Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-06-28
NEWS OF MUSIC
BY DAY THORPE
Star Music Critic

This week let's consider a
curiosity and a ritual.
First the curiosity - the
razing Of the Shubert Thea
ter. Washington needs the
Shubert Theater If 1t needs
any kind of amusement house
at all. II there is no civic at
tempt to keep it from being
torn down to make room tor
a parking lot, we should
henceforth shut up about a
cultural center. Why fill the
air with further talk about
our need for culture? The
chatter is either hypocrisy
or drivel.
The Shubert Theater Of
course is not everything de-
manded in the proposed cul-
tural center, but 1t fills one
need adequately, probably
comparatively inexpensively.
and virtually presently-not
10 or 20 years hence, 1t could
be converted into an intimate
opera house and legitimate
theater at relatively small
expense. 1t would be an opera
house comparable in size to
many of the best in Europe.
and there is no reason why
the finest facilities could not
be incorporated into its re-
building as easily as created
in the planning of a COM
pletely new house.
Location of Center
Opinion concerning loca-
ton of the cultural center is
divided among the various
members of the committee.
The dominant opinion is
that the center should be a
single building or complex
of buildings at one single
location. Some people feel.
on the other hand, that there
Is no need to keep the vari-
Gus activities of the cultural
center under one roof, and
that the various concert halls
and auditoriums could be
scattered about the city. In
any event. even If the CEN
ter is at a single location.
a small theater Of about
the Shubert's capacity-it
has l.542 seats-will be a
necessity.
Now the Shubert before the
fire was one Of the most
charming and acoustically ex-
cellent theaters in the coun-
try. 1t could be made so
again. with the paramount
improvement ofNa large pit,
which heretofore 1t has never
had. Presumably the new
owners would rent the build
ing for an amount equal to
what they will make in park
ing fees.
The argument that even
after rehabilitation the Shu-
bert could never be finan-
cially profitable is meaning
less, for we are not talking
about profitable burlesque
when We speak soulfully about
our dear Cultural Center, but
of non-proflt cultural" opera.
ballet and high-brow theater.
If the Shubert runs a deficit,
so will any conceivable SINH
lar auditorium devised for
the Cultural Center.
Excellent Alphabetically
Here then is the first unit
OF our new Cultural Center
the inside the worse for fire
but INTELLECTUALLY excellent.
the four walls already in
place. To overlook it while
still having Cultural Center
Committee meetings, public
appeals for $50 million, talk
of design and Of purpose and
of crying need and of show
ing the Russians that we are
not lily rubes-to overlook
the Shdbert, I say, is an in
anity comparable to that
which we can now see in
New York. In New York, the
citizens have Carnegie Hall,
a building that through some
magic in its construction is
such a good place for music
that a majority of those best
qualified to voice an opinion
consider it the finest Of its
kind anywhere in the world.
Yet with the millions for