the board of directors of the University of the Arts. In March 2022, the theater was renamed Miller Theater in honor of Alan B. Miller, a founding board member of
481-609: The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts , who donated an undisclosed amount of money toward restorations and upgrades. The theater opened in 1918 with a road production of a musical from London and New York called Chu Chin Chow , featuring Florence Reed . In the early years, George Gershwin musicals and Al Jolson reviews graced the Shubert stage. John Barrymore played Hamlet in
518-411: The orchestra pit . . The interior might be considered an early example of American Baroque Revival architecture. The auditorium is graced by a large crystal chandelier, which measures 16 ft (4.9 m) in diameter, and weighs 5,000 lb (2,300 kg). When installed, the chandelier contained 240 gas jets, which were converted to electricity in 1900, and rewired in 1957. That same year, it
555-534: The "Grand Old Lady of Locust Street," the venue is the home of the Philadelphia Ballet and Opera Philadelphia . It was also home to the Philadelphia Orchestra from its inception in 1900 until 2001, when the orchestra moved to the new Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts . The Philadelphia Orchestra still retains ownership of the Academy, in partnership with Ensemble Arts. The hall was designated
592-521: The 1920s and burlesque was featured in the 1930s. Other performers included: Helen Hayes , Katharine Hepburn , Sammy Davis Jr. , Angela Lansbury , and Laurence Olivier . Through the decades, a number of highly acclaimed Broadway, off-Broadway and one-night performances have been performed at the theater. Pre- and Post-Broadway engagements at the Shubert : Notes Academy of Music (Philadelphia) 12th–13th & Locust The Academy of Music , also known as American Academy of Music ,
629-402: The 1950 New York Drama Critics' Circle award for Best Musical. Scene 1 The political dissident John Sorel is on the run from the secret police. At his home, his wife Magda and his mother hide him. The police arrive and search, but cannot find him. John says that he will escape to the border, and tells Magda to go to the consul and apply for a visa to leave the country. He will wait to cross
666-416: The Academy as having excellent acoustics that were wrongly attributed to a circular brick chamber under the floor of the auditorium. [1] It was intended by the architects that sound penetrating the "elastic floor" would reverberate in this chamber and emerge into the auditorium. [2] Unfortunately, this device was ineffective as little sound could pass through the floor in either direction. The ceiling of
703-639: The Academy of Music in Philadelphia through 1873. Due to his association with both the Philadelphia and New York City Academy of Music venues, his company was sometimes referred to as the Academy of Music Opera Company. The Academy has been in continuous use since 1857, hosting many world-famous performers, conductors and composers, and a significant number of American premieres of works in the standard operatic and classical repertoire. Noted operas that had their American premieres there include Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos , Gounod's Faust , and Wagner's The Flying Dutchman . In 1916, Leopold Stokowski conducted
740-599: The Academy. Various voice and instrumental competitions have taken place there, including the Pavarotti competition. In the 21st century, after the Philadelphia Orchestra moved to the Kimmel Center, many non-classical artists performed at the Academy. Managed today by The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts, the space is used for a myriad of events, including Broadway, comedy, dance, family, jazz, and much more. It
777-587: The Civil War Era. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on June 18, 1855, with President Franklin Pierce in attendance and the venue opened with a grand ball on January 26, 1857. The first opera performed there was the Western Hemisphere premiere of Giuseppe Verdi 's Il Trovatore , on February 25 of the same year. In order to reserve as much of the budget for the interior as possible, the architects designed
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#1732859269207814-561: The Philadelphia Orchestra in the American premiere of Mahler's Eighth Symphony (the Symphony of a Thousand ). Outside of arts events, it hosted various public meetings, including the 1872 Republican National Convention . An indoor football game took place here in 1889 between the University of Pennsylvania and a club from Princeton University , resulting in a 0-0 tie, appears to have been only
851-407: The auditorium was deliberately designed not to be a sound reflector for fear of echoes. Some have found the Academy's sound problematic for orchestra: "The Academy of Music in Philadelphia is a beautiful, historic, charming building with wholly unsuitable acoustics for orchestra...The dry, unreverberant acoustics results from the roughly 2,900 audience members, who completely surround the volume of
888-492: The auditorium, soaking up sound as they sit." The Academy was built as an opera house which typically has a lower reverberation than a concert hall, the venue's primary use for many years. The reverberation time has been measured at 1.4 seconds compared to 1.2 at La Scala, Milan, and 1.75 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Consequently, the "Philadelphia Sound" of the Philadelphia Orchestra was, at least in part,
925-435: The border until his wife, mother and child are safe. Scene 2: The consul's office Many people are waiting to obtain visas. Magda applies and joins the crowd, but the secretary cannot promise anything. Much specific paperwork is needed, and obtaining a visa is a long process. The same people wait at the consul's office day after day without approval of a visa. Scene 1 The child is ill, and John's mother sings to comfort
962-400: The child. The police try to extract information from Magda on her husband's compatriots, but she refuses. A message then arrives from John urging Magda to hurry with the visa. Scene 2: The consulate Magda is desperate to see the consul. A magician, waiting for a visa, attempts to impress the secretary by performing magic tricks and hypnotizing the rest of the room into believing they are at
999-512: The original murals. The original front stage curtain was a painted representation of draped crimson fabric with heavy golden fringe, ropes, tassels, etc. by J. R. Martin of Berlin. A secondary curtain had a scene of Lake Como, Italy, painted by Russell Smith of Philadelphia. The original seating on the Parquet and first balcony had arms and upholstery with springs and a covering of dark red plush fabric. The second balcony had "sofas without arms" and
1036-425: The quality of the orchestral sound in the hall, as collected by Leo L. Beranek in his book Music, Acoustics & Architecture : Extensive renovations beginning in 1994 have maintained the building's architecture and made acoustic improvements. Although many programs at the hall are amplified and the Academy is no longer home to the Philadelphia Orchestra, the opera, ballet and other classical concerts still rely on
1073-450: The result of long-term efforts by Stokowski, later sustained by Eugene Ormandy , to compensate for this weakness. After some remodeling in the mid-1950s that included concrete under the stage to support a pipe organ, Ormandy refused to make recordings with the Philadelphia Orchestra in the Academy. Riccardo Muti , Ormandy's successor, also made his commercial recordings with the orchestra elsewhere. Various conductors have commented on
1110-538: The role of the magician Nika. For the opera's La Scala debut in January 1951, Powers and McKinley reprised their roles, and Clara Petrella portrayed Magda. Zechariah Chafee Jr. noted the topicality of the opera by analogy to the real-life situations of how non-American scientists were hindered from entering the United States in the early 1950s. For The Consul , Menotti won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Music and also
1147-895: The second football game ever played indoors at the time. During the Philadelphia Phillies 1895 baseball season , the Academy offered an electric play by play scoreboard for all of the team's road games. The list of artists who have performed at the Academy of Music, from the 20th century, includes such figures as Marian Anderson , Maria Callas , Enrico Caruso , Aaron Copland , Vladimir Horowitz , Gustav Mahler , Anna Pavlova , Edith Piaf , Luciano Pavarotti , Tony Bennett (in 1962), Itzhak Perlman , Leontyne Price , Sergei Rachmaninoff , Artur Rubinstein , Isaac Stern , Richard Strauss , Igor Stravinsky , Joan Sutherland , and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , and others. Parts of Martin Scorsese 's 1993 film The Age of Innocence were filmed in
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1184-550: The secretary trying in vain to contact her. Miller Theater (Philadelphia) Miller Theater , originally the Sam S. Shubert Theatre and later, the Merriam Theater , is Philadelphia 's most continuous location for touring Broadway shows . It is located at 250 South Broad Street within the Avenue of the Arts cultural district of Center City Philadelphia . The Theatre was built by The Shubert Organization in 1918. In 1972,
1221-537: The theater came under the ownership of the Academy of Music , and was owned by the University of the Arts . In November 2016, it was purchased by the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts , now The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts, and later renamed the Miller Theater. Lee and J. J. Shubert , theatrical producers, set out to build a theater memorializing their brother, Sam, who had died several years earlier in
1258-432: The third, pew-like seating. These were mostly replaced with more typical theater seating. The installation of more spacious seating began in 2018. A 2007 donation of $ 5.3 million by Leonore Annenberg was designated for restoration of the Academy's ballroom. This was part of the almost $ 12 million (USD) in donations raised at the 150th anniversary concert for the Academy of Music. For many decades, Philadelphia regarded
1295-634: Was billed as its formal opening, a month later on February 25, 1857, with a performance by the Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company of Verdi's Il trovatore starring Marietta Gazzaniga as Leonora, Alessandro Amodio as Count di Luna, Pasquale Brignoli as Manrico, and Max Maretzek conducting. Maretzek, who was already presenting operas at the Academy of Music in New York City and at the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia since 1850, brought his company back annually to
1332-400: Was fitted with an electric-powered winch. It previously required 12 people working four-hours to lower it by hand. The fixture was restored to its original form and missing crystals replaced in 2008. The heat produced by the original gas fixtures helped to ventilate the hall by causing air to rise to various vents along the back walls and in the center of the ceiling. Atop the proscenium is
1369-661: Was initially conducted by Lehman Engel who was substituted by Thomas Schippers for nearly eight months until the last performance on November 4, 1950. Neway (alternating with Yul Brynner 's sister, Vera Brynner) also led the Broadway cast, this time with Rosemary Kuhlmann as the secretary of the consulate. Neway, Kuhlmann, and Powers also performed these roles in the UK at the Cambridge Theatre in February 1951, with Norman Kelley playing
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