By Cameron Lee
March 5, 2025
The highly anticipated public unveiling of the newly renovated Carolina Theatre is set for Monday, March 24, with a ribbon-cutting and open house from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The theatre, which opened in 1927, has been closed since 1978 and will now host civic events, film screenings, concerts, comedy, and more, kicking off with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra on Friday, March 28.
The inaugural event for the theatre’s reopening holds historic significance, as the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra performed its first concert at the venue 93 years ago this month. On March 20, 1932, 57 local musicians — nearly 50% of whom were women (a rarity at the time) — gathered on stage for a free concert led by Spanish conductor and composer Guillermo de Roxlo, who emigrated from Cuba to Charlotte in 1931 and founded the Symphony Orchestra with a very modest budget in 1932.
The opening event will feature internationally acclaimed soprano Renée Fleming, who will perform with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. The program will include music inspired by her Grammy Award-winning album Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene, featuring an eclectic selection of songs spanning multiple genres, including works by Björk (avant-garde), Handel (baroque), Kevin Puts (opera), Nico Muhly (classical), and “Twilight and Shadow” from the film, The Lord of the Rings. The concert will also be accompanied by a visually captivating National Geographic Society film and will follow the symphony’s Spring Gala, which takes place earlier that evening.
Originally opened in 1927, the theatre was designed by Charlotte architect C. C. Hook and New York theatre designer R. E. Hall. It was the first of its kind in the region, blending European architectural styles, including Spanish Renaissance, Elizabethan, and Art Nouveau décor. As part of Paramount Pictures’ Publix Theatre chain, the Carolina Theatre originally hosted films, live performances, and vaudeville acts, famously screening Gone With the Wind for the first time in the Carolinas in 1940.
The theatre also hosted Broadway productions such as The Corn Is Green in 1943, starring Ethel Barrymore, the great-aunt of actress Drew Barrymore. In 1956, Elvis Presley performed at the theatre when he was just 21 years old, as he was emerging as a national star. In 1965, the theatre kicked off a record-breaking 79-week run of the film adaptation of the musical, The Sound of Music.
The Carolina Theatre flourished for decades before newer theaters opened across the state and country in the ‘60s and ‘70s, leading to a period of decline. The theatre closed in 1978, with the Bruce Lee action movie The Fist as its final showing. In 1980, a fire broke out at the vacant theatre, severely damaging the stage area. Deemed too architecturally significant and too sentimental to demolish, the Carolina Theatre sat vacant at its original location on Tryon Street until 2012, when the city of Charlotte gifted the property to Foundation For The Carolinas for $1.
A $90 million philanthropic campaign to restore the theatre began in 2017, and after eight years, the 906-seat venue is finally set to reopen. The Carolina Theatre will anchor Belk Place, a civic campus named in honor of the Belk family. The campus will also house the Foundation For The Carolinas headquarters; the Luski-Gorelick Center for Philanthropy, a nonprofit meeting and event venue for conferences, weddings, and special events; the Sonia and Isaac Luski Gallery, a free exhibit area featuring mostly glass art; the Levine Conference Center; and the Robinson Center for Civic Leadership.
A five-star InterContinental hotel will eventually be built above the theatre lobby, consisting of 30 floors, 250 guest rooms, a restaurant and lounge, a business center, and 17 meeting rooms, with completion projected for 2027.
Other upcoming events at the Carolina Theatre will include a performance by Grammy Award-winning bluegrass duo Mark and Maggie O’Connor on May 29; a Charlotte Ideas Festival conversation with Hornets co-owner Rick Schnall on April 8; progressive bluegrass band Punch Brothers on May 14; and banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck on May 15. More events are scheduled to be announced in the coming weeks.
You can learn more about Carolina Theatre (230 N Tryon St.) and upcoming events from their official website.
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