The Rialto's Second Act
Storied Montreal theatre might be saved the fate of the Seville
The last movie I saw at Montreal's Rialto Theatre was the Rocky Horror Picture Show. That was 20 years ago. Soon after, the theatre stopped showing movies. The last concert I saw there was Canadian band Grapes of Wrath. They've since disbanded. The theatre, considered a heritage site, was built in 1924. For several years it looked as if the Rialto would one day disappear, like so many other of Montreal's classic theatres. But it seems she's been saved.
The Rialto has lost a lot of its glory over the years, especially after a series of ill-advised renovations by a previous owner, who had actually ripped out the theatre's seats and leveled the floor to make way for a nightclub called The Rex. Aptly named, I suppose. Like the dinosaur, The Rex is now extinct.
The Rialto is now home to the Extravadanza dance studio, billed as “a new dance environment (that) aims to provide a very different dance experience.” It was here at The Rialto, at a special Extravadanza event this past weekend, that I met and talked with Emmy award winner Mia Michaels, who also happens to be the choreographer and judge from So You Think You Can Dance.
Like all international celebrities who come to Montreal, Michaels tells me she loves Montreal. But what's not to love, with its European flair, and the fact that she gets to come back now and again to give a Master Class in a theatre that was modeled after the Paris Opera House. It was after one such Master Class that I sat down for a brief conversation with Michaels. After dancing, and then signing autographs and taking pictures with each and every dancer in the class, Michaels limps out of the once august main hall. “Why don't you just watch us, how we stand up after class and walk away,” she says with a laugh, describing the wear and tear on even a young dancer's body. “It's pretty brutal.” Anyone who has ever watched SYTYCD knows Mia to be a tough judge, and that's the value to having her teach at Extravadanza from time to time, to remind dancers that life is not a TV show. “The real deal,” she explains, “is that if you went out into the dance world and auditioned you wouldn't get booked. That's the reality of it.”
It's exciting having Mia Michaels in town, and great for Extravadanza. But current owner Luisa Sassano and her business partner-husband do have other plans for The Rialto. They're looking ahead to opening up the venue to concerts, theatrical productions, and maybe even weddings.
Montreal needs the Rialto right now. Over the next few days the legendary Seville Theatre will be reduced to nothing more than a pile of rubble, part of an entire block destroyed to make way for a condo development. The Rialto, on the other hand, which might one day have met a similar fate, seems to have been pulled back from the brink.
Dan Laxer is an announcer at Montreal's CJAD Radio, a budding stand-up comedian, and a writer. He is Citeeze's entertainment writer.
Dan Laxer with Mia Michaels
Mia Michaels poster
Rialto theatre
Seville theatre montreal
Seville theatre montreal
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Allison Ryan said:
On Oct 19, 2010 - 11:51
Very nice to know that good plans are in the future for this venue, I went to a party and danced there a few months ago and was very happy for the opportunity to once again be under it's beautiful roof! Long live the Rialto!
PatrickH said:
On Oct 15, 2010 - 17:04
Who remembers doing the Time Warp at the Rialto around this time :)