On the night of March 12, 1901, the residents of Gravenhurst, Ont., a small logging town located 170 kilometres north of Toronto, gathered for the opening of a brand new opera house. It was a grand event, with over 350 people flooding through the solid wooden doors to marvel at the Victorian architecture. The show that night, Jean Newton’s The Days of the Year, was sold out. Tickets cost between 25 and 50 cents.
That night cemented the opera house as a key part of Gravenhurst. The town finally had something that would put it on the map. Since then, many important moments have happened in the grand theatre. Whether it was the revival of summer theatre by actor John Holden in 1934, Donald Sutherland making his acting debut on the stage in 1956, or the opera house welcoming Rhonda Way, the Currie Brothers, Grant Tingey & Family, Timberbeast Productions and many others to help celebrate its 125th anniversary this month, the importance of the building to the community has remained the same.
The Impact Of The Opera House On The Community
Over the years, many different events have taken place at the opera house.
Birthdays, celebrations of life, weddings, commencement ceremonies, pancake breakfasts, electoral candidates debates, musical performances, dance recitals – you name it, the Gravenhurst Opera House has hosted it.
“It really is the community hub,” Gravenhurst Mayor Heidi Lorenz said. “I don’t think that there is one person in this community that hasn’t had an opportunity to celebrate in some way or have some type of fellowship at the opera house.”
Theatre Programming and Community Events Coordinator Holly Carney, who became involved with the opera house as a stage hand in 1999 when she joined the Gravenhurst High School drama club, says the building is an important asset when it comes to mental health and wellness.
“Sometimes people forget how much joy can help you with your mental health,” Carney said.
“When you can get people out or when they make the effort to get out. I think they have a really heartwarming experience coming here. People go up to the bar and the staff remember they like four ice cubes in their drink of choice even if they don’t see them often. Moments like that are what make this place so special.”
“People forget how much joy can help with your mental health.”
Holly Carney
For many, these heartwarming experiences have come in the form of watching family perform on stage, watching the careers of actors and writers take off or watching visions come to life.
For Judy Humphries, head of the Gravenhurst Archives, her heartwarming experience was seeing plays written by Globe and Mail journalist John Ibbitson, who had attended Gravenhurst High School during Humphries’ time teaching there.
“Knowing he’d written the play and going and watching it and realizing it wasn’t just an average calibre experience, but that this guy really had something. I was an English teacher, so I definitely appreciated theatre and just going and seeing that.”
It wasn’t just seeing the career of someone she knew take off that brought Humphries joy at the opera house. Seeing the careers of the various actors that graced that stage was special to her too.
“Going and seeing plays at the opera house where one minute I’m watching a really moving play with people I’m really enjoying seeing act, and then three weeks later I turn on the television and there she is again or there he is again. Those are memories that I really treasure about the opera house.”
Earl Sacrey, the drama teacher at Gravenhurst High School, says the opera house has been a big part of his personal and professional life.
“The opera house is a fantastic partner with the school, and has been forever,” Sacrey said.
“We’ve done an annual haunted house there called the Spooktacular that’s been running for 30 years. We do annual shows there for our drama classes. And of course, they’re the big theatre down the street from where I live too, so I’ve gone to see a bunch of shows there. Something between two and five plays there every year.”
For Lorenz, it was seeing her son play guitar at his Christmas concert when he was eight years old that gave the opera house such a special place in her heart.
The Opera House Had A Rocky Past
But things haven’t always been this great for the opera house. Even before opening its doors on that cold night in 1901, the building had faced difficulties.
Originally, many people believed the idea of building an opera house was a mistake. The building was set to replace the town hall that had burnt down three years prior, but many questioned whether the cost of building such an extravagant structure was worth it. This belief caused the opera house to be dubbed “Mickle’s Folly,” a nod to the then mayor Charles Mickle.
“Charles Mickle felt that it was really important that the new town hall had a multi-purpose to it,” Humphries said. “He wanted it to be a place where there would be council meetings, but also a place where plays and concerts could take place.”
Humphries said that the nickname “Mickle’s Folly” didn’t phase the mayor one bit.
“He knew that it was going to be an important building. No other community in Muskoka had that, and they still don’t. We should consider ourselves lucky that Mickle thought that an opera house was a good idea.”
This wasn’t the only trouble that the opera house faced. On Feb. 23, 1993, its doors were closed by the Ministry of Labour after officials cited potential structural problems with the roof. Engineers brought in by the Town of Gravenhurst found that the roof was structurally sound, but not up to building codes.
During the two-year period that the opera house was closed, the town chose to invest over $3 million, which had been raised by an Opera House Renovation Committee, in order to make improvements to the building’s interior and roof. When the doors to the opera house reopened on Feb. 24, 1995, the building saw a full house.
“The opera house was built to last. It’s just incredible that we have it here,” Humphries said.
Plans For A Grand 125th Anniversary Celebration
In order to celebrate such a big milestone, Carney says that the opera house has a slew of events planned.
“For the 125th anniversary, we thought we would schedule as many people and voices as possible, not a normal show that people attend. We are planning something wild where everyone’s got three minutes, so it will be a combination of music, live theatre, and monologuing all night.”
The fun kicked off on March 12 with a day full of community-focused events, symbolizing the importance of the opera house to the community. Performances that night included an appearance by Miranda Mulholland, a JUNO-nominated singer, songwriter and fiddler who is the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Mickle.
The festivities continue on March 13, with a performance from alternative rock band Crash Test Dummies. The JUNO award winning group, who the opera house’s website describes as “one of the most recognizable voices in Canadian music history,” is set to perform many of their chart topping hits from the 1990s.
The anniversary celebrations come to an end on March 14, with a community market taking place in Heritage Square in front of the opera house during the day. That night, performances from singer-songwriter duo Chantal and Raine, who have co-written hits for the likes of Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, will help close out the fun.
“It’s pretty awesome, this space. We can’t wait to share it with everyone,” Carney said.
“If you think about what the opera house has done, where else could you have done those things? Where else could you have united a community? Hopefully the opera house can be something that lasts not just the next 125 years, but forever.”
