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The Long Center opened this past weekend for perusal by the general public. We’re happy to report that the new/old building has a sleek modern aesthetic that nicely alludes to the center’s mid-century past. That's not surprising, as lots of parts from the original structure of Palmer Auditorium were recycled and re-imagined into the new, two-venue, $77 million-dollar space.
The “Open Arts. Open Minds. Open House” event featured shows from everyone from Hanayagi Japanese Dance Academy to the MASS Ensemble Earth Harp. Yet we’re certain that it was the Grupo Fantasma show on Sunday night that really consummated the relationship between venue and public.
Taking place in the large Dell Hall, the Grupo event featured toddlers and their grannies literally dancing in the aisles to the Latin funk orchestra with plenty of percussion. We saw some serious shaking going on, including actual boogieing in the balcony! “It’s really a pleasure for us to be in this beautiful venue,” Jose Galeano of Grupo Fantasma said, chatting from the stage just after the show. It was good for us, too.
While the walls were shaking in Dell Hall, an Austin Shakespeare event was taking place nearby in the smaller Rollins Studio Theatre. We understand that sound spillover from the Grupo show wasn’t a problem.
Since this is the weekend to check out the facilities, we of course had to check out …the facilities. We’ve spent way too much of our lives waiting in line for tiny theater bathrooms, so we were so glad to see all those shiny new stainless-steel stalls!
Overall we couldn’t be happier about the weekend and the venue, except for one tiny thing. The seats in Dell Hall look great, but they could have a little more posterior padding. While it's not a problem for a good show, we might need a little more cushioning for the events that don’t exactly fly by.
Nevertheless, the Sneak Peek event was a smashing success. An pal even stopped us on the street to tell us how excited he was about the venue. Look for actual champagne bottles at the black-tie Long Center Grand Opening Gala later this month!
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