The Ritz Theatre

Throughout the theatre, The Ritz boasts an Italian Renaissance design. Terra cotta and buff brick cover the street front facade. A terra cotta mask of the Greek muse of tragedy, Melpomene, watches over the theatre. Inside the outer lobby, a floor of mosaic tile greets visitors. Fixtures of solid brass and black onyx marble walls portend the richness awaiting inside.

The inner lobby quietly mimics the outside of an Italian villa, complete with stucco walls and subtle accents of teal and red. Two marble staircases lead the audience to the balcony where hand painted stencils of red, teal and yellow create the feeling of a trellis in an outdoor garden.

To complete the garden fantasy of the interior, four 10 X 30 foot high murals painted directly onto wet plaster dominate the main floor. The overgrown garden pictures, painted by local artist Lloyd Roberts and Horace Drew, feature statues that might have been found in a Greek garden. A curved proscenium envelopes the audience, bringing them closer to the performers on stage and lending an air of intimacy to this 1,260 seat theatre. Intricate plaster work, concrete forms, stone designs and scrolls are all hand-painted in the careful detail of Italian Renaissance. The mammoth 1,200 pound chandelier, made of 20,000 Czechoslovakian crystal pieces, hangs impressively from a dome of sky blue. Half of the original theatre light board was dedicated to the atmospheric lighting, alone. These original fixtures still light up the theatre today.