Complete Orpheum restoration starts next June, will shutter historic theater for a year

Wichita’s 102-year-old Orpheum Theatre will close starting in June of 2025 so that crews can start on a long-awaited, complete restoration of the aging but beloved downtown venue.

On Wednesday morning, a crowd of Orpheum supporters, staff, volunteers and Wichita dignitaries gathered in the theater at 200 N. Broadway for an announcement about the restoration plans that was delivered by the theater’s executive director, Stacee Olden.

Standing in front of the theater’s original, hand-painted fire curtain, which before this year hadn’t been lowered since 1990, Olden told those gathered that, as part of its Second Century Campaign, the Orpheum managed to raise $6.9 million of a $9.5 million goal consultants say will be needed to restore the theater to its original glory.

The theater will work to raise the remaining $2.6 million by June and then will close the theater to start on the first phase, which will include restoring all the interior walls, ceiling and lighting, installing new rigging and a fire curtain on the main stage, updating audio and lighting systems, restoring the proscenium arch over the stage, replacing electrical systems and putting in a new HVAC system to heat and cool the balcony and stage areas.

The plan also includes removing and replacing all 650 of the theater’s dilapidated, uncomfortable seats, which were salvaged from a 1970s Towne East Square movie theater and installed decades ago.

That portion of Olden’s announcements was met by loud applause from the crowd members, all sitting in those aging seats.

The first phase of the restoration also will address what Olden playfully called the theater’s “ski slope” — a too-steep slope in the floor that patrons must navigate to descend into the seating area. The floor will be repaired and made more safe.

“I can proudly say this community is ready,” Olden said. “The energy is palpable. The people of Wichita are ready and want to see this beautiful entertainment venue in the heart of downtown restored to its former glory and continue on for a second century.”

During the year-long restoration, Olden said, the theater will still try to put on events such as its anniversary film series but will screen the movies elsewhere. The staff also might occasionally put on Final Friday events where members of the public will be able to buy tickets, put on hard hats and check out the restoration in progress.

The budget for the restoration also includes enough money to keep the Orpheum staff employed while the theater is dark.

“We want to have the same staff,” said Olden, adding that employees may occasionally be dispatched to help out at other Legends venues. Legends, formerly known as ASM Global, is the management company that runs not only the Orpheum but Intrust Bank Arena, Century II and Andover’s Capitol Federal Amphitheater.

Once the first phase of the restoration is complete — in May 2026 — the staff will reopen the theater with a big community party and start staging events again. At that time, it will also move onto the next phase of restoration, which will include upgrading dressing rooms and bar areas.

“Ultimately, our goal is to honor and highlight our historic significance while bringing the capabilities of this entertainment to state of the art,” Olden said. “This will not only attract talent to the theater and the stage that has held legends, but will make the patron experience one of the best in Wichita and the region.”

102 and counting

The Orpheum Theatre opened for the first time on Sept. 4, 1922. It was designed as a vaudeville house with an “atmospheric” interior design intended to resemble a Spanish courtyard. The theater was filled with intricate plaster work flourishes throughout, the ceiling twinkled with lights meant to look like stars, and a special projector would simulate moving clouds. It cost $750,000 to build it.

See historic photos of the Orpheum Theatre in Wichita

In its early years, it attracted performers like George Burns and Gracie Allen, Harry Houdini, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. The Orpheum transitioned into more of a movie house in the 1950s and 1960s, but by the early 1970s, crowds had stopped going to the theater. It closed in 1976, and soon, the seats were stripped out and the theater was targeted for demolition. A group of concerned citizens saved the building in 1980 by getting the Orpheum added to the National Register of Historic Places.

In December 1985, the theater was donated to the Orpheum Theatre Performing Arts Centre Ltd., a nonprofit group whose leaders were the first to get serious about plans for a total restoration. Different groups have been planning and raising money for the restoration since 1991.

The most progress was made in the early 2000s and into the 2010s, when the theater got a new marquee and new restrooms and the lobby and box office were restored to their original specifications. Since the late 1990s, the theater has been home to big-name concerts, movies and other performances, but patrons just put up with the uncomfortable seats, the peeling paint and the steep floor.

In 2020, the Orpheum Board got serious about restoration and brought on two new employees: Rachel Banning in the job of executive director and Olden as the director of development. The new leaders brought in a consultant to help develop a feasible plan that would finally result in the theater’s full restoration.

The staff started raising money toward the $9-$12 million that consultants predicted it would take to bring the theater back to life, and Olden — who was promoted to executive director in June of this year — was able to announce its progress on Wednesday — the Orpheum’s 102nd birthday.

Olden told those gathered that, of the 100 Orpheum Theatres that once existed in the United States on the vaudeville circuit, only 17 are remaining. All are in full operation, but only Wichita’s Orpheum is still waiting for restoration.

She said the theater has selected a team of “industry experts” to lead the restoration, including local general contractor Eby Construction, Wichita’s WDM Architects, plus a theater consultant and a historic decorative painting firm.

“Since the first of the year, this project team has been diligently steering us, along with making certain we keep our historic significance in check and also have the state historic preservation office guide us when needed to maintain our national historic designation,” Olden said.

She stressed that the theater still needs to raise the remaining $2.6 million before the project starts next year and asked those in the crowd to help spread the word.

“I know Wichita is up for this,” Olden said. “I know it will happen... Now let’s finish this for the people of Wichita, for our community, for historic purposes, for past generations, today’s generations and future generations.”