Canon Theatre - Toronto, ON, Canada
N 43° 39.294 W 079° 22.816
17T E 630611 N 4834819
"WE WILL ROCK YOU"
Waymark Code: WM2ZZ2
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 01/17/2008
Views: 58
This theatre has a long and colorful past, you really must read the website for the full history. The current run is for "We Will Rock You" and there is a giant statue of Freddie Mercury on the marquee.
From their website:
The Canon Theatre began its life in 1920 as a combination vaudeville and motion picture theatre in the Pantages theatre circuit. With its original 3373 seats, it was the largest cinema in Canada and, with its lavish interior - designed by the great theatre architect Thomas Lamb - the most elegant....
In 1973, the Imperial was chopped up into six separate cinemas to become "The Imperial 6", one of the first "multiplex" motion picture theatres in Canada. It operated under that name until 1986, when Famous Players lost a vital lease on the Yonge Street entrance to the building to a rival, Cineplex Odeon. Cineplex was able to force Famous Players to sell the theatre, but the victory was a Pyrrhic one; in a bitter legal fight, Famous Players won an injunction forbidding Cineplex from ever again using the theatre for motion pictures.
Cineplex responded to the court order by gutting the Imperial 6 and rebuilding it as a live theatre, restoring the lobby areas to the original 1920 design and renaming the structure "The Pantages". The "new" Pantages reopened in 1989 with the first legitimate theatre production it had ever known, Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical The Phantom of the Opera.
Theater Name: Canon Theatre
Country: Canada
Address: 244 Victoria St Toronto, ON Canada M5B 1V8
Web Site: [Web Link]
Venue: Community Theater
Type of Productions: Multi-use Facility
Restored Building: yes
Date of Construction: 1920
Architect/Designer: Thomas Lamb
Seating Capacity: 2200
Stage Type: Not listed
Special Productions/Events/Festivals: Not listed
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