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Stagehouse Expansion

Stagehouse Expansion

1997 - 1999

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.

You can see the divide between the original stagehouse and the expansion depicted here - the original 1926 brick juts against the 1999 cement block addition.

You can see the divide between the original stagehouse and the expansion depicted here - the original 1926 brick juts against the 1999 cement block addition.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - June 18, 1996

Patrick Fagan led the charge: if Shea's was going to join the "major entertainment leagues", we would need a major stagehouse expansion.

Patrick Fagan led the charge: if Shea's was going to join the "major entertainment leagues", we would need a major stagehouse expansion.

There were no ribbons, no scissors, no dirt or shovels, just sledge hammers. On December 3, 1997, Shea's gave a whole new meaning to the term "ground-breaking" as we welcomed local officials, dignitaries and board directors downtown to participate in a unique ceremony to kick off the stagehouse expansion. Complete with hard hats, Shea's Board Chairman Gerald M. Goldhaber, Ph.D. and Shea's President and Chief Operating Officer Patrick Fagan, were joined by Buffalo Mayor Anthony M. Masiello and Erie County Executive Dennis T. Gorski, in knocking out the first bricks of the rear wall, which are being removed to allow for expansion. Robert G. Wilmers, Chairman and CEO of M&T Bank, and Shea's Broadway presenting partner, Albert Nocciolino were also on hand to take swings at the bricks themselves.

Photo Credit: The Buffalo News - December 3, 1997

There were no ribbons, no scissors, no dirt or shovels, just sledge hammers. On December 3, 1997, Shea's gave a whole new meaning to the term "ground-breaking" as we welcomed local officials, dignitaries and board directors downtown to participate in a unique ceremony to kick off the stagehouse expansion. Complete with hard hats, Shea's Board Chairman Gerald M. Goldhaber, Ph.D. and Shea's President and Chief Operating Officer Patrick Fagan, were joined by Buffalo Mayor Anthony M. Masiello and Erie County Executive Dennis T. Gorski, in knocking out the first bricks of the rear wall, which are being removed to allow for expansion. Robert G. Wilmers, Chairman and CEO of M&T Bank, and Shea's Broadway presenting partner, Albert Nocciolino were also on hand to take swings at the bricks themselves.

The show must go on!

The stagehouse expansion took fourteen months before re-opening the Shea's Buffalo Theatre with The Phantom of the Opera. Meanwhile, our Broadway season continued offstage, with shows playing at the University of Buffalo Center for the Arts, the former Cheers restaurant in Theatre Place, and Kleinhans Music Hall.

Photo Credit: November 30, 1998

$14.8 million dollars and 50-feet long

You read those numbers right - our 1999 stagehouse expansion cost a total of $14.8 million dollars and nearly doubled the stage, from 29 1/2 to 50-feet long (the standard Broadway stage was 42 feet long) making Shea's Buffalo one of the biggest stages in the country! Complete with new dressing rooms, a set of A/C units installed on the roof (donated from the recently-closed Memorial Auditorium), a two-truck loading dock, and a new freight elevator installed backstage. And our front of house got a makeover too: new seat numbers were installed on all the seats and all 3,783 light bulbs were replaced in the theater ceiling for the first time since 1926.
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.

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,”

- Anthony C. Conte