At a recent gathering of 275 on the Colonial Theatre stage, impresario Jon B. Platt remarked that there hadn’t been so many bodies on those boards since the 1900 opening of Ben Hur. Not only was the statement quite possibly accurate, it was apt, since the occasion of the party was the launch of a large, red-satin-covered coffee-table tome, Boston’s Colonial Theatre: Celebrating a Century of Theatrical Vision, by Tobie S. Stein. And if you can get by the fact that a great deal of the vision being celebrated is Platt’s, and that he commissioned the book, it’s an enjoyable, beautifully illustrated stroll down history and memory lanes.

Stein, who is on the theater faculty of Brooklyn College, has known Platt since she was an Emerson undergrad interning at the Colonial, where he was assistant manager. Of course, that was after he had begun his Colonial career as a second-balcony usher, moving on to become the union steward. He took over the lease of the venerable house, along with that of the Wilbur Theatre, in 1987 and later bought and renovated the Charles Playhouse — making himself, with Wang honcho Josiah Spaulding Jr., co-king of the theater district.

In the early ’90s, Platt (who in 1998 sold his Boston theatrical interests to SFX Entertainment) undertook a $2 million renovation of the Colonial that restored Boston’s oldest continually operating theater to peak glory and apparently promoted every cranny of the place to one in his heart. The lavishly produced Boston’s Colonial Theatre, which must picture every gilded cherub and glittering inch of gold leaf in the house, along with the fascinating array of theater luminaries and landmark productions that have passed through it, is clearly a labor of love.

Says Platt, who cheerfully admits the elegant Marquand-published tome is " a huge money-losing venture " : " I thought this place was so special because, over the years, these performing artists and producers always said the same thing: ‘This is my favorite theater.’ And I thought, ‘They’re just not blowing smoke at me. They don’t have to say this.’ And I began to believe it. I always felt this place was special, but I thought, ‘Let’s find out why it’s so special.’ So Tobie wrote the book, and we made calls to prominent individuals saying, ‘Would you give us a quote for the book?’ And they said, ‘Absolutely.’  "

Indeed, many of David Lamb’s photographs of the theater’s details are festooned with encomiums from the likes of Tommy Tune, Julie Harris, Kander and Ebb, and Kathleen Turner. Also included are group photographs of casts that have passed through the Colonial during the 1980s and ’90s taken by Platt himself. " One does not live on an usher’s or assistant manager’s income, " says the photographer, who in leaner days started shooting the ensembles and selling them the photos.

Stein used various archives, including those of the city’s daily newspapers and the Harvard Theatre Collection, to research her history of the theater, which was designed by noted architect Clarence Blackall. She also interviewed long-time Colonial habitués, including publicist Nance Movsesian and the theater’s manager for 13 years, Don Tirabassi, with the result that the book is less academic than anecdotal. Included are the famous if familiar tales of Rodgers and Hammerstein turning a sow’s ear called Away We Go! into a silk purse called Oklahoma! at the Colonial and Bob Fosse’s dancing on the onyx table in its ladies’ lounge. The book’s real treat, though, are the painstakingly replicated photographs, playbills, etc. — beginning with that 1900 opening of Ben Hur, with its cast of hundreds, including eight horses, and continuing through the Colonial’s heyday as a pre-eminent Broadway tryout house. Says Platt, " What I wanted to do was tell the story in photographs that Tobie was telling in text and do it in an entertaining way. I didn’t want it to be dry, I wanted it to be colorful. Even the black-and-white photographs are done in the five-color varnished process to make them seem vibrant. "

As for his emergence as the hero of Stein’s fourth and final chapter, " A Decade of Innovation, " Platt, now a Tony-winning independent producer, has this to say. " Well, Tobie and I thought about that. I kept saying, ‘Tobie, take out all this flowery stuff, it’s going to look like a vanity publication.’ And she said, ‘No, the fourth chapter is my favorite, and I know that that was true. I was there. And I’m going to back it up with a Variety quote and a New York Times quote. There’s going to be nothing there that isn’t catalogued.’ Well, I’m still uncomfortable with it, but I said okay. And I was there for 25 years. I did renovate it. I’m proud of what I did there, so I guess I don’t have any excuses. "

Boston’s Colonial Theatre: Celebrating a Century of Theatrical Vision is available on-line at www.colonial100.com for $80. It is also available at Boston Organ and Piano, 104 Boylston Street, at the Boston Music Company, 215 Stuart Street, and in the Colonial lobby during performances.

Issue Date: November 29 - December 6, 2001

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