Pantages Playhouse Theatre 4.33

The Pantages Playhouse Theatre is a former vaudeville theatre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.The two-storey building features a decorative façade with a lit marquee across the front, as well as classical decorative elements such as columns, brackets, frieze and cornice. The building continues to feature original interior layout and original lobby decor such as marble sheathing and decorative plaster ceiling.Of the 75 theatres once found in Pantages' chain, the theatre in Winnipeg is of few that have survived.HistoryBuilt in 1913-14 and opened on 9 February 1914 as the Pantages Theatre, the building is located in Winnipeg's Exchange District. The theatre was originally the ninth theatre built in the Pantages chain of eighty-six theatres. The theatre was designed by architects George W. Northwood and B. Marcus Priteca and built for the Pantages Company. The company, a major American vaudeville chain, built the facility to present live theatrical, musical and vaudeville performances. Winnipeg was used as a proving ground for performers. Alexander Pantages was quoted as saying, "all my acts originate in Winnipeg and move around the circuit."In 1923, the theatre company moved to the Capitol Theatre, and the building was acquired by the City of Winnipeg, who renamed to Playhouse and used it to feature live theatre. The last vaudeville show in the Pantages Theatre was on Saturday 23 June 1923. The conversion to live theatre was not successful, and it eventually reverted to a format of vaudeville, tabloid musicals and motion pictures.