From the Emerson College web site
Built as an opera house in 1903, the historic Cutler Majestic Theatre at Emerson College provides a venue for student productions and presentations by the wide range of artists (like Whoopi Goldberg, John Ritter, Julie Taymor, Denis Leary, and Jane Alexander, just to name a few) who visit campus regularly. It also hosts productions by community-based and other performing arts groups.
In 2003, the College completed an extensive restoration of the 1,200-seat Majestic that has won awards from several major organizations, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the League of Historic American Theatres.
Located at 219 Tremont Street, the Cutler Majestic is connected to the College's new Tufte Performance and Production Center, which houses two additional theaters, two television studios, an art gallery, classrooms, laboratories and faculty offices.
(
visit link)
===
From the Majestic Theatre web site
The Majestic Theatre opened on February 16, 1903 with a performance of the jolly musical comedy, The Storks. Eben Dyer Jordan commissioned architect John Galen Howard to design The Majestic, who was one of only 400 American architects trained at L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in the late 1800s.
While originally designed for opera and theatre, the Majestic served many purposes through the years. Operated by the Shubert Organization, it converted to vaudeville in the 1920's. By the mid-1950's, movies had taken over the stage, with alterations that transformed the lobby and covered much of the Beaux Arts splendor. By 1983, when Emerson College purchased the Majestic - then called the Saxon - from Sack Theaters, it had fallen into severe decline. With patient and painstaking effort, Emerson College was able to bring the Majestic back to life and into compliance with modern building codes; it included new heating, air conditioning, plumbing and electrical systems, new stage floor and scenery, new dressing rooms, and wheelchair accessibility. The College completed the final phase of restoration in 2003 with the entire building restored to its original splendor.
Built in 1903, the Majestic was the second performance facility built in Boston's historic Theatre District (the Colonial was completed in 1900). It is in the Piano Row Historic District. The theater is a Boston Historic Landmark, listed on both the State and the National Registers of Historic Buildings.
The Cutler is an outstanding example of Beaux Arts classicism notable for both its monumental terra cotta exterior and its richly ornamented interior.
A first class performing home for many of New England's finest arts groups, the Cutler Majestic Theatre at Emerson College gives residents and visitors to greater Boston exceptional and unusual cultural and entertainment programs to attend all year around.
Emerson College owns and operates the Majestic as "one of the jewels in our crown," according to Emerson president Jacqueline Liebergott. The theatre employs its relationships with opera, theater, dance and music producers and presenters, as well as its own productions and presentations, to express the vision and values of Emerson College — to explore and push the boundaries of communication, art, and culture and, thereby, to contribute to the advancement of society.
Productions may be classical or traditional in form, or may challenge culture, community, and technology. The Majestic is equipped with both historically appropriate stage systems and the most modern technologies for stage and video productions.
(
visit link)
A description from the Midtown Cultural District Historic Building Survey
1,000 Seats
Built 1901-1903
Beaux Arts granite base, grey terracotta, four 3-story Roman ionic columns, arches with theater masks and stained glass windows between columns, opulent rococo interior.
Achitect, John Galen Howard and James M. Wood. Interior, Henry B. Pennell. Lobby Murals by William de Leftwich Dodge who also painted Library of Congress murals.
Used for musicals and light opera, converted to movie house 1957.
(
visit link)