The ghosts are happier now

The work to bring Crowley’s Grand Opera House of the South back to its full glory was just getting under way when I first toured it and was introduced to some of its ghosts.

Once upon a time vaudevillians and minstrels trod its stage, traveling troupes of actors performed the plays of the day, and, occasionally, real opera singers such as Enrico Caruso tested what has been called its “peerless” acoustics. Babe Ruth doffed his cap from the stage when the Yankees played an exhibition game in Crowley. Clark Gable and some other film stars you would know made appearances there. Huey Long made it a regular stop when he was campaigning.

David Lyons, a 29-year-old livery stable owner and deputy sheriff, built the two story building in 1901. A magnificent stairway led to the opera house on the second floor—a common construction in those days.  The Crowley newspaper called it “a beautiful little playhouse” when it opened. It was the entertainment center of the town for the next 40 years, offering stage plays, singers, and, in their heyday, silent movies.

The first floor was used by a variety of retail establishments over the years, including a saloon, pool room, mortuary, and tractor dealership. This floor remained occupied until recent times when the Reynolds family ran a hardware store and gift shop there, but the theater closed its doors when Lyons died in 1939. Only the spirits of performers of the past walked the stage or lingered in the dressing rooms for the next three decades. Their storied performances, and the existence of the grand room itself, were all but forgotten as the shuttered stage gathered cobwebs and dust for thirty years.

Then, in 1999, Mr. and Mrs. L.J. Gielen bought the building and in 2004 they founded a nonprofit organization to raise the needed money and oversee restoration of the building. They found, to their good fortune, that the opera house had been nearly untouched over the years that it was vacant, and that most of it was still in pretty good shape. The biggest challenge may have been in recreating the sweeping staircase that at some point had been removed and replaced by a freight elevator.

As anyone who has ever restored an old home or building can tell you, there was a lot of painstaking work to be done—particularly since the nonprofit board, executive director Kim Gielen (L.J.’s daughter), and architect Donald Breaux wanted to make certain that the renovation was historically accurate.

“It was very important for us to keep the integrity of the building,” Kim Gielen said in a newspaper interview. “Every step of the way, we pieced it together as it would have been in 1901.

Kim and her little dog showed me through the building when the work first began. She showed me signatures and messages scrawled on the old dressing room walls by troupers who had trod the stage. Those were indicators of folk who had once been there. As far as our eye could see, they were no longer there. But her dog had another sense—reacting as if those unseen presences were actually in the room—and who’s to say they weren’t.

It took nearly 10 years and $4.5 million—including a $1.3 million state grant—to restore the old belle her former glory. The theater seats 400 people in comfort and a small museum displays period clothing, props, photos found during the renovation, and the original marquee.

Ascending the grand staircase … is stepping back in time,” according to Alex Cook, who has studied and written extensively about the culture and music of Louisiana. “The majestic red curtain is framed by lush box seats, festooned in robin’s egg blue and gold leaf. The seats downstairs feature intricate wrought iron vines on the ends, while the terraced benches in the wraparound balcony offer a panoramic view of its opulence.”

Since its reopening, performers such as Zachary Richard, Irma Thomas, and Chub by Checker have marveled at the beauty and acoustics of the place, and the people of Crowley and visitors have enjoyed productions of all sorts.

It is the gem of the Crowley Historic District that includes more than 200 structures. Next door to it is the Crowley City Hall, housed in a beautifully restored Ford dealership dating from 1920. Those two buildings alone are worth a visit to the Rice Capital of the World.

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You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.