After attending last Friday's media crawl of the Wellmont Theatre, I'm convinced this venue will not only be the belle of Baristaville, it will become one of New Jersey's gems. The saws are buzzing, drills are humming, and the dusty worksite is crawling with craftsmen charged with transforming an old wreck into a stunning jewel. See for yourself:
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
I toured with Montclair historian Frank G. Godlewski (FGG), sneezing our way over cords, sheet rock, lumber and wire.
Our guide was architect Brian Swier, who in tandem with Michael Constantin is overseeing the production bringing the 1800-seat, multi-tiered theater (2500 seats for general admission) to its former elegance. "There's minimal modern intervention, we're really respecting the original design," says Swier. "We're trying to preserve, restore, and replace staying sensitive to its past."
The neoclassical main stage is majestic, brightly colored in orange, ocher, green and blue tones. An ancient curtain and swag valance hang high above, soon to be cleaned and rehung. Old light fixtures showering a golden light through opaque marble or stained glass remain throughout. Only the mezzanine's concession stand will have a new design, incorporating concrete counters with exposed steel trusses (which hold up the roof).
FGG and I squeezed through a hole (only big enough for a hobbit) high up in the scaffolding to get a veryclose sneek peak of the magnificent architectural detail on the domed ceiling. (Not sure how high up we were, but the bouncing planks were a bit of a worry...)
We found a Croatian carpenter restoring the central medallion, replacing fallen plaster with a facsimile in wood, and marveled at the classical details of the friezes - aganthus, winged dragons, caryatids, musical instruments, griffons, and fleurs de lys - painted in rich tones of aquamarine, pompei red, eucalyptus, and gold.
All this beauty, attention to detail, comfort, and of course excellent sound and sight lines awaits concert-goers and performers. Am I excited? You bet.
FGG's shares his observations on the Wellmont restoration:
Louis XVI en style was an extremely popular motif for the 1920s pleasure palaces like theatres, hotels, department stores and even luxury apartment building lobbies. This style was used frequently in NYC in that epoch and sometimes it is amusingly referred to as "Park Avenue French" (a very sober local example of this style is the exterior of the Van Vleck House). The cleaner and more elegant Louis XVI revival lines that became popular at the end of the Victorian Era always seem to me to be a punctuation mark to NYC's Belle Epoch. In the case of the Wellmont Theatre's interior, the classical Louis XVI lines are enhanced by polychromatic accents, surely devised for the interior's "light show" a new theatrical device for this period that surely won rounds of applause for proud Mr. Edison when he and his family were sitting in the audience. I am so pleased to see how the Wellmont's decorations were carefully restored and what a great job that they are doing with re-creating the original colors.
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Comments (67)
Looks wonderful!
After sitting in the balcony to watch movies, many times the solo family there, I've wondered for years how they stayed in business and what the placed looked like before the tri-plex.
Can't wait for the performance in Dec. and agree this will be a gem that lasts. Thank you.
It's so wonderful that it is not falling to ruins but is being reinvented.
Now if we can only get the MEDC, or Mayor/Council, to work aggressively with the retail-space landlords, to get a mix of stores all the way east to Bay Street Sation/Glenfield, then we could compete with Westfield and Ridgewood and other in-demand (based upon lack of vacancies) regional commerce centers.
Wanderful photos. Can't wait to see the finished product!
Top 10 Wellmont Wish List (as of right now, anyway):
*Bob Dylan
*Tom Waits
*Robert Plant/Alison Krauss
*Live Broadcast A Prairie Home Companion
*The Pretenders
*Willie Nelson
*Hot Tuna (acoustic or electric)
*The Chieftains
*Elvis Costello
*Loretta Lynn
Nice list Drifter...I'd add Richard Thompson. If this place is managed as well as the restoration effort appears to have been, based on the photos in the story, we should see some good names comin' through. I can't wait.
My wish list:
Da Yoopers
Ween
Saul Williams
They Might Be Giants
Smithereens
Bastard Fairies
Shpongle
Infected Mushroom
Laurie Anderson
My wish list: a seating chart to view before ordering tickets for events.
Nice job on Richard Thompson, Serpent of Dreams. Excellent choice. In fact I'd like the Fairport Convention!
I did forget one that I must add, who by the way has a fantastic new album out called Hymn To My Soul:
Joe Cocker!!!
Good point Jim. My experience ordering tickets this weekend - over the phone, hoping to get a handle on the seating plan by speaking with an actual human being - proved to be a 45 minute ordeal as the two people I spoke with seemed to be novices at the procedure. I presume they will get better at it.
Made Out of Babies!..
no, wait...that might bring down the newly-restored plaster
How about:
Lucinda Williams
Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits)
Elvis Costello
I saw all three at the Beacon (on separate occasions) and they would all do the Wellmont justice!
Mrs. Marta - They Might Be Giants is already playing in our backyard -- on January 17th at the Kasser Theater at MSU. Another awesome, intimate venue (with $15 seats, lol).
I third (or is it fourth) Elvis Costello and add David Byrne (with Eno or w/o).
If they fill all those seats for some big concerts, where, may I ask, will everyone park??
If they fill all those seats for some big concerts, where, may I ask, will everyone park??
oye, parking, montclair glen rigde bloomfield essex county nnj nyc (other metropolitan areas) they'll have to figure it out. Too many people in not enough space aren?t going away. Unfortunately it will only get worse before it gets better.
SCS, I'm glad someone finally asked that question! :)
Also, walk.
I hear someone is renting space in their driveway for $30 a pop. Valet, too.
Only big tippers (in advance);)
anybody see this?
"Counting Crows will open historic wellmont theatre october 27th-30th."
http://www.countingcrows.com/?em13=576_-1__0_~0_-1_9_2008_0_0
another link to "not available to the regular folk".
(By the performers above, there will be plenty of Boomers acting like they're kids, swaying in the aisles.... Good Counting Crows, anyone else who say, is relevant today? Or am I suppose to act like I'd really think of spending a dime for a show there.... Oh, well. Maybe the Smiths will mount a comeback. Otherwise..... Enjoy the show, don't throw your back out.)
Your right prof, but leave Lucille(sp?) alone, we know how long her career has been and anybody that can't see that, all well.
I don't think Morrisey will be staging a comeback with the band, although the Cure is doing another album.
Amy Winehouse, Feist, Via Audio, White Stripes, Beck or the Hold Steady would keep the boomer quotient down. I'm going to see N*E*R*D and Big Boi tonight.
I'm just wondering if all this coverage of the Wellmont is preparatory to the Baristas getting "reviewers' tickets" to the slate of concerts.
And Fairport Convention has already played several times in this area over the last few years, in Morristown, Boonton and, more than once, Chatham. Surely it's not too big a chore if one really wishes to see a performer to leave the physical confines of Baristaville?
Jerseygurl, your musical choices sound almost predictable. Big Boi? Is this to prove that you of all people are not a lame white person of the sort whose very existence so sets dannyboor to gnashing his teeth down to frothy stumps?
Thank you again for the restored Wellmont even if every concert is not to personal taste. Excellent restoration VS. demo and ???
Agree that it's ridiculous to sell tickets without having a seating chart available.
One thing I thought was interesting when I bought tickets was to see the connection of the owners to the Bowery Ballroom and Terminal5, a new spot in NYC. That explains how they're getting such great names out to a brand new theater!
Plenty of parking at the Orange Rd. parking garage. A couple of shuttle buses running before and after the show, plus the parking garage on Crescent Garage.
Enjoy folks.
Again, if they book any newish performer, I might make it.
Then again, I guess the Peter, Paul and Mary sect rules the money tree.
Hope it falls a plenty.
Me? I'll save my pennies for Obama's tax plan.
Or maybe I can scalp me some Big Boi/N*E*R*D tix from jersey.....
I think decent-sized fees (in a tough economy) also help with the slate of acts, I'm ME. As does block bookings.
Obviously the Prof. is hinting that he's earning the big bucks. Maybe, he should invest some of those spondoolicks with the owners of the Wellmont before the O man nails him...>(;o})8====
Big bucks?
Around here? Many won't realize that in the Chosen Ones eyes, they are the RICH and need to pay.
Funny, my double Union household would argue otherwise.... Hard to be rich with the Gov takes almost half.....
Moreover, I'm sure you're not falling for the banana in your tailpipe which is that only those earning over 250K will be taxed.
(See when the fed and states get less from the higher taxes, strange- even Obama didn't realize this in the last debate and he went to, you know, Harvard- the states and locals all raise 'em up. Likewise, payroll taxes will rise, as will Cap gains..... and I'm sure we'll see some new FEES...)
But I guess, if you have to worry about property taxes, payroll taxes and cap gains, you shouldn't be complaining.
Pay up Richy!!!!
Yanno, I feel sorry for lots of people right now but then you go and read something like this, courtesy of Gawker, from the WSJ:
A nose job in a hospital with a private nurse in attendance had been something of a rite of passage for Joan Asher's children. But when her fourth and last child was ready for her own rhinoplasty recently, Ms. Asher asked her to postpone it. The financial markets were simply more out of whack than her 16-year-old's proboscis. "The other noses were more prominent," the stay-at-home mother from a tony New York City suburb in Westchester County told her 16-year-old daughter. She could get hers done when things settled down.
"aganthus, winged dragons, caryatids, musical instruments, griffons, and fleurs de lys - painted in rich tones of aquamarine, pompei red, eucalyptus, and gold."...what a lovely setting for the Maher crowd..
Maybe they aren't booking acts that appeal to the college crowd because they don't want their newly restored venue reeking of weed right away.
WHK, what do you mean by
Now if we can only get the MEDC, or Mayor/Council, to work aggressively with the retail-space landlords, to get a mix of stores all the way east to Bay Street Sation/Glenfield.
That stretch of the avenue is full of stores. I guess you mean more upscale stuff than massage parlors.
"Maybe they aren't booking acts that appeal to the college crowd because they don't want their newly restored venue reeking of weed right away"
I see, the older crowd uses Febreze.
Ticket Fee ($12.50 ) + Order Processing ($3.50) per ticket = RIPOFF. Hopefully in the future tickets will be sold at their box office.
And thanks to Steve Plofker, who does a lot of good things around town, with little thanks and much suspicion.
And thanks to Steve Plofker, who does a lot of good things around town, with little thanks and much suspicion.
Yea Steve, thanks for making a profit off the right buyer, a pretty good amount for the time frame at that. Hell of a guy. And thanks rus for pointing that out, I'm sure Steve would have done the same renovation if nobody else did. What a guy. Can't say enough, should have a dinner dance award thingy at the VFW for him and give him a trophy, maybe you'll chip in for an engraved watch rus and speak of all those good things. Thanks, I mean that, really.
some of the acts command steep prices.. i love tony bennet, but the good seats go for 123.00 clams..
oh well ..pay up or stay home.
sounds like a great place though with something for every taste.
i hope patti smith comes soon, she grew up in jersey. i can walk ther which is also a plus.
A question -
I purchased tickets for three shows the first day available, and have not received them yet. Has anyone else bought them and received them?
For that handling fee, they should be hand delivered, promptly.
JB
Beautiful slide show,thank you Baristanet
russellerwin is right. If people are OK excoriating Mr. Plofker for handing over the Marlboro site to developers who wrought Crisco, then why shouldn't he be lauded for finding good hands for the Wellmont? The renovation looks stunning.
I'm still curious where the 1,000 or more cars are going to park. How will the other local establishments handle empty restaurants for their typical clientele who can no longer find a place to park on show night. I agree that restoring the theater adds much needed culture to our town and they are doing a beautiful job, but someone better be working on a parking plan with similar attention payed to detail. Otherwise, the whole effort may be for naught.
apple and russell,
Is this new to you? Folks like complaining about things.
When things go well, well, whatdaya want, a cookie?
Mr. Rock said it best, N*****S always want credit for Sh*t they supposed to do...
Here, Mr. P did what you should, but because he created the GREATEST EYESORE IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND (according to some here), he's supposed to get something extra?
Please. If the place loses money, it'll be a head shop in no time. Or an Apt. building.
Get bent.
It's great though, old folks have another place to shake their booties, but teenagers still get the CVS parking lot.
Values.
Has anyone been to a show in the last 5 years? Ticket prices are ridiculous, and fees are crazy. It's nothing unique to the Wellmont.
Lollapalooza I:
12 hours of music for $35!
Get bent?
Man, you are grouchy today!
I was at Lollapalooza I! 13%, were you there? It was great.
I have to agree with the Prof here. Why get credit for doing what you're supposed to do anyway?
I haven't seen my Steely Dan tickets yet...can't find any kind of seating chart on the internet or anywhere.
Yes, I was there. By far, the best concert I ever attended as well as the best value :P
Jane's Addiction, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Living Colour, Nine Inch Nails, Ice-T & Body Count, Butthole Surfers, Rollins Band, Violent Femmes, Fishbone and Emergency Broadcast Network for $35.
Nothing like seeing 20,000 or so white people slamming to Ice-T while chanting 'f' the police.
By Lolla II, the prices got too expensive so I waded the creek at Stanhope with a bunch of college buddies and jumped the fence. We all bee-lined it to the stage and assimilated ourselves among the mud people in the mosh pit so the rent-a-cops couldn't find us.
Ministry was cool as was Pearl Jam and the chili peppers, but the rest of the show was weak and already too commercialized.
Nothing like seeing 20,000 or so white people slamming to Ice-T while chanting 'f' the police.
And now Ice-T plays a police detective on TV.
"In the case of the Wellmont Theatre's interior, the classical Louis XVI lines are enhanced by polychromatic accents, surely devised for the interior's "light show" a new theatrical device for this period that surely won rounds of applause for proud Mr. Edison when he and his family were sitting in the audience."
And they probably did sit in that audience; thanks, Frank GG, for putting the Wellmont's architecture into the context of its original patrons...
The original patrons of the Wellmont Theatre were the second richest pro capita community in the US at that time. Apparently Edison enjoyed the glory that came with his genius. Edison's house Glenmont in nearby Llewellyn Park has a collection of artifacts that are tributes to the "miracle" of electric light that he would collect with his family on Grand Tours from all over the world.
With respect to parking, aren't there over 400 spaces at the Crescent Deck (about 2 blocks away) plus numerous other lots nearby? And I would think that the local businesses would benefit greatly if 1,000+ came to the area - pre and post show meals, drinks, etc. We are always talking about increasing ratables, and in addition this should attract a significant amount of spending to the local business economy.
Are all of the 400 spaces at the Crescent Deck or any of the other parking decks available at one time? Likely not.
Prof, Why are you trying to sell yourself as a young twenty or thirty-something hipster? Everyone knows you're a middle aged lawyer/film maker/professor (take your pick) with a little prof, a Mrs. prof (middle school teacher)and a mortgage. Come on, can't see you hanging in the mosh pit! Get real!
Spicoli,
Even if the Crescent deck was completely empty, there still won't be enough available spots nor are the transit options much better. Plus, the deck is a decent walk from the theater. I'm not sure if the Tony Bennet fans will be up to the 1/2 mile haul.
I know how important ratables are to our town and think this theater renewal is fantastic. I only hope that the parking issue is one solved proactively rather than reactively. I hope someone has put some thought into the issue. These shows take a lot longer than dinner at Raymonds. The lack of turnover in available parking spaces will probably be a revenue net negative for the retail establishments along Bloomfield Avenue. The parking authority should profit though. I'm sure many of the out of towners will forget to run out of the show to pay the meter after their 2 hour max runs out.
How did the Capitol Theater in Passaic deal with traffic?
When we went to the Capitol Theater in the 1970's, we'd often have to park - on the street - several blocks away. That was ok, cause it gave us time to smoke a couple of doobs on the way to the concert.
The Cresent deck is literally one block away, through the parking lot next to the Wellmont. The deck that extends from Park to Fullerton is not much further. A lot on Glenridge Ave. The Bay Street Train Station deck and the Orange Road deck are within half a mile. I'd say there's more parking than there was for the Capitol.
Google Maps link
Valet parking ...they'll probably hold a set number of spots at each of the larger decks if they're smart.
attention parking problem people..do what we do..after years of schlepping our kids all over the area..get your 17 year old son to drive you there..and wait patiently for THE CALL. in our house, he gets a full tank of gas for every roundtripper.