Then and Now - Majestic Theatre - Providence, Rhode Island

The Majestic Theatre, built by vaudevillians the Emery Brothers, opened on April 9, 1917, as one of Providence’s grandest entertainment venues. Designed by the architectural firm Walker and Son, its stunning white terra-cotta façade displayed the name “Emery’s Majestic.” With 3,000 seats, it was larger than the Imperial Theatre and Providence Opera House combined, rivaled only by the Strand Theatre. Initially, it hosted vaudeville acts and films, featuring stars like Ethel Barrymore and Max Linder, but transitioned to films-only programs by 1923 due to declining vaudeville attendance.

The Majestic Theatre gained fame as a premier first-run movie venue, often showcasing Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox productions. Notably, it became the first theater in the world to feature the Vitaphone sound system in 1926 and was the first in the area to show a CinemaScope film with The Robe in 1953. Despite these innovations, the rise of suburban theaters in the 1960s led to its decline. The Majestic closed as a movie theater on May 17, 1971, after screening Patton and MASH.

In 1973, the Trinity Repertory Company transformed the historic Majestic into the Lederer Theater Center. While the iconic exterior remains largely intact, the interior was gutted and restructured to create two modern performance spaces: the 500-seat Chace Theater and the 300-seat Dowling Theater. Today, the Lederer Theater Center serves as a hub for live theater, offices, rehearsal halls, and conservatory studios, continuing the building’s legacy as a cultural landmark in Providence.