The stage where Elvis Presley gyrated in 1956, Gregg Allman and Lynyrd Skynyrd played Southern rock, and Pat Metheny, Bon Jovi and Roger Daltrey rocked has gone silent for now.
In the place of legendary performers and rousing music are scaffolding rising from the stage to its elaborate proscenium arch as painters redo the classic Spanish architecture in its classic lobby and theater hall.
From now until Oct. 28, just a day before the annual Rocky Horror Picture Show screening, the theater will undergo renovations to return Downtown Jacksonville's last remaining movie palace to the look of its good old days.
That means new paint matching the 1927 original, redone bathrooms, restored architecture and an upgraded air conditioning system to preserve all those changes, said theater President Numa Saisselin.
By the end of this year, the theater will have spent $15 million over the last four years improving the building for long-term preservation.
"All the work we're doing right now — it's not Band-Aids; it's long-term solutions," Saisselin said. "One of the reasons why we have so much flaking and peeling plaster is that the room has no temperature or humidity control. Our air conditioner is literally on or off. The window shaker you might have in your apartment probably has more control than ours does. So we will have zones and temperature control humidity control, and hopefully that will make these renovations last much longer than previous renovations."
The Florida Theatre opened in April 1927, one of six theaters on Forsyth Street, erected on the site of Jacksonville's police station. Originally a movie theater, it moved to live presentations and concerts.
The $8 million restoration is part of a larger, multiyear project that will probably total $25 million by the time it's all done, Saisselin said.
Recent work in the last four years includes new theater seating, plus upgraded new lighting and sound systems. It also opened its Remedy Lounge and VIP room, which opens on the second floor lobby and includes a period photo of the original theater.
Now comes the very intensive restoration begun in mid-July.
Outside, traffic on Forsyth Street has been shifted over to make room for two huge blue temporary air conditioning systems that will cool the theater during construction. Wearing a hard hat, Saisselin opened an old wooden door in the office lobby next to the theater to show the main electrical system that will be moved upstairs. That will clear room to expand the theater lobby.
Then he took the classic elevator, the last one in Florida to require an operator as late as the 1990s, and walked through the new lounge to the second-floor lobby, where the old paint is being redone to match the 1927 original.
"This summer, we are repairing all of the flaking and decorative plaster, painting the auditorium in the lobbies with historic accuracy, gutting and restoring all of the bathrooms, making all the bathrooms beautiful," he said. "And there is Phase 1 of moving our electrical vault from the first floor, where it's a flood risk and it's in the way of future renovations, to the third floor."
Next came the view from the balcony of the main theater, its intricate proscenium arch showing paint flaking and decay as scaffolding rises off the main floor. More pieces of scaffolding are stacked on the stage floor, the new seats all around covered to protect them from dust as each new level of steel piping rises.
Another renovation is the gutting of the theater lobby and second-floor bathrooms, with cramped facilities dating back decades, and updating them.
But while the Florida Theatre is temporarily closed, it will promote events at other venues.
- Its TheatreWorks education program is doing some summer camp shows in the Main Library auditorium.
- At 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10, Benise, “The Prince of Spanish Guitar,” will move his Emmy Award-winning production to the WJCT Soundstage at 100 Festival Park Ave.
- Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes will perform at 8 p.m. Sept. 21 at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall.
- The Florida Theatre's Blues, Brews, Bourbon & BBQ fundraiser will take place at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 7 at the Bowing Oaks event venue, 7743 Alphons St.
"We want to stay engaged with the community and our audience while we are closed for renovations, simple as that," Saisselin told WJCT News. "Out of sight, out of mind is real, so we don't want to be out of sight."
When the Florida Theatre reopens Oct. 28 with "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" event, it will be filled with people dressed like the campy horror film, spraying water and doing other messy things, Saisselin said.
"There's some irony in the fact that we're going to spend $8 million improving the building this summer and then the first thing we're gonna do is throw toilet paper," he joked. "But it's a tradition. So we're doing it."
Along with the Rocky Horror film event, the theater already has 50 or 60 events booked for the fall after the reopening. Go to floridatheatre.com for more information.
