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Shea's had been saved from demolition -- but the real work was just beginning. Thankfully, we had help from tens of thousands of volunteers, staff, donors, and patrons who all pitched in to restore this crown jewel of the Buffalo Theatre District to its former glory.
Photo Credit: circa 2003 / pre-2004
Broadway was getting bigger and bigger - and Shea's was just too small. Popular "mega-musicals" of the 1980's like Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, and Miss Saigon were in hot demand with the falling chandeliers and flying helicopters but even just the bus-and-truck tours for Annie and Cats were already struggling to fit backstage. "We had to shave three-sixteenths of an inch off a couple of bricks to get the set in," producer Albert Nocciolino remembers.
Patrick Fagan led the charge: if Shea's was going to join the "major entertainment leagues", we would need a major stagehouse expansion.
Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - December 3, 1997
The show must go on!
Photo Credit: November 30, 1998
$14.8 million dollars and 50-feet long
Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - April 1, 2001
In 2001, Patrick J. Fagan retired from Shea's -- but not before bringing in Anthony C. Conte to replace him as president. Conte already had a long history with Shea's, having begun volunteering for the theater in 1970 and would serve as our president for fourteen years.
“The reward is seeing people coming through the doors and taking three or four steps, their jaws dropping and just staring up. You can always pick out the people who have not been in the theater before,”
Photo Credit: October 6, 2015
Louis Comfort Tiffany's original sketches for a grand drape was never made until 2015 when they were sent to Austria to be custom-made for the Shea's Buffalo stage.
Photo Credit: October 6, 2015
Photo Credit: November 11, 2005
Originally, the walls of Shea's Buffalo Theatre lobbies were covered in a velvety wallpaper. Restoration Consultant Doris Collins got permission from the National Register of Historic Places to instead recreate the effect over nearly 7,000-square-feet through hand-drawn stencils, all done by volunteers. "The fabric was quoted as costing $200,000; I haven't spent $2,000 yet to do the same coverage." Doris Collins said.
The interior of Shea's Buffalo Theatre is made of a fine plaster and silk threads called "scagliola" intentionally meant to imitate marble. An easy way to tell the difference is that marble is cold to the touch and scagliola makes a hollow sound when knocked on!
"Buffalo has a spirit of volunteerism you don't get in many, many cities. This will probably be my swan song, but I'll come back as a volunteer and haunt everybody."
Shea's Buffalo Theatre has five unique carpet designs according to our 1926 photographs from opening day. But being from 1926, we weren't sure what colors they had used - until we found original carpet samples stowed away in a dusty closet! Our historically-accurate carpeting was custom-milled by a factory in Northern Ireland in 2009.
Photo Credit: September 14, 2009
As part of our on-going historic restoration of the Shea's Buffalo Theatre, lost monuments of the original theater from 1926 has been replaced by identical replicas: in 1995, we welcomed back the Main Street marquee, and in 2004, the iconic 65-foot-tall and 11,000-pound blade sign returned after a fifty-four year absence from Main Street.
Photo Credit: August 11, 2004
"It was pretty emotional to see it go up. I think it's something many of us always dreamed would happen but thought never would," said Anthony C. Conte, Shea's president and chief operating officer. "If you look at the front of the building, it looks as it did in 1926."
Photo Credit: August 10, 2004
Photo Credit: August 30, 2012
You might notice that the "W" in Wonder looks odd - it's actually an upside-down "M"! We don't know how or why it was installed like that - was there a shortage of W's in 1926? But as a National Historic Site, Shea's Buffalo Theatre is obligated to maintain our Wonder Theatre exactly as it looked in 1926, letters and all.
Photo Credit: October 12, 2012
Photo Credit: June 26, 2013
From top to bottom, there's no part of Shea's Buffalo Theatre that hasn't been restored. But to reach the top, we had to have scaffolding installed to help our volunteers get 110 feet off the ground!
Photo Credit: June 26, 2013
Photo Credit: June 19, 2013. Pictured: President Anthony C. Conte and Historic Restoration Consultant Doris Collins
Photo Credit: June 25, 2013
These "dragons" were only discovered in 2014 because the ceilings were so stained by smoke. See if you can find them the next time you are at Shea's Buffalo Theatre!
Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - August 2, 2014. Pictured: William Mayer, painter.
"This is an absolute thrill, because we are re-creating history."
Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - June 19, 2013. Pictured: Stephanie Morabito, assistant restoration consultant.
All of our lamps and light-bulbs have been hand-dipped into a special glass stain by volunteers to replicate the originals with modern lightning.
Photo Credit: Steven D. Desmond
“Over the last 30 years Doris has been the driving force behind every perfectly matched crystal, paint, and fabric here at Shea’s,” said President Brian Higgins. “Her recruitment and expert training of restoration volunteers and students has saved Shea’s millions of dollars. Thanks to the meticulous efforts of Doris over the last three decades, visitors today step into this theatre as it was - or I would argue even better than it was - 100 years ago.”
Above the chandeliers are trap doors that can be opened to crank the chandeliers all the way down to the ground for an annual cleaning - the last time was in 2016. Now, Shea's rents a special lift to help us clean the crystals and lights.
Each of the three large chandeliers in the Grand Lobby requires 86 light bulbs.
says the New York Times! Buffalo has long since known the wonder of Shea's Performing Arts Center and now the rest of the country was learning this too. Our subscription base was one of the highest nationwide and starting in 2016, we began premiering National Tours.
Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - September 21, 2016. Pictured: the load-in for Finding Neverland.
“It’s very exciting for the city of Buffalo, Western New York and Shea’s in particular to be the first stop, to actually launch the tour. To be the first city on the tour, it’s very significant to the reputation of the theater and to the city.” - Albert Nocciolino
Broadway comes to Buffalo
Photo Credit: October 9, 2016
Opening Night for Finding Neverland
Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - December 15, 2015
When Anthony C. Conte started as President of Shea's Performing Arts Center, we had 5,248 season ticket holders and had $5.2 million in debt from finishing our stagehouse expansion. By 2016 when he retired, we now had 13,326 subscribers and were one of the top Broadway touring houses in the country!
Photo Credit: Shelby Converse
The hype over Hamilton lead to our highest subscription numbers ever - for the 2018-2019 Broadway season, Shea's had 18,622 season ticket holders with 4,001 new subscribers!
On January 16th, Shea's opened again - this time in 2001, as the Shea's Smith Theatre. Next door to the original Shea's, this blackbox theater was able to offer more intimate productions such as Tony n' Tina's Wedding. And again in 2011, Shea's Performing Arts Center expanded once more, taking ownership of the soon-to-be Shea's 710 Theatre.
The Shea's Smith Theatre, a small stage in the former Swiss Chalet / Old Spain / Laube's restaurant, is named in honor of Graham W. and Mary Jane Smith through the George G. and Elizabeth G. Smith Foundation after they learned that Shea's was planning to buy the building in the next five years. "I've lived in Buffalo all my life -- long enough to know anything can happen in five years," Smith said. "I told Patrick, 'If the city is ready to move, let's not wait around. Let's do it now, before they change their mind.'
The illustrious Studio Arena closed its doors in 2008, leaving the former Palace Burlesque theater empty. It might have faced the wrecking ball too if Shea’s CEO and President Anthony Conte hadn't stepped up. “We feel that one of the most important things we can do for the theater community is to provide an opportunity for the local theater companies – the ones that are downtown, the ones that are not downtown – to perform downtown.”
Photo Credit: Buffalo Courier-Express - January 17, 1933
Shea's and the Studio Arena have a history dating back longer than 2012 - in fact, our history together began in 1932! Jane Keeler and the newly-formed Studio Arena were given residence at the Gayety Burlesque Theater, rent-free - by the owner, Michael Shea himself!
Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - June 8, 2016
The AK Public Art Initiative commissioned this mural that appears on the side of the Shea's 710 Theatre, painted in the summer of 2016 by artists Jessie and Katey
Photo Credit: circa 2018
Shea's 710 Theatre re-opened in 2012 with a production of Circle Mirror Transformation, the first of many many successful collaborations with AnsariSaxon Productions, D'Youville Kavinoky Theatre, MusicalFare Theatre, Road Less Traveled Productions, Second Generation Theatre, and Ujima Theatre, Inc.
Photo Credit: Nikiya Campbell
Seen here is our first solo production, Once On This Island (2022).
Photo Credit: Nikiya Campbell. Pictured: the cast of Once On This Island
For the first time since 1926, the show did not go on. With the rise of COVID-19, Shea's Performing Arts Center went dark on March 12, 2020 - cancelling Hello, Dolly! and closing The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime at Shea's 710 Theatre hours before opening night. Shea's wouldn't open their doors again until a year and half later on September 9, 2021 - that's 546 days (or 1 year, 5 months, 28 days) without a performance!
Photo Credit: Shelby Converse. 2020
Photo Credit: Shelby Converse. 2020
Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - March 12, 2020
Goodbye, Dolly! This review was posted on March 12, hours before the production was cancelled by COVID-19.
Photo Credit: Shelby Converse. March 12, 2020
With the show - and tour - cancelled, the set of Hello, Dolly! was taped off and waits to be struck from the Shea's Buffalo Theatre stage.
Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - November 15, 2020
Without live theatre, Shea's offered a virtual concert series, zoom town halls, created coloring book pages, and worked on a few smaller restoration projects that could be done in isolation.
Photo Credit: July 28, 2020
Restoration Consulatant Doris Collins, masked and isolated as she works on the gold leaf trim here.
Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - August 12, 2021
To bring live theatre back to Buffalo, many changes had to happen - some for good (mobile ticketing!), and some only temporary (no concessions, masks and vaccine required)
Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - September 10, 2021
Shea's Performing Arts Center came back from COVID-19 with Disney's Frozen re-launching their national tour here.
Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - September 10, 2021
Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - September 10, 2021
Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - August 22, 2022
This was the first of many articles detailing trouble behind the scenes at Shea's Performing Arts Center in 2022. Eventually, President Michael Murphy finally would be fired but not before Shea's lost countless employees, board members who had resigned in protest, and the support of M&T Bank.
There is much excitement to be had with our one year countdown to our 100th anniversary: we welcomed a new President and a resident theatre company, announced our Elevate Shea's campaign, and for our 2025-2026 Broadway Season, Shea's has 16,836 subscribers - our third highest total ever! "Shea's remains one of the best one-week subscriber series in the United States," confirmed Albert Nocciolino. "It's always in the top five, and this year could end up in the top two or three."
A new logo for a new century!
Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - November 27, 2023
In 2024, Brian Higgins joined Shea's Performing Arts Center as our new President, just in time for our centennial celebration.
"Theater is about the punks and the poets, about the destination and the journey." - Brian Higgins
Photo Credit: Pictured: Kevin Shanahan, Curtis Cook, Rex Keppel, Christopher Bratek, Sean Flahive, and Rita Sirianni.
In honor of our upcoming centennial, Hartman's Distilling Company released a unique edition of their bourbon in collaboration with us - the Shea’s Centennial Blend 285 Special.
For the entire 2024-2025 Five Star Bank Broadway season, four different barrels of bourbon - 208 gallons - were nestled within the organ chambers of the Mighty Wurlitzer 285 Special, absorbing the rich tones and music of the Shea’s Buffalo Theatre centennial groundbreaking season - infusing every note and acoustic vibration into the charred rye and wheated bourbon barrels themselves. After a year of aging, the barrels were carefully removed and rolled out of Shea's Buffalo Theatre for bottling - a total of 954 bottles.
Photo Credit: Rachael Buchanan
Speaking of the Mighty Wurlitzer...on any given day here at Shea's, you might hear the our pipe organ being played by organist Curtis Cook! Our organ continues to be beautifully restored by volunteers and professionals like L.A. Peckham & Son Pipe Organ Service, and is currently in the third of seven restoration phases with the goal of being concert-ready again by January 2026.
"You don't just hear the music, you feel the music, and that is something that is special and unique to Shea's Buffalo Theatre."
"I cannot emphasize to you in any stronger terms the 'gold standard' of theater pipe organs that sits in those chambers at Shea's Buffalo. If one were ranking or awarding top honors for the finest-sounding theater organ in the world, Shea's Buffalo would be arguably No. 1, and most certainly top three."
Photo Credit: Rachael Buchanan
Get your Sheabills ready and pour yourself a show-stopping cocktail—preferably in a souvenir theatre cup! With hosts Ken Liszewski, Julianna Tracey, and Rita Sirianni, Shea's Performing Arts Center began producing its own podcast in 2025 about the drama onstage at Shea's — and what goes on behind the curtain.
Photo Credit: The cast of Come From Away
While many local theater companies have produced shows at Shea's Performing Arts Center, MusicalFare is the first to join us in residence at Shea's 710 Theatre. Their first co-production, Come From Away played to rave reviews and sell-out houses.
Elevate Shea's - The Next Century of Wonder
Photo Credit: Carmina Wood Design
Coming Soon to Shea's!
Shea's Buffalo Theatre wasn't the only theater in need of restoration and renovation - our Shea's 710 Theatre underwent a $5 million dollar remodeling to welcome MusicalFare Theatre and to match our new 551 seats installed three years earlier.
